At 9:00 this morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience His Excellency Mr. Jakob Štunf, ambassador of Slovenia to the Holy See, on the occasion of the presentation of his credential letters.

The following is a brief biography of the new ambassador:

His Excellency Mr. Jakob Štunf
Ambassador of Slovenia to the Holy See

Mr. Štunf was born on 1 April 1970 in Celje, Slovenia. He is married and has a son.

He obtained a licentiate in theology from the Faculty of Theology of the University of Ljubljana in 2001.

He has held, among others, the following positions: journalist/editor, Slovenian Press Agency, Foreign Policy Editorial Board (1995 - 1997); Ombudsman of the Republic, Public Relations and International Cooperation Adviser (1997 - 2000); head of Public Relations Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (2001 - 2002); government counsellor at the MFA, Neighbouring Countries and South East Europe Sector (2002 - 2003); first secretary/counsellor, Embassy of Slovenia to the Holy See (2003 - 2007); head of Public Relations Service, minister plenipotentiary, MFA (2007); prime counsellor/deputy head of Mission, Embassy in the Czech Republic (2008 - 2012); minister plenipotentiary, Public Diplomacy Service at the EAW (2012); secretary, public relations counsellor, Cabinet of the Prime Minister of the Republic (2012 - 2013); minister plenipotentiary - economic adviser, Section for Economic Promotion of the EAW (2013 - 2014); minister plenipotentiary - economic adviser, Embassy in Croatia (2014 - 2018); and minister plenipotentiary, EAW, Bilateral Economic Cooperation Sector (from 2018).

He knows Czech, Croatian, English, Latin, Serbian and German.