Challenging president, supreme court
Al-Sudani reinstates Cardinal Sako as Chaldean Patriarch
NEWSROOM – Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has issued an executive decree reinstating Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako as the Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the world. The order, issued on June 5, also places Christian Church endowments back under Sako’s authority.
This decision follows a series of events that began last year when President Abdul Latif Rashid and the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court voided Sako’s status. In July 2023, Rashid withdrew a 2013 presidential decree by former President Jalal Talabani, which had recognized Sako as the Patriarch of Iraqi and world Chaldean Christians. In protest, Sako left Baghdad for Erbil in the Kurdistan Region.
In November, the court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Sako, upholding Rashid’s decision. The ruling angered Iraqi Christians and the Vatican, with Chaldeans being Catholics. Iraqi Christians canceled their Easter celebrations in response.
Amid escalating tensions between the Chaldean Church and Iraqi state institutions, Prime Minister Al-Sudani sought to mend relations by inviting Sako back to Baghdad. Sako accepted the invitation and officially returned to his office in Baghdad last April on the conditions that the previous decree against him be overturned.
Al-Sudani’s executive order cites a 1981 regulation and a 2013 Court of Cassation ruling to justify reinstating Cardinal Sako, challenging the decisions by President Rashid and the supreme court. The supreme court, Iraq’s top court, is responsible for interpreting the country’s constitution and regulating relations between state institutions at federal and regional levels.
Al-Sudani’s reliance on a Court of Cassation ruling is another point of controversy for the supreme court, which has recently faced criticism and legal challenges recently. The supreme court has also faced opposition from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which challenged a supreme court ruling last February that abolished minority quota representation in the Kurdistan Parliament and redrew electoral districts. The Judicial Council of Elections in Iraq later reinstated five minority quota seats for the upcoming Kurdistan parliamentary elections following this challenge.
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