Chaldean Catholic bishops electing new patriarch in Rome

by Cindy Wooden
Bishop Ibrahim, fourth from left, and Bishop Jammo, first on the right, met Pope Benedict last May with other U.S. bishops from the Eastern Catholic churches. (CNS/L’Osservatore Romano)
ROME – The 15 bishops of the Iraq-based Chaldean Catholic Church began meeting in Rome yesterday to elect a new patriarch to succeed 85-year-old Cardinal Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad.

According to Vatican Radio, the first day of their synod was devoted to prayer and spiritual reflection. Today they are scheduled to listen to reports about their communities in a still-struggling Iraq and about the immigrant Chaldean Catholic communities around the world. They are scheduled to begin voting for a patriarch tomorrow.

Two of the bishops participating in the synod guide Chaldean communities in the United States: Bishop Sarhad Y. Jammo of the Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego and Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, who heads the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Detroit.

The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Latin-rite Archdiocese of Detroit, ran a story on Bishop Ibrahim a couple weeks ago.

And both of the U.S. Chaldean Catholic bishops spoke to CNS’s Carol Glatz last spring when they were making their “ad limina” visits to Rome.
Bishop Ibrahim, fourth from left, and Bishop Jammo, first on the right, met Pope Benedict last May with other U.S. bishops from the Eastern Catholic churches.

http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/chaldean-catholic-bishops-electing-new-patriarch-in-rome/