A Baghdad-based bishop was elected patriarch of Babylon, spiritual leader of the world's estimated 1 million Chaldean Catholics, the Vatican said on Wednesday.
Bishop Emmanuel-Karim Delly, 76, was elected at a synod of 22 bishops called to Rome by Pope John Paul II to break a deadlock in the choice of a successor to Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid, who died in July after a long illness. He was 81.
The new patriarch took the name Karim III.
Iraqi Christians number about 800,000 about 3 percent of the population with the ancient Chaldean community the largest. Church groups say they number between 500,000 and 700,000, but the numbers have been steadily shrinking.
A total of 22 bishops took part in the voting, including prelates from the Chaldean Diaspora in the United States, Europe and Australia.
The Chaldean Church, like other Eastern-Rite churches, is loyal to the pope but does not follow the Roman church's Latin Rite.