Born in
Tel Keppe,
Iraq to a
Chaldo-Assyrian family in 1937, Ibrahim was later ordained a priest on December 30, 1962. Ibrahim travelled to Rome in 1972 for Rome to study at the
Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum earning a doctorate in theology in 1975.
Pope John Paul II named him as the
Titular Bishop of
Anbar dei Caldei and Apostolic Exarch of the United States of America on January 11, 1982. He was ordained a bishop by Patriarch
Paul II Cheikho of the
Chaldean Catholic Church on March 7, 1982. The principal co-consecrators were Archbishops
Emmanuel-Karim Delly, Curial Bishop of Babylon,
George Garmo of
Mosul, Stéphane Babaca of Arbil, Stéphane Katchou of Basra, and Bishops Abdul-Ahad Sana of
Alquoch and Abdul-Ahad Rabban, O.A.O.C. of Aqrā. On August 3, 1985, Pope John Paul II elevated the Apostolic Exarchate to an
Eparchy and Ibrahim was named its first bishop. ==See also==