Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic Appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to Canada

Saturday, June 05 2021

Today, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed the Most Reverend Ivan Jurkovic as the Apostolic Nuncio to Canada. At the time of his appointment, Archbishop Jurkovic was the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva and Other International Organizations, the Permanent Observer to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Representative of the Holy See to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). He replaces the former Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, who ended his mission on 10 December 2020 upon his appointment as the Apostolic Nuncio to Albania.

Archbishop Jurkovic was born on 10 June, 1952 in Banja Loka, Kocevje, Slovenia. He was ordained to the priesthood on 29 June 1977 for the Archdiocese of Ljubljana (Slovenia). After he obtained a Doctorate in Canon Law, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 May, 1984 serving in the diplomatic missions of the Holy See in Korea, Columbia, the Russian Federation, and at the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

Following his episcopal ordination on 6 October, 2001, Archbishop Jurkovic served as Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus (2001-2004), Ukraine (2004-2011), as well as the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan concurrently (2011-2016).