New Delhi, March 11 -- The patriarch of one of the most important Christian churches in the Middle East retired on Tuesday, setting the stage for new leadership as war engulfs the region.

Iraqi Cardinal Louis Sako of the Chaldean Catholic Church said he had asked to retire to pursue "prayer, writing, and simple service," and that Pope Leo XIV granted his request on the day he had proposed.

Sako, 76, who had occasionally clashed with Iraq's political leaders, said in a statement that he freely offered his resignation and was leaving "of my own will."

The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the nearly two dozen Eastern Rite churches that are in full communion with Rome. It is one of the four that claim links to the ancient Church of the E...