Matt Hadro/CATHOLIC_NEWS_AGENCY Destroyed church. (Credit: Humanitarian Nineveh Relief Organization.) “(When) we went to see what happened to our hometowns, we could not believe the hatred and the revenge that ISIS has against us,” said Sister Diana Momeka, a nun who ministers to those displaced by ISIS. Christians who have returned to Iraq’s Nineveh…

Christians returning to the Nineveh Plain around Mosul, Iraq have found only destruction and betrayal. CNA photo/courtesy of Humanitarian Nineveh Relief Organization By Matt Hadro, CNA/EWTN News MOSUL, Iraq – As villages on Iraq’s Nineveh Plain are liberated from Islamic State…

City officials in Basra, Iraq, are welcoming Christians back into the city, promising help in rebuilding churches. Khalaf Abdul al Samad, the president of the city council, visited an Armenian Apostolic church in Basra to celebrate the new year, and issued a call for Christian refugees to…

Syriac Christians who migrated to the US praise Assad’s takeover of Aleppo and lament that they cannot return due to violence The Assyrian Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary (Paul Gadalla/Middle East Eye) Paul Gadalla’s picture NEW JERSEY, United States – On Christmas morning, a choir sang on the second floor…

The bells in churches across northern Iraq may have been rung again during Christmas, but the future is unclear. Seth J. Frantzman Christmas has been a dangerous time for Christians in Iraq. In 2013, three bombings targeted Christians in Baghdad, killing 38. Two days before Christmas 2016, there were…

By Anugrah Kumar , Christian Post Contributor Christians living in Islamic countries as well as in the world’s two most populous countries of India and China are set to face heightened threats of violent persecution at the hands of both state and non-state actors in 2017, Release International has warned.…

Kaye Garcia (Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi)Pope Francis is shown in this photo. Pope Francis paid tribute to Christians in the Middle East who have stayed loyal to their faith amid persecution from Islamist militants. Speaking to thousands of people present for his holiday blessing on the feast of St.…

By Jason Le Miere @JasonLeMiere Nearly 90,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2016, equivalent to one every six minutes, according to a new study by the Italy-based Center for Studies on New Religions (Censur). The annual study, which is set for release next month, also…

Dale Gavlak CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE A displaced Iraqi child walks outside tents December 9 at the Hassan Sham camp near Mosul. (Credit: CNS/Reuters.) For Christians in the Middle East looking back on 2016, the picture is grim: with mounting challenges especially in Iraq and Syria. Thousands of Iraqi Christians had to…

Raf Sanchez and Josie Ensor, The Telegraph Saint John the Baptist church in the Christian town of Qaraqosh was heavily damaged by ISIL militants. Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty ImagesSaint John the Baptist church in the Christian town of Qaraqosh was heavily damaged by ISIL militants.…

By Rudaw Iraqi Christians celebrating their first Christmas in the town of Hamdaniya outside Mosul for the first time in two years since the ISIS takeover of Mosul. Photo by Hejar Jawhar/Rudaw Iraqi Christians celebrating their first Christmas in the town of Hamdaniya outside Mosul…

Yesterday, the Christian world celebrated the yearly commemoration of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ in a manger in Bethlehem, more than two millennia ago. It was a humble birth for He who was to be the Saviour of all humankind, God the son, the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. Soon…

Jardine Malado (REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani)Iraqi Christians pray during a mass on Christmas at St. Joseph Chaldean church in Baghdad, Iraq December 25, 2016. Christians in Baghdad celebrated Christmas in fear due to a recent attack that left at least three people dead and four wounded.…

Iraqi Christians walk to attend a Christmas Eve service at the Mar Shimoni church in the town of Bartalla near Mosul on December 24, 2016 for the first time since its recapture from Daesh. (AFP/Safin Hamed) A female Iraqi reporter was kidnapped Monday after gunmen posing as security forces broke into her home in Baghdad,…

An Iraqi Christian woman prays during a mass on Christmas at St. Joseph Chaldean church in Baghdad, Iraq December 25, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Christians in Baghdad celebrated Christmas on Sunday in a heightened state of fear after deadly attacks on Christian-owned shops that sell alcohol.…

“Convert, flee or die”: that was the ultimatum given to Chaldean Catholics in northern Iraq by Islamic State militants as they overran their towns in 2014. In August 2014, the militants came to Nagham al-Katta’s village in Karemlash, south-east of Mosul, forcing her family to flee, leaving behind their home, all their possessions…

‘This is a dark cloud over Iraq. But we will stay here no matter what happens. God is with us’ Matt Broomfield@hashtagbroom The church in Bartella was defaced by Isis militants, but worshippers have been able to return REUTERS/Ammar Awad…

By Hugh Sykes BBC News, Irbil A consecration mass was conducted in Chaldean, a language related to Aramaic “When you treat a cancer, you have to use unfortunate measures,” said Bashar Warda, Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Irbil, when I asked him if it was right to kill members of the so-called Islamic State (IS).…

Manila: Sixteen people have been wounded in a grenade explosion outside a Catholic church during a Christmas Eve mass on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, according to local police and a priest. Bernardo Tayong, Midsayap town police chief, said most of the injured had been…

Celebrating Christmas for the first time since 2013, several hundred Iraqi Christians flocked on Saturday to a northern town recently retaken from Islamic State. Their joy was tainted with sadness over the desecration of their church. Expressing their joy at returning to the place where many of them said they had been…