Chaldean Catholics receive communion from Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako (C) during a mass at the Church of our Lady in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on July 23, 2023. (Credit: Safin Hamid/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Supreme Council of the Chaldean sect in Lebanon issued a statement Monday denouncing the Iraqi president's revocation of a 2013 decree protecting their Patriarch in Baghdad Louis Sako.
The removal of the decree pushed Sako to leave his post earlier this month, and his functions are no longer recognized by the Iraqi government.
The Council added in its statement Monday that the “recent unprecedented and dangerous events threaten the Christian presence" in the region.
Before the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were 1.5 million Christians in the country. Christians gradually left the country, especially after the Islamic State’s attack on Christian villages in 2014. Today, there are only around 400,000 remaining Christians in the country.
The Council also called for “an ecclesiastical, political and civil quick action to end the injustice that targeted the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church Cardinal Louis Sako and protect his dignity.”
The decree revoked by Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid had, according to the Council, no constitutional or legal basis. Nevertheless, Sako announced on July 15 that he will leave the Patriarchate in Baghdad and relocate to a monastery in the Kurdish autonomous region.
Cardinal Sako has for months been in a political fight with the chief of the Babylon Movement Rayan al-Kildani. The Babylon Movement is a “Christian” party that is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which consists of multiple pro-Iranian groups.
Sako accused Kildani of orchestrating the latest offensive against him. The now-revoked 2013 decree had served as a safety guarantee against the pro-Iranian groups.
Lebanon counts 20,000 people belonging to the Chaldean Catholic sect, according to the website of the Chaldean church in the country. They are among Lebanon's 18 official religious sects.