Qaraqosh is home to Iraq’s largest church, dedicated to Mary’s Immaculate Conception. When ISIS took control of the city in August 2014, the church was vandalized, profaned, and burned. The bell tower was partially destroyed and statues beheaded, while pews were thrown to the courtyard, and the choir area used [...]
Surrounded by the relics of violence, war, and terrorism, Pope Francis Sunday told the Christian community of Iraq that they’re proof in flesh and blood of the victory of life over death. Speaking to a crowd that saw its girls and women sold as property by Islamic State terrorists, and [...]
Pope Francis is set to embark on the first-ever papal visit to the biblical land of Iraq this weekend in a kind of spiritual pilgrimage to the place known in Arabic as the "land of the two rivers" -- the mighty Tigris and Euphrates -- and once renowned as Mesopotamia, [...]
Brother of Shahbaz Bhatti speaks out on 10th anniversary of his death Peter Bhatti calls for Maira Shahbaz to be granted asylum The brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistan government minister who gave his life for persecuted faith groups, has marked the 10th anniversary of the assassination by saying the [...]
Violence against women from religious minorities is massively under reported, according to a fresh report by a UK parliamentary group. The findings come as part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB)’s 2021 Commentary on the Current State of International Freedom of Religion or [...]
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing security concerns, Pope Francis is determined to visit Iraq to pay homage to Christian and other minorities persecuted for their faith and to strengthen the commitment of the overwhelming majority of Iraqi Muslims to creating a future of peace and harmony. As a pilgrim [...]
There was a time when Lebanon’s capital city, Beirut, was known as the ‘Paris of the Middle East’ and. given the profound crisis that Lebanon is currently experiencing, the memory of those glamorous times is all the more painful today. The financial crisis, with the banks on the brink of [...]
A Nun who has put her life on the line to provide emergency aid for families in Syria has called on people in the West not to forget the people of Syria due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Sister Annie Demerjian, a Project Partner of Aid to the Church in Need [...]
Facts and Figures are Faces who need Help The war in Syria may have ended, but it’s devastating effects are still very much with us. Since the beginning of the war in 2011, the Country has been plunged into a refugee crisis with families fleeing in their numbers. A staggering [...]
