Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro New papal envoy for India

New papal envoy for India
CAMIL PARKHE | Sunday, 22 January 2017 AT 03:49 PM IST
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Pune: Pope Francis has appointed Italian archbishop Giambattista Diquattro as the Apostolic Nuncio, Vatican's new envoy to India and Nepal.

The formal announcement was made made in Vatican on Saturday evening.  The news was conveyed to the Catholic church hierarchy in India by Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas (SFX), secretary general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.

The 62-year-old archbishop Diquattro will replace Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio who was transferred to Poland as Apostolic Nuncio in August last year.

Archbishop Diquattro was earlier the Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia.  He had joined the Holy See's diplomatic service in 1985 and later served at missions in the pontifical representations in various countries. He was ?appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Panama in  2005 and was ordained a bishop two months later.  He ?was transferred to Bolivia as Apostolic Nuncio in 2008, where he has served until now.

He is fluent in French, Spanish and English.

The pope who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the world is also the head of the Vatican City state. The Apostolic Nuncios therefore serve in dual capacities as the pope's ambassador to various countries and also serve as the link between the Holy See and the Catholic Church in the respective countries. The Catholic Church selects some priests for its diplomatic service and who are later deputed to various countries as the pope's ambassadors. Knowledge of various languages including Latin is a perquisite for being the envoys of the global Catholic Church.

Incidentally, Mumbai's Cardinal Ivan Dias who has retired and is now based in Rome, had also served as a Vatican envoy to various countries.    

Welcome
Fr Malcolm Sequeira, Vicar General of Pune Diocese, has welcomed appointment of the Vatican's new envoy and said that with his rich experience in diplomatic service, Archbishop Diquattro will contribute well for the church in the country. 

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