Chaldean Patriarch Sako to Become Church’s First Voting Cardinal from His Rite

Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon, referring to his nomination as a cardinal, said he thinks of himself only as a father, pastor and servant. Cardinals are sometimes called “princes of the Church,” but he told journalists on June 27 that he speaks to the Iraqi people in a different way: “I am a father, a pastor – not a prince.” The consistory that would create 14 new cardinals, including the patriarch, was scheduled for the following day.

Sako said that the Father calls the faithful to serve, and that they should serve with the joy of the people. In an earlier interview with EWTN News Nightly, he noted that patriarchs, like cardinals, wear a red cassock, which symbolizes a willingness to die for the faith. He said this also recalls the martyrs of the Chaldean Church. “Even now we [still have] martyrs,” he said. “And I do hope that the blood of the martyrs will be fertile, will bring us a future, will bring us a new situation [in Iraq].”

He said patriarchs of the Eastern Churches feel strongly that they are called to serve their people, to be close to them and to help them in their need, rather than to seek “prestige or privileges.” He described his nomination in those terms: “This is the call of my nomination as a cardinal. It is not a prize or a personal reward. [It is] to be sent anew for my mission, a new vocation.” The lesson he drew is one of serving a calling rather than seeking reward (Colossians 3:23).

Sako was born July 4, 1948, in Zakho, Iraq, and was ordained a priest of the Chaldean Archeparchy of Mosul in 1974. In 2002 he was selected as Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, and he was confirmed and consecrated a bishop in 2003. From 2010, while serving as Archbishop of Kirkuk, he was the last apostolic administrator of the Chaldean Eparchy of Sulaimaniya, until that see was suppressed in 2013. He was selected and confirmed as Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon and Archbishop of Baghdad in 2013.

In 2008 and 2010 he received the Defensor Fidei and international Pax Christi awards. The patriarch has spoken publicly about the importance of disestablishing Islam in Iraq so that all Iraqi citizens, especially Christians and other minorities, stand on equal ground. He has also preached the need for mutual respect and cooperation between Muslims and Christians in the country. He has expressed concern about the exodus of Christians from Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Sako said he believes Pope Francis’s decision to make him a cardinal is a comment “on the universality of the Church – not dividing the [Eastern] Churches from other Churches.” He said it shows the pope’s spiritual fatherhood and special care for the Middle East, and that making him a cardinal demonstrates Francis’s support for the Iraqi people “much more than money [would].”

Sako will be the first Chaldean patriarch who may be able to vote in a papal conclave. His predecessor, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, was not elevated to cardinal until shortly after his 80th birthday. Sako said his nomination was a “surprise” to him, and that there was “a feast, a big celebration, among Iraqis,” because “for them this is really a sign of hope… a big support internationally.”

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