On the 4th April 2001, the Holy Father appointed Br. Giorgio Bertin, OFM., presently Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Mogadishu, Somalia, as Bishop of Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti).

Br. Giorgio Bertin was born on the 28th December 1946 in Galzignano (Padua), Italy. He entered the Order of Friars Minor in the Province of St. Charles Borromeo, Lombardy, on the 10th September 1967. He made his solemn profession in 1972 and was ordained priest on the 7th June 1975..

After ordination he acquired a License in Spiritual Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum, Rome. He attended the Italian Institute for the Middle East, where he obtained a Diploma in Arab Language and Culture. He also obtained the "Brevet d'Arab LittÈral" at "l'Institut d'Etudes Islamiques", and other academic degrees in Arab studies from 1975 to 1977.

Djibouti is a small Arab nation lying between Eritrea to the North, Ethiopia to the South-West and Somalia to the South-East. The Republic of Djibouti is independent since 27th June 1977, after 115 years of French presence that administered the country earlier called the Coast of Somalia and later, from 1967, The French Territory of the Afar and the Issa.

Djibouti has an extension of just 23,000 square kilometres and a population of 525,000 inhabitants, the great majority being Muslims. The Diocese of Djibouti, directly subject to the Holy See, has 8,000 Catholics, 5 Parishes, 6 Priests (1 Diocesan and 5 Religious), 11 Religious Brothers, 25 Religious Sisters and 3 major seminarians.

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