Bishop of Abu Qurqas (Coptic)
Reverend Father Bechara Giuda, O.F.M., was born on 28 August 1971 in Al-Nagila. He entered the Seraphic Seminary of Assiut in 1983 and gave his first vows on 1 September 1996. He attended courses in philosophy at the Franciscan Seminary in Guizeh, and following his military service, he studied theology first at the Patriarchal seminary in Maadi, Cairo, and then at the Sao Paulo University in Harissa, Lebanon. After his solemn vows on 23 March 2001 he was ordained a priest on 8 June of the same year. In the Franciscan province of Egypt he has held various offices as parish priest, counsellor and director of the school in Kom Ombo. Since 2010 he has served as pastor and guardian of the Shrine of the Stigmata of Saint Francis in Assiut. Besides Arabic, he knows Italian.