New Chaldean Catholic Church inaugurated in Ankawa, Iraq

ANKAWA, Iraq — The Chaldean Catholic Church celebrated the inauguration of the Mor Tuma Church in Ankawa, Iraq.

The event was attended by Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil Mor Bashar Matti Warda and a number of other clergymen from the various Churches of the Chaldean–Syriac–-Assyrian people.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Endowments Bashtiwan Sadiq, external relations official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Ali Hussein, Italian and Hungarian consuls, and a large crowd of Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people in Ankawa were also in attendance.

The church was inaugurated by Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako. The ceremony began with the consecration of the church. Archbishops, priests, and deacons performed prayers and hymns. The altar and walls of the church were then blessed by Archbishop Bashar Warda.

The Patriarch and Archbishop delivered speeches in which they stressed the importance of unity, solidarity, and coexistence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and thanked everyone who contributed to the opening of the church.

In related news, the Patriarch Sako presided over the ordination ceremony of Deacon Youhanna Naji al-Tammo in the town of Karamlesh in Nineveh Plains on Friday.

Priests, monks, nuns, and a large gathering of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people attended the event.