As many military analysts feared, the U.S. and Israeli air campaign over Iran has quickly broadened into a conflict that now engulfs much of the Persian Gulf and Holy Land regions. Iraqi Kurdistan has endured missile and drone attacks from Iranian or Iraqi proxy forces that have targeted the Erbil airport and the headquarters of a remnant U.S. military presence in Erbil.
Kyiv -- Assyrian-Ukrainian heavyweight judoka Yakiv "Yasha" Khammo, an Assyrian athlete who has steadily built a reputation on the international judo circuit, began the 2026 season with mixed results but renewed ambitions as he looks toward the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Pope Leo XIV announced this week that he had accepted the resignation of Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako from the leadership of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and throughout the world after more than a decade of service marked by major pastoral and political challenges.
Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation submitted by Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako from the office of Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, in accordance with Canon 126 §2 of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches (CCEO).
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, a Chaldean Catholic bishop arrested in San Diego last week on charges of embezzling Church funds. The Vatican also announced March 10 that Leo has appointed Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, a Chaldean Catholic bishop from Iraq, to oversee the Catholic Eparchy of St.
As the war in the Middle East continues to escalate, with the spectre of a broader regional conflict looming, the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, has voiced his alarm. "As Patriarch, I am deeply concerned. No one knows where this war will lead," he told Vatican News today.