Dicastery for the Eastern Churches: Maronite priest appointed as Secretary

By Vatican News

Lebanese Maronite priest Father Michel Jalakh, O.A.M., until now rector of the Antonine University in Baabda, Lebanon, has been appointed by Pope Francis as the new Secretary of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches.

Born on 27 August 1966 in Baouchrieh, Father Jalakh made his first religious profession in the Antonian Maronite Order on 15 August 1983, and was ordained a priest on 21st April 1991. From December 2000 to July 2008, he served as Secretarial Attaché at what was then the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. He received his Doctorate in Ecclesiology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 2008.

From 2013 to 2018 he was Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches and a member of the Commission for Ecumenical Relations of the Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops Assembly in Lebanon. A lecturer at Antonine University in Baabda, he became Rector in 2017.

Last year, on the 21st November, Pope Francis appointed the new Prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches: Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, 67, who until then served as Apostolic Nuncio in Great Britain. The prelate began his service on 16 January of this year.