Monthly Archives: September 2015

By: Associated Press 5:18 AM, Sep 24, 2015 10 mins ago WASHINGTON — Standing before Congress, Pope Francis issued a ringing call to action on behalf of immigrants Thursday, urging lawmakers to embrace “the stranger in our midst” as he became the first pontiff in history to address a joint meeting of the legislators.  Referencing the…

Msgr. Warduni said that “the Charter” should “clarify individual rights and freedoms.” At the moment there is little chance of change and pessimism prevails. In recent days, the Patriarch had addressed Parliament for the amendment of a controversial law limiting the rights of Christians. The bishops believes this is a battle for “all” citizens and…

Chaldean Metropolitan Mar Abraham represents a common heritage of India’s Christian community Jeemon Jacob, Thiruvananthapuram The recent discovery of the tomb of the last Persian bishop to serve the Christian community in southern India could help different churches in India work more closely,…

Sabine Perera | Iraqi couple denied visa to meet with Pope Francis as he tours the United States (Photo : REUTERS/TONY GENTILE) With many Catholic devotees clamoring to catch a glimpse of the Pope as the pontiff makes his way through the streets of the United Sates, one Iraqi couple have been…

  By: Associated Press 7:53 AM, Sep 23, 2015 36 mins ago   WASHINGTON – Pope Francis encouraged U.S. bishops to continue to defend religious liberty in America in a message that will be welcomed by conservatives fighting for conscience exemptions on gay marriage and the Obama administration’s health care mandate. Speaking from the South…

By RUDAW Mayor of Telkef Basim Balo speaking to Rudaw TV. ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The mayor of the Christian town of Telkef believes that there aren’t serious intentions for the liberation of his town from the Islamic State (ISIS), saying that the fate of his area should not be tied with Mosul operations.…

Photo by: Susan Walsh Pope Francis greets people as he is escorted by President Barack Obama after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. The Pope is spending three days in Washington before heading to New York and Philadelphia. This is the Pope’s first visit to the United States. (AP…

In this video interview, Dr Mike Bassous, who oversees Bible Society work in Lebanon and Iraq, discusses the difficult situation of Iraqi Christian refugees. Many of them, who are now sheltering in Iraqi Kurdistan after being forced from their homes by ISIS, will never be able to leave Iraq to seek better lives elsewhere. The…

By Kate Dubinski, The London Free Press Iraqi Saifan Istefan, his Syrian wife, Talar Donian, and their son, Zenos, 2, have fled violence in their homelands for the safety of London, where they share a home provided by sponsors at King’s University College with another refugee family from the war-torn region. (CRAIG GLOVER, The London…

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis expressed his joy and “prayerful solidarity” to the new head of the Assyrian Church of the East, 73-year-old Catholicos Gewargis III. The former metropolitan of Iraq, Jordan and Russian was elected patriarch Sept. 18 by…

John KerrySyrian RefugeesChaldeansMark Arabo By Miriam Raftery September 12, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Today, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the U.S. will raise its cap on refugees from the current level of 70,000 to accept 85,000 next year and 100,000 in 2017. The news comes in response to a…

By Eric Czarnik Jumhoria Kaskorkis, from the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights, helps a man with his green card. (Photo by Donna Agusti) [click to enlarge] Program manager Sharon Hannawa, center, helps a man with some paperwork at the…

Iraqi Christians displaced by the violence in their country wait in line to receive aid from a Chaldean Catholic Church truck in Beirut August 13, 2014. Well financed and armed, Islamic State insurgents have captured large swathes of territory in a summer offensive, as the Iraqi army – and now Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the…

Three Belgian priests, Bishop Guy Harpigny (Tournai), Bishop Jozef De Kesel (Bruges), and Bishop Léon Lemmens, the Auxiliary Bishop for the vicariate of Flemish Brabant and Mechelen, will travel to Northern Iraq from September 17th-21st. They will be received as guests by the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Belgian Bishops’…

People in Berlin hold crosses during a rally organized by Iraqi Christians living in Germany denouncing what they say is repression by the Islamic State against Christians living in Iraq, Aug. 17, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Thomas Peter) Media outlets are broadcasting the departure of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis from their countries toward…

By Avaneesh Pandey @avaneeshp88 a.pandey@ibtimes.com on Jeb bush (3) Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks at a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada September 17, 2015. Reuters/David Becker The United States should accept Syrian and Iraqi refugees as long as they are…

Security & Diplomacy The number of Iraqi Christians who have arrived in Jordan since mid-August has gone up to 350, according to Caritas, the NGO affiliated with the Catholic church. Fleeing persecution by the Islamic State group, Jordan has quietly agreed to shelter…

Dear Community Leaders, Friends, and Colleagues, Breaking News; It is with my great pleasure to inform you that the effort of US Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and former US Congressman Frank Wolf to urge President Obama to appoint Special Envoy For Religious Minorities has become a reality. The relentless advocacy…

The leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church has advised European countries against letting sentiment guide their reactions to the crisis in the Middle East, and asked them not to prioritise Christians when accepting refugees. The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Louis Raphael I, has warned in an interview that…

Vatican City, Sep 16, 2015 / 03:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Outside entities who drive the Syrian war – either through the selling of arms or their own political and strategic interests – must stop, and the country should look inside itself to resolve the conflict. These are the words of the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo,…