An Archbishop who presides over Catholics from Bermuda to the Cayman Islands visited the Island for the first time this week.

Since arriving late on Friday, US-born Archbishop Thomas Gullickson has already celebrated two Catholic Masses.

?I felt at home and am very much impressed by the lay people who I met after these two services,? Archibishop Gullickson said.

In the priesthood since 1976, the Archbishop spent eight years in diplomatic service in Germany, birthplace of former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

He met the Pope on two occasions and wrote several documents for Cardinal Ratzinger to sign. ?Depending on how well he read those things and if he noticed who signed them, he may have some idea who I am,? the Archbishop said.

The Archbishop explained that in the Caribbean region he is known as an Apostolic Nuncio and an Apostolic Delegate.

The two titles are distinguished by whether or not there is diplomatic status between each country and the Vatican.

?You have to be a sovereign state to enter into diplomatic relations and that is not an option for Bermuda,? he said. ?So technically speaking I am Apostolic Delegate here.?

Catholic Bishop of Bermuda Robert Kurtz said: ?There is no special relationship between the Catholic church and the Bermuda Government. Maybe historically there was a relationship between the Government of Bermuda and the Anglican church but that would go back quite a few years in history.?

As part of his visit, the Archbishop will make ?courtesy calls? to Governor Sir John Vereker, Deputy Premier Ewart Brown and Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons.

?When you make courtesy calls everyone is on their best behaviour,? he said.

He said the calls were part of his learning about Bermuda.

Another part of his job is to embrace the interests of the Holy See.

?The Catholic Church in international law is referred to as the Holy See,? he said.

He said ?See? is an antique word for seat, so the Holy See, means literally the seat upon which St. Peter sat, or now the Pope.

The Archbishop now lives in Port-of Spain, Trinidad.

?They tried to decide between Barbados and Trinidad of the hub or centre of the area of responsibility and the decision went in favour of Trinidad because there is a larger Catholic population there. So everything between Bermuda and the Cayman Islands ? it?s all mine.?

He said there was a little bit of confusion about Pope Benedict?s negative statements on the Harry Potter books.

?These are old statements he made in 2003 in response to a woman who wrote to him in 2003 to bring up her concerns about the Harry Potter books,? he said. ?Whether he prepared the response himself or just signed it is another question.?

But he said a Jesuit priest who knows the Pope pretty well said the Pope had probably never read a Harry Potter book.

?It was not a new statement or stance in terms of the Harry Potter books,? he said. ?I read the first one myself and I kind of enjoyed it.?