The Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil (, ) is a

Chaldean Catholic The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church ('' sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syri ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

with its seat in

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

. Erected in 1968 with territory taken from the Archeparchy of Kirkuk, it is immediately subject to the Patriarchal See of Babylon. The see of the archbishop is the Cathedral of St. Joseph (Mar Yousif) in

Ankawa Ankawa (; , ) is a suburb of Erbil in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is located northwest of downtown Erbil. The suburb is predominantly populated by Christian Assyrian, most of whom adhere to the Chaldean Catholic Church. History Ankawa was ...

, a suburb of Erbil. Under Archbishop

Bashar Warda Bashar Matti Warda (; born 15 June 1969 in Baghdad, Iraq) is a Chaldean Catholic cleric and the current Archbishop of Erbil (in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq). Biography Born in 1969, Warda joined the Saint Peter's Chaldean seminary in Baghda ...

, the archdiocese expanded its activity by creating the

Catholic University in Erbil The Catholic University in Erbil (CUE) () is a private non-profit institution of higher education and research located in the Erbil suburb of Ankawa, Kurdistan Region, Iraq It was founded in December 2015 by the Archbishop Bashar Warda of the ...

and several youth and healthcare agencies. In particular, the Archdiocese took a leading role in the care of Christians displaced from

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

and the

Nineveh Plains Nineveh Plains (, Modern ; ; ) is a region in Nineveh Governorate in Iraq. Located to the north and east of the city Mosul, it is the only Christian-majority region in Iraq and have been a gathering point for Iraqi Christians since 2003. Control o ...

after the

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

invasion of those areas in 2014. During this period, Ankawa and Erbil became the center of

Christianity in Iraq The vast majority of Christianity, Christians in Iraq are indigenous Assyrian people, Assyrians who descend from ancient Assyria. They are considered to be one of the oldest and continuous Christians, Christian communities in the world. Iraqi ...

Ordinaries

Stéphane Babaca Stéphane is a French given name an equivalent of Stephen/Steven. The word derives from the Greek word "''στεφάνι''" (stefáni) n (plural στεφάνια), meaning wreath, garland (of flowers), and the verb "στέφω" (stéfo), meaning "t ...

(1969–1994) * Hanna Markho (1994–1996) *

Jacques Ishaq Archbishop Mar Jacques Ishaq (; 25 February 1938 – 22 June 2023) was an Iraqi Chaldean Catholic hierarch who served as Curial Bishop of the Patriarchate of Babylon. He served as locum tenens of the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans betwee ...

(1997–1999) * Yacoub Denha Scher (2001–2005) *

(2010–''present'') File:Bashar Warda 2015 (15811240534) cropped.jpg, Bashar Warda 2015 File:Chaldean Catholic Cathedral of Saint Joseph 2005 (Ankawa, Erbil, Iraq).jpg, St Joseph's Cathedral, Ankawa

References

External links

*
GCatholic.org

Chaldean Catholic dioceses Eastern Catholicism in Iraq Religious buildings and structures in Erbil Christian organizations established in 1968 {{Kurdistan-stub