Amid questions, embattled Chaldean bishop expected in Rome
Bishop Emanuel Shaleta will travel to Rome this week as the Vatican deliberates over allegations of financial misconduct
Embattled Chaldean Bishop Emanuel Shaleta will travel to Rome this week as the Vatican deliberates over the bishop’s future.
While Chaldean patriarch Cardinal Louis Sako is not expected to accompany the bishop to Rome, sources have told The Pillar that the patriarch advocated among bishops earlier this year to see Shaleta transferred to a post in Baghdad, raising questions about the patriarch’s own prior account of his involvement in the case.
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The Pillar reported last month that Shaleta, who leads the Chaldean Catholic eparchy covering the western half of the United States, submitted his resignation in late January after a Vatican-ordered investigation into allegations of substantial embezzlement and personal misconduct.
The bishop was accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from his cathedral, attempting to reimburse missing funds with checks signed by him from a cathedral charity account.
He was also accused of visiting regularly the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in Tijuana, which operates as a brothel close to the U.S.-Mexican border.
While Shaleta has insisted that he did not mishandle money, The Pillar reviewed financial records indicating that he “reimbursed” his cathedral with checks from its own charity account, signed by him, after reportedly directing a parish tenant and others to make payments to the parish through him in cash, which went unaccounted for.
The bishop has not offered an explanation for the reimbursement discrepancies in his diocesan accounts.
But sources close to the case have told The Pillar that Shaleta will travel to Rome this week, where his Vatican-requested letter of resignation has been under consideration since late January. The bishop is expected to meet with officials from Vatican’s Dicastery for Eastern Catholic Churches, which is charged with addressing issues concerning the sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome.
Ahead of the trip, Shaleta released on his diocesan website a “statement from the priests of the Chaldean Catholic eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle,” which states that the bishop’s clergy are “in solidarity with our eparchy and bishop” and “awaiting the decision on this matter.”
It is not clear how many priests of the eparchy are signatories to the statement.
Sources have told The Pillar that the timing and circumstances of accepting Shaleta’s resignation are under review at the Eastern Churches dicastery.
But The Pillar confirmed this week that soon after the bishop submitted a letter of resignation from his diocesan post in late January, Cardinal Sako consulted with Chaldean bishops about his hope to see the bishop transferred to an administrative post in Baghdad, as a high-ranking official of the Chaldean patriarchate.
Sako had previously acknowledged to The Pillar that he raised the prospect of a transfer to Vatican officials, but suggested the idea was floated only before the Vatican-ordered investigation into Shaleta was “clear.” Sources have told The Pillar that the dicastery received a report on the case in late 2025, well before Sako polled Chaldean bishops about a transfer this year.
While Sako had been initially expected to join Shaleta in Rome, the patriarch’s presence now seems unlikely, given the cancellation of most flights from Baghdad amid the escalating Iranian conflict in the region.
On Feb. 27, Sako published on his website a “message of solidarity and support from the bishops of the Chaldean synod.”
The message addressed several brewing issues in the Chaldean Church, including “the controversy surrounding the Diocese of St. Peter in San Diego, United States, before the truth has been revealed and justice achieved.”
On that front, the Chaldean bishops “urge all to calm tensions and refrain from spreading false information on social media.”
After it was published, one Chaldean prelate, Bishop Saad Sirop, pushed back on the message, criticizing it in a lengthy Facebook post, for seeming to conflate several issues facing the Chaldean Church.
“Placing these matters side by side in one statement and in a tone of absolute solidarity creates an impression of alignment, and may be understood as issuing premature judgments or favoring a particular narrative before investigations are completed and the truth emerges. The Church, by virtue of its moral mission, does not rush to formulate positions at the expense of truth, nor does it involve its members in disputes before the facts are clarified and ecclesial and legal processes are completed,” the bishop wrote.
“Among the reasons for my reservation are also phrases in the letter that suggest ‘full/absolute support’ for positions or decisions. I believe this approach does not serve transparency, because respect does not necessarily mean unconditional approval of every step or decision, especially when issues are raised that require discussion, evaluation, and clear processes. The faithful have the right—and pastors have the duty—that statements be precise and specific, and that they not turn into a general cover that is read as consensus.”
Sirop also claimed that while the message was framed as a message from all Chaldean bishops, “it has not passed through a clear synodal consultative process that ensures accuracy and balance, and that defines the purpose, the audience, and the necessity of publication.”
While Shaleta’s future remains uncertain, the allegations against him have attracted widespread media attention and sharp division in the Chaldean community, especially among Catholics who have expressed doubt about a private investigator’s observations of Shaleta, which seem to support allegations that he visited a Tijuana strip club which functions as a brothel.
A Baja California news site, Calafia Noticias, reported last week that it had interviewed an unnamed employee of the Hong Kong Gentleman’s Club, who said the bishop was known among some staff to frequent the establishment on a weekly basis, mostly nursing drinks or chatting with “the girls.”
According to Calafia Noticias, the employee reported being informed by a colleague that “sometimes, very rarely, he would go off with a girl.”
Shaleta has not responded to the allegations regarding his reported visits to the club.