Chaldean bishops elect new Patriarch, Paul III Nona

April 13, 2026

The Chaldean Patriarchate announced the election of Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona as the new Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Archbishop Nona chose the name Paul III Nona.

Born in Alqosh, Iraq, in 1967, Nona was ordained to the priesthood in 1991 and named Chaldean Catholic bishop of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in 2009.

In 2014, Mosul fell to ISIS, which then occupied the city for three years. In 2015, Bishop Nona was transferred to the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney and given the personal title of archbishop; in that capacity, he ministered to Chaldean Catholics in Australia and New Zealand.

The election took place in Rome on April 12, two days after Pope Leo addressed the Chaldean Synod of Bishops and encouraged the bishops to elect a “man of the Beatitudes” as Patriarch.

Paul III Nona succeeds Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, 76, whose resignation the Pope accepted on March 10. Cardinal Sako had been elected Patriarch in 2013.

The Chaldean Catholic Church (CNEWA profile) is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See; its headquarters are in Baghdad. The Annuario Pontificio notes that the Church has 23 eparchies and other circumscriptions: nine in Iraq, four in Iran, two in the United States, and one each in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey.

 

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Further information:

• الاساقفة الكلدان ينتخبون مار بولس الثالث نونا بطريركاً (Chaldean Patriarchate, 4/12/26)
• Former Mosul Archbishop Nona is the new Patriarch of the Chaldeans (AsiaNews, 4/12/26)