ARCHBISHOP Eamon Martin has welcomed the announcement by Pope Francis of the new Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland.
Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor (66) will leave his current role as Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia to become the papacy's diplomatic representative in Ireland.
He succeeds Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo who currently serves as papal nuncio in Prague.
Originally from Buenos Aires in Argentina, he has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1991.
He has previously served as the Apostolic Nuncio to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2015 to 2018 and to Senegal, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, as well as Apostolic Delegate to Mauritania from 2008 to 2015.
President of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Primate of All Ireland, Archbisop Martin, said: "I very much welcome today’s news that Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor as Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland.
"I pray God’s blessings on Archbishop Mariano and look forward to meeting with him when he takes up his appointment in Ireland in the near future."
