Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon
The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon, the patriarchate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, is based in the Cathedral of Mary Mother of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq. The Catholic Encyclopedia states, "His title of Patriarch of Babylon results from the erroneous identification of modern Bagdad with ancient Babylon." The current patriarch is Louis Raphaël I Sako. He is assisted by the archbishop of Erbil Shlemon Warduni and the Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad Basel Yaldo. Its cathedral is the Church of Mary Mother of Sorrows in Baghdad, Iraq.
Chaldean Catholics are the majority of Assyrians in Iraq, an indigenous people of North Mesopotamia.
The Chaldean Catholic Church over which the patriarchate presides is named after ancient Chaldæa. It is in full communion with the Holy See and the Catholic Church as a whole. It was first formed due to a dispute known as the Schism of 1552, which split the Church of the East into two religious factions. The leadership of the part that entered communion with Rome broke off its relationship formally in 1662. In 1677, the Turkish civil authorities gave recognition bishop Joseph I, who had become the leader of those who supported union with Rome. The Holy See recognized him as patriarch in 1680. His residence was at Amid, known in Turkish as Diyarbakir. After the resignation of his third successor was accepted in 1781, a long period of sede vacante followed, during which the Holy See chose to confer the title of patriarch on neither of two rival candidates. This ended in 1830 with the appointment as Catholic patriarch of Yohannan VIII Hormizd.
The seat of the Catholic patriarchate was moved to Baghdad, Iraq in the mid-twentieth century. The current cathedral there, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, was consecrated in 1898.
For a list of the successive Catholic patriarchs, see List of Chaldean Catholic Patriarchs of Babylon.
