Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides News Agency) - On May 25, 2026, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), appointed Father Ioannis Varthalitis, a priest of the Archdiocese of Athens, as National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Greece for a five-year term (2026-2031).
Father Varthalitis was born in 1985. He studied at the Pontifical Regional Seminary of Puglia in Molfetta from 2003 to 2009. He completed his studies at the Apulian Theological Faculty, earning a Bachelor's degree in Theology from the "Regina Apuliae" Theological Institute. From September 2009 to October 2010, he completed a year of pastoral formation in the parishes of Santa Maria Veterana in Triggiano (Archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto) and Santa Teresa in Kypseli, Athens.
He was ordained a priest in 2012 in the Cathedral of Saint Dionysius in Athens, he served as parish priest of the parish of the Annunciation of the Lord in Kalithea (2015-2023) and then as parochial vicar of the Cathedral of Saint Dionysius from 2012 to 2015 and from 2023 to the present.
Among the offices entrusted to him are those of Chancellor of the Archdiocese, Director of the Diocesan Archives, Master of Liturgical Celebrations, and President of the Catechetical Commission.
The Greek Bishops' Conference also appointed him a member of the Commission for Catechism and a member of the Commission for Divine Worship. Father Varthalitis is President of the ‘SKEKE’ Association, which brings together the diocesan clergy of Greece. (EG) (Fides News Agency, 8/7/2026)
