IRAQ – “ We pray for IS fighters. It helps us to forgive”     Three years ago, 73 nuns of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena lived in Kurdistan. Since Islamic State (IS) conquered the Nineveh plain in 2014, a third of them have died. Sister Silvia [...]

MYANMAR Thousands of Christians flee to escape persecution   Tens of thousands of Christians have been forced to abandon their homes in Myanmar and take refuge in other countries to escape the long-running campaign of persecution. More than 100,000 Myanmar Christians are now refugees in Malaysia. "Myanmar isn't safe for [...]

Pope Francis says all Iraqis must work for unity     Pope Francis told Chaldean Catholic Church leaders at their annual synod that in view of the new apprehensions arising from increasing political instability, they must work urgently to promote unity at all levels of society. He stressed that unity [...]

NIGERIA Italian missionary priest abducted   An Italian priest of the Diocese of Rome who was working in Nigeria as a missionary was abducted last Thursday.  Don Maurizio Pallù, 63, was heading to Benin City, in the south of the country, along with four other people. They were stopped by [...]

Iraqi Christians’ future threatened by referendum crisis   Church leaders in northern Iraq have issued a stark warning that the crisis triggered by last week’s Kurdistan independence referendum could endanger the region’s Christian presence. Following the referendum, which could see the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) area seceding from northern Iraq, [...]

CHINA Christians fear new regulations will further restrict religious activities   Church officials are concerned about the newly revised religious affairs regulations released by the Chinese government, which Premier Li Keqiang announced will take effect on 1 Feb 2018. These are supposedly meant to protect national security, but Christians fear [...]

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Holy See calls for action on Human Rights violations   Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, said that the Holy See remains seriously concerned by the deteriorating socio-economic and humanitarian situation in the [...]

MYANMAR ‘Textbook ethnic cleansing... and the world simply stands idly by”   Pope Francis is due to visit Myanmar in late November this year. Hopefully, his visit will help the country’s political leader Aung San Suu Kyi—who made such sacrifices for the cause of democracy—do more to help Myanmar’s embattled [...]

ALBANIA Consecration of world’s first cathedral dedicated to Mother Teresa   Twenty years after the death of St. Teresa of Calcutta thousands of Christians and Muslims came together to celebrate the consecration of the Roman Catholic Co-cathedral in Pristina. St. Teresa Cathedral is the only one in the world dedicated [...]