Latin Patriarch

His Beatitude Fouad Twal

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem – Grand Prior of the Order

Fouad Boutros Ibrahim Twal was born on October 23, 1940 in Madaba, Jordan. He entered the seminary in Beit Jala in 1959, and was ordained priest on June 29, 1966. He was parochial vicar, then parish priest in the diocese and began his studies in Canon Law at the Lateran University in Rome in 1972.

He obtained his Doctorate in Canon Law and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1977. He successively worked in Honduras, Rome, Cairo, Berlin and Lima until 1992.

On May 30, 1992, he was appointed Bishop-Prelate of Tunis, ordained Bishop on July 22, 1992 and elevated Archbishop of Tunis in 1994.

Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in September 2005, and succeeded Patriarch Michel Sabbah on June 21, 2008, becoming the second Arab Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.