Pope Francis has named his representative in Iraq and Jordan to be the new nuncio to Cuba.
Italian Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, who turns 55 on 23 March, was named the Vatican's new ambassador to Cuba on Tuesday.
He has held the dual posts of nuncio to Jordan and to Iraq since late 2010.
Born in 1960 in the northern Italian town of Fossano, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1984. After earning a degree in canon law, he entered the Vatican's diplomatic service in 1992, working at nunciatures in the Ivory Coast and in Washington DC. After a term in the Vatican Secretariat of State, he served at nunciatures in Italy and then Serbia before Pope Benedict XVI named him an archbishop and nuncio to the two Middle Eastern countries.
Pope Francis was instrumental in the restoration of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba last year. He personally appealled to President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro to encourage both leaders to normalise diplomatic relations, a senior Obama administration official revealed.
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