On September 7, 2021, the Holy See Press Office announced the appointment of Mons. Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, LC, as President of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City and President of the Governorship of the State of Vatican City.
Mons. Fernando Vérgez was already serving as Secretary General of the Governorship since August 2013. On November 15 of the same year, Pope Francis ordained him a bishop in St. Peter’s Basilica.
His career
Born in Salamanca, Spain, on March 1, 1945, he entered the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and was ordained a priest on November 26, 1969. In the Holy See, he began his service on August 1, 1972, in the then Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, where he later served as the private secretary to the prefect, Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio. In 1984, Saint John Paul II appointed Cardinal Pironio as Prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and Fr. Fernando Vérgez continued working in service of the cardinal in this dicastery. In June 2004, he was appointed head of the Holy See’s Internet Department, a position he held until 2008 when he was appointed Director of the Telecommunications Department of the Governorship of the State of Vatican City. On August 30, 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Secretary General of the Governorship, and on September 8, 2021, he received the assignment to serve as President.
Mons. Fernando Vérgez has served the Holy See for nearly 50 years and during five papacies. He accepted this new appointment, echoing the words he said at his first Mass as a bishop on November 16, 2013: “It comforts me to know that it is God who calls, that it is God who sends, His love is at the origin of all things.” Fr. John Connor, General Director of the Legionaries of Christ, upon hearing the news of his new appointment, said: “Mons. Vérgez has worn himself out with generous dedication to the service of the Church over all these years. Accepting this new charge is yet another example of his availability, which fills us with joy.”
