By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi March 13, 2026: Pope Leo XIV has transferred his representative in India to Croatia, a country in Central and Southeast Europe.
The transfer was announced on March 13, the 73rd birthday of Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the outgoing apostolic nuncio to India and Nepal.
Major events in the archbishop’s life have taken place on the date 13.
Archbishop Girelli has served the Church in India since March 13, 2021.
The nuncio came to light on December 5, 2023, when he flew down to Kochi to receive the resignation of Cardinal George Alencherry as the major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church. He asked the cardinal to come to the airport to submit the resignation and returned to New Delhi soon after.
The resignation helped resolve a liturgical conflict that had vexed the Oriental Church for decades.
Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli was born in Predore (Bergamo), Italy, on March 13, 1953. He was ordained a priest on June 17, 1978, and holds a doctorate in theology. He entered the Vatican diplomatic service on July 13, 1987.
During his diplomatic service he worked in the nunciatures in Cameroon and New Zealand, and later in the section for General Affairs of the Vatican Secretariat of State. He also served in the apostolic nunciature in the United States.
On April 13, 2006, he was appointed nuncio to Indonesia and six months later to East Timor. On January 13, 2011, he was appointed the Vatican representative to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, and non-resident pontifical representative to Vietnam.
On September 13, 2017, he became nuncio to Israel and apostolic delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine. Two days later, he was also appointed nuncio to Cyprus.
He speaks Italian, English and French.
Croatia has 17 Catholic dioceses and one Eastern Catholic jurisdiction, the Eparchy of Križevci, which belongs to the Byzantine-Slavonic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Source: catholicconnect.in
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