Selwan Anwar Taponi was born to a Syriac Catholic family on April 29, 1969, in Baghdad, Iraq. In August of 1969, he was baptized at the Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah in northern Iraq. Growing up in Baghdad, Father Selwan’s home parish was Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Church in Baghdad. Although they were Syriac Catholic, his family were regular parishioners at Sacred Heart Chaldean Church in the same city; Selwan’s father was particularly close with Bishop (then Father) Jibrail Kassab. It was in this church that he received his First Holy Communion.

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