On Wednesday 24 May, Benedict XVI appointed as auxiliary bishop of Maribor Msgr. Peter tumpf of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco, hitherto parish priest of the parish of Mary Auxiliatrix in Ljubljana-Rakovnik at Ljubljana. Born at Murska Sabota in 1962, he took his first vows in the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco on 9 August 1980. In 1984 he enrolled in the Faculty of Theology of Ljubljana, where he completed his studies of philosophy. He continued his theological studies at the Pontifical Salesian University in Turin, where he took his doctorate in 1989 with a dissertation on Mariology. Ordained in 1990, the new auxiliary bishop is an expert historian of the region of Prekmurje, in particular of the social and ecclesial situation between the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. His particular fields of interest are family and youth pastoral ministry. He contributes to various training courses for parish pastoral workers and to various pastoral projects, and has published his contributions in Slovenian Catholic mass media.
