Chaldean bishops meet in Rome
to elect a new Patriarch
Adapted from
January 29, 2013
In Rome today, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon began a Patriarchal Synod to elect a successor to His Beatitude, Cardinal Emmanuel Delly II who recently resigned as Patriarch upon reaching age 80.
The Synod was convoked by Pope Benedict XVI, under the Presidency of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.
Fifteen bishops, mostly from Iraq, ancestral home of the Chaldean Church, but also from neighboring Iran, Syria and Lebanon, along with those from the growing Chaldean Diaspora in Australia and North America, are taking part.
Opening the Synod on Monday morning, Cardinal Sandri underscored the crucial timing of the Synod at a ‘delicate historical moment’ for the region and the need for unity in its leadership.
He said that “this act of election of a new Patriarch is of paramount importance before God, the Church and all the faithful is the equal responsibility of each bishop”.
On this, he added, depends “the very future of the Chaldean Church, Her tradition and heritage, her ecclesial, social and historical circumstances, the elaboration and application of pastoral guidelines”.
About the Patriarchal Chaldean Church
In 1551, some Chaldean Orthodox bishops and faithful gathered at the ancient monastery of Rabban Yochanan Hormisda in what is now Mosul, present-day Iraq. They elected Abbot John Sulaqa as Patriarch, and sent him to see Pope Julius III in Rome, where he converted to Catholicism.
In 1553, the Pope created a Catholic Patriarchate of the Chaldean Rite, but full communion with Rome was not definitively established till 1830, when Pope Pius VIII conferred its head with the title Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.
Until the end of the 20th century, its seat remained in Mosul, but since 2000, it has been in Baghdad, seat of the Patriarch of Babylon. Membership is about one million, of whom 250,000 live in Iraq and represent a majority of the Christian population there. The Chaldean Church also has communities in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Australia, the USA, and Jerusalem.