Pope Francis has named Cardinal Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholics and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, member of the Vatican Council for the Economy.

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948. He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris. With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.

Cardinal Sako speaks Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, and Arabic.

The Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Jordan conveys well wishes to Cardinal Sako wishing the Catholic Church further progress in disseminating Lord Jesus Christs' message of love and peace.