Today, Pope John Paul II has appointed Msgr. Charles Daniel Balvo, counselor to the apostolic nunciature in Lithuania, as the new apostolic nuncio to New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga, Nauru, Kiribati, Palau, Cook Islands.

The new position will elevate Msgr. Balvo to the position of archbishop and make him apostolic delegate to the Pacific Ocean.

Archbishop-elect Balvo was born in New York, U.S.A., in 1951 and ordained to the priesthood in 1976.