MANILA–Pope Benedict XVI recently has appointed Italian Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto as the new apostolic nuncio to the Philippines.

Pinto will succeed Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams who has been reassigned to Greece.

The 59-year-old new Vatican aide is also a canon lawyer and linguist.

Italian born Pinto served also apostolic nuncio in Chile since 2007 and was previously in Senegal, Cape Verde, Mali, and Guinea-Bissau, and had been assigned as apostolic delegate to Mauritania.

The church official entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on May 1, 1984 and has also served in Papua New Guinea, Argentina, and the Secretariat of State in Vatican City.

According to church law, Pinto’s principal task is to make firm and effective bonds between the Pope and the heads of States, and the bishops.

Pinto will be the 16th in the line of Apostolic Delegates and Apostolic nuncios to the Philippines.

The new papal legate will also serve as the ambassador of the Holy See to the bishops of the Episcopal Conference and particular churches.