Bechara Boutros al-Rahi

Bechara Boutros Al-Ra'i OMM (or Raï; Arabic: بِشَارَة بُطرُس الرَّاعِيّ, romanized: Mor Bişâre Butrus er-Râî; Syriac: ܡܪܢ ܡܪܝ ܒܫܐܪܐ ܦܛܪܘܣ ܐܠܪܐܥܝ; Latin: Béchara Petrus Raï) (born 25 February 1940) is the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Maronite Church, a position he has held since 15 March 2011, succeeding Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. Rahi was made a cardinal on 24 November 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. He is a member of the Mariamite Maronite Order.

Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Ra'i was born in Hemlaya, Matn District, Lebanon on 25 February 1940. He attended Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour, a Jesuit school in Lebanon. He entered the Mariamite Maronite Order on 31 July 1962, and was ordained as a priest on 3 September 1967.^{[non-primary source needed][better source needed]}

From 1967 to 1975 he was responsible for the Arabic programs of Vatican Radio. During this time, he also served as Assistant Rector of the Collegio Maronita di Roma (Archbishop Pietro Sfair was the Rector). In 1975, he received a PhD in canon and civil law. He also studied for three years at Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

He was appointed titular bishop of Caesarea Philippi on 2 May 1986 and consecrated as Auxiliary Bishop of Antioch on 12 July 1986, by Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and his co-consecrators Roland Aboujaoudé, Auxiliary Bishop of Antioch; Georges Abi-Saber, titular bishop of Aradus; Chucrallah Harb, Eparch of Joubbé, Sarba and Jounieh; Joseph Mohsen Béchara, Archeparch of Cyprus; Khalil Abi-Nader, Archeparch of Beirut; Ignace Ziadé, Emeritus Archeparch of Beirut; Antoine Joubeir, Archeparch of Tripoli; Elie Farah, Emeritus Archeparch of Cyprus; Joseph Merhi, Eparch of Cairo; and Ibrahim Hélou, Eparch of Sidon.

On 9 June 1990, he was elected Bishop of Byblos. In 2003 he was elected Secretary of the Maronite Synod. In 2009 he was appointed President of the Lebanese Episcopal Commission for the Media.^{[better source needed]}

At 71, Al-Ra'i was elected patriarch of the Maronites on 15 March 2011, after getting more than two-thirds of the votes of the 39 bishops and replacing Nasrallah Sfeir. He formally requested and received ecclesiastical communion from Pope Benedict XVI on 24 March 2011 pursuant to Canon 76 § 2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The Mass for the inauguration of his Patriarchate took place on 25 March 2011, in Bkerké, the see of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate. As is customary for all Maronite Patriarchs, Patriarch Al-Ra'i took the additional name Boutros, that of Saint Peter, who briefly held the See of Antioch before moving to Rome to become Bishop there. On 7 March 2012, Al-Ra'i was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Al-Ra'i was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in a consistory on 24 November 2012. Al-Ra'i was the fourth Maronite Patriarch created cardinal, the first three being his three immediate predecessors Paul Peter Meouchi, Anthony Peter Khoraish, and Nasrallah Sfeir.

On 31 January 2013, Al-Ra'i was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve as a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants, and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.