Chaldean Christians

This group had its origins in Iraq and is an offshoot of the Nestorian* branch of Christianity. In the last quarter of the seventeenth century the Nestorian patriarch of Diarbekir quarreled with the head of the Nestorian sect of Christianity and then turned to the Roman pope for recognition. The pope promptly established the patriarchy of the Chaldeans, which tended to fix the division between the Nestorian groups. Thus the Chaldeans are the branch of Nestorians who recognize papal authority.