At 9.30 this morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience H.E. Mr. Marek Lisánsky, ambassador of the Slovak Republic 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. Marek Lisánsky
Ambassador of the Slovak Republic

H.E. Mr. Marek Lisánsky was born on 1 October 1976.

He is married with three children.

He has a PhD in law from the Pavol Faculty of Law, Jozef Šafárik, Košice, 2000. He subsequently obtained a special certificate in European Studies (Diplomatische Akademie, Vienna, 2001).

He has held, among others, the following positions: secretary of the Slovak-Hungarian Intergovernmental Committee for Minorities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department for Human Rights (1999-2002); secretary general at the Consulate General in Poland (2002-2006); deputy director of the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy head of the Interministerial Coordination Committee of the Presidency in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Organizing Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Presidency of the Slovak Republic in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2006-2007); director general of the Section for Human Rights and Minorities in government, and Secretary of the Government Council for minority peoples and ethnic groups, and for non-governmental non-profit organizations, as well as counsellor at the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the National Council, and government representative at the council for the rehabilitation of holocaust victims (2007-2009); representative of the Slovak Republic on the Management Committee of the Monument to the Nazi Extermination camp of Sobibór (2008-2014); consul general in Poland (2009-2014); secretary general at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Department of Analysis and Planning (2014); director general of the Section for Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence (2014-2015); adviser to the president of the National Council in the VI and VII electoral period for foreign policy (2015 to the present).

Foreign languages known: English, Polish, Russian and German.