Sarajevo, (IKA) – On February 1, Pope Benedict XVI established the first military ordinariate for Bosnia and Herzegovina and appointed Dr. Tomo Vukšić, the vicar general of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Sarajevo, as the first military ordinary, announced KTA.
The agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Holy See concerning the establishment of a military ordinariate for the religious welfare of Catholic members of the armed forces was signed in Sarajevo on April 8, 2010, and ratified in the Vatican on September 14 of the same year.
Dr. Tomo Vukšić was born in Studenci, the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, on January 9, 1954. He was ordained a priest in 1980. In Rome, he earned a master’s degree in the field of ecumenical theology and a doctorate, with the thesis “Relations between Catholic and Orthodox Christians in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1878 to 1903.” Following his studies, he was the head of the Theological Institute in Mostar (1991-1994), a lecturer at the Theological Institute in Dubrovnik (1992-1997), vice rector of the Seminary in Sarajevo (1993-1998), judicial vicar in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno (1993-2009), head of the Catholic press agency of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina – KTA (1998-2005), and a member of the Mixed Commission for the Implementation of the Basic Agreement between the Holy See and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently the vicar general of the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno, as well as a professor of patrology and ecumenical theology at the Theological Faculty in Sarajevo and the Theological Institute in Mostar.