At 10.00 this morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience H.E. Mr. Petras Zapolskas, ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Holy See, on the occasion of the presentation of his Credential Letters. The following is a brief biography of the new ambassador:

H.E. Mr. Petras Zapolskas

Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Holy See

H.E. Mr. Petras Zapolskas was born on 30 January 1965. He is married with a son.

He holds a Master’s degree in history from Vilnius University, and then attended a course in diplomacy at the Institute of International Relations, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He subsequently carried out studies in security at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, United States of America and Germany, 1995.

He has held the following offices: second secretary, then first secretary at the Division of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1991-1993); Head of Division CIS at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1993-1996); Director of the Political Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1995-1996); Advisor, then Minister-Advisor at the Embassy to the Russian Federation (1996-1999); Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the Embassy to the Russian Federation (1999-2000); Director of the Department of Information and Culture at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2000-2002); Ambassador to Sweden (2002-2006); Inspector general and ad interim director of the Personnel Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2006-2009); Ambassador to Italy, San Marino, Malta and Libya; Permanent Representative at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome (2009-2014); and Director of the State Protocol and Diplomatic Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2014 to the present).

He also speaks English, Italian, Polish and Russian.