Chaldean Bishops Convene in Baghdad for Pivotal Synod Amid Fight of Church's Survival
Chaldean Catholic bishops from Iraq and across the globe have convened in Baghdad this week for their annual synod, a gathering many see as crucial to the survival of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities and to the pastoral care of a rapidly growing diaspora.
The 2025 synod opened on 17 November at the Chaldean patriarchal headquarters in Baghdad’s Al‑Mansour district, under the leadership of Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako. In his opening address, Sako urged the bishops to treat the meeting as an “opportunity for self‑examination, renewal, and strengthening of our affiliation with Christ and his Church,” and called them to renewed unity and fidelity to synodal decisions in their dioceses.
In a detailed programmatic speech published by the Middle East Council of Churches, the patriarch laid out eight priorities for the synod, touching almost every aspect of the Chaldean Church’s life.
He began with episcopal leadership, insisting that authority in the Church must be rooted in spiritual integrity and transparent service. Bishops, he said, are bound in conscience and by their public ordination promises to live coherent lives and to implement the synod’s common decisions as a sign of unity.
The synod itself, Sako argued, should be a time of prayer, communal discernment and personal conversion. The first morning of the meeting was dedicated entirely to reflection and spiritual exercises before the bishops turned to business.
A central theme was the Church’s missionary task in a drastically changed landscape. The patriarch called for a renewal of catechesis, preaching and liturgy so that they keep pace with cultural and social shifts, “matching the expectations of our communities in diaspora” while preserving the Chaldean Church’s Syriac language and identity. He also stressed the need for a clearer, confident Christian witness among the Muslim majority with whom Iraqi Christians live.
Sako devoted significant attention to the “crisis of vocations”. The shortage of seminarians and young people entering religious life, he said, does not stem only from a lack of generosity, but also from a “toxic atmosphere” created by social media, psychological instability among youth, and open criticism among clergy that can discourage potential candidates. He urged bishops to invest in careful screening and robust spiritual, theological and pastoral formation for future priests and even future bishops, noting that the patriarchate regularly receives complaints about clergy behavior.
The address also highlighted the ongoing formation of priests, insisting that an annual retreat alone is not enough. Each bishop, Sako said, must follow his clergy as a “loving father” and “wise and open‑minded teacher,” measuring authority not in control but in service.
Beyond internal reform, the synod is also grappling with the Chaldean Church’s relationships with other Christian communities, Muslim authorities and the Iraqi state.
On the ecumenical front, Sako lamented that past attempts at cooperation among the Syriac‑tradition churches — Chaldean, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholic and the Assyrian Church of the East — often faltered due to political loyalties and fears of losing influence. But he pointed to recent personal meetings with Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, Assyrian Catholicos‑Patriarch Mar Awa III Royel, and Syriac Catholic Patriarch Yousef III Younan as “a promising beginning” toward deeper collaboration, a phrase echoed in a speech.
Relations with Muslim leaders, by contrast, were described as “very good”. The patriarch linked this to decades of dialogue and especially to Pope Francis’ 2021 visit to Iraq, which he said helped dismantle hate speech and strengthened a culture of coexistence.
Addressing the Church’s role in politics, Sako firmly rejected accusations that the patriarchate interferes in partisan affairs. Instead, he described its interventions as a moral duty to defend human dignity, citizenship and the rule of law, particularly when Christian property is seized or basic rights are threatened. The Church, he stressed, does not belong to any political party and has not been “bought” by any faction, but seeks a civil order that treats all citizens equally.
The stakes of this year’s meeting are heightened by the patriarch’s recent confrontation with the Iraqi state.
In July 2023, President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a 2013 decree that had recognized Sako in civil law as head of the Chaldean Church and custodian of its endowments. Feeling unprotected, the patriarch left Baghdad for Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where he spent nearly a year in what he called a self‑imposed exile.
The crisis only abated in June 2024, when Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al‑Sudani issued a new decree naming Sako “Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and in the world,” restoring his institutional recognition. The patriarch quickly returned to Baghdad, telling worshippers the move gave “new confidence” to Christians who had been repeatedly tested since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The urgency is rooted in stark demographic realities. Before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Christians in Iraq numbered about 1.5 million. Recent reports from governments, NGOs and church agencies estimate that today fewer than 150,000 remain in the country; a collapse of roughly 90 percent in just over two decades.
According to a 2024 compilation of data from Christian leaders and international observers, roughly two‑thirds of the Christians still in Iraq are Chaldean Catholics. The Chaldean Catholic Church as a whole counted about 616,639 members worldwide as of 2018, concentrated in Iraq but with large communities in the wider Middle East and in the diaspora.
The displacement triggered by the 2014–2017 ISIS onslaught devastated historic Christian centers such as Mosul and many villages on the Nineveh Plain. More than 120,000 Christians were forced to flee their homes during the jihadist advance, and even after the group’s military defeat, analysts estimate that fewer than a quarter of the pre‑2003 Christian population remains in the country.
At the same time, Chaldean communities abroad have grown dramatically.
In the United States, the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle based in Southfield, Michigan, now serves about 200,000 Chaldean Catholics in the eastern half of the country, with ten of its twelve parishes located in metro Detroit. The Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle in San Diego has grown from roughly 35,000 faithful in 2003 to about 70,000 by the mid‑2010s.
The Chaldean synod has long been a forum for tackling sensitive issues. A 2018 synod, for example, focused on the Church’s future in Iraq and among the diaspora, discussed bishop appointments, and examined translations of the Mass and adaptations of the liturgy for new communities in countries such as Australia, Canada, France and the United States.
Last year, in July 2024, the bishops issued a widely noted statement from their synod in Baghdad that both strengthened child‑protection obligations for clergy and explicitly rejected the blessing of same‑sex unions, insisting that marriage, as a sacrament, is the lifelong union of one man and one woman.
This year’s gathering, which runs through 22 November, builds on that continuity but is more explicitly framed around the Church’s survival in its cradle and its responsibilities to its people abroad. In his address, Sako repeatedly stressed that the Chaldean Church is “poor” financially but “strong and alive” in faith and hope, and that its future depends on working “in the spirit of one united team.”
For many Chaldeans, the synod’s location in Baghdad carries symbolic weight. When he returned to the capital in June after his exile in Erbil, Sako told a packed congregation that Iraq’s Christians are “one of the colors of the beautiful Iraqi fabric that must be preserved,” insisting they are not foreigners but descendants of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and of Abraham “the Chaldean.”
Those themes of belonging and perseverance echo through this week’s discussions. The patriarch has framed the synod as a moment to re‑commit to the Church’s mission in Iraq, to accompany young people discerning their vocations, to strengthen ties with other churches and Muslim neighbors, and to ensure that Chaldeans scattered from Detroit to Sydney remain anchored in their tradition.
Bishops from diaspora eparchies, including Bishop Francis Kalabat of St. Thomas the Apostle in the United States, have joined the sessions in Baghdad, with his diocese asking the faithful on social media to “join us in praying for Patriarch Louis Sako, Bishop Francis Kalabat, and all Chaldean bishops who are in Baghdad for the annual Synod of Bishops.”
As the synod deliberates behind closed doors, Chaldean Catholics both in Iraq and across the diaspora follow each new message and photo from Baghdad online, praying that their bishops will emerge with concrete decisions capable of renewing vocations, strengthening communities at home, and guiding a scattered people for generations to come.
