Michel Sabbah

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Styles of
Michel Sabbah
Reference style His Beatitude
Spoken style Your Beatitude
Religious style Monsignor
Posthumous style n/a


Michel Sabbah (ميشيل صباح, born March 19, 1933 in Nazareth, Palestine) is the Latin Patriarch and Archbishop of Jerusalem. On the 1 March 2008 he announced in a Pastoral Letter to the faithful that he will step down as Patriarch on 19 March 2008 after having reached the age of 75, the age of retirement. The Hebrew Catholics and Arab Catholics of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are under his care. Sabbah began his priestly studies at the Latin Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala in October 1949 and was ordained a priest for the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem in June 1955.

Father Michel Sabbah was a parish priest for a few years before being sent to the University of St. Joseph in Beirut to study Arabic language and literature. Shortly thereafter, he became director of schools for the Latin patriarchate. He worked in that position until the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 in which Israel militarily occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which had previously been under the administration of Jordan.

In the aftermath of the occupation, Father Sabbah then moved to the East African nation of Djibouti to teach Arabic and Islamic studies until 1973 when he began doctoral studies in Arabic philology at the Sorbonne. In 1980, he was named President of the Bethlehem University. In 1987, Pope John Paul II selected Father Sabbah as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, making him the first native Palestinian in that position and the highest-ranking Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land.

Archbishop Sabbah has worked strongly on behalf of Christians of all denominations in the Holy Land. As the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabbah has not shrunk from speaking out on behalf of Palestinians or criticizing Palestinian authorities. Christians of all denominations in the Holy Land hold Archbishop Sabbah in high esteem. Furthermore, caught between the two overwhelmingly powerful communities of Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims, and lacking a political movement to represent them, the Christian community is in an extremely difficult position. Consequently, many Christians have centered upon Archbishop Sabbah as their representative to Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land.

Archbishop Sabbah has also been a tireless advocate for Palestinian rights and the two-state solution and pushes for the Palestinian refugees' right of return. He has criticized the security fence and called for an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and has worked hard for Palestinian Christians.

As well as his other activities, Dr Sabbah has since 1999 served as the International President of Pax Christi, a Catholic organisation promoting peace, and has overseen its development into a respected and important organisation.

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Preceded by
Giacomo Giuseppi Beltritti		 Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
1987—		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Godfried Daneels		 International President of Pax Christi
1999—		 Succeeded by
Incumbent