Pedro Opeka

Pedro Pablo Opeka (born June 29, 1948), known also as Father Opeka, is a Catholic Argentinian-Slovenian priest, working as a missionary in Madagascar. For his service to the poor, he was awarded with the Legion of Honor by the former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša and French President Emanuel Macron.

Early life Opeka was born in Argentina, in San Martín, a suburb of Buenos Aires, to Slovenian parents who immigrated there after war. His father was from Begunje pri Cerknici, his mother from Velike Lašče in Lower Carniola. His father was a former member of the Home Guard, a Slovenian anti-communist Nazi-led auxiliary police force, and avoided post-war summary executions by fleeing to Italy. He met his future Slovenian wife in a refugee camp in Italy, where they married.

Pedro grew up in the streets of Buenos Aires. Very early as a child, from the age of 9, he worked with his father as a bricklayer. At 15, he hesitated between becoming a football professional and a priest. He eventually decided to become a priest and enter the seminary of the Lazarists in Buenos Aires. At 20, he went to Ljubljana in Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia), to further his training. Two years later, In 1970, he went to Madagascar where he worked as a bricklayer in the parishes of the Lazarists.

He finished his studies at the Catholic Institute of Paris (1972-1975), where he learnt French. He met the Taizé Community near Cluny in France, who have their members supporting communities in 24 major cities around the globe, and travelled all over Europe.

Pedro Opeka speaks 7 languages: Slovenian, Spanish, English, French, Italian, Latin and Malagasy.

Mission in Madagascar

and was nominated to head a rural parish in southeast Madagascar, Vangaindrano. The award, decreed on 12 October by the President of France, recognizes his 20 years of public service to the poor in Antananarivo. This award recognizes the ongoing fight led here against poverty by this man of faith and his 412 co-workers: physicians, midwives, teachers, engineers, technicians, and social workers, all of them from Madagascar.

In 2009 Opeka received the Golden Order for Services, which is the highest national decoration of Slovenia.

In 2012 Opeka was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by united Slovenian European Parliament representatives regardless of political party affiliation. In 2013, MEP Lojze Peterle once again started with the nomination process for Opeka; the nomination was supported by Roman Jakič, then Slovenian MP (PS), and also by Janez Janša, then Slovenian PM, and the Slovenian Bishop's Conference. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize again in 2021.

Controversy In April 2026, as Madagascar is still in the midst of a major political crisis, rumors alleged that Pedro Opeka and the Akamasoa community were sheltering Colonel Patrick Rakotomamonjy, a Malagasy military officer who was being sought by the authorities. Akamasoa publicly denied the allegations, describing them as false and defamatory and stating that Opeka had no involvement in political or security matters. The organisation said it had referred the matter to the authorities responsible for combating cybercrime and called for action against those responsible for disseminating the claims.