Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Tomasz Grysa as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, succeeding Archbishop Luigi Bianco, who was transferred in May 2025 to serve as Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia.
The appointment was officially announced on Thursday by Rev. Fr. Georges Kwami Kouwonou, Chargé d’Affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Kampala.
Archbishop Grysa, an experienced diplomat of the Holy See, has until now served as Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, Seychelles, and Mauritius, while also serving as Apostolic Delegate to Comoros and Réunion.
Born on October 16, 1970, in Poznań, Poland, Grysa was ordained a priest for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Poznań in 1995 before later earning a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
He joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2001 and has since served in Vatican diplomatic missions across several countries, including Russia, India, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, and at the Holy See’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
In 2022, Pope Francis appointed him Titular Archbishop of Rubicon and Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, alongside additional assignments to Comoros and Réunion. Further appointments followed in 2023 when he was named nuncio to Seychelles and Mauritius.
Fluent in multiple languages including Polish, Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, Archbishop Grysa is expected to bring extensive diplomatic and pastoral experience to his new role in Kampala.
The Apostolic Nuncio serves as the Pope’s personal representative to both the Ugandan government and the Catholic Church in the country, holding diplomatic rank equivalent to that of an ambassador.
Uganda and the Holy See formally established diplomatic relations in 1966, shortly after Uganda’s independence. Since then, the Vatican has maintained a strong diplomatic and pastoral presence in the country through successive nuncios.
Among previous papal representatives to Uganda are Archbishop Amelio Poggi, Archbishop Luigi Bellotti, Archbishop Henri Lemaître, Archbishop Karl-Josef Rauber, Archbishop Luis Robles Díaz, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, Archbishop Michael August Blume, and Archbishop Luigi Bianco.
The appointment of Archbishop Grysa marks a new chapter in the long-standing relationship between Uganda and the Holy See, with expectations that he will strengthen ties between the Vatican, the Ugandan state, and the country’s Catholic faithful.
