Pope convokes a Synod of bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church
December 20, 2012: Pope Benedict XVI has convoked a Synod of bishops of the Chaldean
Catholic Church for January, 2013. The aim of the Synod will be to elect a successor
to His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans,
whose resignation was accepted by the Holy Father on Wednesday. The Holy Father has
appointed Archbishop Jacques Ishaq as administrator of the Chaldean Church pending
the election of the patriarch.
The Synod of Bishops will meet in Rome on 28
January 2013 and will be presided by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation
for Eastern Churches. Cardinal. Sandri recently travelled to Iraq on a 5 day visit
to the capital Baghdad, Kirkuk and Erbil.
The Chaldean Church is the largest
Christian group in Iraq, consisting of eight dioceses, 100 parishes and approximately
500,000 faithful. The number has fallen drastically however, since the fall of Saddam
Hussein and the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.During the war and subsequent insecurity,
Christians in Iraq were the targets of an often violent persecution including bomb
attacks, murders and abductions. This led to a wave of emigration generating a large
Iraqi Christian diaspora. The Chaldean Church has other dioceses and eparchies
in countries including Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Australia, Canada, the
U.S. and Europe. It is estimated that the Chaldean population is over one and a half
million worldwide.
Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, 85, was elected Patriarch
of the Chaldean Church on December 3, 2003, succeeding the late Patriarch Raphael
I Bidawid. He was created a Cardinal Bishop by Pope Benedict XVI on November 24, 2007.
On that occasion Pope Benedict was said the gesture demonstrated his "spiritual closeness
and affection" for Iraqi Christians.