Pope Francis to take a stance on presidential decree against Chaldean patriarch, says party chief  

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Pope Francis will soon take a stance on the recent Iraqi presidential decision, which removed the title of the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church by decree, the chief of an Assyrian political party told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rasheed has recently revoked a 2013 presidential decree, which had recognized Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako as the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and custodian of the church's assets, saying the earlier decision was not “legally based.”

The new decision has drawn widespread condemnations from Christians in Iraq and abroad, fearing the revocation is part of the long-standing campaign against the dwindling community.

“I am certain that Pope Francis will take a stance on the matter,” Romeo Hakari, the Secretary General of Bet–Nahrain Democratic Party, an Assyrian political party in Iraq, told Kurdistan 24 during an interview.

The Cardinal was previously appointed as the head of the church by Pope Francis in the Vatican.

Cardinal Sako on Saturday announced that he would leave the Baghdad, where he is currently based, for Erbil amid the “intentional and offensive” campaign by a pro-Iran Christian party and militia group known as the Babylonian Brigades.

Members of the faith and representatives of the political party on Thursday protested in Ainkawa, a Christian-majority district in Erbil province. 

Hakari expressed his concerns that the decision to revoke the decree would further erode the “fragile trust” in the state to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

Thousands of members of the Christian faith have left Iraq since 2003 due to sectarian strife, terrorism, and most recently the ISIS takeover of their lands in Nineveh Plain.

The revocation came after a period of tension between the Church’s leader and Rayan al-Kildani, the leader of Babylon Movement, a Christian political party close to Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq. The Babylon Movement is closely related to the Babylonian Brigades, which has been regarded as the militant wing of the movement.

The two leaders have recently engaged in a war of words, accusing each other of exploiting the minority group, whose population has dramatically dwindled in Iraq.

Al-Kildani heads the 50th Brigade of the Shiite militias, known as Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The U.S. Treasury designated al-Kildani for “serious human rights abuses” on July 18, 2019.

His party owns four out of five parliamentary seats allocated for minority groups in the 329-seat Iraqi parliament.