(RNS) — Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta, the leader of Chaldean Catholics in the Western U.S., the Vatican announced Tuesday (March 10), after Shaleta was arrested at the San Diego International Airport on Thursday on charges of embezzlement and money laundering.
The Chaldean church is one of 23 Eastern Rite churches that are in full communion with the Catholic Church and recognize the pope as their head. The Chaldean church, whose worship is conducted in Syriac, an Aramaic dialect, is based in Baghdad, but it has eparchies around the world. Shaleta headed the Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle, which covers much of the western United States.
The Vatican’s announcement on Tuesday said Leo had accepted Shaleta’s resignation in February but hadn’t made a formal announcement then. It also clarified that Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop will be apostolic administrator until a new bishop is appointed.
After Shaleta’s arrest on Thursday, he spent four nights in jail before pleading not guilty to 15 felony counts on Monday. A local NBC station reported that the courtroom was so packed with Shaleta’s supporters that some had to wait in the hallway due to lack of space.
Pointing out that Shaleta was captured at the airport, San Diego District Attorney Joel Madero requested that Shaleta, whom he accused of stealing at least $270,000 in rent payments for the church’s social hall, be required to pay $125,000 in bail and to wear an ankle monitor. Shaleta’s attorney said the bishop was not trying to run from the charges.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said its investigation began last August when the office was contacted by a “representative from St. Peter Chaldean Church,” who shared documents showing potential embezzlement.
The accusations became public last month when Catholic site The Pillar reported that the Vatican was investigating Shaleta for embezzlement. The bishop claimed the missing money had been distributed for charity but had no paperwork to prove it. He was also accused of sexual misconduct, including visiting an alleged brothel, according to the Pillar.
Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta of the Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle in San Diego, in undated photos. (Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego)
On Sunday, Cardinal Louis Sako, who served as Chaldean patriarch in Baghdad until Tuesday, issued a pastoral letter to Chaldean Catholics in San Diego asking them “not to allow division and discord, nor to give place to voices lying in wait to attack our Church, rather, I ask you to unity and harmony with a living conscience and a compassionate, faithful heart, far from the spirit of revenge or vindictiveness.”
A statement from Sako published by the Vatican’s news site about his resignation Tuesday asserted, “to avoid any misunderstanding,” that the patriarch was not forced to resign and had requested the resignation voluntarily. At age 77, Sako was already two years past the age when bishops are required to submit their resignation.
“I have led the Chaldean Church under extremely difficult circumstances and amid great challenges,” Sako said in the Vatican statement about his resignation. “I have preserved the unity of its institutions and have spared no effort to defend it.”
In its reporting last month, the Pillar, citing unnamed sources, claimed Sako had discussed helping Shaleta transfer to a different role in Chaldean leadership and rallied support for him behind the scenes.
In recent days, Chaldeans have been affected by war in the Middle East. Last week, a drone struck a Chaldean apartment building built by the Knights of Columbus in Ankawa, Iraq, a suburb of Irbil, that housed Christian refugees and archdiocesan workers.
