Thursday, January 24, 2013

Vatican Appoints First Ambassador to Malaysia

A year and a half after establishing diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Malaysia, Pope Benedict XVI named the United States Archbishop Joseph Marino as papal nuncio in this country. 

The first ambassador of the Holy See in Kuala Lumpur will be installed in the Nunciature capital, from which he also be in charge of the office for Timor Leste, according to a note released by Channel News Asia.

For years, Malaysia has been one of the few countries with no formal relations with the Vatican.

It has a population of 28 million people, of whom 2.5 million are Christians and of those, 850,000 are Catholics.

Meanwhile, Malaysian law prohibits proselytizing among Muslims, who make up 60 percent of its total population, but allows freedom of worship.