This week (from Thursday 15), Saint Ignatius Parish and the Cayman Islands welcomes His Excellency, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Antilles Episcopal Conference (English, French and Dutch speaking Caribbean Islands), on his first official visit to the Cayman Islands. He will be accompanied by His Grace Archbishop Allen Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit/Ecclesiastical Superior of the Cayman Islands and The Most Rev. Bishop Francis Reiss, Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit.

The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, August 15 – Afternoon Arrival – 6:00pm: Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Ignatius Catholic Church.

Friday, August 16 – Archbishop Girasoli, Archbishop Vigneron and Bishop Reiss travel to Cayman Brac.

Saturday, August 17 – 6:00pm: Mass at St. Ignatius – 7:00pm: Reception in Loyola Hall to meet and greet our special guests.

Sunday, August 18 – Afternoon Departure

A widely regarded scholar, Archbishop Nicolas Girasoli, earned a master’s degree in moral theology and a doctoral degree in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, in 1981 and 1985, respectively. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1985, and has since served in many locations around the world, including Indonesia, Australia, Hungary, Belgium, the United States and Argentina.

Archbishop Girasoli has published several studies on minority rights, including National Minorities: Who Are They? (Budapest, 1995) and Compromise and Minority Rights (Budapest, 1996). He taught at the University of Ghent, in Belgium, for four years, from 1995 to 1999, during which time he was also the adviser to the high commissioner for ethnic minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He also served as dean of the master on minority rights in Budapest from 1999 to 2000, collaborating with several European universities.

In March 2006, Girasoli received the episcopal consecration in the Cathedral of Ruvo di Puglia. Earlier that year, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Titular Archbishop of Egnazia Appula and Apostolic Nuncio to Zambia and Malawi.

Archbishop Girasoli was appointed in December 2011 as Apostolic Nuncio to the Trinidad-based, 22-diocese Antilles Episcopal Conference, which encompasses most of the English, Dutch and French Caribbean, and which has overseen the Cayman Islands since 2000.