Pope Francis confirms election of Father Firas Derdar as Archbishop and Patriarchal Vicar of Basra and the Arabian Gulf

VATICAN — His Holiness Pope Francis has announced the appointment of Father Firas Derdar as the Archbishop and Patriarchal Vicar of Basra and the Gulf following his nomination by the Synod of Bishops of the Syriac Catholic Church.

In a June meeting held at the Monastery of Our Lady of Deliverance in Lebanon, Father Firas Derdar, priest of the parish of Amman and the Rest of Jordan was elected to be the Archbishop of Basra and the Arabian Gulf.

Pope Francis confirmed Father Derdar’s election on 10 September with the celebration of the episcopal ordination of the Archbishop-elect will be held at a date to be announced.

Archbishop-elect Derdar was born in Baghdede in the Nineveh Plains in Iraq in 1975. He holds a degree in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad.

Archbishop-elect Derdar entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Deliverance in Lebanon and continued his philosophical studies at St. Paul’s Institute in Harissa. He also studied theology at the Theology Faculty at the University of the Holy Spirit – Kaslik, where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology. Archbisop-elect Derdar continued his two-year study in ecclesiastical media at the University of Santa Crochet in Rome.

He was appointed Deacon in 2008 in the Church of Al-Shorfa in Lebanon and a year later appointed as a priest in the Church of St. Mary – Al-Tahira in Baghdede.