The Chaldean patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, has received threats from Islamic groups based in Iraq and Iran following a misinterpretation of a message delivered during the Christmas Mass, according to Chaldean Press.
During the liturgical celebration, the patriarch used the term “normalization” in a spiritual sense, exhorting the faithful to reconcile and live in peace with one another. However, Islamic clerics and leaders interpreted the term as a political reference to an alleged normalization with Israel, which triggered a swift public reaction.
As a result of this interpretation, some Islamic leaders have gone so far as to demand the arrest of Cardinal Sako, and the patriarch has begun receiving numerous threats, some of them extremely serious.
The Chaldean Archieparchy issued a public clarification stating that Cardinal Sako was referring to the normalization of cultural and civil relations with Iraq in general—boosting tourism, interreligious coexistence—and not to establishing ties with Israel. According to the same source, despite the patriarch expressly clarifying that his message had no political content, but was exclusively spiritual, the escalation of hostility has not stopped.
Chaldean Press notes that, after consulting Chaldean faithful, the majority of parishioners did not perceive any political message in the patriarch’s words during the Christmas Mass. Even so, certain Islamic groups have intensified their demands, with calls not only for his detention, but even for his execution.
In this context, Cardinal Sako himself is said to have stated: “If they want to bring me to trial and execute me for the good of Iraq, so be it,” as reported by the Chaldean media outlet.