Former Vatican ambassador to Turkey and Taiwan named assistant bishop in Detroit

A former Vatican ambassador to Turkey and Taiwan who grew up in Michigan and has served in countries around the world will become the next assistant bishop in the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, Pope Francis announced Monday.

Starting in July, Archbishop Paul Fitzpatrick Russell will become one of five auxiliary bishops in the Archdiocese, which includes more than 1 million Catholics in six counties in southeastern Michigan. There are an additional two retired auxiliary bishops.

Russell, 63, has served as a diplomat helping to represent the Catholic Church around the world, including in Turkey, Taiwan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Nigeria and Turkmenistan, according to a biography from the Archdiocese of Detroit and previous media reports.

In 2008, Pope Benedict named Russell as chargé d’affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Taiwan, which means he was effectively the Vatican's ambassador to the small Asian nation. The Vatican doesn't have official relations with mainland China.

Russell was ambassador to Taiwan for eight years, working to "help the relationships between the Holy See, Taiwan and the mainland," he said in a 2016 story in the Boston Pilot, a Catholic newspaper.

In 2016, Pope Francis appointed Russell as apostolic nuncio to Turkey and Turkmenistan. He was given the title of archbishop that same year. In 2018, Pope Francis added Azerbaijan to the nations to which he served as ambassador.

“I am so happy with Pope Francis’ decision to send me home and look forward to serving as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit and immersing myself in the mission and ministry of the local Church in southeast Michigan,” Russell said Monday in a statement from the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron said Russell's global experience will help enrich the local archdiocese.

"Having served the Church all over the world, Archbishop Russell brings to the Archdiocese of Detroit a valuable perspective of the universal Church and our mission to make joyful missionary disciples of all nations," Vigneron said in a statement.

Russell was born in Massachusetts. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother to her hometown of Alpena, Michigan, when he was in the third grade, according to the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Boston Pilot.

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He attended St. Bernard of Clairvaux elementary school and Alpena High School, then entered St. John's Seminary in Boston and was ordained as a priest in 1987. Russell served five years in parish ministry and one year as a personal secretary to the Cardinal Archbishop Bernard Law.

After studying in Rome at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and the Pontifical Gregorian University, he became a diplomat for the Catholic Church.

Russell's tenure as ambassador to Turkey and Taiwan came amid tense relations at times between the Vatican and Turkey and China.

China cut off relations with the Vatican in 1951. Pope Benedict visited Turkey in 2006, but was met with protests for comments he had made earlier about Islam; during his stay, he visited a mosque, only the second time in history a pope had visited an Islamic house of worship, according to media reports.

Years before Russell became ambassador to Turkey in 2016, he was working in Turkey for the Vatican in the Apostolic Nunciature from 2000 to 2002. He was visiting the U.S. at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Archdiocese of Detroit said.

"I was there at the time of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York," he told the Boston Pilot. "The world completely changed at that moment. We see the fruits of that now."

When he became ambassador, Turkey was facing in an influx of refugees from Iraq and Syria.

"Turkey is geographically in a difficult place in the world," he said in 2016. "The southern border is Syria, the so-called Islamic State, Iraq and Iran -- this is a tough neighborhood.  And yet, the Church's presence in Turkey is from the beginning of Christianity. Turkey is a land blessed by the presence of the Apostles and of many great saints."

Russell said in the statement from the Archdiocese of Detroit that he first met Vigneron 30 years ago. In 2016, Vigneron was one of the co-consecrators when he became archbishop at a ceremony in Boston.

"Archbishop Vigneron has shown me fraternal support on various occasions, and now his warm welcome to the Archdiocese is a source of special gratitude," Russell said.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Vatican Ambassador to Turkey named auxiliary bishop in Detroit