Leo Kierkels

Leo Peter Kierkels (1882–1957) was a Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See.

Biography Kierkels was born in Baexem, Netherlands on 12 December 1882. He was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Passion on 22 December 1906. He was appointed Apostolic Delegate to India and Titular Archbishop of Salamis on 23 March 1931. On 26 April 1931, he was ordained a bishop by Cardinal Willem Marinus van Rossum, while the co-consecrators were Archbishop Pietro Pisani, who had himself been the Apostolic Delegate to India from 1919 to 1924, and Bishop Giovanni Battista Peruzzo. On 1 July 1948, he was elevated to the Apostolic Internunciature to India. He resigned as Apostolic Internuncio on 29 June 1952, having served as the papal representative to India for 21 years. Kierkerls died on 7 November 1957.