Pope Leo Redeploys Nuncio Bianco to Slovenia

By Jacobs Seaman Odongo | Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Pope Leo Redeploys Nuncio Bianco to Slovenia
Nuncio Luigi Bianco had previously served in similar capacity in Ethiopia with overreach to Somalia and Djibouti
The Vatican did not name Luigi Bianco's replacement in Kampala

Archbishop Luigi Bianco, who has served as Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda since 2019, has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia and Apostolic Delegate for Kosovo.

The announcement was made in the Vatican’s daily bulletin on May 20, but it did not name who would replace him in Kampala.

Bianco arrived in Uganda in April 2019, after being appointed in February that year by then-Pope Francis.

He presented his credentials to President Museveni on May 10, 2019, and quickly became an influential voice within Uganda’s Catholic Church and diplomatic community.

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The apostolic nuncio is the Pope’s ambassador to a given country, serving both as the Vatican’s diplomatic representative to the government and as a liaison between the Holy See and the local Catholic Church.

In Uganda, where Catholics make up more than 40 percent of the population, the nuncio plays a key role in advising bishops, relaying Vatican policies, and at times, shaping the appointment of local church leaders.

Bianco’s reassignment to Slovenia, a European Union member state with its own robust Catholic tradition, comes as part of routine reshuffles within the Holy See’s diplomatic corps.

As apostolic delegate to Kosovo, he will also represent the Vatican in a country it does not officially recognise as a sovereign state but where the Church maintains pastoral interests.

Born in Montemagno, Italy, in 1960, Bianco was ordained a priest in 1985 and joined the Vatican diplomatic service in 1989.

He has previously served as apostolic nuncio to Honduras, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, as well as apostolic delegate to Somalia.

As Kampala awaits news of Bianco’s successor, attention now turns to how the Vatican will navigate the transition in one of East Africa’s most influential Catholic communities.

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