Martin Kmetec
Martin Kmetec, O.F.M. Conv. (born 10 November 1956) is the Archbishop of Izmir and a Conventual Franciscan friar. He was appointed to the episcopate as Archbishop of Izmir on 8 December 2020. Biography. Martin Kmetec was born in Ptuj in Slovenia, and was ordained as a Franciscan priest in 1983 by bishop Jožef Smej. After his studies at the University of Ljubljana, he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on interreligious dialogue and carried out his ministry in Lebanon. From 2014 to 2018 he was vicar of the Conventual Friars Minor at the Custody of the Holy Land . Since 2011 he has been ministering in the convent of Istanbul, of which he became superior in 2018. He speaks Slovenian, Turkish, French, Arabic, and Italian. On 8 December 2020 Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Izmir. He was consecrated on 2 February 2021 by archbishop Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.