GEORGIA - Highlights of Pope's visit Pope Francis arrived shortly after 3 p.m. local time in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, after a four-hour flight for the first stage of his Sept. 30-Oct. 2 visit to the Caucasus. The visit theme is “Pax vobis” and the trip focussed on peace, ecumenism, and interreligious [...]
First country to create new office specifically to deal with Christian persecution Hungary is the first country to establish a special government office on persecution of Christians. The new department has a 3 million euro budget and will address both persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the subtle forms [...]
FRANCE - Church where Fr Hamel was murdered reopens after penitential rite The church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Rouen, where 86 year old Fr Jacques Hamel was brutally stabbed to death by two young men shouting "Allah Akbar" on 26 July is now open again for worship. Fr Hamel was celebrating a mass [...]
Pope calls for protection of civilians as ‘Imperative and Urgent Obligation’ During his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis lamented “the dramatic news concerning the fate of the people of Aleppo.” Francis described Aleppo as "an already martyred city, where everybody is dying", adding that he feels united in [...]
Fr Andrzej Halemba, the Coordinator of Aid to the Church in Need (International) for the Middle East, is collecting material and testimonies from several Christians from Syria and Iraq who have suffered for their faith in Christ and others who are still being persecuted.Fr. Halemba has also met many Arabic [...]
SYRIA - Will we become the Guardians of Rocks, Pebbles and Stones? Shaken safeguard Six years of war have finally shaken the Syrian society’s safeguard: THE FAMILY, which was the primary cell that absorbed the shocks and misfortunes of the never ending violence and that saved the country and the Church until [...]
BOSNIA - “We are there for the children that need us.” When Katarina leafs through the photo albums from the last two decades with Sisters Admirata and Manda, her joy is tinged by melancholy. The photographs keep memories of Katarina’s happy childhood days alive. However, the realisation that the sheltered days of [...]
VENEZUELA - Bishops appeal to President to accept humanitarian aid as crisis deepens As the economic and social situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate day by day, even basic necessities are no longer available. The country has run out of most medicines from common painkillers to cancer and HIV drugs. Desperate doctors [...]
MEXICO - Three priests abducted and killed this month Less than a week after two Catholic priests abducted in Mexico were found murdered, the body of a third priest, Fr. José Alfredo López Guillén, was discovered. His car has also been found overturned on a road nearby. According to a message written [...]
NIGERIA - Nightmare in Boko Haram enclave: a young mother’s heartbreaking story Rebecca had been held by the terrorists for two years. On 5 September she arrived in Maidiguri to be reunited with her husband – with a new baby fathered by a Boko Haram militant.The family of Bitrus Zachariah and his [...]