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| Cardinal,Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Sako in 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Church | Chaldean Catholic Church | ||||||||||||||||||||
| See | Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Elected | 31 January 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Emmanuel III Delly | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Ordination | 1 June 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Consecration | 14 November 2003 by André Sana | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Created cardinal | 28 June 2018 byPope Francis | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Patriarch (Cardinal-Bishop) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Louis Sako (1948-07-04)4 July 1948 (age 77) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Denomination | Chaldean Catholic | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Baghdad | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Ordination history | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic:لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is aChaldean Catholic prelate who has served asPatriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013.Pope Francis made him acardinal on 28 June 2018.
Sako was born in the city ofZakho,Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]
He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at thePontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from theSorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]
Sako speaksNeo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]
A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected SakoArcheparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002.Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk,André Sana.[8]
In August 2009, and at the beginning ofRamadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives ofAli Sistani andMuqtada al Sadr.[9]
The Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church, convoked in Rome on 28 January 2013, elected Sako to succeedEmmanuel III Delly as Patriarch of Babylon. He chose Louis Raphael I as his regnal name. Pope Benedict XVI gave his assent to the election on 1 February[2] and granted himecclesiastica communio (ecclesiastical communion) as required by the canon law forEastern-rite Catholic churches in recognition of their unity with the wider Catholic church.[10]
That same year, Iraq's PresidentJalal Talabani issued a decree recognizing Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldean Church.[11]
In July 2014 Sako led a wave of condemnation for theSunni Islamists who demanded Christianseither convert, submit to their radical rule and pay a religious levy or face death by the sword.[12] In September 2014 Sako said “The U.S. is indirectly responsible for what is going on in Iraq as it said it would ensure democracy and the well-being of the people, but 10 years have passed and on the contrary we have gone backward." He was responding to a question following remarks attributed to him in the local dailyAd-Diyar in which he accused the U.S. of supporting ISIS. Sako had also criticized Muslim countries for lack of support: "Our Muslim neighbours did not help us." He urged Muslim preachers to issue a religious ruling against the killing of all innocent people and said that "Issuing afatwa preventing Muslims from killing fellow Muslims is not enough."[13]
In 2014, Sako ordered ten priests who had fled Iraq to return there by 22 October; he suspended them when they failed to comply. The priests, all living in the United States, some for as long as twenty years, appealed toPope Francis for relief from the order.[14] In January 2015, Pope Francis granted them permission to remain in the United States.[15] Sako later renewed his order despite the pope's decision.[16]
In 2015, Sako proposed a "merger" or reunion of his ownChaldean Catholic Church with theAncient Church of the East and theAssyrian Church of the East to create one united "Church of the East" with a single patriarch in union with the pope. His proposal would have required both his own resignation and that ofMar Addai II, followed by a joint synod of the bishops of all three churches to elect a new patriarch for the reunited Church of the East. (The patriarchate of the Assyrian Church of the East was vacant at the time, following the death ofMar Dinkha IV.)[17] He wrote that "Unity does not mean uniformity, nor the melting of our own church identity into one style, but it maintains unity in diversity and we remain one apostolic universal church, the Oriental Church, that maintains its independence of administration, laws and liturgies, traditions and support."[18] The Assyrian Church of the East respectfully declined this proposal citing "ecclesiological divergences still remaining" and proceeded with its election of a new patriarch.[19]
On 14 November 2015, the Synod of Bishops announced that Pope Francis had named Sako as one of his three appointments to that body's council.[20]
Pope Francis made Sako acardinal in aconsistory on 28 June 2018.[21] Later that year, Pope Francis named him one of the four cardinals to preside over sessions of the Synod of Bishops on Youth in October.[22]
On 6 October 2018 Sako was named a member of theCongregation for the Oriental Churches,[23] on 22 February 2019 a member of thePontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,[24] and on 29 September 2021 a member of theCongregation for Catholic Education.[25]On 4 January 2022, Pope Francis made him a member of theCouncil for the Economy.[26]
