by Serre Verweij
Pope Leo has appointed Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia (68 years old) as the new apostolic nuncio for the USA. He will be replacing Cardinal Christophe Pierre who recently turned 80 and had served in the post since 2016. This change of guard comes at a time that the USA has become embroiled in controversial international conflicts, while the American episcopacy will see a significant turnover that will reshape the church for years, if not decades. After nearly ten years of Pierre, what change in era can we expect under Caccia?
Caccia’s career paints someone with broad experience and a middle of the road diplomat with relatively orthodox views and a typical centrist political perspective. As a native from Milan who became a priest in 1983, Caccia was ordained by the arch-modernist Cardinal Martini and served under him for a few years, but beyond that there appears to be nothing connecting the two men in any real way. In 1986 he attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, and from that point on had a career serving in nunciatures and the Secretariat of State, working with two conservative cardinals, Sandri and Filoni. Eventually Pope Benedict entrusted him to become nuncio to Lebanon in 2009 amidst regional tensions. Then Francis made him nuncio to the Philippines and next made him Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations since 2019.
Since he has served at the UN for over six years, he has already been de facto stationed in the USA for a while. Some outlets seems to spin this as indicative of a focus of Pope Leo on multilateralism and even an indirect rebuke of President Trump. This, however, seems to be a severe stretch. Caccia’s interventions at the UN and his statements on foreign policy have not been especially activist or aggressive. Perhaps even more important, Caccia has not taken any clear progressive, liberal or partisan pro-Francis stance, making him a stark contrast to Pierre. The main stances that might prove controversial are his past promotion of peace and reconciliation amongst Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land as well as his support for a two state solution.
Pierre had become symbolic of many of the tensions and controversies of Francis’ pontificate. Originally a (moderate) conservative from the John Paul II era, he ended up defending Francis’ vision against strong conservative criticism, while at the same time interpreting said vision in a still slightly conservative manner and clashing with radical progressives like Cupich. Yet, though he appears to have had no personal hostility towards the Tridentine Mass, once Traditionis Custodes was released and Rome instructed him to enforce it, he did so effectively. His focus on defending (his interpretation of) Francis’ vision of Vatican II and synodality became so strong, that he even repeated it towards the USCCB, when Pope Leo had already taken office.
Caccia on the other hand has not taken any shots at traditionalists, aggressively pushed synodality nor attacked the Tridentine mass. His stances at the UN largely involved promoting the standard Vatican positions, from defending the environment and generic criticisms of dehumanizing migrants on the left, to strongly and repeatedly opposing abortion and gender ideology on the right. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing he did, was watering down Francis’ criticism of laws criminalizing homosexual acts, to opposing laws that criminalized people with homosexual tendencies. He also mentioned Amoris Laetitia once during its fifth anniversary, primarily to emphasize that the family was the basis for society. During his time in the Philippines, the bishops who were appointed are said to have been rather orthodox.
The appointment of Caccia seems to confirm that under Pope Leo, tensions between Rome and the USCCB are cooling off. Leo seems to want to turn the page on the conflicts and the progressive attacks on tradition from the last decade, and instead to focus on promoting peace and the fullness of Catholic social teachings.
The fact that Pope Leo picked the respected Caccia, rather than using the post as a means of exile for the scandal ridden Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra (as was allegedly planned under Francis), demonstrates a greater respect for the USA and the US church than Rome exhibited under Francis.
