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The Church in Turkey stands with all suffering people.

The Holy Father has appointed Rev. Father Antuan Ilgit of the Society of Jesus, hitherto Vicar General and Chancellor of the same Vicariate, as well as professor of Moral Theology and Bioethics at the St. Louis Section of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia (Turkey), assigning him the titular See of Tubernuca.

Curriculum vitae

H.E. Msgr. Antuan Ilgit was born June 22, 1972 in Hersbruck (Germany Federal Republic) to Turkish parents and grew up his early years in Germany and then moved to Turkey with his family. He received a four-year degree in Public Administration from the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Gazi Üniversitesi (Ankara) in 1994. After his first steps in religious life in the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor (Province of Emilia-Romagna), he entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus (Province of Italy) in Genoa on November 1, 2005. In 2007, in Padua, he made First Vows. After a baccalaureate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (2008), he received a licentiate in Moral Theology with a focus in bioethics from the Alphonsian Academy of the Pontifical Lateran University (2011). Sent then to the United States of America for special studies, he earned first a two-year Master’s degree in Medical Ethics from Saint Joseph’s University (2013) and then a canonical doctorate in Moral Theology from the School of Theology and Ministry of Boston College (2017).

In the course of his special studies, he was named a member of Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society of Jesuit Institutions of Higher Education, Alpha Epsilon Lambda National Honor Society – Omega Chapter of Saint Joseph’s University and FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics).

Ė founding member of Friends of the Middle East odv.

He received presbyteral ordination from Em. Card. Giovanni Lajolo on June 26, 2010 in the Church of the Jesus in Rome. From September 2020 to April 2021 he did his final year of formation (Third Probation) in Salamanca, Spain. He made his Solemn Profession in the Society of Jesus on November 19, 2022 in Ankara.

During his life as a presbyter, he held the following positions: assistant pastor of the Turkish-speaking Catholic community of Meryemana Parish in Ankara; community bursar of the Jesuit Fathers (2010-2011); community animator, member of the formation team and spiritual father at the Pontifical Interregional Campanian Seminary in Naples (2017-2020); lecturer in Moral Theology and Bioethics at the St. Louis Section of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy (2017-present); national coordinator for youth and vocation ministry of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference (2022-present); Vicar General and Chancellor of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia (2022-present).

The official statement of Monsignore Martin KMETEC, President of Conference or the Catholic Bishops and Archbishop of Izmir, due to the statements of Halil KONAKÇI, Imam of Pendik Ulu Çınar Mosque, regarding the Holy Virgin Mary, is as below.

We learned with joy the news of the election of Msgr. Sabri Anar. We thank the Lord for the gift of a new pastor to the Chaldean Catholic Church in Türkiye.

(Original in Turkish)

+ Martin Kmetec OFMConv
Metropolitan Archbishop of Izmir
President of the CET

The Synod of the Church of Baghdad of the Chaldeans has elected Rev. father Sabri Anar as Archbishop of Diyarbakır (Amida) of the Chaldeans in Türkiye; this election was approved by his Holiness Pope Francis. Rev. Fr. Sabri Anar was currently the parish priest of the Chaldean community of Arnaouville (France).

Curriculum vitae

Mons. Sabri Anar was born on 1^st of January 1966 in Uludere, Turkey. He studied at the Franciscan Minor Seminary in Istanbul and later, in 1985, entered the Chaldean Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad.

On 10th of November 1990, he received priestly ordination in Paris, where he began his pastoral service for the Chaldean community of the Île de France region. From 1990 to 2006 he was parish vicar of St. Thomas Apôtre in Sarcelles and subsequently become the parish priest of the same church.

Since 2016 he has overseen the Church of St. Jean Apôtre in Arnouville.

In 2017 he was appointed Corepiscopo in the Chaldean Church. He holds a Masters in Catechetics at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

22 Mayıs 2023 Yazarı: Şule Rogenbuke

P. Alessandro, the National Delegate for International Eucharist Congress entrusted to the intercession of St. Paschal Baylon, a franciscan religious who lived in Spain in 16th century, the way of the International Eucharistic Congress which will be held in Quito in 2024 and also the 1st National Eucharistic Congress of the Church of Turkey.