New Chaldean patriarch enthroned, pledges to 'update our liturgy'
(March 06, 20113) Amid heavy security, Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako was solemnly
enthroned in Baghdad as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church on Wednesday (March
6), five weeks after his election by a synod of Chaldean prelates meeting in Rome.
The new Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, who leads an Eastern Catholic church
with 419,000 members, said that his priorities are the reorganization of the patriarchal
curia, the appointment of bishops to vacant sees, and the updating of liturgical books.
“Liturgical reform has never occurred in our church,” he said. “We celebrate the
Mass according to an ancient missal, and each diocese has its own missal. We need
to update our liturgy so that it speaks to man today, so that it gives meaning and
much hope.” Born in 1948, the patriarch was ordained a priest of the Eparchy of Mosul
in 1974 and Archbishop of Kirkuk in 2003. The church, which is in full communion with
the Holy See, has eparchies (dioceses) in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey,
Australia, Canada, and the United States.