Rafic Warcha

His Excellency Most Reverend Monsignor Youhanna Rafic EL WARCHA was born on 1 November 1971 in Okaibé - Ftouh Kesrouan (Lebanon, Ep. of Joubbe, Sarba and Jounieh of the Maronites), has a Lebanese passport and resides in Rome, in Via di Porta Pinciana n. 18. S. El Warcha was ordained on 17 August 1996 for the Patriarchal Eparchy (Vicariate of Jounieh); there he was assistant parish priest in Haret Sakr for five years and then parish priest of Saint Doumit-Okaibé (2006-2016). He furthered his theological studies in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in theology in 2005. He later became a university professor of Moral Theology in Lebanon, and founded a Theological Institute in Saint Doumit-Okaibé. In addition to Arabic, he speaks and writes in Italian, French, English and Syriac. Former Secretary General of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké since 2011, he was elected on 14 February 2018, and consecrated on 7 April 2018, Bishop of the Curia of Antioch of the Maronites, titular of Apamea of Syria of the Maronites. By decree of 18 June 2019, he was appointed by the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude Em. Bechara Boutros Cardinlae RAI, in accordance with canon 61 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Procurator General of the Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites to the Holy See. By the same decree, he was also appointed Rector of the Pontifical Maronite College of the Antiochian Patriarchate of the Maronites in Rome, an institution of pontifical right established by His Holiness Gregory XIII by Bull of 5 July 1584, of which he is the Legal Representative in Italy. By decree of 4 November 2020, His Excellency Bishop El Warcha was also appointed Rector of the annexed Church of San Marone, located in Rome, at Via Aurora 6.
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