Raphael I Bidawid

▪ 2004

      Iraqi cleric (b. April 17, 1922, Mosul, Iraq—d. July 7, 2003, Beirut, Lebanon), as patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, based in Baghdad, Iraq, was known for his unstinting support of Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein. Raphael, who was ordained a priest in 1944, became the youngest bishop in any Catholic church in 1957 and was consecrated patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans in 1989. Maintaining that Hussein protected his church, Raphael supported the 1991 invasion of Kuwait and spoke out strongly against the sanctions the United Nations imposed against Iraq.

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