Edgar Robinson Peña Parra (born 6 March 1960) is a VenezuelanRoman Catholicarchbishop. Pope Francis named him Substitute for the Secretariat of State on 15 August 2018, effective 15 October, making him the highest ranking Venezuelan in the Roman Curia.[1][a] He joined the diplomatic corps of the Holy See in 1993, serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Pakistan from 2011 to 2015 and to Mozambique from 2015 to 2018. He is the first Venezuelan to serve as an apostolic nuncio.[2]
He is fluent in Spanish, Italian, English, French, Portuguese and Serbo-Croatian.[3]
Early years
Edgar Peña Parra was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on 6 March 1960 and raised in the El Saladillo neighborhood. He earned a degree in philosophy in 1981 at the seminary of the Diocese of San Cristóbal and then a bachelor's degree in theology at the seminary in Caracas.[1] He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Maracaibo on 23 August 1985 by Archbishop Domingo Roa Pérez [es].[4]
In Rome beginning in 1986, he studied diplomacy at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and in 1993 he earned a degree in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University with the thesis: "Los Derechos Humanos en el Sistema Interamericano a la luz del Magisterio Pontifical",[1] which, Crux reports, "has become a reference point for the study of human rights".[5]
Diplomat
Peña Parra joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 April 1993. He fulfilled assignments in Kenya, Yugoslavia (1997–99), South Africa, Honduras (2002–05), and Mexico (2006–11), with a brief stint in the office of the Holy See's representative to the United Nations in Geneva.[1][6] In Kenya, he represented the Holy See on housing and environmental issues with agencies of the United Nations.[1] In his last assignment before being promoted to nuncio, Parra worked in the Apostolic Nunciature to Mexico first under Giuseppe Bertello and then Christophe Pierre.[1][7]
On 21 February 2015, Pope Francis appointed Peña Parra Apostolic Nuncio to Mozambique.[9] In 2016 he joined the group of mediators trying to restore peace between the government of Mozambique and the opposition political party Renamo.[10]
Substitute for General Affairs
Peña Parra was appointed Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State on 15 August 2018, effective 15 October.[11] He is the second Latin American to hold that position, following the Argentine Leonardo Sandri, who was substitute from 2000 to 2007.[12]
In 2023, Peña Parra admitted that he authorized electronic surveillance of the director of the Vatican bank, without legal authorization. He ordered the surveillance because he wanted information about the “anomalous attitude” of directors who had refused an application from the Secretariat of State for a loan.[13][14]
Testifying before the High Court of England and Wales on 4 July 2024, Peña Parra stated that he willingly signed off on fraudulent invoices he knew were "completely fictitious" involving Vatican investment properties in London.[15]
In September 2024 Archbishop Peña Parra issued an order trying to reinstate a former priest, Ariel Alberto Príncipi, convicted of child sexual abuse by two interdiocesan tribunals in Argentina. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s ArchbishopJohn Joseph Kennedy nullified the attempt and declared the case closed.[16]
Writings
Peña Parra, Edgar Robinson (1993). Los Derechos Humanos en el Sistema Interamericano a la luz del Magisterio Pontificio.
^The only other Venezuelan to hold a senior curial position was Cardinal Rosalio José Castillo Lara, who held several senior positions between 1975 and 1997.[1]
^The announcement of the title without a change of assignment, suggesting at first that he was remaining in Mexico even though the current nuncio to Mexico had not yet been reassigned, apparently resulted from some confusion in the Holy See Press Office. Appointments were awaiting approval from foreign governments even as Peña's episcopal consecration was already scheduled.[1]
