DJIBOUTI & SOMALI: Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem Appointed Local Ordinary for Djibouti, Bishop Bertin Retires
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
On Saturday, January 13, Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Jamal Boulos Sleiman Daibes who has been the Auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem, Palestine, and the Titular Bishop of Patara, as the new Shepherd for the Catholic Diocese of Djibouti in the horn of Africa.
Bishop Daibes succeeds Bishop Giorgio Bertin who has retired at the age of 75 years and has served the only Diocese in the country for the past two decades since his Episcopal ordination in 2001.
Besides being the Shepherd for Djibouti, Bishop Bertin a member of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM), has also been serving as the Apostolic Administrator for the Diocese of Mogadishu in Somalia since 1990.
The new Bishop for Djibouti, Rt. Rev. Daibes who was ordained a priest of Jerusalem in July 1988, will also serve as the Apostolic Administrator for the Diocese of Mogadishu, Somalia.
After his priestly ordination, Bishop Daibes an alumnus of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome served as Vicar of Christ the King Parish in Amman and later became a professor and then rector in Beit Jala, the seminary where he obtained his bachelor’s degree.
Bishop Daibes has also served as head of the Department of Religious Studies at Bethlehem University and dean of the Faculty of Arts; parish priest of the Holy Family parish in Ramallah; director of the Schools of the Latin Patriarchate in Palestine and Patriarchal vicar in Jordan (2021-2022).
