Photo credit: Patrick J Lee Photography
Pope Francis has this week named Apostolic Nuncio to Australia Archbishop Paul Gallagher as Secretary for Relations with States.
Archbishop Gallagher’s new appointment is equivalent to a Minister for Foreign Affairs, working directly under the Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Archbishop Gallagher was born in England and was ordained to the Priesthood for the Diocese of Liverpool in 1977. He has over thirty years of diplomatic service for the Holy See to bring to this role.
Archbishop Gallagher succeeds Moroccan-born Archbishop Dominique Mamberti who has been appointed the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
As Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Gallagher will work closely with Pope Francis on relations with heads of governments, states and other International bodies.
Cradio interviewed Archbishop Gallagher earlier this year on a range of topics, including his vocation.
“As a teenager at a Jesuit grammar school in England faith had always been important to me,” Archbishop Gallagher said.
“But in my teenager years faith became quite vital, it became something very dynamic, and I think I was being asked ‘well what do you want to do with this gift of faith you received?’ And I decided that I wanted, above all to share it with my friends and to propagate it.”
“I came to the conclusion after a period of questing that the thing I should do was become a diocesan priest,” Archbishop Gallagher said.
Cradio has also featured some talks by Archbishop Gallagher:
- Our Reason for Hope, recorded at ‘Reasons for Hope’ 2014
- The Spirit of the Liturgy, recorded at iWitness 2013
