A Chaldean priest prays among the ruins of the headquarters of the UN in Baghdad, destroyed by the attack of 19 August in which senior official Sergio Vieira de Mello and another 22 people were killed
The Chaldean communities number about a million and a half faithful throughout the world. The majority, about half a million, reside in Iraq where the Patriarchate is. Of apostolic origins – it takes its origin from the preaching of “Thomas, one of the Twelve” – the Chaldean Church spread throughout the Middle East. Today in fact there are eparchies (dioceses) in Egypt (Cairo), Syria (Aleppo), Iran (Teheran and Urmya), Lebanon (Beirut), Turkey (Diarbekir, with its quarters in Istanbul). Then there is also the Chaldean Church of the diaspora, born as a result of emigration: there are about 200,000 faithful present in North America (with two dioceses, in Detroit and in San Diego), 15,000 in Oceania, 60,000 in Europe (with the Bishop of Cairo as Apostolic Visitor).
(The figures reported were broadcast by Vatican Radio news on 4 December).