The bishops will meet between 9 and 15 April to choose a new patriarch. The former head will not participate nor vote so as not to «influence» the decision. This ancient Eastern Church, rooted in Mesopotamia, is currently experiencing a period of difficulty due to the exodus and war. The challenges of the last decade include the Islamic State group and the revocation of the presidential decree.
(ZENIT News – Asia News / Baghdag, 03.23.2026).- The next synod to elect the successor to Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, who resigned on 10 March, as the new Chaldean primate will be held in Rome from 9 to 15 April, immediately after Easter celebrations.
The statement announcing the decision was posted yesterday on the patriarchate website. It notes that Chaldean bishops will meet to choose the new leader of their Church, one of the oldest and richest Eastern Churches in terms of faithful, history, and tradition, which is in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church.
Soon after his official resignation, the former patriarch announced his intention not to participate in the synod to elect his successor so as to allow the bishops greater freedom to choose without external influence, pressure, or interference in a Church that has experienced more than one internal crisis in recent years. In this transitional phase, pursuant to Canon 127 of the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches, the day-to-day affairs of the Chaldean Patriarchate have been entrusted to the most senior member of the synod, Archbishop Habib Hrmuz Al-Naufali of Basra, southern Iraq, who will guide the other prelates in the process of picking a new patriarch.
Louis Raphaël I Sako became patriarch in January 2013 and was elevated to the rank of cardinal on 29 June 2018. He submitted his resignation to Pope Francis two years ago, upon his 75th birthday, but the late pontiff refused to accept it, renewing his trust in Sako to continue his work. Faced with new and increasingly demanding challenges, Cardinal Sako decided to resign now and entrust the position to a new person. He also intends to leave the See of Baghdad and retire before long in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, to pray and «live in peace, serenity, and joy.»
This is also why he chose not to participate in the synod’s work, nor play any active role in the selection of his successor, because he won’t have anyone say, that «I intervened, influenced, or supported one candidate over another.”
In fact, nothing is certain about his move, partly because northern Iraq is among the areas hardest hit by Iranian rockets fired at Gulf and Middle Eastern countries, in response to the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran.
Unlike his predecessors and despite Cardinal Sako’s age, 77, choosing the next primate of the Chaldean Church is not due to health reasons or advanced age. Before him, Patriarch Mar Raphael I Bedaweed and Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly presented a more complex picture, while Cardinal Sako, with his resignation, wants to signal a break in a Church marked by many complexities and problems.
It is also an opportunity to turn a new page and vet internal disagreements, which have pushed some bishops in the past to take a stand against the patriarchate itself by deserting synods and publicly and openly expressing opposition and criticism of the cardinal’s agenda.
Among other things, just a few days before Cardinal Sako’s resignation, allegations of corruption and malfeasance led to the arrest of the Bishop of Emmanuel H. Shaleta San Diego, while on the very day of the cardinal’s farewell, Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, as the apostolic administrator of the Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego, sparking some veiled criticism.
The appointment of a bishop for the vacant see of the Eparchy of Alquoch (northern Iraq), following the passing last June of Mgr Paulo Thabet Al-Mekko, is another issue on the agenda of the next Chaldean primate.
The Chaldean Catholic Church is a direct descendant of the Church of the East, which traces its origins to ancient Mesopotamia and the saints Mar Addai (Saint Addai) and Mar Mari (Saint Mari), disciples of Saint Thomas the Apostle.