Monthly Archives: October 2016

by Reuters From major disaster, conflicts and under-reported stories, we shine a light on the world’s humanitarian hotspots Elderly Christian widow says jihadists threatened to kill her, forced her to spit on a crucifix and stamp on an image of the Virgin Mary…

PressTv User A Mass has been held for the first time in over two years in Iraq’s main Christian town which was recently liberated by government forces. Qaraqosh was captured from Daesh terrorists as part of a major…

By Anugrah Kumar , Christian Post Contributor Iraqi special forces (Photo: Reuters/Goran Tomasevic) Iraqi special forces soldiers walk inside a church damaged by Islamic States fighters in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq, October 21, 2016. As Iraq’s largest Christian-majority town of Qaraqosh has been liberated from the Islamic State, Christians are returning with the hope…

QARAQOSH — A small group of worshipper gathered in a church in the Iraqi city of Qaraqosh on Sunday (October 30) for the first mass to be held there since the recapture of the city from Islamic State (ISIS) militants. About 20 km (13 miles) southeast of Mosul, the town was recaptured by Iraqi troops…

By Loveday Morris and Kareem Fahim The Church of Mart Shmoni, damaged by Islamic State fighters, in Bartella, Iraq. (Marko Drobnjakovic/Associated Press) IRBIL, Iraq — At the evening service, the priest counseled forgiveness to a congregation with little reason to forgive. They were Christians from Mosul, brutalized…

A bishop leads a handful of Christians in Sunday worship in a church in Iraq’s largest Christian town, days after Iraqi government forces drove out Islamic State after two years of occupation.…

Peshmerga forces advance to attack Islamic State militants Oct. 17 in Mosul, Iraq. This summer, the U.N. said that as the Mosul crisis evolves, up to 13 million people throughout Iraq may need humanitarian aid by the year’s end, far larger than the Syrian crisis. (Credit: CNS/Reuters.) There are indications that life for Christians in…

By Rudaw Hamdaniya is a mixed city consisting of Arabs, Kurds and predominantly Christians. HAMDANIYA, Iraq– Hamdaniya was once home to 125,000 people, mostly Christians, but it is in ruins after nearly two years of Islamic State rule. Shops are looted and demolished, homes are burned down and streets are covered…

by FRANCE 24 As the coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group pushes towards Mosul, Christian towns and villages in the surrounding region are being liberated. But the future is still unclear for those returning to Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian town.…

By Anugrah Kumar , Christian Post Contributor France (Photo: Reuters/Charly Triballeau/Pool) Archbishop of Rouen and Primate of Normandy Mgr Dominique Lebrun prays during a funeral service to slain French parish priest Father Jacques Hamel at the Cathedral in Rouen, France, August 2, 2016. Father Jacques Hamel was killed last week in an…

By Alexander Marquardt MAR MATTAI MONASTERY, PHOTO: Mar Mattai monastery located atop Mount Alfaf in northern Iraq and 20 kilometers from Mosul is pictured on Feb. 9, 2016. De Agostini/Getty Images WATCH Mountainside Monastery a Sanctuary from the Battle for Mosul Below…

A 12 hour visit to six villages across 200 km, a source of “sadness and suffering,” but also of “great hope”. The goal is the “reconstruction” of the villages and the return of refugees. But first it is essential to ensure safety. Gratitude for the generals and the soldiers leading the offensive. The new call…

As an international military offensive moves toward Mosul, liberating towns from the hold of the Islamic State, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has visited towns on the Nineveh Plains, and seen the destruction and desecration of Christian churches.…

As ISIS loses ground near Mosul, Turkey stands in the way of the exiles’ return. Iraqi Christians light candles inside a shrine in Mazar Mar Eillia Catholic Church, Erbil, Iraq, Dec.12, 2014. Photo: Getty Images By Mindy Belz Noura Diyha wrestled a phone from her pocket to show me a photo of herself at age…

By Maureen Cavanaugh, Michael Lipkin Bashar Warda, Archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Erbil, in an undated photo. Credit: Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil Chaldean Archbishop To Speak On Rebuilding Iraq…

As an international military offensive moves toward Mosul, liberating towns from the hold of the Islamic State, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has visited towns on the Nineveh Plains, and seen the destruction and desecration of Christian churches.…

Jim Lynch, The Detroit News elex-oakland-kestoBuy Photo (Photo: Brandy Baker / The Detroit News) Southwest Oakland County is becoming one of the more intense battlefields targeted by Michigan Democrats as Republicans fight to maintain their control of the Michigan House of Representatives.…

– By Maria L. Torres Banner father douglas bazi Father Douglas Bazi, a Chaldean Catholic priest from Iraq, is an international speaker on Christian persecution and genocide in Iraq, Syria and the Middle East. (CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC) “Everything changed in Iraq; [everyone] was fighting each other,” [Father Douglas Bazi]…

By fay abuelgasim, associated press BAHARKA CAMP, Iraq — Reports about the battle for Mosul play on the TV set in the makeshift barber shop where Faris Khatham cuts hair, but sometimes the news is so overwhelming that he has to change the channel to a sports program.…

by Mary Anne Hackett BY BARB FRAZE, 10/21/2016, WASHINGTON (CNS) — The military operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group is not the only solution needed to get life back to normal, said Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda of Irbil. The Chaldean Catholic archbishop, who has called for such intervention…