The new dean of the diplomatic corps, following the death at the weekend of the Papal Nuncio Luciano Storero, is the Mexican ambassador, Daniel Dultzin. He takes over the position, which carries considerable status, as the longest serving ambassador in Ireland. He will be ousted shortly, however, because the new Apostolic Nuncio will automatically replace him the minute he arrives.
In Ireland, as in some other - mainly Catholic - countries, the representative of the Pope is always granted the position of senior diplomat, regardless of length of appointment to a particular country. When Dick Spring was Minister for Foreign Affairs there were suggestions that, being vaguely left wing, he might abolish this link between church and State by instituting the more general custom, whereby the longest-serving ambassador in a country is the dean of the corps. Nothing was done, however, and since the issue is unlikely to engage popular debate, it appears nothing will be done.
So what automatic privileges will the new Nuncio, who, given the way the Vatican moves, may not arrive for months, enjoy? Well, as dean he will be invited to all the major State occasions and be placed at the top table at State banquets, he will read the Christmas greetings to the President on behalf of the corps and he has to organise the farewells for departing ambassadors. More importantly, he liaises with the Department of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the corps.
The new ambassador from the Holy See will certainly be male and most probably an Italian. An Irish Apostolic Nuncio is a rare thing, but next month such a prelate is being appointed by the Vatican as its representative in Burundi. Monsignor Michael Courtney of Nenagh, previously based at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, will be ordained an archbishop in his home town, in the presence of Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, and then he is off to Africa to represent the Pope.