On 15 February 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt and Delegate to the League of Arab States, his first diplomatic posting. He was one of the few nuncios not to have attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. According to the BBC, "The decision by the German-born pontiff has caused a stir. Vatican-watchers are trying to work out whether the move is a demotion, or recognition of the special talents of the archbishop." Fitzgerald said: "My background in Arabic and Islamic studies is probably considered useful at this moment for the development of relations with Egypt and the rest of the Islamic world." One Vatican correspondent called Fitzgerald's reassignment "[t]he Pope's worst decision so far" and his absence was noted by the press when Pope Benedict offended Muslims with his Regensburg lecture in September 2006. Fitzgerald's transfer proved to be part of Benedict's restructuring of curial departments to reorient interreligious discussions with non-Christians by uniting the role of president of the PCID with that of the Pontifical Council for Culture, a restructuring that Benedict initiated in March 2006 and reversed in June 2007.