Abuja, 11 September, 2023 / 8:55 pm (ACI Africa).
The outgoing Apostolic Nuncio in Nigeria has described his six years of diplomatic service in the West African nation of Nigeria as “unforgettable”.
In his speech at the opening of the second Plenary Assembly for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi asked for forgiveness for any wrongs during his tenure as the representative of the Holy Father in Africa’s most populous nation, which he started following his appointment in April 2017.
“I am sure that this experience in the largest country in Africa will not only be unforgettable for me but will enrich the mission that still awaits me in the service of the Church and the Holy See,” Archbishop Filipazzi said during the Sunday, September 10 event.
The Italian-born Vatican diplomat whose transfer to Poland was made public on August 8 said that since he arrived in the country, he “tried to understand as much as possible of the social and ecclesial reality of Nigeria, so grand and complex, and, in the light of the perennial truths of the faith and the discipline of the universal Church.”
“I have tried precisely to recommend that attention be paid to certain aspects to be corrected or certain tendencies to be avoided,” Archbishop Filipazzi recalled, adding that while he enriching experiences in Nigeria, he leaves the country with greater problems and difficulties than he found it.
