Pope Francis names Legionary of Christ as President of the Governorate of Vatican City State

Pope Francis names Legionary of Christ as President of the Governorate of Vatican City State

by Kerrie Rivard

Pope Francis names Mons. Fernando Vérgez Alzaga as President of the Governorate of Vatican City State

On September 7^th, 2021, the Press Office of the Holy See announced the appointment of Mons. Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, LC, as President of the Pontifical Commission of the Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. Mons. Fernando Vérgez has already been serving as Secretary General of the Governorate since August of 2013. On November 15^th of the same year Pope Francis ordained him a bishop in St. Peter’s Basilica.

His background

Born in Salamanca, Spain, on March 1^st, 1945, Mons. Vérgez was ordained a priest of the Legionaries of Christ on November 26^th, 1969. He began his service to the Holy See on August 1^st, 1972, in what was then the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, where he was later the personal secretary of the prefect, Cardinal Eduardo Pironio.  In 1984, Pope St. John Paul II named Cardinal Pironio as prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Fr. Fernando Vérgez continued working in the service of the cardinal in that dicastery. In June of 2004, he was appointed as the head of the Holy See’s Department of the Internet, a role that he filled until 2008 when he was named head of the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems of the Vatican City State. On August 30^th, 2013, Pope Francis named him Secretary General of the Governorate and on September 8^th, 2021, he received the assignment of president.

Mons. Fernando Vérgez has served the Holy See for nearly 50 years through five pontificates. He accepted this new appointment by making his own the words he spoke in his first mass as bishop on November 16^th, 2013, “It comforts me to know that it is God who calls, God who sends, his love is at the beginning of all things.” On receiving the news of his appointment, Fr. John Connor, LC, general director of the Legionaries of Christ, said, “Mons. Vérgez has worn himself out with generous self-giving in the service of the Church throughout all these years. Accepting this new responsibility is another example of his availability, which fills us with joy.”
 

About the Author

Kerrie Rivard is a writer, communicator, Canadian living in the US, and mother of 6, Kerrie Rivard blogs to connect the dots between her never-boring life and the things God is doing in her soul. Her missionary passions include accompanying others as they discover and live in the love of Christ, being a second mom to a Chinese international student who lives with them, regularly stocking the house with snacks for the random number of teenagers who habitually show up in her kitchen, and learning from the wisdom of homeless people she meets on family missions in downtown Atlanta. If she had all the time in the world she would spend more of it in adoration before the blessed sacrament, reading classic literature, practicing Spanish, and improving her surfing skills.