VZCZCXRO7822
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBC RUEHBZ RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHDU
RUEHFL RUEHGI RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHPW RUEHRN RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHROV #0024 0250852
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250852Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0637
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0004
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0007
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0665

UNCLAS VATICAN 000024 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINR KISL SU VT
SUBJECT: HOLY SEE:  NEW NUNCIO TO SUDAN 
 
REF: VATICAN 0012 
 
¶1.    Pope Benedict XVI has appointed 53 year-old career 
diplomat, Monsignor Leo Boccardi, as papal nuncio in Sudan. 
Boccardi replaces Archbishop Dominique Mamberti who became 
Secretary for Relations with States (i.e., foreign minister) 
 
SIPDIS 
last September.  To date, Boccardi has been serving as the Holy 
See's representative at the OSCE in Vienna. He was concurrently 
accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the 
United Nations Organization for Industrial Development, and the 
other UN offices in the Austrian capital. Boccardi will be made 
an archbishop prior to taking up his position in Khartoum. 
 
¶2.    Boccardi was born in San Martino di Pensilis in southern 
Italy on April 15, 1953. After theological studies, he was 
ordained a priest in 1979 and assigned to the diocese of 
Termoli-Larino.  Boccardi entered the Holy See's prestigious 
diplomatic school, the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, in 
1984 and began his service as a diplomat in 1987.  He has served 
as the Holy See's missions in Uganda, Papua New Guinea and 
Belgium.  After a period of service at the Second Section of the 
Secretariat of State (Foreign Ministry) in Vatican City, 
 
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Boccardi was appointed to his present position in 2001.  The new 
nuncio speaks Italian, English, German and French. 
 
¶3.    Comment. Sudan, and in particular the humanitarian crisis 
in Darfur, is high on the Holy See's foreign policy agenda. 
Pope Benedict XVI made a pointed reference to the region in his 
January 8th "State of the World" address to the diplomatic corps 
accredited to the Holy See (reftel), decrying the international 
community's failure - "powerless for almost four years" - to 
protect the population and achieve a political solution. 
Another key issue for Boccardi when he takes up his appointment 
will be the systematic denial of religious liberty to Christians 
and other non-Muslims by the Khartoum government. End comment. 
 
SANDROLINI