 He chose the name Gregory after the Patriarch Gregory II Youssef, the last member of the Basilian Salvatorian Order to serve as head of the Melkite Church.On December 5, 2000, Pope John Paul II accepted Patriarch Laham's request for ecclesiastical communion.On May 8, 2008, along with other Melkite bishops and archimandrites, Patriarch Laham was received at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XVI.