ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has reinstated Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako as the Chaldean Patriarch in Iraq and the world, nearly a year after the country’s president removed him in a controversial move, according to a document signed by Sudani on June 5.
Sudani stated in the letter, seen by Rudaw English, that he had decided to officially designate Cardinal Sako as the Chaldean Patriarch in Iraq and the world based on the constitution and a court ruling in 2013.
Tensions have surged in Iraq between the government and the Christian community after President Abdul Latif Rashid on July 3 last year cited constitutional grounds to revoke a special presidential decree formally recognizing Cardinal Sako and granting him powers over Christian endowment affairs. This angered the religious leader and his community.
Cardinal Sako, who visited Turkey days after the tensions began, arrived at the Erbil International Airport on July 21 and was warmly welcomed by the Kurdistan Region’s governmental, partisan and religious officials.
“Religious symbols are respected in the Kurdistan Region,” he told reporters at the time after his arrival in the Kurdish capital. “The evidence is this warm welcome and respect. This is the return of dignity for us.”
Nine months later, he returned to Baghdad following an invitation from Sudani who “expressed his pleasure at the Patriarch's return to Baghdad and emphasized the importance of his presence and role, affirming the government's commitment to fostering coexistence and brotherhood among all segments of Iraqi society,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office at the time.
Prior to making his decision, President Rashid had met with Rayan al-Kildani, leader of the nominally Christian Babylon Movement, a party and militia affiliated with the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic).
“I do not understand why it was removed. Of course, he was under pressure from a so-called Christian militia that pressured him to isolate me so that I would implement their agenda and so they can remove the authority from the church in order to fully take control of Christian affairs,” Sako told Rudaw in October.
