Monthly Archives: September 2016

Register Rome correspondent Edward Pentin describes the hardships and hopes of Middle-Eastern Christians who have lived there since being uprooted from their homes by the Islamic State. by Edward Pentin Edward Pentin photos From top: Bishop Francesco Cavina of Carpi, Italy, meets with a Syriac Orthodox family…

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency’s representative in Iraq is warning that a looming military operation against the Islamic State group in Mosul “has the potential to be one of the largest man-made disasters for many, many years.” Bruno Geddo of UNHCR says more than 1 million people could be displaced by the…

As ISIS invaded their towns and villages in the summer of 2014, tens of thousands of Christians fled to refugee camps, but the longer they remain displaced, the more they want to leave. On average, some 60,000 to 100,000 Christians have left Iraq every year since 2003. by Edward Pentin A woman refugee at the…

By Catholic News Service – Families displaced by violence arrive in early June at a temporary shelter in Kirkuk, Iraq. Chaldean Catholic bishops, meeting for their annual synod in Irbil, Iraq, pleaded for peace in the Middle East and for the liberation of areas seized by the Islamic State so that the displaced can return…

A Syrian man cooks on a makeshift fire at a refugee camp. Pope Francis’ visit to Georgia shines a spotlight on sufferings of Christians in Syria and Iraq. – AP (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will shine the spotlight on the suffering Christian communities in Syria and Iraq as he visits a Chaldean church in Georgia…

By Catholic News Service IRBIL, Iraq – Chaldean Catholic bishops, meeting for their annual synod, pleaded for peace in the Middle East and for the liberation of areas seized by the Islamic State group so that the displaced can return to their homes. Chaldeans were among the approximately 120,000 Christians who were uprooted when…

29 September 2016 An elderly man left for dead by two jihadists at a church in the French city of Rouen has spoken of the terrifying ordeal for the first time. Guy Coponet was forced by the killers to film the murder of 85-year-old Fr Jacques…

ruth-gledhill Ruth Gledhill Christian Reuters A displaced Iraqi child, who fled from Islamic State violence in Mosul, fills jerry cans with water at a refugee camp in Erbil. Remarkable stories of how refugees who lost everything are now rebuilding their lives from scratch have emerged from Iraq.…

By Rowena Orejana – Newly-arrived Chaldean Catholic priest Fr Douglas Al-Bazi still feels a little guilty for leaving Iraq for New Zealand. There is so much work to do in his parish church, Mar-Elia, in Erbil, northern Iraq with so many people to take care of.…

By Samuel Smith , CP Reporter North Korea (Photo: KCNA via Reuters) A rally celebrating the success of a recent nuclear test is held in Kim Il Sung square in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang September 13, 2016.…

Bobby Ross Jr. | Christian Chronicle FAITH, S.D. — After chasing stories all over the United States, I found Faith — a town in South Dakota with a population of 421. With my recent trip to the Dakotas, I reached a personal goal: reporting for The Christian Chronicle from all 50 states and the nation’s…

Country’s refugee policy lambasted ahead of referendum on EU mandate on refugees Daniel McLaughlin in Budapest Hungarian police patrol the transit zone at Hungary’s southern border with Serbia near Tompa, 169km southeast of Budapest. Photograph: Sandor Ujvari/EPA Hungary is establishing a special government office to help Christians who face…

ISIS Executes 6 Fighters By Crushing Them With A Bulldozer Andre Mitchell Reuters Shi’ite fighters fire weapons towards ISIS militants on the outskirt of Baiji, northern Iraq, on Sept. 6, 2015. Christians are not the only ones brutalised by Islamic State (ISIS) militants. Having no…

by Gary Nguyen Iraqi Christians can’t seem to find peace, even in Christian-majority America. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just Muslims who are immigrating to America, but persecuted Christians as well. Christians from Iraq have double the problems due to their faith. Fleeing from a country that was out to wipe them out, they…

James Macintyre Reuters Smoke rises from clashes with Islamic State militants in the southeast of Mosul, Iraq. Hopes for a refuge for Christians and other minorities at the Nineveh Plain in northern Iraq may have been dashed by a vote in the Iraqi Parliament.…

Lorraine Caballero Christians are the most persecuted faith group in the world, a Vatican official said during the United Nations (UN) Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York. (Reuters/Muhammad Hamed)Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako (L), the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, gives communion…

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations and Iraq signed an agreement Friday aimed at helping the Baghdad government tackle sexual violence in conflict, an issue that made headlines following the capture and rape of Yazidi women by Islamic State extremists in 2014. Zainab Hawa Bangura, the U.N. special envoy for sexual violence in conflict,…

The United Nations and Iraq signed an agreement Friday aimed at helping the Baghdad government tackle sexual violence in conflict, an issue that made headlines following the capture and rape of Yazidi women by Islamic State extremists in 2014 UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations and Iraq signed an agreement Friday…

Lorraine Caballero Christians are the most persecuted faith group in the world, a Vatican official said during the United Nations (UN) Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York. (Reuters/Muhammad Hamed)Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako (L), the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, gives communion…

MIchael Fallon says forces to help retake Mosul are being assembled, with Iraqi troops leading the operation. By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent The Defence Secretary has said the operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State will begin “within weeks”.…