Joe Ghossoub gets Papal knighthood

Joseph Ghossoub, head of sprawling agency network Menacom and commonly referred to as the “Godfather” of the Middle East’s advertising industry, has been appointed to the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St Gregory the Great, a knighthood bestowed by the Pope.

Ghossoub received the honour at a ceremony in Lebanon last week, when regional Catholic leader His Holiness Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant, initiated the Ad Man into the Order.

The honour is one of five Papal orders of knighthood, founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831, and previously bestowed on Rupert Murdoch, Bob Hope and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the special Olympics and sister of murdered US president John F Kennedy.

“I am truly humbled to receive this enormous honour from the Holy See and the Holy Father, Pope Benedictus XVI,” said Ghossoub in a press release.

“Throughout my life, I have been blessed with professional success, personal contentment and spiritual fulfilment. And I have always done my best, with all humility, to give back to the community which has given me so much,” he added.

Ghossoub thanked Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in particular, and dedicated the appointment to the peoples of Lebanon and the UAE.

Having received the Order, Ghossoub is now permitted to ride a horse through St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.