Paul III Nona

Mar Paulos III Nona
Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Baghdad
Province	Baghdad
See	Baghdad
Elected	April 12, 2026
Installed	April 12, 2026
Predecessor	Louis Raphaël I Sako
Previous posts	Archbishop of Mosul (2010–2015), Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney (2015–2026)]
Orders
Ordination	January 11, 1991
Consecration	January 8, 2010 by Emmanuel III Delly
Personal details
Born	Amel Shamoon Nona (1967-11-01) November 1, 1967 Alqosh, Iraq
Denomination	Chaldean Catholic
Residence	Baghdad
Education	Pontifical Lateran University
Coat of arms

Paulos III Nona (born Emil Shimoun Nona; November 1, 1967) is an Iraqi Catholic hierarch who has served as Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad since 2026. He previously served as Archbishop of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Sydney from 2015 to 2026, and as Archbishop of Mosul from 2010 to 2015, including his exile amid the ISIS takeover in his region.

Early life

Emil Shimoun Nona, an Assyro-Chaldean, was born in Alqosh in 1967. After completing his secondary education in 1985, he entered the Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary and was ordained priest on 11 January 1991 in Baghdad. From 1993 to 1997 he was parochial vicar at Alqosh, then pastor until 2000. He then enrolled at the Pontifical Lateran University. In 2005 he obtained a doctorate in theology and returned home. From 2005 he served as a professor of anthropology at the Babel College. Later, he was named vicar general of the Chaldean Catholic eparchy (diocese) of Alqosh. He speaks Syriac, Arabic, Italian, and knows English.

Archbishop of Mosul

On May 5, 2009, the Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church elected Nona as Archeparch of Mosul. Pope Benedict XVI gave his consent to Nona's election on November 13, 2009. He was ordained a bishop on 8 January 2010, with Mar Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon, as principal consecrator. At the age of 42, Nona was the youngest Catholic archbishop in the world.

Speaking on the violence in Iraq in 2014 Nona said, all the Christians who were still living there had fled. Nona, corroborated this while speaking with the worldwide Catholic relief service Aid to the Church in Need. “All the faithful have left the city. Who knows whether they will ever be able to return,” Nona said. “In 2003 there were still 35,000 faithful living in Mosul. Three thousand were still there in early 2014. Now probably not one is left here, and that is tragic.” Nona also entered into exile due to the violence.

Shortly after his exile began, Nona gave an interview in which he warned the West about the supposed dangers of accepting Muslims into their communities:

Please, try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims. Also you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the cost of contradicting your principles. You think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.