GHS graduate appointed to Vatican Secretariat of State

From the hallways of Guthrie High School to now being appointed as the highest ranking American in the Vatican Secretariat of State and an ambassador to South Africa and Botswana. That has been the path for Msgr. Peter Bryan Wells.

Msgr. Wells, who was known as ‘Pete’ during his time in Guthrie, was announced by The Vatican as nuncio on Tuesday, which noted that the Pope has also elevated him to the rank of archbishop. He is now the fifth ranking official in the Vatican’s Secretary of State.

Msgr. Wells, whose family moved to Guthrie in 1979 where they continue to live, was born in Tulsa and studied at St. Meinrad Seminary College in Indiana obtaining a degree in Letters, before being sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome to study theology.

In 1991, Wells, 52, was ordained as a priest for the Diocese in Tulsa and in 1996 he was called to Rome. He entered the diplomatic service in 1999 and for the past nearly seven years has served as assessor, or chief of staff, to the pope. In 2009, he was named assessor for general affairs.

“I am extremely humbled and honored by the faith which has been placed in me by the Church and our Holy Father, especially in this Year of Mercy,” Msgr. Wells said in a statement. “I ask for your prayers as I prepare to embark upon this mission to the extraordinary people of southern Africa.”