Rome rotates its man in Kampala

Archbishop Grysa, a senior Vatican diplomat from Poland, has been serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius, and as Apostolic Delegate to Comoros and La Réunion

Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Tomasz Grysa as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, in a move that marks a new phase in the Vatican’s diplomatic engagement with the East African nation.

The appointment was announced on April.14 by Rev. Fr. Georges Kwami Kouwonou, Chargé d’Affaires at the Apostolic Nunciature in Kampala, in a brief statement released to the media at 1:00 p.m.

“The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has appointed His Excellency Most Rev. Tomasz Grysa, Titular Archbishop of Rubicon, as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda,” the statement said.

Archbishop Grysa, a senior Vatican diplomat from Poland, has been serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius, and as Apostolic Delegate to Comoros and La Réunion. His transfer to Uganda places him at the centre of one of the Holy See’s key diplomatic missions in Africa.

Born in Poznań in 1970, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Poznań in 1995 and later earned a doctorate in Canon Law. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2001.

Over the course of more than two decades, Archbishop Grysa has served in a wide range of Vatican postings, including Russia, India, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, Palestine, and at the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York.

He is fluent in several languages, including Polish, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian, a skill set that has underpinned his work in international diplomacy.

He succeeds Archbishop Luigi Bianco of Italy, who served as Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda from 2019 until his reassignment to Slovenia in 2025 under Pope Leo XIV’s diplomatic reshuffle.

The Apostolic Nuncio is the Pope’s official representative to both the Ugandan government and the local Catholic Church. The role combines diplomatic and ecclesiastical responsibilities, reflecting the Vatican’s longstanding engagement with Uganda.

Formal relations between Uganda and the Holy See were established in 1966, shortly after independence. Before the creation of a resident nunciature in Kampala, Uganda was covered by the Apostolic Delegation for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi.

The first resident papal representative in Uganda was Archbishop Amelio Poggi, who served as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio from 1967 to 1969. He was followed by a succession of senior Vatican diplomats, including Archbishop Luigi Bellotti and Archbishop Henri Lemaître.

In the decades that followed, Uganda’s nunciature has been led by a number of prominent envoys, among them Archbishop Karl-Josef Rauber, Archbishop Luis Robles Díaz, Archbishop Christophe Pierre—who later became a cardinal and served as Nuncio to the United States—Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, and Archbishop Michael August Blume.

Archbishop Grysa now takes over that long diplomatic tradition at a time of continued strong ties between the Holy See and Uganda’s Catholic Church, one of the largest and most influential in the region.