Auza was born on 10 June 1959, in Balintawak, Talibon, Bohol, Philippines,[2] the eighth of twelve children of Meliton Garcia Auza and Magdalena Polestico Cleopas. After preliminary education in Talibon, he entered the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran City. He then enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, where he obtained his Licentiate in Philosophy in 1981, Licentiate in Theology in 1986, and Masters in Education also in 1986.[3]
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 June 1990 and worked in Madagascar and the South Indian Ocean (1990–93), Bulgaria (1993–96), Albania (1997–98), the Secretariat of State in the Section for Relations with States (1999–2006), and the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the UN (2006–08).[2]
In October 2014 Auza called for a broad definition of the term “rule of law” that includes respect, dignity, and justice. The rule of law should be “both rationally and morally grounded upon the substantial principles of justice, including the inalienable dignity and value of every human person prior to any law or social consensus,” said Archbishop Berardito Auza, the nuncio, in a statement made during a committee meeting at the UN General Assembly. “As a consequence of the recognition of this dignity, those elements of fundamental justice such as respect for the principle of legality,” Archbishop Auza said, “the presumption of innocence and the right to due process.” Among nations, he added, the rule of law should mean “the paramount respect of human rights, equality of the rights of nations; and respect for international customary law, treaties … and other sources of international law. This definition, with its reference point in the natural law, sidesteps self-referential definitional frameworks and anchors the orientation of the rule of law within the ultimate and essential goal of all law, namely to promote and guarantee the dignity of the human person and the common good.”[7]
In the same speech, he noted the Vatican’s hope that “the alarming, escalating phenomenon of international terrorism, new in some of its expressions and utterly ruthless in its barbarity, be an occasion for a deeper and more urgent study on how to re-enforce the international juridical framework of a multilateral application of our common responsibility to protect people from all forms of unjust aggression.”[8]
His assignment to the OAS ended on 31 August 2019.[9]
