Bechara Boutros Al-Ra'i is the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Maronite Church, a position he has held since March 15, 2011, succeeding Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. Rahi was made a cardinal on 24 November 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir was the patriarch of Lebanon's largest Christian body, the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. He was also given the honorific title of cardinal. He was elected Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronites on 27 April 1986, and his resignation was accepted on 26 February 2011. He was the 76th patriarch of the Maronite Church, with the official title of "His Beatitude the 76th Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant".