His Beatitude Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, with the consent of the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church, has separated the eparchy of Zakho, Iraq, from that of Amadiyah, to which it had been united on June 10, 2013.
The Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Babylon of the Chaldeans has canonically elected as bishop of the eparchy of Zakho, Iraq, the Reverend Chorbishop Felix (Saeed) Dawood Al Shabi, to which the Holy Father Francis granted his consent.
Reverend Chorbishop Felix (Saeed) Dawood Al Shabi
Reverend Chorbishop Felix (Saeed) Dawood Al Shabi was born in Karemlesh, Iraq, on January 19, 1975. He received a bachelor’s degree in theology from Babel College in Baghdad and, subsequently, a licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 2002. He is currently preparing his doctorate in canon law in Rome at the Pontifical Lateran University.
He was ordained a deacon on January 18, 1998, and then a priest on June 29, 1998, in Baghdad by Patriarch Raphaël Bidawid.
From 1998 to 1999 he served in Mossul as a priest in Saint Joseph’s Church.
He then served in several parishes of the eparchy of Saint Peter Apostle in San Diego, United States of America. In 2007 he was appointed as chorbishop, then vicar to the bishop for the State of Arizona, United States of America, from 2009 to 2018.
He speaks Arabic, Chaldean, English, and Italian.
