Birth: NULL/NULL/1933 Death:NULL/NULL/NULL
Born in Nazareth in March 1933; entered the Latin Seminary in Oct. 1949; ordained as a priest in June 1955; became assistant priest in the Parish of Madaba, Jordan; worked as Arabic language teacher at the Latin Seminary in Beit Jala in 1957; studied Arabic Philology at Saint Joseph University in Beirut from 1959-64; returned and was named youth director for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem; in 1966, was appointed Director of Education (responsible especially for Roman Catholic Schools); worked as teacher of Arabic and Islamology in Djibouti in 1968; was appointed parish priest at Christ the King Church, Amman, in 1970; earned a PhD in Arabic Philology from Sorbonne University, France, in 1973; served as Pres. of Bethlehem University from 1980-87; was appointed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Archbishop of Jerusalem by the Vatican (Pope John in Dec. 1987 and was ordained Bishop in Rome in Jan. 1988, becoming the first Palestinian to hold this position; Pres. of Pax Christi International since 1999; Advisory Board member of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation; has earned a reputation for mixing his church and religious duties with political activism on issues such as Jerusalem, Palestinian human rights, and most recently Israel’s security wall.
