 If Yohannan's profession of faith was genuine, he might be the Catholic patriarch of Babylon the Vatican had long been hoping for, and his confirmation would be rapidly followed by the adoption of Catholicism by all the villages of the Mosul patriarchate.On the other hand, to confirm Yohannan's election would be to condone the distasteful practice of hereditary succession.There was also the possibility that Yohannan's submission was no more sincere than Ishoyahb's had been two years earlier.