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{{About|Chaldean church in the Middle EastMesopotamia Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran|Church of the East in India|Chaldean Syrian Church}}
{{Infobox Orthodox Church|
|show_name = Chaldean Catholic Church<br>ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ<br>''Ecclesia Chaldaeorum Catholica''
{{Eastern Catholicism}}
[[File:Church-In Basra-Iraq كنيسة في البصرة العراق.JPG|thumbnail|A [[Chaldean Catholic]] Church in [[Basra]] 2014]]
The '''Chaldean Catholic Church''' ({{lang-syc|ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ}}, ''ʿītha kaldetha qāthuliqetha''), is an [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern]] [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]] [[Particular church#Autonomous particular Churches or Rites|particular church]] of the [[Catholic Church]], under the [[Apostolic see|Holy See]] of the [[Catholicos]]-[[Patriarch of Babylon]], maintaining [[full communion]] with the [[Bishop of Rome]] and the rest of the Catholic Church. The Chaldean Catholic Church presently comprises an estimated 500,000 people who are ethnic [[Chaldean people|Chaldeans]]<ref>Parpola, Simo (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (JAAS) 18 (2): pp. 22.</ref><ref> </ref><ref>Nisan, M. 2002. Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle for Self Expression .Jefferson: McFarland & Company.</ref><ref>a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Travis, Hannibal. Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire, Iraq, and Sudan. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2010, 2007, pp. 237-77, 293–294</ref> [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] to northern [[Iraq]], which was [[Assyria]] from the 25th century BC to 7th century AD, and areas bordering it in southeast [[Turkey]], northeast [[Syria]] and northwest [[Iran]].
==History==
The history of the Chaldean Church is the history of the [[Church of the East]] founded between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD in Mesopotamia [[AssyriaChaldea]] (Persian ruled [[AssuristanMesopotamia]]) — represented today by at least eleven different churches, (then ruled by the successive Parthian and Sassanid Empires, where it was known by derivative names for Chaldea; [[Athura]] and [[Assuristan]]) — between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. The region of Chaldea was also the birthplace of the [[Syriac language]] and [[Syriac script]], both of which remain important within all strands of [[Syriac Christianity]]. The terms ''Syriac'' and ''Syrian'' originally being [[Indo-Anatolian]] derivatives of ''Assyrian''.<ref>Frye, R. N. (October 1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies 51 (4): 281–285. doi:10.1086/373570.</ref>
It was originally a part of [[The Assyrian Church of the East]] before the 1553 consecration of [[Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa]] who entered communion with the [[Roman Catholic Church]], when it was renamed the ''Church of Athura (Assyria) and Mosul''. Subsequent to this, it was again renamed by Rome in 1683 as the Chaldean Catholic Church, despite none in recognition of its the native Chaldean adherents being connected ethnically, historically or geographically to the long-extinct [[Chaldea]]ns, who had been completely absorbed into the general population people of [[Babylonia]] in the 6th century BC, disappearing from historyMesopotamia Iraq where Father Ibrahim was raised and lived at UR of Chaldeans.
After the extensive massacres of Chaldean and other Christians by [[Tamerlane]] around 1400 AD had devastated many Chaldean bishoprics and finally destroyed the 4000 year old city of [[Assur]], the Church of the East — which had extended as far as [[China]], [[Central Asia]], [[Mongolia]] and [[India]] — was largely reduced to [[Assyria]], its place of origin. It was followed by its core founders of [[Eastern Aramaic]] speaking ethnic [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]s who lived largely in the area of northern Mesopotamia between [[Diyarbakır|Amid (Diyarbakır)]], [[Mardin]], [[Harran]] and [[Hakkari]] in the north to [[Mosul]], [[Irbil]] and [[Kirkuk]] in the south, and from [[Salmas]] and [[Urmia]] in the east to [[Al-Hassakeh]], [[Tur Abdin]] and [[Edessa]] in the west; an area approximately encompassing ancient [[Assyria]].<ref name="Frazee">Charles A. Frazee, ''Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923'', Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-521-02700-4</ref>{{rp|55}} The [[episcopal see]] was moved to [[Alqosh]], in the Mosul region, and Patriarch Mar [[Shimun IV Basidi]] (1437–1493) made the office of patriarch hereditary in his own family.<ref name="newCath Encyclopedia">Chaldean Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic), The new Catholic Encyclopedia, The Catholic University of America, Vol. 3, 2003 p. 366.</ref>
