Vatican ambassador to India moved to Brazil

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Media Release
New Delhi, August 31, 2020: Pope Francis on August 29 transferred Apostolic Nuncio (Ambassador)  to India and Nepal Archbishop Giambattista  Diquattro to Brazil, South America. Immediately, a successor to Archbishop Diquattro has not been announced  said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India headquarters in New Delhi.   The 66-year-old Italian prelate came to India after serving as the apostolic nuncio to Bolivia, also in South America, for nine years.   He succeeded Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, who was the Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal for six years.

The outgoing nuncio, who was nominated to India on January 21, 2017, presented his credentials to the Indian president on March 29 and to the Nepal government on June 6 the same year.

Archbishop Diquattro was born on March 18, 1954, in Bologna, the capital and the largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy.

He was ordained priest on August 24, 1981, for Ragusa diocese in Italy. He was appointed apostolic nuncio to Panama on April 2, 2005, and was made an archbishop on the same day.

Archbishop Diquattro came to India amid excitement over the news of Pope Francis’ interest in visiting the country.

As he leaves after three years, there is hardly any such talk.

Archbishop Diquattro’s tenure has been a turbulent period for the Church in India. He was criticized for inaction in dealing with scandals involving bishops and priests in India. A laity group had demanded his resignation.

The Vatican has a nunciature in New Delhi while India has accredited its embassy in Bern, Switzerland, to the Holy See as well.

The Vatican-India bilateral relations was formally started on June 12, 1948, nearly a year after India became an independent nation.