Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako Retires as War Spreads in Region

Louis Sako, the Chaldean Catholic patriarch, retired on Tuesday, setting the stage for new leadership of one of the most important Christian churches in the Middle East. The retirement comes as war engulfs the region. Sako, a cardinal, said he had asked to retire to pursue “prayer, writing, and simple service,” and that Pope Leo XIV granted the request on the day he had proposed it.

Sako, 76, had at times clashed with Iraq’s political leaders. In a statement, he said he freely offered his resignation and was leaving “of my own will.”

The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of nearly two dozen Eastern Rite churches in full communion with Rome. It is one of four churches that claim links to the ancient Church of the East, which originated in Mesopotamia. Today it is most prevalent in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, as well as in the diaspora.

Sako led the church through the traumatic years of the rise of the Islamic State group in Iraq, which devastated the Christian community. His retirement opens the way for a successor at a time of new conflict in the region. The U.S.-Israeli war in Iran has spilled over into Iraq, and Iran-backed militias there have launched dozens of attacks targeting U.S. bases, energy facilities and other targets in the country.

In his statement on the patriarch’s website, Sako said: “I led the Chaldean Church under extremely difficult circumstances and amid great challenges. I preserved the unity of its institutions and spared no effort in defending it and the rights of Iraqis and Christians, taking positions and maintaining a presence both inside and outside the country.” He said that “in these difficult times” he hoped his successor would possess “solid theological culture, courage, and wisdom,” and would believe in “renewal, openness, and dialogue.” He added that he would respect his successor and never interfere in his work, a commitment to pursuing peace with those who lead after him (Romans 12:18).

Sako’s tenure included a dispute with the Iraqi government. In July 2023, he withdrew from his headquarters in Baghdad and went into self-imposed exile in the Kurdish regional capital for nine months, after Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a decree recognizing Sako’s position as patriarch of the Chaldeans. The president described the revocation as bureaucratic housekeeping that did not diminish the patriarch’s legal or religious status. Sako called it an affront to the church. At the time, Sako blamed a campaign against him by Rayan al-Kildani, a fellow Chaldean Christian who heads the Bablyon Movement political party and founded a militia called the Babylon Brigades. That militia fought against IS and still patrols much of the Nineveh plains. Sako returned to Baghdad in April 2024 after receiving a formal invitation from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Iraq’s Christian population has dwindled after decades of war and the rise of extremist groups, including the Islamic State, in the security vacuum that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that unseated Saddam Hussein. The number of Christians in Iraq is now estimated at 150,000, compared with 1.5 million in 2003, in a country of more than 40 million people. A 2021 visit by Pope Francis, which Sako helped organize, offered a glimmer of hope that quickly faded. Many Christian villages destroyed during the Islamic State’s campaign remain in ruins, and their former inhabitants are scattered.

In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Sako said he saw it as part of his mandate to protect the rights of Christians.

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