The story: Iraq’s president has revoked state recognition of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The measure, which has prompted a series of reactions—including from the supreme Shiite religious authority—threatens Sako’s legal control of church property. Some observers point to a power struggle between the cardinal and a rival Christian politician as driving the change.

The coverage: Issued a decade ago, Presidential Decree 147/2013 affirmed Sako’s status as head of the Chaldean Church and the legal caretaker of its endowment in the eyes of the Iraqi state.

• President Abdul Latif Rashid on July 17 tweeted that the repeal of the decree “is not an attack on the Chaldean Church nor...