Hailing from Bohol, Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza becomes the first Filipino to represent the Vatican before the United Nations
MANILA, Philippines, Rapler – A Filipino will represent Vatican City in the United Nations (UN) after Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza as the city-state's new permanent representative to the organization.
Francis plucked Auza from his current post as the Vatican's apostolic nuncio (ambassador) to Haiti, Vatican Radio reported Tuesday, July 1.
A native of Talibon in Bohol, Auza becomes the first Filipino to represent the Vatican before the UN.
He replaces Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, an Indian-born prelate, who became the Vatican's permanent representative to the UN in 2010 under Pope Benedict XVI.
Auza's new job as permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN requires him to follow “attentively and with interest the work of the United Nations Organization.”
“In this forum, the Holy See Mission communicates the centuries’ experience of the Catholic Church to humanity, and places this experience at the disposal of the United Nations to assist it in its realization of peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance,” said the official website of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN.
