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.