Election of archbishop of Damascus, Syria

Appointment of administrator of the archieparchy of Hassaké and Nisibin, Syria

Election of archbishop of Damascus, Syria

The Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Antioch of the Syrians has elected H.E. Msgr. Youhanna Jihad Battah, bishop of the Patriarchal Curia, as archbishop of Damascus.

H.E. Msgr. Youhanna Jihad Battah

H.E. Msgr. Youhanna Jihad Battah was born in Damascus on 26 June 1956. He attended the Saint-Esprit University of Kaslik in Lebanon, completing his studies in Rome where he was awarded a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in 1998.

He was ordained a priest on 19 May 1991 for the archieparchy of Damascus, and exercised his ministry as parish priest in Quatana. From 1992 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary of Charfet, and from 2002 to 2009, rector of the Pontifical Saint Efrem College in Rome, for Oriental Arab students. Upon returning to Damascus, he was appointed as protosyncellus.

In 2011, the Holy Father granted Pontifical Assent to the election of Msgr. Battah as bishop of the Syriac Patriarchal Curia.

Besides Arabic, he knows Italian, French and Syriac.

Appointment of administrator of the archieparchy of Hassaké and Nisibin, Syria

The Patriarch, after consulting the bishops of the Patriarchal Curia, has appointed H.E. Msgr. Denis Antoine Chahda, archbishop of Aleppo, as administrator of the archieparch of Hassaké and Nisibin, Syria.

H.E. Msgr. Denis Antoine Chahda

H.E. Msgr. Denis Antoine Chahda was born in Aleppo on 19 August 1946. He carried out his institutional studies at the Saint-Esprit University of Kaslik in Lebanon.

He was ordained a priest in 1973 for the archieparchy of Aleppo, and held various pastoral roles until 1979, when he was transferred to Maracay in Venezuela.

On 22 June 2001, the Holy Father Saint John Paul II appointed him as apostolic exarch, without episcopal nature, for the Syriac-Catholic faithful in Venezuela, and on 13 September of the same year he granted pontifical assent to the election by the Synod of the Syriac Patriarchal Church of the archbishop of Aleppo.

Besides Arabic, he knows Italian, French, Spanish and Syriac.