In Syria, a pastor comes home to comfort his flock

By Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart I just returned to Aleppo from a trip to the US, where I did my best to explain our situation to American Christians in several major cities on the East Coast. My journey appears to have been useful; so say the organizers of the awareness-raising campaign, [...]

2015-05-29T09:31:14+02:00

ARCBISHOP OF LAHORE: FOR ONCE THE GOVERNMENT HAS ACTED IN TIME

Pakistan                                                                                                                        26.05.2015   Königstein/Rome, 26.05.2015. "When a Muslim is accused of blasphemy, it is he alone who pays the consequences. However, if it is a Christian who is accused, then the entire Christian community is held responsible." This was the comment made to ACN by Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shah of [...]

2015-05-28T07:46:38+02:00

UNESCO Director-General calls for immediate cessation of hostilities in Palmyra

UNESCO Press Release No.2015-44 Paris, 20 May–The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has called for an immediate end to hostilities in Palmyra (Syria) following reports from several sources that armed extremist groups have infiltrated the World Heritage site, where fighting is now ongoing. “I am deeply concerned by the situation [...]

2015-05-28T07:46:21+02:00

Mgr Charles Vella: Silence over Christians’ persecution

   by Mgr Charles Vella, Sunday Times of Malta , May 24, 2015,    The Holy Land, the birthplace of Jesus, is becoming a land without Christians. The persecution of Christians has become global. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Vatican Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, declared recently that the number of Christians [...]

2015-05-27T07:56:23+02:00

IT’S NOT JUST THE THREAT TO PALMYRA JIHADISTS KIDNAP ANOTHER PRIEST

Syria                                                                                                                             22.05.2015   Rome/Königstein, 22.05.2015. It is less than two years since the abduction of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, who was kidnapped in Raqqa on 29 July 2013 – and now the same horror has once again struck the monastic community of the Deir Mar Musa monastery, some 50 miles (80 [...]

2015-05-27T07:56:00+02:00

Justice and truth are the keys to peace in Central African Republic, Pope says

Friday, 15 May 2015 (1 week ago)       Vatican City, May 15, 2015 / 11:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis' address to the bishops of the Central African Republic on Friday focused on the Church's role in fostering reconciliation in the war-torn country, urging a deeper adhesion to the Gospel [...]

2015-05-22T12:07:28+02:00

Ukraine: The head of the Greek Catholic Church calls for reconciliation and peace

Ukraine                                                                                                                         19.05.2015   Königstein, 19.05.2015 – The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, stressed during a visit to the international office of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Needthat it was important at this time in particular to be committed to reconciliation and [...]

2015-05-22T11:52:03+02:00

A modern-day St Francis? Archbishop works to rebuild Syrian Church amid destruction

Aleppo, Syria, May 15, 2015 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A four-year civil war in Syria has left a mounting death toll and displaced millions of persons, but one bishop is staying to rebuild the Church in Aleppo, in the northwest corner of the country. “The Church is living,” Melkite [...]

2015-05-22T11:36:34+02:00

“When he managed to get his first sum right, the tears of joy rolled down his cheeks”

By Maria Lozano “Please, come to help!” Those were the words that led Sister Caterina Gasparatto to set out from 21st-century Italy and go back in time to the Stone Age – or more precisely to the diocese of Bereina in the central province of Papua New Guinea. So it [...]

2015-05-22T09:58:38+02:00