Vatican City (Fides Service) – On December 3 Pope John Paul II received the new Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, and members of the Synod of the Chaldean Catholic Church in a private audience. Greeting affectionately the Synod members who had “gathered near St Peter to perform the highest act of synodal responsibility” the Holy Father asked them “to carry to the communities of which you are Shepherds by affection greetings and assurance of my prayers. The Pope is close to all the Iraqi people and he knows their longing for peace security and freedom.”
The Pope said “the Chaldean Church is proud to bear witness to Christ in the land from which
On being elected the new Patriarch addressed a formal letter to the Pope requesting “ecclesial communion”. In the letter the Patriarch assured the Pope of his personal “total attachment and that of the Chaldean Catholic Church and my personal devotion. With God’s help I will do everything possible to foster the unity of the Church in this tragic situation in the Middle East and Iraq in particular.” Granting the request for Communion the Pope said: “May the Lord, the Shepherd of Shepherds fill you with his grace that you may carry out your new ministry for the glory of God, the consolation of those entrusted to your paternal solicitude and for the good of the universal Church..”(S.L.) (Fides Service 5/12/2003 – lines 27; words 392)