Sako was acardinal elector in the2025 papal conclave that electedPope Leo XIV.[27] Patriarch Sako was also the first Chaldean Catholic Patriarch ever to participate in a papal conclave.[28][a] Sako opted not to wear the shash, the traditional headgear of East Syriac Christian bishops, and wore only his scarletzucchetto.[32]
On 15 July 2023, Iraq's PresidentAbdul Latif Rashid announced the revocation of the government's 2013 decree recognizing Sako as Patriarch. In response that same day Sako announced he was leaving Baghdad to take up residence inIraqi Kurdistan. He called the revocation "unprecedented in the history of Iraq".[11] Rashid said his action "does not affect the religious or legal status of patriarch Sako" and said it was based on the fact that Sako's office is not recognized by the Iraqi Constitution; Sako viewed as an extension of the government's ongoing "deliberate and humiliating campaign" against him and its wider failure to protect Iraqi Christians.[33] Rashid had recently rejected requests for comparable decrees from the Patriarchs of theAssyrian Church and the Old Assyrian Church. Others cited complex political manoeuvering.[34]
On 15 July 2023, Sako announced his intention to "retire from the Patriarchal See in Baghdad and move to a church, a mission, in one of the monasteries of Iraqi Kurdistan". His announcement followed a decision by the President of Iraq,Abdul Latif Rashid, to revoke a decree established in 2013 by the former Iraq's President,Jalal Talabani, recognising Sako as Patriarch of theChaldean Church. The revocation "is unprecedented in Iraq's history," Sako said, highlighting "the government's silence" about the incident and the suffering of the Christian community.[35] For months, Sako had been embroiled in a war of words with a Shia lawmaker and militia leader,Rayan al-Kildani. Both accused each other of exploiting their influence to illegally seize Christian-owned properties. Al-Kildani is the leader of theBabylon Movement, whose militia fought ISIS within the state-linkedPopular Mobilisation Forces, a network of largely pro-Iran paramilitaries. Since then, al-Kildani forged strong alliances with powerful Tehran-allied Shiite militias. Sako criticized the Babylon Movement as falsely Christian, noting most of its members and supporters are Shia Muslims using the label for political gain.[36][37] Furthermore, the Babylon Movement, led by al-Kildani, is accused of pillaging homes, unlawful confiscation of land, coercion, extortion, abuse of women, persecution of religious minorities, and torture of detainees. As a result, in 2019, the US imposed sanctions on al-Kildani and another Shiite militia leader, calling them "perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption", and penalizing entities that interact with them.[38]
Cardinal Sako has accused ArchbishopBashar Warda of collaborating and conspiring withRayan al-Kildani in an effort to subvert his authority and push for his resignation as head of theChaldean Church. Warda is criticized for supporting al-Kildani despite his horrendous actions, and for not supporting Sako's efforts to counter the Babylon Movement's seizure of Christian assets. This has led to accusations that Warda prioritizes benefits from al-Kildani's support over protecting church interests. Sako has referred to Warda as the "Godfather" of theBabylon Movement.[39][40][41]
On 7 August 2023, Sako told an interviewer that "Withdrawing the decree is very bad. For 15 centuries, there were decrees recognising the Patriarch as head of the Church and administrator of the properties of the Church. Revoking it is ahumiliation for the Church. Those behind this move want to put their hands on the properties of the Church and administer them separately from the ecclesiastical authorities. We cannot accept that."[42]
In April 2024, after nine months of exile, Sako returned to Baghdad with the assistance of Iraqi Prime MinisterMohammed Shia' Al Sudani.[43][44]
On 28 August 2024, Sako demanded a public apology from five bishops based on perceived disunity in theChaldean Catholic Church, including absence from a mandatory July episcopal synod, setting a deadline of September 5. The five bishops, led byBashar Warda, the Archbishop of Erbil, also withdrew from an August spiritual retreat and pulled their students from the Chaldean Seminary. The bishops refused to apologize, citing dissatisfaction with Sako's leadership style and unilateral decision-making. As a result, he would suspend them and ask Pope Francis to impose canonical penalties, includingexcommunication.[45][46] The actions of Bashar Warda and the other bishops have been described by the Chaldean Patriarchate as a "dangerous precedent" that goes against their episcopal vows to support the patriarch. The 17 bishops who attended the July 2024 synod issued a communiqué, calling for "appropriate legal measures" against the "clear violations" committed by the boycotting group of Warda.[47]
The rivalry between Louis Sako andBashar Warda is driven by a fierce personal conflict, with Sako perceiving Warda as ruthlessly ambitious to seize the patriarchate. This perception has led Sako to backtrack on his initial plans to retire at 75, driven by a determination to thwart Warda's power grab. Warda's actions are seen as a betrayal of Sako's leadership.[48]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk 2003–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans 2013–present | Incumbent |
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