Archbishop Francis Assisi Chullikat hailing from south Indian state Kerala has been named by Pope Benedict XVI as Vatican's permanent observer at the United Nations, Church officials said here on
Sunday.
He replaces Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who was recently posted by the Vatican as Apostolic Nuncio to Poland, they said.
Archbishop Chullikat, 57, is a member of the Bolghatty St Sebastian's diocese under the Varapuzha Archdiocese. He was ordained as priest in 1978 and left for Rome in 1981 for higher studies. He was elevated as Archbishop in 2006.
He had been serving as envoy of Vatican in Iraq and Jordan. He had also served in Honduras, Philippines and South Africa as envoy of Vatican, they said.