Father Michel Jalakh was born in 1966. He joined the Antonine Maronite Order (OAM) in 1977 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He majored in philosophy and theology, then in music, at Saint Thomas Aquinas University in Rome.
In 1993, he was appointed treasurer of the property of the Antonine Maronite Order (O.A.M.) in Rome, and then, from 1999 onwards, Procurator General to the Holy See. Subsequently, he was appointed delegate of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. He would then return to Lebanon in 2008 where he was put in charge of the financial management of the Convent and of the Saint John School in Ajaltoun.
Holder of a Ph.D. in Eastern Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Institute of Rome (2008), a master’s degree in Management and Administration of Ecclesiastical Property (1998), and a Higher Diploma in Piano (1996), he has taught Ecclesiology and Ecumenical Studies respectively at the Université Antonine and at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK).
In April 2013, he was elected Secretary General of the Council of Churches in the Middle East (CCME).
Father Jalakh is the author of several books and articles, including, most notably, Ecclesiological Identity of the Eastern Catholic Churches: Orientalium Ecclesiarum 30 and Beyond (Rome, 2014).