The Chaldean Catholic Church has elected a new patriarch after the church’s bishops gathered in Rome last week. This follows the resignation of Cardinal Louis Sako, the previous Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, who resigned in a letter addressed to Pope Leo XIV in March.
He sent a “letter reflecting on the years of his ministry in Iraq, saying he led the Chaldean Catholic Church under extremely difficult circumstances and amid great challenges,” Vatican News noted at the time.
Last week, Chaldean Bishop Warda of Erbil in Iraq wrote, “The Chaldean bishops gather in the Holy City of Rome to prayerfully discern whom the Holy Spirit is calling to serve as the next Patriarch. As brothers in Christ, we seek wisdom and guidance in our decisions for the good of our Church and its future. We humbly seek your prayers.”
Rudaw media in Erbil noted that “the Chaldean Catholic Church has appointed Archbishop Emil Nona, formerly head of the Sydney diocese, as its new patriarch under the title Mar Paulus III, the patriarchate announced Sunday.”
The Chaldean Patriarchate noted that Nona had chosen the name Mar Paul Nona III as his patriarchal name.
Significance of the Chaldean Church
The Chaldean Church is an ancient church in the region, important to many of the Christians in Iraq who are its members. Rudaw noted that Sako had led the church for 13 years.
In Iraq, many Christians have faced persecution by groups such as ISIS. This has led to a huge decline in the Christian population across the country in recent decades.
Under Saddam Hussein’s rule, the Christian community was oppressed alongside all Iraqis, but it felt more secure. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, during the Saddam years, was a Chaldean Christian. The chaos after the US invasion of 2003 led to insecurity, and terrorist groups targeted Christians and their churches and leaders.
Chaldean synod met with Pope Leo before appointing Nona
Rudaw noted that “on Friday, the synod of Chaldean Catholic bishops met with Pope Leo at the Vatican to elect the patriarch.” It reported that the new Patriarch was “born in the historically Christian town of Alqosh in 1967... Nona was appointed Archbishop of Mosul in 2009 at the age of 42.”
Alqosh is a Christian town on the plains of Nineveh. It has a unique dialect and ancient Christian roots. There is also the well-known tomb of the Jewish prophet Nahum.
The report at Rudaw notes of the new leader that “he was displaced alongside tens of thousands of Christians during the Islamic State (ISIS) takeover of the region in 2014, when the group seized control of the Christian-majority Nineveh Plains and declared Mosul as its capital.
Following his displacement, he relocated in 2015 to lead the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney, serving the diaspora as archbishop of Australia and New Zealand.”
It also notes that “fewer than 300,000 Christians remain in Iraq, down from more than 1.5 million in 2003, according to data provided by Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda to Rudaw in 2022.”