Iraq’s New Christian Patriarch Inherits a Vanishing Flock

On its surface, Polis III Nona’s installation ceremony bore all the hallmarks of a thriving church. The new patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Iraq’s largest Christian denomination, was flanked by clergy, adorned with traditional vestments, marking the transition to a new era for one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. Yet the congregation he inherits has all but vanished since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Before 2003, an estimated 1.5 million Christians called Iraq home. Today, fewer than 150,000 remain.