POPE LEO XIV APPOINTS NEW APOSTOLIC NUNCIO TO UGANDA

Pope Leo XIV has today appointed His Excellency Most Rev. Tomasz Grysa as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, replacing His Excellency Luigi Bianco who was transferred in May 2025 as Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia. The appointment of Most Rev. Tomasz Grysa was officially announced on Thursday afternoon by Rev. Fr. Georges Kwami Kouwonou, Chargé d’Affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature, in a brief statement released to the media at exactly 1:00 p.m.

Until his appointment as Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, His Excellency Most Rev. Tomasz Grysa has been Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, Seychelles and the Republic of Mauritius, and Apostolic Delegate to Comoros and La R6union. Most Rev. Tomasz Grysa was born on October 16, 1970 in Poznań, Poland and was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Poznan on May 25, 1995 by Archbishop Jerzy Stroba.

The new Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda has a doctorate in Canon Law from Pontifical Gregorian University. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on July 1, 2001 and subsequently served in different Pontifical Representations including the Russian Federation, India, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, UN Permanent Mission (New York) and Israel. He also served as the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem and Palestine. On September 27, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him, Titular Archbishop of Rubicon but also Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar and Apostolic Delegate to Comoros. He was consecrated as an Archbishop on November 1, 2022.

On 9 February 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as Nuncio to the Seychelles as well. Subsequently he was also appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Seychelles on February 9, 2023 and then to the Republic of Mauritius on March 21, 2023 and on May 14, 2026, Pope Leo XIV appointed him as the Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda. The new Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda apart from Polish knows ltalian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

It is worth noting that the Apostolic Nuncio serves as the Pope’s personal representative both to the Ugandan government and to the local Catholic Church. Diplomatic relations between Uganda and the Holy See were formally established in 1966, shortly after Uganda attained independence. Before the establishment of a resident mission in Kampala, Uganda fell under the Apostolic Delegation for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi.

The first papal representative resident in Uganda was Archbishop Amelio Poggi, who served as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio from 1967 to 1969 followed by Amelio Poggi (5 August 1967 – 27 November 1969), Luigi Bellotti (27 November 1969 – 2 September 1975), Henri Lemaître (19 December 1975 – 16 November 1981), Karl-Josef Rauber (18 December 1982 – 22 January 1990) and Luis Robles Díaz (13 March 1990 – 6 March 1999).

Since the mission was elevated to the status of full nunciature, Uganda has hosted several distinguished Vatican representatives, Archbishop Christophe Pierre (10 May 1999 – 22 March 2007), Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam (27 August 2007 – 4 August 2012), Archbishop Michael August Blume (2 February 2013 – 4 July 2018) and Archbishop Luigi Bianco (4 February 2019 – 20 May 2025).