Since February 2026, the new wave of unrest in the Middle East has been taking a toll on populations already severely affected by multiple crises.
Amid this climate of uncertainty and existential anxiety, the enthronement of the new Chaldean Patriarch, Mar Paul III Nona, is a source of great joy for his community in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as for the diaspora. He succeeds Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako, who stepped down from his post in March 2026.
Elected patriarch by the Chaldean Synod, which met in Rome from April 9 to 12, 2026, Amel Shamon Nona had been appointed Chaldean archbishop of Mosul in 2009. At age 42, he succeeded Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, who was assassinated in March 2008. In the summer of 2014, ISIS terrorists seized Mosul and the Nineveh Plains; he was forced into exile in Erbil. In January 2015, he was appointed Archbishop-Bishop of the Chaldeans of Australia and New Zealand in Sydney.
“Having experienced both of these realities—the agony of Mosul and life as a pastor in Australia—I know it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. My mission is to build a bridge, especially for the new generations born abroad who are searching for their roots, their identity, and their faith.”
Since the Christian neighborhood of Erbil was particularly hard-hit by the war in Iran, the temptation to go into exile is strong for Iraqi Christians. Of the 800,000 believers, two-thirds now live in the diaspora.
