Pope Francis appoints Mgr Mario Grech Bishop of Gozo for Vatican post

Pope Francis has today appointed Mgr Mario Grech, Bishop of Gozo, as General Pro-Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.

Bishop Grech will then assume the responsibilities of General Secretary once Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the actual General Secretary, concludes his mandate.

The Synod of Bishops was established by St Paul VI on 15th September 1965 on request of the Bishops who participated in the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council to keep alive among them the spirit of the path undertaken during the Council.

Pope Francis has profoundly renewed this structure within the Church in September 2018, thereby teaching us that synodality is a constitutive dimension of the Church, at all levels of her existence.

The Synod – which avails itself of a General Secretariat – is composed of a General Secretary, an Under-Secretary and a number of special Councils of Bishops.

It meets in different types of Assembly: in an Ordinary General Assembly, for matters concerning the good of the universal Church; in an Extraordinary General Assembly, for matters of urgent consideration; in a Special Assembly, for matters which mostly concern one or more specific geographical regions, as is the case of the Synod on the Amazon Region starting this Sunday.

Meanwhile, Mgr Mario Grech has been nominated Apostolic Administrator for the Diocese of Gozo until a new Bishop is appointed for Gozo.

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Grech as member of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region which opens this Sunday, the 6th of October.

In a statement, Charles J. Scicluna and Bishop Joseph Galea-Curmi congratulated Bishop Mario Grech for his appointment.

They gave their “heartfelt thanks” to the Bishop for his work over the last 14 years, both as pastor of the Gozo Diocese as well as a key collaborator in the Maltese Episcopal Conference.