By Baghdadhope*
The Chaldean Diocese of Erbil (Iraq) has a new bishop. The new bishop, who will replace Msgr. Rabban Alqas who since 2007 held the patriarchal diocese as administrator is, as rumored since the last synod of the Chaldean church, Father Bashar Warda CSsR, rector of St. Peter Chaldean Seminary in Ankawa.
Father Bashar Warda originates from the northern region of Zakho. In 1994, following a visit to Iraq of Redemptorists' General Father, Juan Lasso de la Vega, Father Bashar decided to enter the Congregation. Sent for the novitiate in Dundalk (Ireland) he completed his university studies in Leuven (Belgium) and holds a license in morals with a thesis on violence in Islam. Returned to Iraq in 1988 he was given charge of several churches including that of Mar Elijah in Baghdad that he restored and where he founded a school, a kindergarden and various church groups. Father Bashar supervised also the renovation of the Redemptorists' house in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad and the construction of a new house in Alqosh.