What to know about the embezzlement charges facing a former Chaldean Catholic bishop in California

The bishop of a small Chaldean Catholic community in California has resigned and pleaded not guilty to embezzlement and money laundering after prosecutors said he took more than $270,000 from his parish.

Pope Leo XIV announced Bishop Emanuel Shaleta’s resignation on Tuesday. Shaleta was arrested last week at San Diego International Airport while trying to leave the country, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.

Prosecutor Joel Madero said Shaleta is accused of embezzling from St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon, east of San Diego. But Shaleta’s defense attorney says those allegations are false.

Here’s what to know:

Bishop for more than a decade

Shaleta, 69, was born in Faysh Kahbur, a small town in Iraq near the Tigris River and the Syrian border, according to a biography on the St. Paul Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church website. He entered seminary at age 15, training for the priesthood at St. John Minor Seminary near Mosul and Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. He was ordained by Pope John Paul II in 1984.

After receiving his doctorate in biblical theology, he was transferred to the United States, serving in Illinois, Michigan and California until 2015 when Pope Francis appointed him the bishop of the Eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto of the Chaldeans in Canada.

Francis appointed him the Bishop of Saint Peter Apostle of San Diego of the Chaldeans in 2017.

Allegations involve rental payments

Madero, the prosecutor, said the embezzlement allegations are connected to monthly rental payments of more than $30,000 from a tenant of the church’s social hall, and that there were discrepancies in the church’s financial accounts.

A court document with details of the allegations has been sealed. But the San Diego District Attorney’s office says Shaleta has been charged with 16 felonies, including eight counts of embezzlement and eight counts of money laundering.

Shaleta has pleaded not guilty.

During a recent Mass, Shaleta said he has never “abused any penny of the church money.”

Shaleta faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on all charges, the district attorney’s office said. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 27.

The Chaldean Church released a formal statement, saying that the Vatican was investigating the matter and that “all perspectives are being taken seriously and require careful review, proper documentation, and time so that the truth may be fully and fairly discerned.”

The priests of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle released a statement in solidarity with Shaleta and asked for prayers for the church.

Chaldeans are important Christian church in the Middle East

There are several branches of the Catholic Church that recognize the pope. That means they may have their own customs and rules, but they agree on the same church teachings. It also means the pope may appoint branch leaders and approve resignations.

The largest branch is commonly known as the Roman Catholic Church, and it is sometimes also called the Latin or Western Catholic church. There are also 23 Eastern branches of the church, including the Chaldean branch, that are in communion with the pope.

The Chaldean Catholic Church represents more than a million Aramaic-speaking Christians. The church traces its founding to the Apostle Thomas in the region that is now Iraq. Today, the headquarters — or Patriarchate — of the Chaldean church remains in Baghdad, Iraq.

The Chaldean Community Foundation estimates that the Chaldean and Assyrian branches together have roughly half a million members in the U.S., primarily in Arizona, California and Illinois.

Case comes during time of turmoil
for the branch

The Vatican said in its daily bulletin Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV had accepted Shaleta’s resignation under the code of canon law for Eastern Rite churches, which allows for the pope to agree if a bishop asks to step down.

Leo actually accepted Shaleta’s resignation in February, but appears to have waited to announce the decision to avoid interfering with the police investigation. Leo named Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop as a temporary administrator.

The head of the Chaldean church, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, retired on March 9, and Leo announced the retirement at the same time as Shaleta’s resignation.

It’s not clear if the two departures are connected.

Sako, 76, said that he first discussed retiring with Pope Francis in 2024, but Francis encouraged him to remain. Sako said he asked Leo to retire again on Tuesday and Leo agreed.

Sako said he freely offered his resignation and was leaving “of my own will” to pursue prayer, writing and simple service. He had occasionally clashed with Iraq’s political leaders, and his retirement comes as the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has spilled into Iraq and other neighboring countries.

Before retiring, Sako wrote a letter to parishioners in the San Diego region, urging them to seek unity and “a compassionate, faithful heart, far from the spirit of revenge” during an “exceptionally painful situation.”

“Let the legal procedures take their course in revealing the truth and upholding justice,” Sako wrote. ____ Associated Press journalists Gregory Bull, Christopher Weber, Deepa Bharath, Nicole Winfield and Kathy McCormack contributed.