Marian Oleś (8 December 1934 – 24 May 2005) was a Polish prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who worked in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

and in the Roman Curia.

Biography

Marian Oleś was born on 8 December 1934 in

Gmina Miastkowo __NOTOC__ Gmina Miastkowo is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Łomża County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. Its seat is the village of Miastkowo, which lies approximately west of Łomża and west of the regional capi ...

, Poland. As a boy he was exiled from Poland with his family by the Soviets and they lived in Siberia, Persia and India, and his early education was in India and England. He was ordained a priest on 9 July 1961. He joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See and his first postings were to Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, and Portugal. He then spent ten years in Rome working at the

Congregation for Bishops The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the department of the Roman Curia that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require papal approval to take effect, but are usually followed. The Dic ...

. On 28 November 1987,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Ratiaria Ratiaria (or: Raetiaria, Retiaria, Reciaria, Razaria; bg, Рациария; el, Ραζαρία μητρόπολις;) was a city founded by the Moesians, a Daco-Thracian tribe, in the 4th century BC, along the river Danube. In Roman times it w ...

and

Apostolic Pro-Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. He received his episcopal consecration from John Paul on 6 January 1988. His tenure based in Baghdad, Iraq, coincided with the final months of the Iran-Iraq War and, after a brief period of peace, the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. On 9 April 1994, John Paul appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

, and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. He became Apostolic Nuncio on 28 December 1996 to

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

as well. He believed the people of Central Asia were tied to religious communities by tradition rather than commitment and told an interviewer: "I do not like to use terms, like "Christians," "Orthodox," or "Muslims." I prefer to talk about people who come from a Christian tradition or a Muslim tradition, because I think that most people in Central Asia have not yet decided to which religion they want to belong." He identified language as a key barrier to evangelization: "With a few exceptions, none of the priests master any of the local languages. Some of them speak Russian very well. Almost none of them speak the languages of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. This is a problem-- and a great problem." Pope John Paul visited Kazakhstan while Oleś was nuncio there. On 11 December 2001, John Paul appointed him apostolic nuncio to Macedonia and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. Oleś ended his service as nuncio in May 2002 upon the appointment of

Giuseppe Leanza Giuseppe Leanza KC*HS (born 2 January 1943) was born in Cesarò, Italy. and ordained on 17 July 1966. Early life After being awarded a Doctorate in Canon Law, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1972 and served at the ponti ...

to succeed him in Macedonia and Slovenia.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Marian Oles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oles, Marian 1934 births 2005 deaths Apostolic Nuncios to Iraq Apostolic Nuncios to Kuwait Apostolic Nuncios to Kazakhstan Apostolic Nuncios to Kyrgyzstan Apostolic Nuncios to Uzbekistan Apostolic Nuncios to Tajikistan Apostolic Nuncios to North Macedonia Apostolic Nuncios to Slovenia