Adel Zaky, O.F.M. (1 December 1947 – 21 July 2019) was an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

who served as the Apostolic Vicar of Alexandria since 2009 until 2019. Prior to his episcopal appointment, he served in various parishes across cities such as

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and was also the order's national provincial superior for a time before returning to parish work.

Life

Bishop Adel Zaky was born on 1 December 1947 in

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

. Brother of Edward, Tharwat, Atef and Magdy Zaky. From 1959 until 1963 he attended the

Assiut University Assiut University is a university located in Assiut, Egypt. It was established in October 1957 as the first university in Upper Egypt. Statistics *Faculty members: 2,442 *Assistant lecturers and demonstrators: 1,432 *Administrative staff: 11,686 ...

where he obtained his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in theological studies. He entered the

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

in the 1960s in Guizeh and began his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

on 30 September 1968 before making his simple profession on 1 October 1969. Zaky made his solemn

religious profession In the Catholic Church, a religious profession is the solemn admission of men or women into consecrated life by means of the pronouncement of religious vows, typically the evangelical counsels. Usage The 1983 Code of Canon Law defines the te ...

on 10 September 1972. On 24 September 1972 he received his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

to the priesthood from the Bishop Jean de Capistran Aimé Cayer. Following his ordination he continued with additional studies from 1973 to 1975 at the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

-run

Saint Joseph University Saint Joseph University of Beirut ( French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', abbreviated to and commonly known as "USJ") is a private Catholic research university located in Beirut, Lebanon, which was founded in 1875 by French Jesuit mis ...

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

where he obtained a licentiate in

dogmatic theology Dogmatic theology, also called dogmatics, is the part of theology dealing with the theoretical truths of faith concerning God and God's works, especially the official theology recognized by an organized Church body, such as the Roman Catholic Ch ...

in 1975. From 1975 until 1989 he served in the parishes of

Assiut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut'' ( ar, أسيوط ' , from ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , ...

, El-Tawirat and then in Nag-Hammadi while from 1989 to 1998 served as the order's national provincial superior residing in

Daher Daher, or DAHER, is a French industrial conglomerate. It is operational across the aerospace, defence, nuclear, and automotive industrial sectors in the fields of manufacturing, services, and transport. It was founded in 1863 as a shipping ...

. From 1998 until 2009 he served as a pastor in Boulacco in Cairo.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

appointed Zaky on 1 September 2009 as the Apostolic Vicar of Alexandria and also made him the Titular Bishop of Flumenzer; he received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

on 31 October 2009 from Archbishop

Michael Louis Fitzgerald Michael Louis Fitzgerald (born 17 August 1937) is a British cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and an expert on Christian–Muslim relations. He has had the rank of archbishop since 2002. At his retirement in 2012, he was the papal nuncio ...

, with Archbishop Marco Dino Brogi and Bishop

Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli OFM (5 February 1942, in El Khadra, Libya – 30 December 2019, in Saccolongo, Italy) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate, who was a Vicar Apostolic of Tripoli and the Titular Bishop of Tabuda. Life Martinelli ...

serving as the principal

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

. He attended his first "

ad limina A quinquennial visit ''ad limina'', or simply an ''ad limina'' visit, is the required visit of Catholic residential diocesan bishops and certain prelates with territorial jurisdiction (such as territorial abbots) to the ''thresholds of the'' om ...

" visit to

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

on 8 March 2018. The bishop spoke

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

but was also fluent in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and also knew

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. On 10 February 2014 the bishop met with representatives of various Christian communities in Our Lady of Heliopolis in Cairo to pray for peace and national stability. Attendees included the Coptic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak as well as representatives from Christian communities such as the Melkites and Lutherans. Zaky said: "at the moment the common prayer of Egyptian Christians takes on a particular character: we are going through a time where severe episodes of violence continues in the country, but also one can see signs of hope on the horizon". In March 2015 the Franciscan-managed Coptic Church of Kafr el-Dawar was attacked prompting Bishop Zaky to refer to the episode as a link to a series of attacks against infrastructure leading him to believe the objective of attackers was to make the country insecure and also to destabilize it.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaky, Adel 1947 births People from Luxor Assiut University alumni Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI Franciscan bishops Egyptian Friars Minor 2019 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Saint Joseph University alumni Roman Catholic bishops in Egypt