Jean-Clément Jeanbart (3 March 1943 – 9 May 2026) was a Syrian Melkite Catholic hierarch, who served as the Archeparch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo from 1995 until 2021 and Apostolic Visitor in Western Europe of the Greek Melkites.
Biography Jeanbart was born in Aleppo, Syria on 3 March 1943. He was ordained to the priesthood on 15 April 1968 for his native Archeparchy of Aleppo. He was appointed to succeed the deceased Néophytos Edelby as Archbishop of Aleppo on 2 August 1995. The Patriarch of Antioch Maximos V Hakim ordained him to the episcopacy on 16 September 1995, assisted by co-consecrators, Archbishops François Abou Mokh BS and Habib Bacha SMSP.Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart Catholic-Hierarchy.org Jeanbart was appointed Apostolic Visitor in Western Europe of the Greek Melkites in 1999.Metropolitan Archdiocese of Aleppo, Syria (Greek-Melkite Rite) GCatholic.orgBischofsernennungen und -rücktritte im Jahr 1999 unter Hl. Johannes Paul II. Die Apostolische Nachfolge (German) He served as a principal co-consecrator for the consecration of Archbishop Nikolaki Sawaf of Latakia on 4 March 2000. After the outbreak of Syrian Civil War in Syria in August 2012, his residence was in Aleppo.
In October 2015, he pleaded with the British government to stop backing opposition forces in the Syrian Civil War. He stated that the war was "a contest between a modern secular state and jihadis who were destroying its culture and massacring religious minorities."Syrian archbishop pleads for UK to stop backing anti-Assad Islamist groups, 16 October 2015, The Independent
When Patriarch Gregory III Laham resigned on 6 May 2017, Jeanbart became administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church until the election of the new Patriarch Youssef Absi.Rinuncia del Patriarca di Antiochia dei Greco-Melkiti
In October 2019, Jeanbart said that the Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria is "another source of violence we would rather have done without." Jeanbart said this is concerning because it will in fact lead to the creation of an extra-territorial pocket within another nation.
He retired as Archbishop of Aleppo on 23 June 2021.
Jeanbart died in Paris, France on 9 May 2026, at the age of 83.
Relations with Islam in the Middle East At the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Catholic) for the Middle East, Jeanbart said, "I suggest (given the emigration of Christians) to spread optimism among our faithful about their future in the country. Our countries are yet not without resources and values! Let us learn to be friends of our Muslim brothers; helping them to open to us!"Vatican Radio - Middle East Synod: In Iraq, signs of hope.
References
External links
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bjeanbart.html https://web.archive.org/web/20150220045459/http://www.bistum-eichstaett.de/en/aktuell/20101018-20-das-collegium-orientale-stellt-sich-in-rom-vor-oekumenische-begegnungen-am-rand-der-bischofssynode/ http://christian-orient.eu/beitrage/die-katholischen-kirchen-byzantinischer-tradition/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110519230607/http://www.pgc-lb.org/english/Church3.shtml#Aleppo https://web.archive.org/web/20190420175825/http://www.apostolische-nachfolge.de/asien2.htm