Monthly Archives: March 2015

by Paul Louis Metzger What good is religion, anyway? Religion is extremely good, when it promotes radical love in the face of extreme hate. I was deeply moved by the video of Christian girls in Erbil, Iraq, who were interviewed after they and their families were displaced from their homes by ISIS. My friend Adam…

As Iran increases its military presence in the Middle East, we examine the country’s ambitions. Iran is still facing economic sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme, but the country has seen its influence and power grow, while its neighbours struggle to keep…

Pope Francis_ReutersReuters by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.28 Mar 201516 An official Vatican communiqué Friday conveyed the Pope’s sorrow and solidarity with the families driven from their homes by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq. He likened their suffering to that of Jesus Christ during His passion, and sent them financial…

Ruth Gledhill The so-called “Arab Spring” has impacted “negatively” on Christians in the Middle East who face extortion, forced conversion or death, the United Nations Security Council in New York was told yesterday. The Patriarch of Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and the world, His Holiness Louis…

Pope Francis meeting with Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church in 2014. Mar Dinkha died on Thursday. – L’Osservatore Romano (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent his condolences upon learning of the death of the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV.…

by Joni B. Hannigan REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako speaks during an interview in Baghdad, February 28, 2015. Iraqi Christians say they have no intention of leaving the country despite the recent abduction of over 100 Assyrian Christians by the Islamic State.…

By U-T San Diego Editorial Board5 ? San Diego’s Mark Arabo, a spokesman for the Iraqi Chaldean Christian community in America, is working to gather congressional support for HR 1568, the Protecting Religious Minorities Persecuted by ISIS Act. The badly needed legislation is intended to…

UNITED NATIONS, March 27 (Xinhua) — Speakers during a day-long UN Security Council discussion on Friday denounced religion- and ethnicity-based attacks in the Middle East, calling for international involvement in tackling the issue. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decried “atrocity crimes” by terrorists in the Middle…

By RUDAW Laurent Fabius, Minister for Foreign Affairs of France and President of the Security Council for the month of March, briefs journalists on Friday’s Security Council open debate on the victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious grounds in the Middle East. Photo: UN…

Mar Behnam Monastery (Image from wikipedia.org by Aram33) slamic State militants say they have destroyed an ancient Mar Behnam Monastery in northern Iraq. The monastery dates back to the 4th century and reportedly has one of the most valuable Syriac libraries in existence.…

© AFP archive Text by FRANCE 24 Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East are being targeted and some are facing a possible “genocide” by Islamic State militants, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the UN on Friday.…

Catholic World News – Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako called upon the UN to address the “catastrophic situation” facing Christians in Iraq, in a March 27 presentation to the Security Council. The Security Council, on a French initiative, was meeting to discuss the persecution of…

by Louis Raphael I Sako* The Security Council is meeting in a French-sponsored session dedicated to Christians and persecuted minorities in the Middle East. Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako hopes to see the international community provide its full support to Iraqi and Kurdish authorities. He also calls for strict laws against terrorism, as well as actions…

Patriarch Sako compares current crisis to 1915 Armenian genocide John Burger (253) The leader of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholics at the United Nations in New York today urged international leaders to support his country’s government in a drive for “the liberation of all Iraqi cities.”…

The Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Dinkha IV. He died on March 26 at the age of 79. (Vatican Radio) The Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, died on Thursday at the age of 79. He assumed his office in 1976. The Assyrian Church…

Patriarch Sako at debate chaired by French FM Fabius Louis Raphael I Sako (R), the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, and Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi (L), Permanent Observer of the Holy See, inform on the Human Rights situation of Christians in Iraq and Syria…

By Susan Murphy Mark Arabo, an advocate for Iraqi Christians, speak in his Mission Valley office about an asylum bill introduced in Congress, March 26, 2015. Two San Diego County congressmen introduced a bill in Congress this week to make it easier for religious minorities in Iraq and Syria to apply for U.S. refugee status.…

by FRANCES MARTEL Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in an event that appears intended to strengthen ties between Baghdad and Damascus in light of their mutually shared threat of Islamic State (ISIS) invasion. Iraq’s desire to forge stronger ties with Assad flies in the face of American diplomatic…

(by Fausto Gasparroni) (ANSAmed) – ROME, MARCH 26 – The issue of persecution of Christians in the Middle East will be addressed at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday in New York. French foreign minister Laurent Fabius will be chairing an ‘open debate’ at the ministerial level on the situation of ethnic and religious…

By: Michael J Robinson Neville Kyrke-Smith Aid to the Church in Need has called on the Government to act to save persecuted Christians and other faith groups in Iraq and Syria after a UN human rights office report said recent atrocities there could be classed as ‘genocide’. The report, based on…