– Sat Jan 15, 11:55 am ET
VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI named Saturday Nobel laureate Werner Arber, a Protestant, to head the Vatican's scientific academy, the first time a non-Catholic is heading the centuries-old body.
The 81-year old Swiss microbiologist will succeed Italian Nicola Cabibbo, who died in August, to lead the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced in a press release.
The nomination of a non-Catholic head is the first in the history of the academy founded in 1603, according to I.Media, a news agency that specialises in religious information.