| abstract | - In the 16th century, a major segment of the Assyrian Church of the East united with Rome while retaining its ancient liturgy. They are now called the Chaldean Church, to which most Assyrian Christians belong. Today in the Middle East, the group identifies itself as Sūrāyā (Syrian) in singular and Sūrāyē in plural , which is considered to be a synonym of Aššūrāye (Assyrians.) The group translates the word Suraye as Christians, for when Chaldeans had their name changed from Nestorians when they reunited with the Catholic Church, the identity was necessarily coupled with Catholicism. In the diaspora, however, and specifically in the United States and Australia, some understand the group to have adopted the Chaldean name only as an ethnicity. They are settled primarily in Iraq, with smaller communities in Turkey and Iran, for the most part speaking the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic language. A formerly Nestorian denomination, they were united with the Roman Catholic Church in 1553. The Chaldean Catholic Church was established, and its first patriarch was proclaimed patriarch of "Mosul and Athur" (Nineveh and Assyria) on February 20, 1553 by Pope Julius III. Chaldean Catholics have no direct or absolute lineage with the Neo-Babylonian Empire "Chaldeans", but were designated with the name Chaldean in the 16th century when they reunited with the Catholic Church to distinguish from the adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East. Also sometimes known as "Chaldean Christians" are the Christians of St. Thomas of India (also called the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church), ethnically Nasrani (speakers of Malayalam).
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