<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>King Felipe VI will receive the Credentials of the Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See, Piero Pioppo, this Thursday, December 18, at the Royal Palace in Madrid.</strong></h4> According to the Royal Household, the King will also receive, at the traditional ceremony held at the Royal Palace in Madrid, the Credentials of the accredited ambassadors of Norway, Lars Andersen; Luxembourg, Elisabeth Cardoso Jordão; Lithuania, Tomas Irnius; Brazil, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado; and Ireland, Brian Joseph Glynn. The Credentials are the document that accredits a foreign ambassador as the representative and highest diplomatic authority of another country in Spain. The ceremony of presentation before the Head of State dates back to the 18th century and has remained virtually unchanged to this day. Piero Pioppo, born in Savona in 1960, ordained a priest in 1985, and Archbishop of Torcello, succeeds Bernardito Auza of the Philippines as Apostolic Nunciature. Auza's replacement was postponed due to the death of Pope Francis (on April 21) and the subsequent conclave that elected the current Pope, Robert Francis Prevost (Leo XIV), a process that brought the Holy See's major decisions to a standstill. Monsignor Piero Pioppo holds a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology and speaks four languages (Italian, English, French, and Spanish). He was a close collaborator of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State of the Holy See from 1991 to 2006. In 1993, he entered the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See, where he served in the Apostolic Nunciatures of Korea and Chile, and in the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. In July 2006, he was appointed prelate of the IOR (Institute for the Works of Religion), the Vatican Bank. In 2010, he received episcopal ordination and began serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. From 2017 until his appointment to Spain, he held the position of Apostolic Nuncio to Indonesia and to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Doctrinally, Pioppo is considered a conservative.
