VATICAN CITY (RNS) – Pope Leo XIV appointed Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations, the new papal nuncio to the United States, the Vatican announced Saturday (March 7). He will replace Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who occupied the role for the past decade at a moment of polarization within the Catholic Church.

“This is an extremely heavy and important appointment because right now you really don’t know what will happen in the United States,” said Massimo Faggioli, who teaches ecclesiology at the Loyola Institute at Trinity College in Dublin. “Having a trusted man there is particularly important.”

With his tenure at the U.N.’s New York headquarters, Caccia brings six years of experience living in the U.S., and as importantly, a keen understanding of the workings of multilateral organizations like the U.N., which have been increasingly shunned by the Trump administration.

Caccia has been among a small cohort of Vatican diplomats who have been shaping the Holy See’s position in the global chessboard for decades. “Sending to Washington someone who comes directly from the United Nations would be a signal: the Vatican still believes in the U.N., even if the U.S. administration no longer does,” Faggioli said. “That would be a fairly clear signal.”

Caccia “possesses a joyful and open personality and has a very energetic work ethic. He has accumulated a vast experience both in the Secretariat of State and in foreign assignments. He has been and is a real asset for the Holy See diplomatic service,” said an unnamed source who has been a personal friend of Caccia’s for four decades.

The archbishop has held important roles under both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. He was born in Milan on Feb. 24, 1958, and ordained by the then-archbishop of the city, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, in 1983.

He studied theology at the Vatican diplomacy school, the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, and later earned his licentiate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. After graduating in 1991, he joined the Holy See diplomatic service.

He worked at the nunciature in Tanzania before being called back to the Vatican as an official in the Secretariat of State’s section for general affairs. In 2002, he became assessor for general affairs at the Secretariat, earning the trust of Benedict, who named him archbishop and then nuncio to Lebanon in 2009.

In 2017, Francis tapped him to be his representative in the Philippines, home to the more Catholics than any other country in Asia. His time as nuncio came as President Rodrigo Duterte prosecuted his “war on drugs,” which led to mass incarcerations and pushback from the Catholic hierarchy.

He was awarded the highest diplomatic honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Sikatuna, by the Filipino government for his work in the country.

In 2019, Francis sent Caccia to the U.N., taking over from Filipino Archbishop Bernardito C. Auza. In that role, Caccia spoke in support of nuclear disarmament, assisting poor nations and about the importance of the family in society.

“The state must guarantee the cohesion, unity, and organization of society to enable the common good to be achieved with the contribution of every citizen,” Caccia told the U.N. Commission for Social Development on Feb. 4.

Cardinal Pierre, who served as papal representative since in 2016, was instrumental in negotiating the sometimes tense relationship between Pope Francis and U.S. bishops. He took an active role in shaping the U.S. episcopacy under Francis, appointing papal allies in key positions, especially in cities considered to be far from the traditional centers of power.

“Cardinal Christophe Pierre has dedicated his life to being present to those he serves,” said Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, in an email to Religion News Service. “We have seen first-hand his fidelity to that calling in the eager way he has made himself available to our communities.

We have been blessed by his wisdom, wit, and witness to the Gospel. As we wish him well in the years ahead, we want him to know that he will be greatly missed.”

In 2021, as some U.S. bishops advocated barring President Joseph Biden from receiving Communion, Pierre called for unity, saying in a speech to the bishops that the Eucharist should not be reduced to a political weapon. He navigated the scandals surrounding ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was accused of sexually abusing minors and seminarians. At the time, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, his predecessor at the nunciature in the U.S., sent a scathing letter to Rome about the pope’s handling of McCarrick’s case, which became a catalyst of anti-Francis resistance among U.S. Catholics.

Pierre was also involved the laicization of rogue bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, who claimed that Francis was not the rightful pope and promoted conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and the Vatican.

“He found himself in an unprecedented situation: a political system allied with certain ecclesial circles that genuinely tried to take down Pope Francis,” Faggioli said, adding that “he managed Viganò. He managed McCarrick. He managed Trump.”

Pierre, a voice for unity and deescalation at a time of friction between conservative and Francis-leaning factions within the church, defended Francis despite his own center-right theological positions.

“Until now the problem was essentially internal: keeping the bishops under control,” he said, “Now the situation has changed.” With the political situation in the U.S. being increasingly unpredictable, it’s more important than ever to have a papal representative who can articulate Leo’s position in a credible and meaningful way, Faggioli said.

The new nuncio will have to be “in the image of Leo” — more discreet and unifying than Leo’s sometimes controversial predecessor, according to Faggioli.

“He needs much more discreet, behind-the-scenes channels,” he said. “That makes the role of the nuncio even more important,” he added.