- Feb 5, 2002
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Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako returned to Baghdad Wednesday at the personal invitation of the country’s prime minister, nine months after leaving the Iraqi capital.
Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, pictured during a June 2023 visit to London, England. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.
The leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church left Baghdad in July 2023, in protest at a decision by Iraq’s president to rescind a 2013 civil decree recognizing him as the head of Chaldean Catholics and the person responsible for its assets.
The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the 23 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope. It has over half a million members in more than a dozen countries.
The Chaldean Patriarchate’s website saidthat Sako arrived in the capital on the evening of April 10, on a flight from Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where he had relocated. He was greeted at the airport by a representative of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
The cardinal was driven to the Chaldean Patriarchate’s headquarters in a convoy of cars. Photos showed him greeting well-wishers, including clergy, outside of the building.
Sako’s return to Baghdad appears to mark the end of a painful episode for the 74-year-old who has led the Chaldean Catholic Church since 2013.
Continued below.
www.pillarcatholic.com
Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, pictured during a June 2023 visit to London, England. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.
The leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church left Baghdad in July 2023, in protest at a decision by Iraq’s president to rescind a 2013 civil decree recognizing him as the head of Chaldean Catholics and the person responsible for its assets.
The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the 23 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope. It has over half a million members in more than a dozen countries.
The Chaldean Patriarchate’s website saidthat Sako arrived in the capital on the evening of April 10, on a flight from Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where he had relocated. He was greeted at the airport by a representative of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
The cardinal was driven to the Chaldean Patriarchate’s headquarters in a convoy of cars. Photos showed him greeting well-wishers, including clergy, outside of the building.
Sako’s return to Baghdad appears to mark the end of a painful episode for the 74-year-old who has led the Chaldean Catholic Church since 2013.
Continued below.
Iraqi cardinal returns to Baghdad after 9-month absence
Cardinal Sako ended his self-imposed exile after a personal invitation from Iraq’s prime minister
www.pillarcatholic.com
