Tomaž Mavrič CM (

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, 9 May 1959) is an Argentine Catholic priest. Mavrič serves as Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, a position he's held since 5 July 2016.

Biography

Mavrič was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Leopoldina and Joze Mavrič, both Slovenians, in 1932. They fled

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, in May 1945, when the

Communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

rose to power in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, fleeing to Austria and then, in 1948, to Argentina. They married in 1957 and had five children, two girls and three boys. Joze Mavrič died in 1989, when Tomaž was 30-years-old; two brothers still live in Argentina, a sister in the United States, and a brother in Brazil. He attended primary and secondary education in Buenos Aires, the last three years of the first and the entire second at the Colegio Maria Reina, founded and directed by Slovenian

Vincentians Vincentian can refer to: *A citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A person from Saint Vincent (island), the largest island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A member of one of the orders or societies in the Vincentian Family, both Roman ...

in Remedios de Escalada, Buenos Aires. During this time, Mavrič remained at the boarding school next to the school operated by the Vincentians.

Early Vincentian work

After finishing high school, Tomaž entered the Congregation of the Mission in Slovenia. He attended the internal seminary in Belgrade and, from 1977, began his collegiate studies in Ljubljana. In Ljubljana, Mavrič studied philosophy and theology. He took his perpetual vows at the Congregation of the Mission on 8 April 1982 and was ordained a priest on 29 June 1983 in Ljubljana. Shortly after his ordination, he was sent to Toronto, Canada, where he served as a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

until 1994. After his time as a vicar in Canada, Mavrič relocated again to Slovenia, working for three years in local religious missions. At that time, he was invited by Father Robert Maloney, CM, then Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission, to work in the congregation's international missions. Mavrič then joined the formation, leaving for Dublin, Ireland, and for Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, and, between 2004 and 2007, guided the novitiate in Kiev, Ukraine. In 2009, he was elected Vice-Visitor of the Province of Saints Cyril and Methodius, founded in 2001, which encompasses Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. On July 5, 2016, during the 42nd General Assembly of the Congregation of the Mission, held in Chicago, United States, Mavrič was elected the 25th Superior General, replacing Father Gregory Gay, CM.

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Mavrič claimed that the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

gave Christians the opportunity "to serve, to be better, and to grow" as members of their society. Furthermore, Mavrič cited

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. ...

in claiming "we will not leave this crisis as the same persons that we were before this happened." Finally, Mavrič praised the use of modern technology in the battle against the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, pointing toward remote conferencing applications like

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

in allowing meetings without the risk of infection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomaž Mavrič 1959 births Living people Roman Catholic priests People from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Slovenian descent Clergy from Buenos Aires Argentine anti-poverty advocates