Cardinal Seeks Vatican Support to Regain Recognition in Iraq

In this Sunday, April 14, 2019, file photo, Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako addresses the faithful during the Palm Sunday service at Mar Youssif Church in Baghdad, Iraq.

Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Cardinal Louis Sako said he would like more Vatican support as he tries to regain formal recognition as the Chaldean patriarch in the country. As reported in an earlier edition of the Chaldean News, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked Cardinal Sako’s decree as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq in July. This action has been viewed as a usurpation of the clergyman’s position as the officially recognized head of Iraq’s Catholic Chaldean Church as well of his position and powers to administer the Chaldean religious endowment, including church properties.

Both the Cardinal and media in Iraq say the action was likely instigated by Rayan al-Kildani, a leader of a nominally Chaldean Catholic militia in Iraq, the Babylon Brigades, closely tied to Iran. Its political wing holds four seats in parliament out of five reserved for Christian candidates.

“I want the Vatican also to take a strong position,” Cardinal Sako remarked on an online press conference September 19, referring to the fact that al-Kildani posted a photo of himself with the Pope on social media, intending to show they are aligned.

“There was a very brief note to say that the pope did not see him privately,” Cardinal Sako commented, referring to a mid-September communique to journalists, in which Matteo Bruni, Vatican’s spokesman, is quoted as responding to journalists’ questions that, “His Holiness Pope Francis greeted some of the people present, as is customary” during the September 6 audience. “Among them was a group of Iraqis, which included Mr. Rayan Al-Kildani, with whom some brief words were exchanged.”

Analyst Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy commended the Vatican for not falling into a trap al-Kildani tried to make with his photo op with the pope.

“It was important to see the way the Vatican responded. They put out the press release in English, Arabic and Italian. They made sure that they covered all their bases because they don’t want al-Kildani to claim that he has been given an audience with the pope knowing who he is,” Knights said.

For Cardinal Sako, the situation has made him worried. “I’m ready to resign,” he said.

– OSV News