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Eastern metropolitan see Baghdad (Babilonia), Iraq

Archeparchy of Baghdad (Babilonia)

Patriarchal see of the Chaldean Catholic Church, erected as the Patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldeans in 1553 and transferred over the centuries from Diyarbakir via Mosul to Baghdad; the title was renamed Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Baghdad in 2021. Its seat is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows in Baghdad; in April 2026 the synod elected Patriarch Mar Paul III Nona, succeeding Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako.

On the map

Esri
Baghdad (Babilonia), Iraq, drawn to the town rather than to the door: the register holds no verified address for its cathedral.

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Established
1553
Catholics
284,393
Priests
20

Parishes and churches

2 listed churches in our records. Open a parish for Mass times, confession, directions and sources where recorded.

This is our recorded coverage, not an official diocesan parish count. Confirm service times with the parish before travelling.

The bishop

Patriarch
His Beatitude Mar Paul III Nona

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The cathedral

Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows, Baghdad stands in Baghdad (Babilonia), the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

History

The primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church bears the official title of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Baghdad, often called simply the Chaldean Patriarchate (Latin: Patriarchatus Chaldæorum). Its home is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows in Baghdad, Iraq. Mar Paul III Nona currently holds the patriarchal see, assisted by Shlemon Warduni, archbishop of Erbil, and by Basel Yaldo, Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad. Among the Assyrians of Iraq, an indigenous people of Upper Mesopotamia, Chaldean Catholics form the majority.