Diarmuid Martin - Work For The Holy See

Work For The Holy See

In 1976, Martin began to work in the service of the Holy See for the Pontifical Council for the Family. He later worked on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, being appointed the Under Secretary in 1986 and the Secretary in 1994. On 6 January 1999 he was ordained as Titular Bishop of Glendalough by Pope John Paul II. On 17 January 2001, he was appointed Titular Archbishop of the same diocese. This marked his appointment as the Holy See Permanent Observer in Geneva, at the United Nations Office and Specialised Agencies and at the World Trade Organisation. It was in this capacity that he represented the Holy See at various UN conferences, including the International Conference on Population and Development. He led the delegations of the Holy See to the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (Doha, 2001), the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

During the 1990s, Diarmuid Martin represented the Holy See at major United Nations International Conferences, spoke about the Church's teachings on social matters at a variety of Bishop Conferences, and was a member of various Vatican Offices, including the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. Also, he was involved in discussions between the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church as well as the World Faiths Development Dialogue. He also represented the views of the Holy See to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where he advocated for debt relief for less developed countries.