The most senior Irishman in the Vatican, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has been appointed Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations and Specialised Institutions in Geneva, and to the World Trade Organisation. He also becomes an Archbishop, with the title Titular Archbishop of Glendalough.
The Catholic Primate, Dr Sean Brady, said he was "delighted". Archbishop Martin had done "outstanding work" in Rome which meant he was "ideally prepared" for "this important post".
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, took "very great pleasure in the appointment of a bishop from the Dublin archdiocese to a post of such great responsibility in the service of the Holy See".
Dr Martin was born in Dublin in 1945. He attended the Oblate School, Inchicore, the De La Salle Brothers, Ballyfermot, and Marian College, Ballsbridge. He studied at Clonliffe and was ordained in 1969.
In 1975 he took charge of the Diocesan Office for the Holy Year in Rome. He served with the Pontifical Council for the Family in Rome from 1976 and in 1986 began with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, of which he became secretary in 1994.
He was a senior member of Vatican delegations to international conferences at Rio de Janeiro (1992), Cairo (1994), Beijing (1995), Istanbul (1996), and Rome (1997). He also led delegations at the World Conference for Social Development in Copenhagen (1995) and at the UNCTAD IX gathering in Midrand, South Africa.
He has sponsored meetings on international debt between the World Bank, the IMF, and the Council for Latin American Bishops' Conferences.
