Iraqi archbishop says rift with Chaldean patriarch is a ‘misunderstanding’

Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil said tensions between himself and Cardinal Louis Sako, the Baghdad-based Chaldean Catholic patriarch, were the result of a misunderstanding and denied accusations he was working against the patriarch.

In a message sent to OSV News Sept. 24, the Iraqi archbishop said he rejected “all accusations in full,” referring to allegations made by the Chaldean patriarchate on Aug. 28 that Archbishop Warda was “deceived by promises” made by political figures who were behind an attempt to have the government deny recognition of Cardinal Sako’s authority as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in 2023.

Assuring that “we are proud of His Beatitude as the head of the Chaldean Church,” Archbishop Warda told OSV News in a written message: “I categorically reject accusations of corruption … and I will continue to deal with this issue through the relevant church channels,” he added.

In July 2023, Cardinal Sako left Baghdad after Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a decree that formally recognized the cardinal as Chaldean patriarch in the country and his authority to administer the Chaldean religious endowment.

In a statement made to OSV News at the time, Archbishop Warda downplayed the significance of the decree’s revocation, saying that “withdrawing the republican decree does not prejudice the religious or legal status of Cardinal Louis Sako, as he is appointed by the Apostolic See.”

However, the move was viewed by both Cardinal Sako and local Iraqi media as an attempt to usurp the patriarch’s position as head of the Chaldean Church that was allegedly instigated by Rayan al-Kildani, head of the Babylon Brigades, a Chaldean Catholic militia that shares close ties with Iran.

Many believed that al-Kildani, who was sanctioned for alleged human rights abuses by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019, pushed for the revocation in an attempt to gain control of the Chaldean Church’s assets.

While in exile in Erbil for almost a year, Cardinal Sako received support from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s leading Shia religious figure, and the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq, the highest Sunni authority in the country. Both disapproved of the cardinal’s treatment.

Countries, including the United States, France and Germany, also expressed their disapproval of the president’s move.

However, in June, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani confirmed Cardinal Sako’s standing as patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the world.

The cardinal promptly returned to Baghdad and the following month, he presided over the July 15-19 Synod of the Chaldean Church.

The absence of five bishops — Archbishop Warda, Bishop Paul Thabet of Alquoch, Bishop Azad Sabri Shaba of Dohuk, Chaldean Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona of Sydney, and Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, the apostolic visitor for Chaldean Catholics in Europe, who is based in in the northern Swedish city of Södertälje — was noted by the patriarchate.

Bishop Hanna did not respond to a request for comment by OSV News.

In a statement on the Chaldean Patriarchate website titled, “The Truth About What is Happening in the Chaldean Church,” published Aug. 24, Cardinal Sako said he knew “for sure that some people had a hand in withdrawing the presidential decree” to “push me to resign in order to seek succession.”

“Their attempts did not stop there, as they withdrew their students from the seminary,” he said of the bishops, adding that “I assure them that they are delusional and their bet is losing, because the church belongs to Christ and he sends out workers to the harvest.”

However, just four days later, the patriarchate issued another statement warning that the “boycott of the Chaldean Synod by five bishops sets a dangerous precedent” that goes against their episcopal vows “to join hands with His Beatitude Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako in order for the church to continue its noble mission.”

The 2023 revocation of the decree, the patriarchate said, “suggested to some that it was the end and made their mouths water,” directly accusing Archbishop Warda of gathering support from the clergy for the cardinal’s removal.

“It is unfortunate that the Archbishop of Erbil was deceived by the promises of that party, and accepted to become its godfather,” the patriarchate wrote. “He did not only denounce the withdrawal of the decree, but he supported it and proposed an alternative: ‘the argument of succession.'”

The patriarchate also accused Archbishop Warda of supporting the “political party,” meaning the Babylon Brigades, “despite his knowledge of its encroachment on the church, the rights of Christians, and the acquisition of their property.”

The statement also said that when Cardinal Sako asked Archbishop Warda to publicly denounce the decree’s revocation, “he refused.”

“While many Muslim clerics denounced this action, how much more so our church’s bishops” were expected to denounce, the patriarchate said.

The Chaldean Patriarchate said the actions of Archbishop Warda and the four bishops who did not attend the synod forced “His Beatitude to settle the issue in one of two ways: by means of a public apology or by canon law,” giving them until Sept. 5 to apologize.

If not, the statement said, “a report will be submitted to His Holiness Pope Francis for appropriate action to be taken for each of the five bishops.”

The statement went on to cite what violations the bishops would be accused of, including canon 1447 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which states that “one who incites sedition and hatred toward any hierarch whatsoever or provokes his subjects to disobedience, is to be punished with an appropriate penalty, not excluding a major excommunication, especially if the offense was committed against a patriarch or indeed against the Roman Pontiff.”

In a Sept. 7 reflection titled, “Come back to yourself,” Cardinal Sako wrote that it was “very painful when some people turn lies into a weapon for moral assassination! Let us stay away from harming people because God will hold us accountable, especially when we are believers and pray.”

He concluded his reflection with a note.

“This spiritual and educational thought has nothing to do with the boycotting bishops, as the case has made its way to the highest ecclesiastical court,” the cardinal wrote.

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