European nations stand up for head of Iraq’s Chaldean Church

Representatives from 11 different European nations have declared their support for Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako amid a social media campaign against the primate of the Chaldean Church for his criticism of a political party that claims to represent Iraq's Christian minority.

Eleven representatives of their European governments expressed “solidarity” with Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, and for his “efforts to protect the rights of Christians on the soil that they have inhabited for two millennia.” 

The delegation of envoys from France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the European Union visited Cardinal Sako May 14 and with the approval of the ambassadors of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, and Hungary issued a statement in his support “to express our solidarity regarding the recent public attacks against his person and our concern for the Christians and other religious communities of Iraq.”

The delegation appealed to the country’s Christians to work together, as divisions “do not help their role in the Iraqi society”. They expressed the hope that “problems be overcome and ever greater cooperation among the Churches be achieved.” They also reaffirmed their support for “understanding and a peaceful dialogue among the different components of the Iraqi people” and “the preservation of the Country’s diversity, which is one of its main assets.”

Some 200 Christians also gathered inTahrir Square, in the center of Baghdad, May 12, to show their solidarity with Cardinal Sako. Protesters included nuns and priests who together waved Iraqi flags, candles, olive branches and banners bearing slogans in favor of social peace and Christian unity. 

Cardinal Sako has been vilified on social media ever since he criticized the "Babylonian Brigades", which describes itself as a Christian paramilitary organization even though it is aligned with pro-Iranian Shia militias. Led by Ryan al-Kildani (popularly called "Ryan the Chaldean"), the Babylonian Brigades morphed into the "Babylonian Movement", a political party that in the October 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections controversially won four of the five seats reserved for Christian candidates. Christian politicians from other parties allege that votes from Shia Muslims had been diverted in favor of the Babylonian Movement to win those seats.

Criticism of so-called "Christian parties"

The United States has already sanctioned Ryan al-Kildani for human rights violations. The Chaldean Catholic Church has for long denounced the presence of any armed Christian militia and the Iraqi patriarch, who Pope Francis named a cardinal in 2018, has said that the "Babylonian Movement" claims to be affiliated with the Chaldean Church are bogus, and that it does not represent the country's Christians. 

Cardinal Sako criticized the so-called "Christian parties", the small group of Iraqi leaders who aspire to present themselves as political projections of local Christian communities. "These parties serve only to foment regional nationalisms," he has said.

Cardinal Sako has also spoken out against the use of social media networks to attack Chaldean communities by those who he said were unfamiliar with Christian doctrine or authentic knowledge. Their aim is to "replace the facts with their new and controversial ideas" the cardinal has said advising Christians to "separate the wheat from the chaff".

The Chaldean Catholic Church is headquartered in the Cathedral of Mary Mother of Sorrows, Baghdad, Iraq, since 1950 and has a membership of about half a million, most of whom live in the Middle East -- mainly in Iraq. About 80% of Iraqi Christians belong to this Church.

Christianity has been in Iraq from its earliest times, as the Acts of the Apostles testify. Its origins go back to the preaching of St Thomas the Apostle and his disciples Addai and Mari in the first century A.D.. Iraq is biblically and historically, an important land for all Christians who have played an important role in its history. The Iraqi Christian community is composed today of Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians, Latins, Melkites, Orthodox and Protestants and are fewer than one million Christians in Iraq, and they have been targeted by Muslim terrorists and criminal groups.