‘First and Only Korean Papal Nuncio’ Archbishop Jang In-nam Appointed as Papal Nuncio to the Netherlands

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Archbishop Paulo Jang In-nam (photo, 72) has been appointed as the Apostolic Nuncio to the Netherlands. He was the first Korean to begin serving as an Apostolic Nuncio in 2002 and remains the only Korean Apostolic Nuncio to date.

According to the Vatican's official publication, L'Osservatore Romano, on the 19th, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Jang as the Apostolic Nuncio to the Netherlands on the 16th. An Apostolic Nuncio is dispatched to countries that have established diplomatic relations with the Vatican, tasked with promoting friendly relations with the host country and reporting on the local church to the Pope.

Archbishop Jang was born in 1949 into a devout Catholic family in Cheongju, Chungbuk. His parents were from the Pyongyang Diocese in North Korea and moved south during the 1.4 Retreat. Notably, his mother was a former national president of the Catholic Women’s Association. She devoted herself to helping war orphans, caring for 80 children with the assistance of American missionaries. Both of her sons (the eldest Jang In-san and the second Jang In-nam) chose the path of priesthood.

Archbishop Jang graduated from Daegun Theological College (Gwangju Catholic University) and was ordained a priest on December 17, 1976. He served as assistant pastor at Gyo-hyeon-dong Parish in the Cheongju Diocese and as deputy secretary of the Korean Catholic Central Association before studying abroad in Rome. He earned a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Lateran University in 1985 and a master's degree in canon law from the Vatican Diplomatic School.

His diplomatic career at the Vatican began in 1985 as second secretary (Monsignor rank) at the Apostolic Nunciature in El Salvador. He subsequently served as first secretary at the Apostolic Nunciatures in Ethiopia and Syria, second counselor in France, first counselor in Greece, and first counselor in Belgium.

In 2002, by the order of Pope John Paul II, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh and titular archbishop of Amanzia. Archbishop Jang’s first assignment as Apostolic Nuncio was thus in Bangladesh.

From 2002 to 2007, he served as Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh; from 2007 to 2012, to Uganda; and in August 2012, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Thailand and Cambodia, as well as Apostolic Delegate to Myanmar and Laos.

Since the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Myanmar in 2017, he has concurrently served as Apostolic Nuncio to Myanmar. With this new appointment, he will leave Southeast Asia after more than ten years and head to the Netherlands. Archbishop Jang had already received agr?ment (diplomatic credentials) from the Dutch government at the end of June.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.