Father Saleem of the Chaldean Catholic Church passed away in Ankawa on Tuesday at the age of 83.
Born in 1943, Saleem entered the Saint John the Beloved Seminary of the Dominican Fathers in Mosul. He was ordained as a priest in 1968 at Saint Maskinta in Mosul.
This is the priestly motto he chose: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16)
Saleem ministered at Sacred Heart Church in the Arab quarter near the Erbil Citadel in the 1960s and 1970s, at a time when many Christians still lived in the area. In 1973, he settled in Ankawa, with periods of service in Koya, Armota and Shaqlawa.
He was appointed parish priest of Saint Joseph Cathedral in 2010, and grew to become a respected church leader and elevated to the rank of Chorbishop by Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda. He retired in 2018.
A funeral process on Tuesday carried Saleem from Saint Joseph Cathedral to Saint George Church, where hundreds of parishioners gathered to watch him buried.