Yoannis Lahzi Gaid

Yoannis Lahzi Gaid (Arabic: يوأنس لحظي جيد‎) (born 1975 in Cairo, Egypt[1]) is a Coptic Catholic priest, from April 2014 second personal secretary to Pope Francis.

Yoannis Lahzi Gaid was born in Cairo and grew up with seven siblings.[2] He studied at the Coptic Catholic seminary in Cairo and was ordained priest for the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria, Egypt.[3]

Lahzi Gaid was later sent to Rome where he studied at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, earning a doctorate in the canon law of the Eastern Churches.[2] In addition to Arabic and Italian, he also speaks English and French. Since 2007 he has served in various functions for the Vatican Secretariat of State.[4] On 1 July 2011 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a chaplain of His Holiness with the title monsignor.[3] In April 2014 Pope Francis selected him as his second personal secretary.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ "El nuevo secretario papal, políglota y copto católico" [The new papal secretary, multilingual and Coptic Catholic]. LA NACION (in Spanish). 19 April 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Andrea Gagliarducci (22 April 2014). "Coptic priest appointed personal secretary to Pope Francis". Catholic News Agency.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Cappellani di Sua Santità" [Chaplains of His Holiness] (PDF), Acta Apostolicae Sedis (in Italian) (Rome, IT: Vatican) 103 (12), 2011: 872
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Andrea Tornielli (17 April 2014). "Coptic priest joins Francis’ personal secretariat". Vatican Insider.
  5. ↑ Sandro Magister (23 April 2014). "Vatican Diary / Francis has a new secretary. Who speaks Arabic". L'espresso.