Pontiff grants ecclesiastical communion to new Chaldean Patriarch

April 28, 2026

In a letter dated April 24 and released today, Pope Leo XIV granted ecclesiastical communion to Paul III Nona, who was elected Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church on April 12.

“With a heart filled with joy,” wrote Pope Leo, “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,” the Pope continued. “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 marvelous missionary spirit, strengthening ecclesial communion within its own territory and in those of the increasingly vast diaspora.”

The Pontiff added:

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.

Paul III Nona is the successor of 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:

• Concession of the Ecclesiastica Communio to the new Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, 28.04.2026 (Holy See Press Office, 4/28/26)
• Chaldean bishops elect new Patriarch, Paul III Nona (CWN, 4/13/26)