Election of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

On 11 May 2026, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church elected the new Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

His Holiness and Beatitude Shio III has been elected Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, and Metropolitan of Abkhazia and Bichvinta.

On the occasion of this election, His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, sent a message of good wishes, in which he emphasised the significance of the new Patriarch’s call “to shepherd the flock of Jesus Christ” and expressed the hope that his ministry will contribute to strengthening “unity, charity and fraternal dialogue among our Churches.”