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Rome, Dec. 3 (CWNews.com) - The Chaldean Catholic Synod of Bishops has elected a Baghdad auxiliary to be the new Patriarch to head that Eastern Church.

The Chaldean Synod, meeting in Rome, elected Archbishop Emmanuel-Karim Delly as Patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans. The decisive vote came on Wednesday morning, December 3. His identity was not disclosed, in accordance with traditional protocol, until he after a private audience with Pope John Paul II later in the day. The new Patriarch was also "enthroned" today, and shared Communion with the Pope in an expression of the communion between the churches.

After having failed to settle on a new Patriarch during a three-week meeting in Baghdad late this summer, the 23 Chaldean bishops reached a decisions quickly once they had gathered in Rome. Having been summoned there by Pope John Paul, the bishops held a day of recollection on December 2, then proceeded quickly to a vote, and the new Patriarch won the endorsement of the required two-thirds of the Synod.

The new Patriarch, a 76-year-old native of Iraq, was an auxiliary bishop serving in Baghdad, but carrying the title of archbishop, under the previous Patriarch Bidawid. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Chaldean Church in 1952, and became a bishop 10 years later.

The quick election of Patriarch Delly ended a stalemate in which two Chaldean prelates serving American dioceses-- Bishops Ibrahim Ibrahim and Sarhad Yawsip Jammo, were regarded as top contenders for the office. Their candidacies faced serious political problems, however, since the Chaldean Church is centered in Iraq, a country now occupied by American troops. A third candidate, Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, faced opposition for a different reason: he was regarded as overly influenced by the Latin-rite Church.