Pope Francis Accepts Retirement of Djibouti’s Catholic Bishop, Appoints Successor

Djibouti, 14 January, 2024 / 9:07 PM

Pope Francis has accepted the retirement of Bishop Giorgio Bertin from the pastoral care of the lone Catholic Diocese in Djibouti and has appointed Bishop Jamal Boulos Sleiman Daibes as his successor.

The latest administrative changes in the Catholic Diocese of Djibouti were made public on Saturday, January 13 by the Holy See Press Office.

Aged 77, Bishop Bertin has been at the helm of Djibouti Diocese since his Episcopal ordination in May 2001.

The member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap.) served as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Mogadishu in Somalia from 1990 to 2001.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Djibouti who, until his appointment, served as Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem, was born in July 1964 in Zababdeh, Palestine.

He was ordained a Priest in July 1988. He holds a Doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

As a Priest, he served as Parish Priest, lecturer, Rector of the Diocesan Seminary, head of the Department of Religious Studies at Bethlehem University and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Director of the Schools of the Latin Patriarchate in Palestine and Patriarchal vicar in Jordan.

Bishop Daibes was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem in May 2022 and assigned the Titular See of Patara.

Once installed for the Diocese of Djibouti, Bishop Daibes is to become the 7th Local Ordinary of the Diocese that has a population of 5,262 Catholics representing 6 percent of the total population in the Horn of Africa nation, according to 2021 statistics.