Edmond Farhat (20 May 1933 – 17 December 2016) was a Lebanese prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

Biography

Farhat was born in Ain Kfaa,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, on 20 May 1933. On 28 March 1959, the

Maronite Patriarch of Antioch This is a list of the Maronite patriarchs of Antioch and all the East, the Primate (bishop), primate of the Maronite Church, one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Starting with Paul Peter Massad in 1854, after becoming patriarch of the Maronite Ca ...

Paul Peter Meouchi Moran Mor Paul II Peter Meouchi (born April 1, 1894, Jezzine, Lebanon – died on January 11, 1975, Bkerké, Lebanon), (or ''Boulos Boutros el-Meouchi'', ''Meoushi'', ) was the 74th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1955 until his death in 1975 ...

ordained him a priest. He earned degrees in theology, philosophy and

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

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and

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and a doctorate in theology. From 1967 to 1989 he worked as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops in Rome and from 1970 to 1989 as Professor of

Islamic Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

at the

University of Sassari The University of Sassari (, UniSS) is a public university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 13 departments. The University of Sassari earned first place in the rankings for the best “medium-sized” Italian ...

. On 26 August 1989,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Libya, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Tunisia and Algeria, and

titular archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Byblus. On 20 October 1989 Farhat was consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul. His co-consecrators were

Edward Cassidy Edward Idris Cassidy AC (5 July 1924 – 10 April 2021) was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who was president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 1989 to 2001. He headed the Commission of the Holy See f ...

and

Francesco Colasuonno Francesco Colasuonno (2 January 1925 – 31 May 2003) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as a Vatican diplomat for more than two decades. He had the personal title of archbishop and at the end of his service became a cardin ...

. On 26 July 1995, he was named Nuncio to Slovenia and Macedonia. He worked as mediator of diplomatic relations between the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

and Macedonia, which thus the Order officially recognized. On 11 December 2001 he was named nuncio to Turkmenistan and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In Turkey his advocacy for Turkish membership in the European Union resulted in warnings that he was failing to comply with Turkish law limited the role of religion in civic affairs. On 26 July 2005 he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Austria. On 14 January 2009,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted Farhat's resignation as Apostolic Nuncio to Austria. On 22 December 2009, Pope Benedict named him a member of the

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. He died in Rome on 17 December 2016.

Honours

* Honorary conventual of the

* Grand Officer of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

(2008) * Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (2009)parlament.gv.at
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Works

* Gerusalemme nei documenti Pontifici from 1887 to 1984. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Rome, 1987, .

References