Rome, Italy, Sep 21, 2013 / 05:14 am
Monsignor Leo Cushley, who will be consecrated a bishop and installed as Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh on Saturday, Sept. 21, said Pope Francis has personally encouraged him in his new calling.
Msgr. Cushley is a priest of the Motherwell diocese in Scotland, but has served as a Holy See diplomat, heading the Vatican state department's English-language section. He has collaborated closely with both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI, assisting with the visits of heads of state to the Vatican and with papal visits to English-speaking countries.
"Just recently, I came down to do my job and he (Pope Francis) called me in and instead of me doing my job, he sat me down and we talked. For the first time I perceived something about him, which was that here before me was a man of pastoral experience as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and he brings that with him," Msgr. Cushley told CNA in a September interview.
"And, as he talked to me about what I would face in Edinburgh, he was doing this with the heart of a man who had been there before me. And it was very touching, very moving, and very useful, because he was a man of great pastoral experience on the ground."