Ordered to return to Czechoslovakia when the new Communist government revoked his passport, he instead with the help of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley reentered the U.S. from Canada as a legal immigrant.

[1] In the 1970s, while Bukovsky served a six-year term in the office of the General Council of the Society of the Divine Word, an elected position, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli recruited him to join the Secretariat of State.

He was also named to the Curia's Council for Public Affairs and made several trips to explore relations between the Holy See and the countries of Eastern Europe.

[1] On 18 August 1990, Pope John Paul II named him titular archbishop of Tabalta and Apostolic Nuncio to Romania.

[5] Pope John Paul named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and a consultor to the Secretariat of State on 6 June 2002.