The new Papal Nuncio to Australia is a Bicolano.
The Caceres Basilica newsletter in Naga City, Philippines reported that months after a Filipino was named as Vatican envoy to the United Nations, another bishop from the Philippines was appointed to the key position of Papal Nuncio to Australia.
Vatican announced February 17 that Bishop Adolfo Tito Yllana would assume the position of Papal Nuncio to Australia , leaving his previous assignment as titular archbishop of Motecorvino. He also served immediately previous to that as Papal Nuncio to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa.
Papal Nuncio Yllana, 67, was born in Naga City in Camarines Sur in the Philippines .. His curriculum vitae says he undertook religious studies from the Holy Rosary Seminary also in Naga City and was ordained priest on 19 March 1972 in the Archdiocese of Caceres in Naga City.
Twelve years after ordination, Yllana joined the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See.
Yllana obtained a Doctor of Both Laws from the Lateran University in Rome and began his diplomatic career after finishing his studies at the Academia Ecclesiastica, the premier academy for the diplomatic corps in the Vatican.
His previous diplomatic posts were in Ghana, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Lebanon, Hungary and China.
Yllana had served as Apostolic Nuncio in Papua New Guines, Solomon Islands,Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
. He was consecrated by Pope John Paul II on 6 January 2002 in St Peter’s Basilica.[1]
“He was appointed apostolic nuncio to Pakistan on 31 March 2006.[2] In November 2007, Archbishop Yllana joined in the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Lahore with a special message from Pope Benedict XVI to the local congregation.
“On 21 September 2009, Archbishop Yllana presided at the ordination in St. Joseph’s Cathedral, of the new coadjutor bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Bishop Rufin Anthony. More than 1,500 people attended the event.
“On 17 April 2010 the diocese of Faisalabad organized a special ceremony to celebrate its golden jubilee. Archbishop Yllana, Bishop Joseph Coutts (Faisalabad), Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha (Lahore), and Bishop Andrew Francis (Multan) spoke on the occasion.[5] At the jubilee mass at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul attended by about 5,000 Catholics from 21 parishes, Archbishop