By Brian Dryden, Canadian Catholic News

[Ottawa – CCN] – If there is one word to describe 2020 and the Catholic Church in Canada’s capital city – that word would be change.

The year 2020 has seen major changes within the Catholic Church in Ottawa as the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall merged with Ottawa to create the new Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast retired in December and Archbishop Marcel Damphousse held his first Mass as the new spiritual leader of Ottawa’s Catholics on Dec. 8, and now there is another major change within the Church that will take place just before the end of year.

The Holy See’s official representative to Canada – who is based in Ottawa – is leaving. Pope Francis announced Dec. 10 that Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi will be transferred to a new posting as Apostolic Nuncio in Albania.

News item: Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi ends mission in Canada

Archbishop Bonazzi, 72, was appointed as Nuncio to Canada in December 2013 and has represented the Holy See in Ottawa as the Pope’s ambassador to Canada for seven years, a relatively long time for such a posting.

Msgr. Matjaz Roter, who is First Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Canada, said the change to the Holy See’s diplomatic representative in Canada will officially take place Dec. 27 when Archbishop Bonazzi leaves Canada. Who will take Bonazzi’s place as the Nuncio to Canada has not yet been announced.

“That is the big question,” said Roter in an interview with the Canadian Catholic News.

As the highest ranking diplomatic staff member of the Apostolic Nunciature in Canada, Roter will be the senior Holy See diplomat in Canada as of Dec. 27 until Pope Francis names Archbishop Bonazzi’s successor.

Roter said Bonazzi did not ask to change his post, but that the change is not necessarily unexpected.

“Is it sudden, yes, but was it expected, maybe yes because the Nuncio has been here for seven years and that is a long time,” Roter said, adding that Archbishop Bonazzi has written personal letters to all Catholic bishops in Canada and to all Catholic organizations in Canada once he learned that he would be leaving before the end of the year.

The news that Archbishop Bonazzi would be leaving Canada at this time came as a surprise to some of those in the Catholic Church in Ottawa who have worked most closely with Bonazzi during his time as Nuncio.

“His appointment to Albania was a surprise,” said Archbishop Prendergast, who worked closely with Bonazzi when he was Ottawa’s archbishop.

“The Holy Father has just given them a wonderful Christmas present,” said Prendergast of Bonazzi’s move to Albania.

Earlier this month when Prendergast held his final Mass as Ottawa-Cornwall archbishop on Dec. 3, Bonazzi attended and spoke at the service at Ottawa’s Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Prendergast told the Canadian Catholic News that he always appreciated Bonazzi’s support during his time as Nuncio to Canada.

“When I wrote my Christmas greetings to Archbishop Bonazzi I said I would miss him, that is his joy, his positive outlook on life — amid the difficulties for the Church — and his enthusiastic support of the Pope and his brother bishops,” Prendergast said, adding that as the Pope’s representative to Canada Bonazzi always respected other people’s opinions.

“The outcome of my views on certain issues were not always according to my recommendations or preferences, but I always felt heard and my opinions respected,” Prendergast said.

“That’s important in the Church. Invariably I have come away from our exchanges lifted up in consolation,” Prendergast said, adding that one of Bonazzi’s favourite scripture passages is Romans 8.28, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.”

Before his appointment as Nuncio to Canada, Bonazzi, who is from Italy and was first ordained as a priest in 1973, served at different times as the Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, Cuba, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. He joined the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1980 and has also been involved in diplomatic missions in Cameroon, Trinidad and Tobago, Malta, Mozambique, Spain and the United States.

Bonazzi was Canada’s eighth Apostolic Nuncio, replacing Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana when he was appointed as Nuncio to Canada in 2013.

With files from the Canadian Catholic News