Louis-Joseph Auréglia
Louis-Joseph Auréglia (born 10 April 1955) is a French-Monegasque prelate of the Avignon Roman Catholic Church and a Venaissin diplomat. He has been the Apostolic Chancellor of the Sovereign Patriarchate since the election of Pope Ignatius in 2013. Before that he served in the Venaissin diplomatic service, and was its head from 2008 to 2013 as the Secretary for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, essentially the foreign minister. Auréglia is nicknamed "the Venaissin Kissinger" and is considered to be an important advisor to Pope Ignatius, especially in the field of international affairs. His past diplomatic postings included as Apostolic Nuncio to Manitoba and to France, and as the Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Patriarchate to the Conference of American States.
| His Eminence Louis-Joseph Auréglia | |
|---|---|
| Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church | |
 | |
| In office | March 13, 2013 |
| Predecessor | Dennis van Huesden |
| Other posts | Titular Patriarch of Antioch |
| Orders | |
| Ordination |
16 June 1979 by Jean-Jacques Davout |
| Consecration |
28 October 1994 by Victor Antonin |
| Created Cardinal |
25 July 2008 by Pope Urban IX |
| Rank | Cardinal-Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 10, 1955 Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Nationality | French and Monegasque (with Sovereign Patriarchate citizenship) |
| Motto | Voluntatem Dei ex animo ("The will of God from the heart") |
| Styles of Louis-Joseph Auréglia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Arcadiopolis in Europa (titular see) |
He has been a diplomat for the Sovereign Patriarchate since 1983 and has held offices in Europe and the Americas, while also having worked to expand the influence of the Avignon Catholic Church in parts of the Global South where traditionally the Church in Rome has had a much larger presence. Auréglia has been described as an advocate of realpolitik, being in favor of negotiations with the Roman Church as well as cooperation with conservative political movements in various countries. Since being appointed as the Secretary of Pontifical Commission for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in 2008 by Pope Urban IX, and later as Apostolic Chancellor in 2013 by Pope Ignatius, he has led the Venaissin diplomatic corps to take a larger role in global diplomacy. Notably, he attempted to improve relations between the Sovereign Patriarchate and the United Commonwealth in order to increase contacts between Avignon and the Catholics in that country, becoming the first Avignon Catholic senior official to meet with a high-ranking Continental official in June 2021 when he met with People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Miguel Ignazio. In addition, he participated in negotiations in Syria for a peace deal between the Syrian opposition and the Western-backed government amidst the Syrian Civil War in late 2021 and attempts in 2022 to arrange a meeting between Ignatius and Francis to work towards ending the Avignon-Roman schism in the Catholic Church.
Early life
Born in 1955 in Monte Carlo, his family moved to France when he was a child and he later studied at the Avignon University and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, earning a doctorate utroque iure (in both canon law and civil law). Louis-Joseph Auréglia was ordained a priest on 16 January 1979, and entered the Venaissin City diplomatic service in 1983. In addition to French, he also speaks fluent Italian, Spanish, German, and English.
Diplomatic service
Between 1983 and 1991 he served as a secretary at the apostolic nunciatures to Switzerland, Norway, the Antilles, and Astoria. The latter posting gave him diplomatic contacts and knowledge of the political workings of the Conference of American States, as the headquarters of the organization is in Seattle. Auréglia briefly met Sierran Prime Minister Ted Brundy during a reception that included foreign diplomats, while the prime minister was in Seattle to give a speech to the American Parliament. From 1991 to 1995 he worked at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Sovereign Patriarchate to the League of Nations in Geneva and became involved with negotiations regarding the Ethiopian Civil War, helping bring about a ceasefire in 1995 in the aftermath of Operation Storm along with other diplomatic and LN officials. Auréglia also began working towards expanding the Sovereign Patriarchate's contacts with countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that had significant Catholic populations, which largely recognized the Holy See in Rome during the Cold War as they saw it as more aligned with the liberation movement against colonialism. He was described at the time by the British ambassador to the LN John Shaw as "a promising diplomat ... exceptionally able and brilliant."
In 1996 Auréglia was appointed to his first high-level diplomatic office, as Apostolic Nuncio to Manitoba, which he held until 2001. While there he became associated with conservative politics because of his frequent statements criticizing the Liberal Party, and meeting on one occasion with leading figures of the two other major parties, Bloc Manitobain and the Conservative Party of Manitoba. In 2001 he was appointed as Nuncio to France, considered to be among the most important postings in the Sovereign Patriarchate's diplomatic service, and remained there until 2005. He later described his main concerns while in Paris as dealing with the growing secularism in French society over the past decade and pro-Roman sentiment among some French Catholics, having arrived there a year after the end of the French Socialist Party administration of Victor Andreoni. Auréglia became the Permanent Representative of the Sovereign Patriarchate to the Conference of American States in 2005, heading the Permanent Observer Mission to the CAS. During that time he met with leaders of the American Conservative Coalition and sought to promote Catholic influence there to prevent what he saw as a trend toward secularism and the abandonment of traditional Christianity by some conservative political leaders. On the diplomatic front, he worked to maintain the position of the Sovereign Patriarchate as the recognized one true church in Western Anglo-America and extending that to the Latin American member states of the CAS that still recognize the Catholic Church in Rome and the Holy See.
During his time as Permanent Observer to the CAS, in 2006 he attended the Conservative Action and Policy Summit (CAPS) summit where he gave a speech on the necessity of religion, stating during the speech that "it is impossible to be conservative without being religious." He also met with and was interview by James Kastle, a leading Superian Evangelical pastor, at the CAPS summit and at other political events held in support of the United Conservative Party of Superior, speaking with him about the necessity of cooperation between conservative Protestants and Avignon Roman Catholics in Anglo-America. After the 2008 Sierran federal election he controversially promoted conspiracy theories in conservative media that the election was "rigged" in certain provinces against the Royalist and Christian Democratic party candidates, leading the Government of Sierra led by Prime Minister Steven Hong from the Democratic-Republicans to send a formal note of protest to the Sovereign Patriarchate in Avignon against "meddling in Sierran domestic politics by the Church." Despite this, towards the end of 2008 he was appointed by Pope Urban IX as Cardinal Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, essentially the foreign minister of the Venaissin City State and the Sovereign Patriarchate.