Current apostolic nuncio to Poland appointed as the Vatican’s ambassador to Russia

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who served as the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, has been nominated by Pope Francis to the position of Nuncio to Russia – Vatican Press Office announced May 28.

Celestino Migliore was born July 1, 1952 in Cuneo, Italy. He is Titular Archbishop of Canosa who has spent most of his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See.

Ordained as a priest on 25 June 1977, Archbishop Migliore has a master degree in theology from the Center of Theological Studies in Fossano, Italy, and a Licenciate and Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. In 1980, after graduating from the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, he joined the Holy See's diplomatic service. He speaks Italian, French, English, and Polish.

In 1992, he was appointed as Special Envoy to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France until 1995 when he served as Under-Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, at the Vatican. He also taught ecclesiastical diplomacy at the Pontifical Lateran University, as a visiting professor.

On October 30, 2002 Pope John Paul II nominated the archbishop to the position of Permanent Observer, to the United Nations. Celestino Migliore was appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to Poland on July 30, 2010.

Archbishop Migliore arrived in Warsaw on September 10, 2010 and five days later he handed over letters of credentials to Poland’s President. He prepared nominations of 16 ordinaries, including five metropolitan archbishops (Stanisław Budzik, Wacław Depo, Marek Jędraszewski, Eugeniusz Popowicz and Adam Szal), one coadiutor-archbishop (Józef Górzynski) and 27 auxiliary bishops. He attended 20 plenary sessions of the Polish Episcopal Conference, numerous religious ceremonies, scientific sessions as well as press conferences.  

On May 28 he became the sixth nuncio in Moscow since 1990.