His Beatitude
POLIS III NONA
Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans

I have received your esteemed letter in which Your Beatitude, having been canonically elected Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans on 12 April 2026 by the Synod of Bishops of the same Church, held in Rome, requested, in accordance with Canon 76 § 2 of the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, the granting of Ecclesiastical Communion.

It is, therefore, with a heart filled with joy that I grant you the Ecclesiastica Communio, as an expression and bond of full communion with the Apostolic See, in the common service to unity in the Church and to the edification of the Body of Christ.

It is my pleasure to offer fervent prayers that Your Beatitude, as Father and Head of this beloved sui iuris Church, may exercise the ministry entrusted to you with pastoral care, guiding the People of God according to the Heart of Christ and confirming them in faith, hope and charity.

May the Holy Spirit sustain you in the fulfilment of the mission you have received, so that the Chaldean Church, rich in its ancient apostolic tradition and marked by the shining witness of numerous martyrs and confessors, may continue to bear fruit through the proclamation of the Gospel, as it did with a marvellous missionary spirit, strengthening ecclesial communion within its own territory and in those of the increasingly vast diaspora.

As I extend my paternal greetings to the Bishops of the Synod, the clergy, men and women religious, seminarians, candidates for consecrated life and all the lay faithful, I entrust Your Beatitude to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and to the protection of Saints Addai and Mari.

The election of Your Beatitude took place on the day on which the Chaldean liturgy commemorates the Risen Lord’s encounter with Saint Thomas, from whom the living tradition of this Church originates; May the Apostle, who recognized in the luminous wounds of Jesus the merciful manifestation of his Lord and God, accompany your patriarchal ministry in the name of faith, which demands so much courage and perseverance from many of the faithful in the Chaldean communities who, as true believers and the pride of the Church, face often arduous trials.

I cordially impart to Your Beatitude the Apostolic Blessing, as a pledge of consolation in the Lord.

From the Vatican, 24 April 2026

LEO PP. XIV

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 28 April 2026