His Eminent Beatitude, Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, (Mar Patrack Raphael) was born in the city of Zakho in Iraq on July 4, 1948. He is Chaldean Catholic, and speaks Syriac, German, French, English, Italian, and Arabic. Mar Patrack Sako was ordained a priest on June 1, 1974 for the Chaldean Archeparchy of Mosul. On October 24, 2002, Mar Patrack Sako was elected, and then, consecrated on September 27, 2003, by a synod of bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church to be the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Kirkuk.
Before he was consecrated bishop, Mar Patrack Sako demanded to see President Saddam Hussein after the Iraqi government refused to allow him to provide religious education to his community. Saddam refused his request; however, Mar Patrack responded by completing a separate doctorate, involving minimal religious content, requiring the government to give him his teaching license, which enabled him to teach the subject.
In August of 2009, at the beginning of Ramadan, Mar Patrack, unitedly, with other religious leaders in Kirkuk sent out an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence. Mar Patrack explained, "this is a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God. We must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country. "
On January 28, 2013, Louis Sako was, once again, elected by a synod of bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Rome to succeed Emmanuel III Delly as Patriarch of Babylon. Following this election, Mar Patrack chose Louis Raphael I as his regnal name.
On February 1, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI granted him ecclesiastica communio (ecclesiastical communion), which signifies to leaders unity amongst the Eastern-Rite Catholic Church and the wider Catholic Church.
On June 28, 2018, Pope Francis appointed Mar Patrack a Cardinal Bishop.
