The 2024 Synod of the Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq. / Credit: Chaldean Patriarchate
Baghdad, Iraq, Jul 25, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
The bishops of the Chaldean Synod on July 16 issued a statement declaring their position on the blessing of sa… […]
Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako / ACI MENA
Washington D.C., Jul 17, 2023 / 14:30 pm (CNA).
Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, announced Saturday that he is withdrawing from his seat in Baghdad after Iraqi President Abdu… […]
Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako speaks at the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 7, 2021. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Budapest, Hungary, Sep 7, 2021 / 06:30 am (CNA).
A cardinal said on Tuesday that Pope Francis’ historic … […]
Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako, leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Baghdad, Iraq, Aug 26, 2021 / 04:15 am (CNA).
The Synod of the Chaldean Catholic Church has agreed to drop the word “Babylon” from the official title of … […]
Mosul, Iraq, Mar 29, 2021 / 05:10 pm (CNA).- A statue of the Virgin Mary that had been desecrated by the Islamic State but was later restored has been returned to its original church.
The statue was decapitated, and its hands cut off, in Karemlesh, a largely Christian town 18 miles east of Mosul, during the Islamic State’s occupation of the villages in the Nineveh Plains from 2014 to 2017. It belongs to St. Adday church.
The statue has been partially restored. The original head was found in the rubble when the statue was recovered.
The head has been placed back onto the statue in a manner that still shows the damage from where it had been decapitated, and the hands dangle below the wrist.
It was present at Pope Francis’ March 7 Mass in Erbil.
The statue returned to Karemlesh March 18, and on March 19 it was placed in St. Adday church with a simple ceremony.
“Having Her here is a sign of courage and bravery for our people. That everyone can see that the destroyed and restored image returns to the church with a new appearance is a beautiful sign. This encourages them to have the courage to continue,” Fr. Thabet Habeb, pastor of St. Adday, told CNA.
He added that “after the Pope’s visit, we hope that there may be some attention to the Chaldean community.”
The Islamic State swept through large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, giving families of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities an ultimatum – convert to Islam, die, or leave.
In 2017 the Nineveh Plain was liberated from the rule of the Islamic State.
Rome Newsroom, Mar 6, 2021 / 08:55 am (CNA).- At Mass in Baghdad on Saturday, Pope Francis told Iraqi Christians that no matter what the world thinks, love is a strength, and it always triumphs over sin and evil.
Love, “even if it seems weak in … […]
CNA Staff, Jan 14, 2021 / 06:00 am (CNA).- A cardinal has called on Iraqi Catholics to pray at Sunday Masses that Pope Francis will be able to visit their country in March.
Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, issued… […]
© Catholic World Report