www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News New Chaldean Eparchy of Canada

The Pope today created [press.catholica.va] the first Chaldean [chaldean-church.com] eparchy for Canada. The eparchy is dedicated to Mar Addai and will be led by Archbishop Hanna Zora, until now Archbishop of Ahvaz, Iran. The Cathedral will be the recently consecrated Church of Mar Addai in Toronto.

Archbishop Hanna Zora was born in Iraq in 1937 and became Archbishop of Ahvaz in Iran in 1974, but remained an Iraqi citizen. He left Iran in 1987 and since 1993 he has been responsible for the Chaldean communities in Canada.

The new eparchy will have 38,000 faithful, mainly in Toronto, Windsor, London, Hamilton and Oakville in Ontario, and in Montréal, Saskatoon, Vancouver, and Ottawa.

Once again it is proper to express gratitude to His Holiness for His paternal solicitude. Still, would it not have been even more fitting for the Chaldean Patriarchal Synod to have created the eparchy for the spiritual sustenance of its own faithful?

The Pope establishes eparchies and exarchates outside the patriarchal territory on the recommendation of the Patriarch and Synod (CCEO can. 148 § 3). So a positive interpretation would be to say that the Pope, Patriarch and Synod are all working in symphony for the good of the Chaldean faithful of Canada.

I have sent you a PM with some further thoughts on this.

Please spare a thought also for the Chaldean Archeparchy of Ahvaz (Ahwaz), Iran, [catholic-hierarchy.org] which is reduced to some 30 faithful and 1 priest. Unless there is a dramatic change, Archbishop Hanna Zora, sadly, is very likely the last Archbishop of Ahvaz.

I recommend the Vatican Radio report [oecumene.radiovaticana.org] on this news. They have a fine [212.77.9.15] interview [212.77.9.15] with Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq.

Many years to Archbishop Hanna Zora



This is so sad.

Axios! Axios! Axios!

May God grant Archbishop Hanna many years in His service and may our Chaldean brethren be blessed by creation of this new jurisdiction for their Church's faithful in Canada.