Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Chaldean Catholic bishop Emanuel Shaleta, the Vatican said Tuesday, in a case in which Shaleta faces felony charges tied to alleged embezzlement from a parish in El Cajon, California.
The Vatican said in its daily bulletin that Leo accepted Shaleta’s resignation under canon law for Eastern Rite churches, which allows the pope to agree if a bishop asks to step down. The bulletin also said Iraqi Cardinal Louis Sako retired as patriarch of the global Chaldean Catholic Church, adding that he wants to pursue “prayer, writing and simple service.”
Shaleta pleaded not guilty on Monday to 16 felony charges, including money laundering, prosecutors said. The hearing was attended by many of his supporters.
Prosecutors said Shaleta is accused of embezzling $270,000 from the St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon, east of San Diego. The sheriff’s office said the case followed an allegation that came last August, when someone from Shaleta’s church provided a statement and documentation “showing potential embezzlement from the church.”
Prosecutor Joel Madero told the court that the allegations are connected to monthly rental payments of more than $30,000 from a tenant of the church’s social hall that were allegedly missing. Madero also said there were discrepancies in church accounts and that Shaleta “provided completely unreasonable tales of where that money was going.”
Shaleta was arrested Thursday at San Diego International Airport as he was trying to leave the country, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said. The report said authorities did not say where he was headed. At the hearing, the judge set bail at $125,000 and seized Shaleta’s passport.
Madero said Shaleta was a flight risk. Shaleta’s attorney said the Thursday flight had been planned for a while. Shaleta has maintained his innocence, including speaking during a Feb. 22 Mass, when he said he has never “abused any penny of the church money.” In that same remarks, he said, “On the contrary, I have done my best to preserve and manage the donations of the church properly.”
Shaleta’s attorney, Sharon Appelbaum, said she planned to show the allegations were false, and priests in the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle released a statement expressing solidarity with Shaleta. The district attorney’s office said he could face 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 27.
The report said the Holy See appears to have accepted Shaleta’s resignation in February but did not announce it until this week, according to the Vatican embassy in Washington. It said the Holy See appears to have waited to avoid interfering with the police investigation.
On Tuesday, the church’s doors were closed and its parking lot was empty, and Leo named Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop as a temporary administrator, according to the report. The Chaldean Catholic Church represents more than a million Aramaic-speaking Christians primarily from Iraq, and the Chaldean Community Foundation estimated there are about 500,000 members in the U.S., including about 187,000 in the Detroit area.
Cardinal Sako’s retirement drew commentary from some church scholars. The report quoted the Rev. Mark Morozowich as saying the change would “give a chance for new leadership to emerge, hopefully, a younger leader who brings new life into the community.” It also described Shaleta as the “spiritual father” of the diocese and quoted a speaker saying Shaleta’s situation is a “sad moment” for the community, including that it has “historically suffered a lot under Iraqi occupation.”
This story was corrected to reflect that Shaleta faces 16 felony charges, not 17, as the sheriff’s office reported.