Chaldean Catholic Church

Coat of arms of the Chaldean Patriarchate
Chaldean Catholic Church
Classical Syriac: ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ
ClassificationEastern Catholic
OrientationSyriac Christianity (Eastern)
ScripturePeshitta[1]
TheologyCatholic theology
GovernanceHoly Synod of the Chaldean Church[2]
PopeFrancis
PatriarchLouis Raphaël I Sako
RegionIraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon with diaspora
LanguageLiturgical: Syriac[3]
LiturgyEast Syriac Rite
HeadquartersCathedral of Mary Mother of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq
FounderTraces ultimate origins to Thomas the Apostle and the Apostolic Era through Addai and Mari,
Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa
Origin1552
Separated fromChurch of the East
SeparationsChaldean Syrian Church (1907)
Members616,639 (2018)[4]
Other name(s)Chaldean Patriarchate
Official websitechaldeanpatriarchate.com

The Chaldean Catholic Church[a] is an Eastern Catholic particular church (sui iuris) in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syriac Rite in the Syriac dialect of the Aramaic language, it is part of Syriac Christianity. Headquartered in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq, since 1950, it is headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako. In 2010, it had a membership of 490,371, of whom 310,235 (63.27%) lived in the Middle East (mainly in Iraq).[5]

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports that, according to the Iraqi Christian Foundation, an agency of the Chaldean Catholic Church, approximately 80% of Iraqi Christians are of that church.[6] In its own 2018 Report on Religious Freedom, the United States Department of State put the Chaldean Catholics at approximately 67% of the Christians in Iraq.[7] The 2019 Country Guidance on Iraq of the European Union Agency for Asylum gives the same information as the United States Department of State.[8]

  1. ^ Introduction To Bibliology: What Every Christian Should Know About the Origins, Composition, Inspiration, Interpretation, Canonicity, and Transmission of the Bible
  2. ^ Synod of the Chaldean Church | GCatholic.org
  3. ^ "The Chaldean Catholic Church". CNEWA. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  4. ^ Eastern Catholic Churches Worldwide 2018
  5. ^ Statistics on Christians in the Middle East
  6. ^ Brief Summary on Iraqi Christians
  7. ^ Iraq 2018 International Religious Freedom Report, p. 3
  8. ^ European Asylum Support Office: Country Guidance - Iraq (June 2019), p. 70


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