[1] He is the youngest of seven children born to Colonel Baron Maximilien Terlinden (1927-2016) and Geneviève van der Rest (1935-2002).

He wrote his doctoral thesis on the internalization of moral sources according to the writings of Charles Taylor and John Henry Newman.

In 2017, he became president of the seminary for the French-speaking dioceses of Belgium, member of the diocesan council for the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels and a canon of the chapter of Saint-Rombaux.

[9] On 22 June 2023, Pope Francis named Terlinden to succeed Cardinal Jozef De Kesel as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels.

[6] His appointment follows the tradition of alternating between a native speaker of French and of Dutch when filling this position, though most likely candidates in the modern era are bilingual.

[12] He chose as his episcopal motto "Tous frères", based on the title of Pope Francis's encyclical Fratelli tutti.

He received his episcopal consecration on 3 September 2023 in the Cathedral of Saint Rumbold in Mechelen from De Kesel, his predecessor, with Bishops Johan Bonny of Antwerp and François Touvet of Châlons (France) serving as co-consecrators.