Pope Francis on June 5, 2021, appointed Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič apostolic nuncio to Canada. At the time of his appointment, Archbishop Jurkovič was permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations, permanent observer to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and representative of the Holy See Headquarters at the International Organization for Migration (IOM). He replaces the former apostolic nuncio to Canada, Bishop Luigi Bonazzi, who ended his mission on December 10, 2020, following his appointment as apostolic nuncio in Albania.
Archbishop Jurkovič was born on June 10, 1952 in Banja Loka, Kočevje, Slovenia. He was ordained a priest on June 29, 1977, for the Archdiocese of Ljubljana (Slovenia). After earning a doctorate in canon law, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on May 1, 1984, to serve the Holy See’s diplomatic missions in Korea, Colombia, the Russian Federation, and Section for relations with the States of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.
Following his episcopal consecration, on October 6, 2001, Archbishop Jurkovič served as apostolic nuncio in Belarus (2001-2004), in Ukraine (2004-2011), as well as in the Russian Federation and in Uzbekistan simultaneously (2011-2016 ).
The Catholic Church (made up of the Latin Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches) comprises “ecclesiastical districts” which, in general, are communities of the faithful under the authority of a bishop. Ecclesiastical circumscriptions come in different forms depending on whether they are specific to the Latin Catholic Church or to the Eastern Catholic Churches, and also whether they are defined by a geographic territory or by the particular pastoral needs of a community. In Canada, the ecclesiastical circumscriptions of the Latin Catholic Church include “archdioceses” and “dioceses”, which are defined by geographical territory, as well as “ordinariates” and a “personal prelature” (there are none. Currently only one in the world), who are defined by the particular pastoral needs of the faithful they serve. The ecclesiastical constituencies of Eastern Catholic Churches in Canada include “eparchies” as well as “archeparchy” (the Eastern Catholic equivalent of “dioceses” and “archdioceses” in the Latin Church), and may also include ” exarchats ”(local churches of Eastern communities present in Canada that have not yet been promoted to the level of eparchy), all defined by geographic territory.
