Vatican City (Fides Service) - Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, 26 January 2005 appointed National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria for a five year term (2005-2009) Rev. Leo Maasburg of the archdiocese of Vienna.
Rev. Maasburg was born in Graz on 28 March 1948 and he was ordained a priest in Fatima on 13 December 1982. He studied law at Innsbruck University and has a Masters Degree in Letters and International Relations from Oxford University. He studied philosophy, theology and missiology at the Gregorian University in Rome and has a Licentiate in Canon Law from the Antoniana College. After his ordination he was invited by Mother Teresa of Calcutta to work with her in India for two months (1984). Pastoral work in the archdiocese of Vienna (1984-86) spiritual director for Missionaries of Charity in Austria, Poland, Italy, Soviet Union, Albania, Ethiopia, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Argentina, Ecuador, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and others (1985/2003); he accompanied Mother Teresa on her journeys to Europe, USA, central, America India and Soviet Union (1986-89); collaborator with the founder of “Aid to the Church in Need” (1991-1994); co-founder of the World Family of Radio Maria (2001-2003); member of the team for the beatification of Mother Teresa (2002); since 2003 assistant national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria (Missio Austria). (MS) (Agenzia Fides, 22/03/2005 - 18 righe, 227 parole)