Archbishop of Baghdad
Jean Benjamin Sleiman, O.C.D., was born in Jbeil (Byblos, Lebanon) on June 30, 1946. He made his solemn profession in the Carmelite Order on October 3, 1962, and was ordained a priest on December 8, 1973. Within the Order, he held various positions of responsibility: director of the high school in Hazmieh (Beirut) (1975-1978); Master of Students for the Province (1975-1979); Provincial Councilor and Bursar (1981-1984); Prior of the Beirut house (1984-1991); and Definitor General of the Order since 1991. He speaks Arabic, French, English, German, Latin, Spanish, and Italian. He holds a degree in Theology from the Catholic Institute of Paris, a Licentiate in Sociology from the University of Lyon, and a Master's degree in Social Sciences from the Lebanese University in Beirut. He earned a doctorate in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Paris (1983). From 1983 to 1991, he was a full professor of Social Sciences at Saint Joseph University (run by the Jesuit Fathers) in Beirut and a visiting professor of Middle Eastern Social Anthropology at Saint-Esprit University in Kaslik. Since 1992, he has been a professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Teresianum in Rome.