<P> Formerly, the title (Apostolic) Internuncio denoted a papal diplomatic representative of the second class, corresponding to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary as a title for diplomatic representatives of states (cf . Article 14, par . 2 of the Vienna Convention). Before 1829, Internuncio was the title applied instead to the ad interim head of a mission when one Nuncio had left office and his replacement had not yet assumed it . </P> <P> A legate a latere is a temporary papal representative or a representative for a special purpose . </P> <P> Historically, the most important type of apocrisiary (a title also applying to representatives exchanged by a high prelate with a Patriarch) was the equivalent of a nuncio, sent by the Pope to the Byzantine Empire; during the fifth and sixth centuries, when much of Italy remained under Byzantine control, several Popes were former apocrisiaries . </P> <P> Pro-nuncio was a term used from 1965 to 1991 for a papal diplomatic representative of full ambassadorial rank accredited to a country that did not accord him precedence over other ambassadors and de jure deanship of the Diplomatic Corps . In those countries, the papal representative's precedence within the corps is exactly on a par with that of the other members of ambassadorial rank, so that he becomes dean only on becoming the senior member of the corps . </P>

What is the role of the papal nuncio