Resignation and appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Izmir, Turkey

Resignation and appointment of apostolic administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of Atyrau

Resignation and appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Izmir, Turkey

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the metropolitan archdiocese  of Izmir, Turkey, presented by Archbishop Lorenzo Piretto, O.P.

The Holy Father has appointed as metropolitan archbishop of Izmir the Reverend Fr. Martin Kmetec, O.F.M. Cap., until now superior of the Community of Conventuals of Büyükdere, Istanbul.

Curriculum vitae

Msgr. Martin Kmetec, O.F.M. Conv., was born on 10 November 1956 in Ptuj, Slovenia. He carried out his institutional studies in theology and philosophy in his religious province in Slovenia, where he gave his first vows on 25 September 1977, and his solemn vows on 4 October 1982. He was awarded a doctorate in theology, specialising in dialogue and religions, by the University of Ljubljana. Aside from Slovenian, he speaks Turkish, French and Italian.

He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1983.

He has held a number of offices in his Order: rector of the minor seminary, missionary in Lebanon, and superior of various convents. He has also served as Vicar Custos of the East and the Holy Land of the Friars Minor Conventual from 2014 to 2018. From 2011 to 2020 he served in the Convent of Saint Mary in Büyükdere, Istanbul, but in the role of superior only since 2018.

Resignation and appointment of apostolic administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of Atyrau

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation presented by the Reverend Dariusz Buras, apostolic administrator of Atyrau in Kazakhstan, and has appointed to the office of apostolic administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the same ecclesiastical circumscription the Reverend Fr. Peter Sakmár, of the clergy of the diocese of Spiš, Slovakia, until now spiritual director of the interdiocesan seminary of Karaganda.