Pope Francis has appointed a Nigerian Priest of the Catholic Diocese of Abia State and Apostolic Nuncio to the Antilles, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu as the Permanent Observer of the Holy See, the Vatican to the United Nations Office and Specialised Institutions in Geneva.
Archbishop Nwachukwu was also nominated by the Pope as permanent Observer to the World Trade Organisation, (WTO) and the Representative of the Vatican to the International Migrations Organisation (IOM).
The appointments were contained in a press release by the Office of the Antilles Episcopal Conference Secretariat, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, December 17, where Archbishop Nwachukwu is currently serving as Apostolic Nuncio.
Before now, Nwachukwu was transferred from Nicaragua to the current Mission in Trinidad and Tobago on November 4, 2017, and assumed office on March 19, 2018. Based on the new appointment Archbishop Nwachukwu would still remain in charge of the Mission in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and Antilles, until he leaves for the new mission at the United Nations at the beginning of March 2022.
The bishop was born on May 10, 1960 in Umuokoro, Eziama-Ntigha, in Isia-Ala Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State, South East Nigeria. He was ordained a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Aba, in Abia State, on 17 June, 1984.