Edward Joseph Adams

Adams was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA), on August 24, 1944.[1] After his elementary education in Catholic grammar schools, he attended St. Joseph's Preparatory School, Villanova University, and Philadelphia's St. Charles Theological Seminary. He was ordained a priest on May 16, 1970,[1] by John Joseph Cardinal Krol, the Archbishop of Philadelphia.

He graduated from the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy with a degree in canon law in 1976.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on March 8, 1976. He held positions in the office of the Secretary of State and in Rwanda, Kenya, Honduras, Ireland, Denmark and the Czech Republic.[1]

Adams was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh and Titular Archbishop of Scala, on August 24, 1996.[1] He was consecrated on October 23 of that year by Angelo Cardinal Sodano, the Papal Secretary of State. His principal co-consecrators were Anthony Joseph Cardinal Bevilacqua and John Patrick Cardinal Foley.

After six years as Papal Representative in Bangladesh, Adams was named Nuncio to Zimbabwe on August 22, 2002,[1] and on September 3, 2007, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.[2]

On February 22, 2011, he was appointed papal nuncio to Greece[3] and on April 8, 2017, he was named to replace Archbishop Antonio Mennini as Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.[4][5][6] Though his title named Great Britain, his role was that of ambassador to the United Kingdom, though he played no role with respect to the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland.[7]

It was reported in February 2019 that Archbishop Adams received repeated requests to provide information to the UK's Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (ICSA). The Nuncio did send a response via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office because that was the appropriate channel.[8] Later, on October 5, 2019, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was quoted by a London-based Catholic international weekly review saying that the Holy See told it (ICSA) that "the domestic laws and internal proceedings of a foreign sovereign entity are not the proper object for a British inquiry".[9]

Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Nuncio to Great Britain on January 31, 2020.[10]

• Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog, July 23, 1993.
• Grand Cross ('Μεγαλόσταυρος'), Order of the Phoenix (Greece), May 16, 2017.[11]