Rome (AsiaNews). The Catholic Synod of Chaldean Bishops, meeting in the Vatican, has elected Msgr. Emmanuel-Karim Delly, auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, as new Patriarch for the Eastern Church. The decisive vote came yesterday morning, Wed.  Dec. 3. In conformity with traditional protocol, his identity was not revealed until he had met with Pope John Paul II, an event that took place later in the afternoon.

Msgr. Delly succeeds Patriarch Rophael Bidawid I, who passed away July 7. This past summer, an Aug. 20-Sept. 2 meeting of bishops in Baghdad reached no conclusion.

This time, Chaldean pastors quickly reached an agreement on the choice of patriarch. The new patriarch was chosen with a 2/3 majority of the votes.

Msgr. Delly, 76 years old, was born in Telkaif in northern Iraq. In 1952 he was ordained a priest of the Chaldean Church and 10 years later, Dec. 16 1962 he became bishop.  In 1967 he received the title of archbishop, although under the previous patriarch his position was auxiliary bishop of Baghdad.

The rapid election of Delly to patriarch brought an end to a stalemate.

The Chaldean community, of ancient origin, has spread all over the world from the United States and Canada  to Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. It counts around 1.5 million as its faithful. For thousands of years the Church's center has been in Iraq, with Baghdad as the official seat of the Patriarchy, where Chaldeans number around 750,000. The choice of the new patriarch was particularly delicate, due to the situation in Iraq involving military occupation and interreligious tension.

Among the" favorites" for patriarch, two names stood out: Bishop Msgr. Shlimon Warduni, patriarchal vicar of Baghdad and very well known in Iraqi Mass-media circles; and the Bishop of Kirkuk,  Msgr. Louis Sako, who is held in high esteem by Kurds in northern Iraq.