Vatican City, Jun 30, 2010 / 12:15 pm
There was really only one surprise in the whirlwind of appointments and resignations at the Vatican on Wednesday. Few people, if anyone, expected the Holy Father's appointment of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, until now the Holy See's permanent observer to the U.N., as the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland.
Archbishop Migliore was born in Cuneo, Italy on July 1, 1952 and was ordained to the priesthood in June 1977. In 1980 he entered into the Holy See's diplomatic corps, carrying out roles at pontifical missions in Angola, the U.S., Egypt and Poland.
He was sent to the Council of Europe in 1992 as the Holy See's special envoy, was named sub-secretary of the "relations with states" section of the Vatican's Secretariat of State in 1995 and, in 2002, was appointed as the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations.
He was made archbishop on Jan. 6, 2003 because of his appointment to serve as the observer at the U.N.