Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (right) shaking hands with His Beatitude Patriarch Mar Polis III Nona, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and worldwide, June 16, 2026. (Photo: KRG)

ishtartv.com – kurdistan24.net

Prime Minister Barzani welcomed the Patriarch to the Kurdistan Region and congratulated him on assuming his new position. He also expressed the KRG's full support for the Patriarch in carrying out his religious and pastoral responsibilities.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani visited the Cathedral of Mar Yousif in Erbil’s Ankawa district on Tuesday, where he was received by His Beatitude Patriarch Mar Polis III Nona, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and worldwide, along with a number of clergymen, prominent Christian figures, and Christian members of parliament.

According to a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Prime Minister Barzani welcomed the Patriarch to the Kurdistan Region and congratulated him on assuming his new position. He also expressed the KRG's full support for the Patriarch in carrying out his religious and pastoral responsibilities.

For his part, Patriarch Mar Polis III Nona thanked the Prime Minister for the visit and for his continued support of the Christian community and the Church.

The Patriarch also praised the KRG’s reform agenda and development projects, as well as Prime Minister Barzani's leadership efforts. He commended the Prime Minister's work, describing him as “a man of action.”

The meeting underscored the close ties between the KRG and the Christian community, which has long regarded the Kurdistan Region as a place of coexistence, religious freedom, and stability.

Mar Polis III Nona, born Amel Shamoon Nona in Alqosh in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate, was elected Patriarch of Baghdad and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church on April 12. He formally succeeded Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako and was enthroned at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Baghdad on May 29.