Bishop Philippe Jourdan

Bishop Philippe Jourdan was born on 30 August 1960 in Dax (France). After his secondary education in Dax and preparatory classes at the Louis le Grand College in Paris, he was admitted to the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (National Engineering School), from which he graduated in 1982. Following his first professional experience in the energy-saving sector, he then went to the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome to study theology and philosophy. He was ordained a priest on August 20 1988. As a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, of which he has been a member since 1980, he then practised his ministry in Paris from 1988 to 1996, mainly as a student chaplain.

In June 1996, Mgr. Philippe Jourdan was nominated vicar general of the Apostolic Administration in Estonia. He spent the following years supporting the renaissance of the Catholic Church in Estonia after the hard years of the Soviet occupation: the rebuilding of its parishes and churches, the restoration of its charitable and educational institutions. On 23 March 2005, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Estonia by Pope John-Paul II and was consecrated Bishop of Tallinn on 10 September of the same year. He is the first Catholic Bishop to be resident in Estonia since the Second World War. He acquired Estonian citizenship on 22 December 2005.

Since March 2004, Bishop Jourdan has also been vice-president of the Estonian Council of Churches, an ecumenical body bringing together the main Churches and Christian denominations of the country.

In addition to Estonian, Bishop Jourdan is fluent in French, Russian, English, Spanish, Italian and German.

Mgr. Philippe Jourdan is Bishop Delegate to COMECE since 2010.