Spiritual Leader of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Jean-Paul Gobel as Vatican's new nuncio to Iran.

Archbishop Gobel is to replace current Apostolic Nuncio to Iran Angelo Mottola.

The 65-year-old archbishop has formerly been the Apostolic Nuncio to Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Cape Verde and Nicaragua.

Archbishop Gobel was born in Thonon, France and ordained in 1969.

An Apostolic Nuncio is a permanent diplomatic representative of the Pope to a state or international organization, usually with the ecclesiastical rank of titular archbishop.

MP/JR/RE