Francis Mansour Zayek

Francis Mansour Zayek Khoury ( born October 18, 1920 in Manzanillo, Cuba, † 14 September 2010) was Archbishop of Saint Maron of Brooklyn.

Life

Francis Mansour Zayek was one of six children of Mansour and Miriam ( Khoury ) and was born in Manzanillo, Cuba. 1931 the family moved to Lebanon. Zayek entered the seminary and studied in Lebanon and Rome. He received on 17 March 1946, and was ordained priest incardinated in the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East in Lebanon. After completing his doctoral studies in canon law in Rome, he was pastor of the Maronite community in Cairo, also worked for the Apostolic Nunciature in Cairo. After returning to Rome, he worked as a lawyer for the Roman Curia.

Pope John XXIII. appointed him on 30 May 1962 Titular Bishop of Callinicum dei Maroniti and appointed him as Auxiliary Bishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. The Patriarch of Antioch, Pierre- Paul Méouchi, donated to him on August 5th of that year, the episcopal ordination; Co-consecrators were Sfair Pietro, Bishop Ordinary for Maronites in Rome, and Abdallah Noujaim, Bishop of Baalbek.

Zayek was 1962-1965 a Council Father at all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council.

Paul VI. appointed him on 27 January 1966 Bishop of the United States of America for the faithful of the Eastern Rite. During his tenure, the change of name of the Apostolic Exarchate of the United States of America for the faithful of the Eastern Rite Eparchy of Saint Maron fell into the of Detroit and later into the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn today.

John Paul II elevated him on 10 December 1982 as Archbishop ad personam. On 11 November 1996, Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation age-related.

Rayek was a member of the Maronite Patriarchal Synod. He received the Medal of Honor Ellis Iceland