Pope Francis on Monday appointed a papal ambassador and expert in Eastern languages and literature to lead the Vatican Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, 67, has been apostolic nuncio to Great Britain since July 2020. 

The Italian was undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches from 1997 to 2001, before beginning his diplomatic service as an apostolic nuncio to Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in December 2001.

Gugerotti was also apostolic nuncio to Belarus for four years and Ukraine for almost five years before moving to Great Britain.

The Vatican Dicastery for the Eastern Churches was founded in 1917 by Pope Benedict XV. It is the office of the Roman Curia responsible for the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that are sui iuris, or self-governing, and in full communion with Rome.

Gugerotti was born in Verona, in northern Italy, in 1955. He was ordained a priest in 1982.