New Apostolic Nuncio the Russian Federation is appointed
On 19 February 2011, the State Secretariat of the Holy See announced that the Pope of Rome Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian federation.
Archbishop is due to arrive in Russia in the immediate future, right after ending his mission of Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine.
Ivan Jurkovič was born in Kocevje, Slovenia, on 10 June 1952.
He was ordained priest of the Ljubljana archdiocese, Slovenia, in 1977; joined the Vatican diplomatic ministry in 1984 and served at the diplomatic representations of the Holy See in South Korea and Columbia.
He served as a counsellor of the Representation of the Holy See to the Russian Federation in 1992-95; was consecrated bishop and appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus in 2001, and served as Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine in 2004-11.