Today, it was announced that the Pontiff gave his consent to the election by the Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Church of Redemptorist Father Bashar Warda as archbishop of Arbil of the Chaldeans .

Archbishop-elect Warda is currently serving as director of the Chaldean seminary in Ankawa, near Arbil, Iraq, and moral theology professor at a local institute of religious sciences .

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1969, Bashar Warda was ordained a priest in 1993 .

The Chaldean Archdiocese of Arbil has some 20,000 Catholics served by five priests, six permanent deacons and 11 religious .