Martin Krebs (born 2 November 1956) is a German 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 has 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 ...

since 1991. He has been an archbishop since 2008 when he received the first of several postings as a

papal 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 ...

Biography

Martin Krebs was born in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, Germany, on 2 November 1956. He was ordained to the priesthood there on 10 October 1983. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 July 1991, and held posts in Burundi, Japan, Austria, the Czech Republic, the European Community and the United States. He is fluent in English, Italian, French, Spanish and Czech. On 8 September 2008,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

named 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 ...

of Taborenta and Apostolic Nuncio in Guinea and Mali. He welcomed the assignment, describing Guinea as "a predominantly Islamic country in which Islam is not lived fanatically". On 8 May 2013,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

, and

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

, as well as Apostolic Delegate to the Pacific Ocean. He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal

Tarcisio Bertone Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of ...

on 16 November. On 23 September, Francis added Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu to his responsibilities. On 18 January 2014, he added Tonga as well, and on 3 May the Marshall Islands and Nauru. While fulfilling this array of assignments he used

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, as his base. On several occasions he played a role in the affairs of the troubled

Archdiocese of Agaña In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

on Guam, trying to reconcile disputing parties in 2014, receiving a report that Archbishop

Anthony Apuron Anthony Sablan Apuron (born November 1, 1945) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agaña in Guam from 1983 until 2016, when the Holy See removed him as archbishop for child sexual ...

had sodomized a boy years earlier in 2015, and trying without success to persuade Apuron to resign in 2016. On 16 June 2018, Francis named Krebs Apostolic Nuncio to Uruguay. On 3 March 2021, Krebs was reassigned as Nuncio to Switzerland and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

. With the possibility of same sex marriage in Liechtenstein, Krebs reportedly refused to get involved in the disagreement between Archbishop Wolfgang Hass and the Landtag, saying it is up to Haas and MPs to resolve the conflict, “I see no basis for the Holy See to intervene."

References

Biography

See also

References