The pope named Austrian Bishop Klaus Kueng as an ''apostolic visitor'' for the embattled Austrian diocese of St. Poelten and its seminary.

Austrian authorities have launched a separate criminal investigation into the recent discovery of 40,000 photographs and numerous videos at the seminary about 50 miles west of Vienna.

Kueng will have ''comprehensive authority'' to review all operations at the seminary and within the St. Poelten diocese, and will report directly to the pope, the Archdiocese of Vienna said. He was to begin his inquiry today.

The Vatican probe will examine the child porn issue as well as the discovery of photos of candidates for the priesthood kissing and fondling each other and their older religious instructors. The police investigation has avoided the priest sex issues.

The case has become highly embarrassing for the Vatican and the church in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Austria.