Chaldean Catholic bishops have urged their flocks worldwide to show "unity and togetherness," in a message sent from their synod meeting in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

In the July 17 message, the bishops encouraged the more than 600,000 members of the Chaldean Catholic Church to remain firm in faith, despite the severe trials they have experienced in recent years.

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"As always, rally around your shepherds," the bishops said. "Unity and togetherness are the strength for salvation, while division and dispersion are ruin."

"We, your shepherds, your servants in Christ, assure you that we stand by your side and do everything we can for you and demand your full rights."

The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the 23 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. The Eastern Church is based in Iraq, but has a large diaspora community following the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003 and Islamic State's advance in 2014.

Hundreds of thousands of Chaldean Catholics live in the U.S., with well-established communities in Detroit, Michigan, and San Diego, California.

The July 15-19 meeting of the Synod of the Chaldean Church was the first gathering of its kind since the Eastern Church's leader Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako returned to Baghdad after nine months of voluntary exile, following a dispute with Iraq's President Abdul Latif Rashid.

A handful of Chaldean bishops did not attend the Synod meeting. The July 17 message expressed regret at "the absence of some bishops from the Synod, without legal justification."

But The Pillar understands that the bishops had different reasons for missing the meeting, which they shared with Synod organizers and Vatican officials responsible for the Eastern Churches, and their absences did not represent a protest or boycott.

In his July 15 opening address, Sako expressed gratitude to the bishops for their support after he left his residence in Baghdad and settled in Iraqi Kurdistan, following Rashid's decision to withdraw a 2013 civil decree recognizing him as the head of Chaldean Catholics and the person responsible for its assets.

Sako returned to the Iraqi capital in April, at the personal invitation of the country's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani.

In his speech to the bishops, Sako, who celebrated his 75th birthday July 4, stressed that "unity is strength."

"On the contrary, division is destructive, creates doubts among faithful, and is not on favor of anyone," he said.

"Problems may inevitably arise, but could be addressed through the Synod in a responsible and honest dialogue, instead of 'boycotting.'"

On July 17, the bishops discussed priestly and monastic vocations.

They accepted Sako's proposal to appoint Fr. Thomas Tammo as the new director of St. Peter's Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary in Erbil, with a probationary year.

The synod fathers elected new members of the Chaldean Church's permanent council, including Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta, the head of the U.S. Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego.

Bishop Felix Dawood Al Shabi, the leader of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiyah and Zakung in Iraq, was elected the Synod's general secretary, succeeding Archbishop Yousif Thomas Mirkis, O.P.

The Synod also extended the service of Bishop Antoine Audo, head of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Aleppo, Syria, since 1992. Audo, a Jesuit, is 78 years of age, past the customary retirement age for diocesan bishops.

On July 17, the synod fathers also sent a letter to Pope Francis, thanking him for his support for the Chaldean Catholic Church and recalling his historic 2001 visit to Iraq.

"We know that you strongly defend the Christian presence in the Middle East, and for this, we ask you to pray for us, and to bless us and all our growing communities in the diaspora," the bishops said.