Pope Leo XIV appointed Mexican priest José Nahúm Jairo Salas Castañeda as the new coordinator of apostolic travel.
This was reported this June 21 the Secretary of State of the Holy See in a Publication in your X accountIndicating that Mons. José Nahum Jairo Salas Cassañeda is the official date of the section of the General Secretariat of the Secretariat of State.
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According to the publication in X, it was Mons. Edgar Parra Peña, substitute for the State Secretariat, who announced the designation after the angelus prayer.
The predecessor of Mons. Salas Castañeda in office, the Indian cardinal George Koovakad, was in charge of the coordination of papal travel since 2021, designated by Pope Francis, who created him Cardinal on December 7, 2024.
Francisco appointed Cardinal Koovakad Prefect of Dicastery for interreligious dialogue in January this year.
Who is the new coordinator of the apostolic trips of Pope Leo XIV?
According to the biographical review published For Vatican News, Mons. José Nahúm Jairo Salas Castañeda was born on July 11, 1978 in the town of Santa Clara, state of Durango, in northern Mexico. It is the last of 10 brothers, according to indica The blog of the parish of Santa Clara, in its hometown.
He received priestly ordination on December 4, 2008, as a presbyter of the Archdiocese of Durango.
He graduated in Canon Law at the Pontifical Latarenense University of Rome, and entered the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See on July 1, 2013.
It has been part of the pontifical representations in the Republic of Burundi, in Eastern Africa; in Iraq; and in Hungary.
According to Vatican News, Mons. Salas Castañeda participated in Pope Francis’s travel organization to Hungary in 2021 and 2023.
Among his recent responsibilities in the central office of Statistics of the Church, the Mexican priest has been in charge of the Pontifical Yearbook – publication that brings together every year key information of the Vatican and the Catholic Church worldwide -, which, according to the Vatican Information Website, will soon be digitized.
Reason for joy “for the entire Church in Mexico”
On its Facebook page, the Archdiocese of Durango assured That this appointment is “a great joy,” and asked the faithful to “pray for their great parcel.”
The Mexican Episcopate Conference (CEM) published a communicationensuring that “this appointment is a reason for gratitude to God and joy for the whole Church in Mexico, seeing recognized the delivery, preparation and testimony of a son of our land, formed in the faith and the service of the Universal Church from the Vatican diplomacy.”
“We pray for the Lord to accompany him in this new stage of his ministry and that, for his dedication, the trips of the Holy Father remain bridges of communion, peace and hope for the world,” added the CEM.
David Ramos
Graduate in Communication Sciences by the Private University of the North in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working in ACI Press, I am based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered the trips of Pope Francis to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.