Vatican Secretary of State Gallagher visits Austria

Vienna, November 22, 2023 (KAP) The Vatican’s “Secretary of State”, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher (69 years old), is visiting Austria this week. There are three political appointments in his visit program on the morning of Friday, November 24: The Papal Secretary for Relations with States will meet with Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. Discussions are then scheduled to take place with Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and then with Education Minister Susan Raab. On Friday afternoon, the Archbishop of the Curia will participate in the meeting of the General Secretaries of the Central European Bishops’ Conference. The Secretary General of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, Peter Shipka, confirmed this to Cathapress on Wednesday.

As part of his visit to Austria, Archbishop Gallagher will also meet with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn on Saturday. During his stay he lives in the Nunciature in Vienna, the official residence of Archbishop Pedro López Quintana.

Representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary are participating in the meeting of the General Secretaries of the Bishops’ Conferences. The first such meeting was held in Vienna in 2017 at the initiative of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference.

Archbishop Curial Gallagher, born on 23 January 1954 in Liverpool, has been at the head of the Second Department of the Cardinal Secretariat of State since the end of 2014 as “Secretary for Relations with States”. The Briton, appointed to the position by Pope Francis, is largely responsible for Vatican foreign policy. The second department of the Vatican’s main authority is responsible for the Holy See’s diplomatic relations with other countries. This section regulates, among other things, the conclusion of similar agreements and treaties as well as the representation of the Holy See in international organizations and conferences.