Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was a 16th-century Catholic bishop and the first patriarch of the line that became the Chaldean Catholic Church. Born around 1510 near Mosul, he was elected to leadership by clergy who opposed the hereditary succession practices within the Church of the East. After traveling to Rome to seek papal confirmation, he was consecrated in 1553. His short reign established a new ecclesiastical line in full communion with the Holy See, marking a significant schism in the historical Church of the East.