Giorgio Zur

Giorgio Zur
Archbishop
Native name	Georg Zur
See	Titular Archbishop of Sesta
Personal details
Born	February 15, 1930 Görlitz, Lower Silesia, Germany

Giorgio Zur (born 15 February 1930) is a Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See.

Biography

The son of a master tailor, he studied in Rome at the Gregorian University, where he obtained a licentiate in philosophy and theology and a doctorate in canon law. On 10 October 1955 Giorgio Zur was ordained to the priesthood. After pastoral work as a chaplain in the Archdiocese of Bamberg, he attended in 1961-62 the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, whose director he was to be later from 1999 to 2000. In the following years he was in the diplomatic service of the Holy See at the Apostolic Nunciature to India, Mexico, Burundi and Uganda.

Pope John Paul II appointed him on 5 February 1979 as the Titular Archbishop of Sesta and Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Malawi and Zambia. He was consecrated on 24 February of the same year by the then Secretary of State Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot. The co-consecrators were later cardinal and Secretary of State, Agostino Casaroli, as well as the secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Archbishop Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy. On 3 May 1985 George was appointed the Apostolic Nuncio to Paraguay. He held this office until 13 August 1990, when the Pope appointed him Pro-Nuncio to India and Nepal.

After working at the Ecclesiastical Academy, Zur was from 29 January 2000 to 8 October 2002 nuncio to Russia and from 8 October 2002 to 26 July 2005 nuncio in Austria. Having reached the age limit for bishops he retired and now lives in Rome.

Awards

• Grand Gold Medal with Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria (2005)
• Great Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany (2005)

External links

• catholic-hierarchy.org