AINKAWA, Kurdistan Region — In a live-broadcast ceremony held in the Christian township of Ainkawa near Erbil, Mar Gerges III was consecrated as the new patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East on Sunday.
Mar Gerges III was elected to the position by an assembly of 15 cardinals on Saturday, and Pope Francis I, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, was among the first to offer his well wishes in a message sent to the new Assyrian patriarch.
Hundreds of dignitaries from the Kurdistan region and Iraq witnessed the ceremony as the new patriarch took the oath as Holy Father.
Government representatives, including Kurdistan region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Iraqi Transportation Minister Hussein Shahrstani, attended the ceremony, which was held at St. John the Baptist Church.
Representatives from the Vatican and the Assyrian community in Australia were also among those present.
It is estimated that Christians in Iraq make up over 3 percent of the population. According to the 1987 Iraqi census, 1.4 million Christians, including the Assyrian community, lived in Iraq, but many have since migrated to the West after years of persecution and economic hardship.
Unofficial estimates suggest that over 60,000 Assyrians still live in the Kurdistan region, but the majority of Assyrians see the Nineveh Plains as their ancestral homeland, and would prefer more self-rule for their community.
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