Francisco-Javier Lozano Sebastián

Francisco-Javier Lozano Sebastián (born November 28, 1943) is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who has spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See.

He was born to a farming family in Villaverde de Íscar on November 28, 1943.

He studied at the seminary in Seville and at the Pontifical University of Salamanca.

He earned his licentiate in theology in 1966 from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

He was ordained a priest on March 19, 1968, by Cardinal Antonio Samorè

In 1977 he obtained a doctorate in canon law from Lateran University, while already working in the Nunciature in Nigeria.

His other early postings in the diplomatic service of the Holy See included South Africa, Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, and Guatemala.

He has been an archbishop since 1994 and held the title of Apostolic Nuncio to several countries until his resignation in 2015.

On July 25, 1994, Pope John Paul II appointed him titular archbishop of Penafiel and Apostolic Nuncio to Tanzania.

He received his episcopal consecration from Cardinal Angelo Sodano on July 25.

John Paul made him Nuncio to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on March 20, 1999, during the Second Congo War, where in 2000 he criticized the shelling of Kisangani as a "tragic and unjustified" targeting of the Christian population.

He returned to Rome in 2001 and worked in the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State and in December was also made a member of the administrative council of Vatican Television.

John Paul made him Nuncio to Croatia on August 4, 2003, and he received his next posting from Pope Benedict XVI as Nuncio to both Romania and Moldova on December 10, 2007.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Nuncio on July 20, 2015.