On 22 June at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Coadjutor Archbishop Fouad Twal was enthroned as Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, succeeding the retiring patriarch, Archbishop Michel Sabbah.
Born in 1940 in the predominantly Christian town of Madaba, Jordan, Patriarch Twal was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. From 1977 to 1992, he served the Holy See as a member of its diplomatic corps, working in Honduras, Germany and Peru.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Tunis. He served there until Pope Benedict XVI named him coadjutor archbishop of Jerusalem in 2005.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem includes some 77,000 Latin Catholics in Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Cyprus.