Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, Patriarch emeritus of Antioch for Syrians, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, was born on September 18, 1930 in Meskaneh, Syria. He was ordained on October 17, 1954 and holds a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome.

On July 2, 1977 he was elected by the Syrian Patriarchal Synod as Bishop of Cairo, Egypt, and confirmed by Pope Paul VI on July 22, 1977 and was ordained on September 18 of that same year.

He was a member of the Commission for the Revision of the Eastern Code of Canon Law and chaired the commission that translated the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches into Arabic.

On July 1, 1994 he was promoted to Archbishop of Homs for Syrians, Syria.

On October 13, 1998 he was elected Patriarch of Antioch for Syrians and enthroned on October 25. On October 20, 1998 he obtained the ecclesiastica communio.

On November 25, 2000 he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Patriarch emeritus of Antioch for Syrians, resigned January 8, 2001.

On June 9, 2007, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. As Prefect, he was also Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of February 21, 2001, and died April 7, 2012

Was a member of:

• Congregations: for the Doctrine of the Faith; for Causes of Saints;
• Pontifical Councils: for Promoting Christian Unity, for Legislative Texts;
• Special Council for Lebanon of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.