Pope Francis appoints Archbishop Yurkowitz as new ambassador to Canada

Written by a writer for “Vatican News”

Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Ivan Yurkowicz as High Apostolic of Canada. Archbishop Yurkowicz has served as Permanent Observer of the Holy See before the United Nations Office and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, before the World Trade Organization and as Representative of the Holy See before the International Organization for Migration.

Ivan Jorkovic was born in Kočevi, southern Slovenia, and was ordained a priest on June 29, 1977. He graduated from the University of Ljubljana with a degree in theology and later trained as a diplomat at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. In 1984 he joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See, where he worked as secretary of the embassy in South Korea. In 1988 he obtained his doctorate in canon law and worked until 1992 as a financial auditor at the embassy in Colombia. From 1992 to 1996 he worked at the Russian Embassy.

He also devoted his time to teaching as a university professor in canon law, philosophy, theology, and history, and published several books. He served as a consultant at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

aOn July 28, 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop Yurkovich, Archbishop of Krapava, the Apostolic Order of Belarus. He received his episcopal consecration on October 6 in Ljubljana from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, then he was appointed ambassador to Ukraine on April 22, 2004.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him ambassador for service in Russia on February 19, 2011, just over a year after the formal establishment of full diplomatic relations between Russia and the Holy See. That same year, he was appointed ambassador to Uzbekistan.

On February 13, 2016, Pope Francis elected him to the position of permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva. His last diplomatic mission will take him to Canada.

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