Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Ivan Jurkovich, the previous Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Canada. The Vatican made the announcement this Saturday.
Jarkovich is the titular Archbishop of Corbavia and has previously been a Permanent Observer at the World Trade Organization and the Holy See’s representative at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva. He was ordained a priest in 1977 and comes from the Archdiocese of Ljubljana (Laibach). After studying at the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy in Rome, he entered the Pontifical Diplomatic Service on May 1, 1984. He was ordained by Pope Benedict XVI on February 19, 2011. Appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Russia. According to information from the Vatican, he speaks Slovenian, Italian, English, Russian, Spanish, German, French, Croatian and Ukrainian.
In Canada, veteran Vatican diplomats face a delicate mission. As it became known a few days ago, The bodies of 215 children were found at the site of a former church-run re-education home for indigenous children in Kamloops.. Voices from the Canadian government then demanded an apology from Pope Francis for the Catholic religious’s alleged crimes against indigenous children. What really happened in Kamloops is being investigated.
(Vatican News – mg)
