By Matters India team
New Delhi: India’s new apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, arrived in New Delhi on February 16.
He was received at the airport by a team comprising officials of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and nunciature.
CBCI president Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, who led the team, offered the nuncio a bouquet, while Cardinal George Alencherry and Archbishop Anil Couto honored him with a shawl each, according to a CBCI press release.
This is Archbishop Diquattro’s first posting in an Asian country. He has served mostly in the Secretariat of State, in Italy and in Latin American countries.
The nuncio has revealed that he has only briefly visited Korea and Japan in the past.
The CBCI team says the nuncio impressed them with his simplicity, pleasantness, humor and “impressive knowledge of India.”
Archbishop Diquattro prepared for his India assignment by visiting Indian priests and nuns residing in colleges and religious communities in Rome.
The press release offered the nuncio the Indian Church’s prayers and support and wished him joy and happiness during his stay in the country.
The reception team at the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport also included CBCI secretary general Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad, Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas of Gurgaon and Monsignors Henryk M. Jagodzinski and Tuomo T. Vimpari from the nunciature.