MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pope welcomes Argentina ambassador, appoints new camerlengo

French Cardinal Tauran as he announced the election of Pope Francis in 2013.

French clergyman who made the famous 'Habemus Papam' announcement when Francis was elected becomes the new person to be in charge of the Vatican in case of vacancy

 Pope Francis has received Argentina’s new ambassador to the Vatican Eduardo Valdes in a ceremony at the Holy See. A former Cabinet Chief at the Foreign Ministry during Rafael Bielsa's tenure, Valdés will be replacing Juan Pablo Cafiero who has held the position since 2008.

Before leaving Buenos Aires, Valdes told reporters state of relations between the national government and the Vatican “have never been so good” praising ties between President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Eduardo Valdes graduated from Buenos Aires University School Law and has MBA degrees in International Relations from the Universities of Murcia and Georgetown.

The Argentina-born Pope also Sunday named French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran as the new camerlengo (or chamberlain), the cardinal who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pontiff.

Tauran, 71, succeeds Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who turned 80 this month, the age when cardinals can no longer enter a conclave to elect a pope. Should the reigning pope pass away or resign, the camerlengo runs the ordinary affairs of the Vatican city-state during the so-called “sede vacante.”

It was Tauran, as a senior cardinal deacon, who said the words “Habemus Papam” (We have a pope) from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on the night of Francis' election on March 13, 2013 and then announced the name of the new pope to the world.