Hello and welcome to this week’s Vaticano Updates – the most important news from the Holy Father and the Vatican.
TOP 1: Pope Francis Meets With Russian Ambassador
Pope Francis recently met with Ivan Soltanovsky, Russia’s ambassador to the Holy See. Soltanovsky, a 69-year-old career diplomat, was appointed in May 2023. Details of their latest meeting remain undisclosed. Notably, Pope Francis had visited Soltanovsky’s predecessor, Aleksandr Avdeyev, at the Russian embassy on February 25, 2022, following the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine to urge for peace.
TOP 2: New Role for Archbishop Gänswein
Archbishop Georg Gänswein will become the apostolic nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Gänswein, who served as Benedict XVI’s personal secretary from 2003 until the pope’s death in 2022, will now assume this diplomatic role in the Baltic states.
TOP 3: Former Anglican Priest Ordained a Bishop
Bishop David Waller, a former Anglican priest, was consecrated in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at Westminster Cathedral, London, on June 22, the feast day of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, imparted the episcopal blessing and highlighted the "treasure" of the Church’s apostolic succession from St. Peter and the apostles to the present day.
TOP 4: Pope Francis Meets with Latin Mass Group
Pope Francis met with three leaders of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, whose priests celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass and follow the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales. The meeting occurred amid restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass imposed by the pontiff’s motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes. The institute's statement noted that the audience was an opportunity to thank the Holy Father for his apostolic letter, Totum Amoris Est, dedicated to their patron saint, St. Francis de Sales.
TOP 5: Vatican Opens War Trauma Center in Ukraine
The Vatican announced the opening of a war trauma rehabilitation center in Ukraine, named after St. John Paul II. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner and prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, will inaugurate the clinic on behalf of Pope Francis. Additionally, the cardinal will deliver an ambulance filled with medical supplies, donated by the pope, to aid the wounded in Ukraine’s Ternopil region.
Andreas Thonhauser is EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the WU Executive Academy in Vienna and a Master’s degree in German Philology/Anglistics and Americanistics from the University of Vienna. Prior to joining EWTN, Thonhauser worked as the Director of External Affairs for a global human rights organization, and for several media outlets in Vienna, Austria.
