Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako

His Beatitude Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, was born in Zākhō, Iraq, on 4 July 1948. He completed his primary education in Mosul, and then attended the local Saint Jean’s Seminary, directed by the Dominican Fathers. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and carried out his pastoral service at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He was sent to Rome, where he attended the Pontifical Oriental Institute and obtained a doctorate in oriental patrology. He subsequently obtained a doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1997 to 2002 he was the Rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. Upon his return to Mosul, he directed the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help until his election as Archbishop of Kerkūk on 27 September 2003. He was consecrated bishop the following 14 November. On 31 January 2013, during the Synod convoked in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI following the resignation of the Patriarch His Beatitude Cardinal Delly, he was elected Patriarch and received the Ecclesiastica Communio from the same Supreme Pontiff on 1 February, made public with the Eucharistic celebration in Saint Peter’s Basilica on 4 February 2013. On 14 July 2018, the Holy Father Francis appointed him President-Delegate of the XV Ordinary General Assembly on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment (October 2018). He has published books on the Church Fathers and numerous articles. In addition to Arabic and Chaldean, he knows German and speaks French, English and Italian.