Iraq: pope calls on young jihad survivors to be “light of the world”

Initially scheduled for March, the festival was postponed due to the conflicts which have affected the Middle East. The pope has encouraged more than 700 young people who lived through Iraq’s jihadist occupation to be the light of the world. In a video shown on Wednesday, July 8, at the Ankawa Youth Meeting (AYM), Pope …

Northern Mozambique: jihadists trying to establish a caliphate, says bishop

Publication Note: The following article was prepared in June. Dates and references reflect the time of writing. Villagers in Cabo Delgado used to be united despite their religious diversity, but lately religion has become a dividing factor, reports Bishop António Juliasse. The jihadists who have been waging an insurgency in the northern province of Cabo …

Archbishop Mourad: “The Church in Syria is dying. There is no freedom, religious or otherwise”

The end of Christianity in Syria would be a great loss, because “the Church stands as a reminder to everyone of the ethics of justice and human dignity as a supreme value.” Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs, Hama and Nabk was recently in Rome as one of those to take part in the …

The young girl who fled from Iraq and met the Pope

Harshly persecuted for her faith, Sofia ended up finding solace in God and the strength to forgive those who forced her from her country and nearly killed her several times. On August 6, 2014, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians had to leave everything behind and escape their homeland, as terrorists from the Islamic State …

New terrorist attacks in Northern Mozambique cause mass flight of civilians

Cabo Delgado was ravaged by two major militant offensives. Armed groups, allegedly linked to ISIS, targeted the town of Macomia and the villages of Cajerene and Missufine, exacerbating the region’s displacement crisis. As the violence escalates, the Church intensifies its humanitarian response in northern Mozambique. (Cover photo: in 2021, Internally Displaced People (IDPs) already fled …

Sri Lanka-A town stands as a witness to the Resurrection after persecution

Five years after the Easter bombings, thousands of faithful have signed a petition addressed to Cardinal Malcom Ranjith, asking him to open a Cause for Beatification for the 171 Catholics killed in that tragic event. Cover photo: parishioners pray before a statue of the risen Christ, stained with the blood of the martyrs of Easter …

DRC – “Our country is not for sale!”

Six bishops from the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have written an “assessment of the pastoral and social situation” of the country, following a meeting which took place in Butembo, from April 8-14, and which paints a bleak picture of the state of the country and denounces how “the dignity of …

Iraq – “Please God, no more war.”

People in Iraq are terrified that the war in the Holy Land will engulf the region, according to a leading archbishop, who is calling on governments around the world to work to bring peace. These were the words he shared on November 3 during a visit to Westminster Abbey, which John Pontifex of our UK …

Mozambique – Terrorists kill 11 Christians in Cabo Delgado

A local missionary says Christians were separated from their Muslim neighbours and slaughtered in cold blood. (Cover Photo: Archive). A group of at least 11 Christians was massacred by terrorists loyal to the Islamic State, in Northern Mozambique, on Friday, September 15. According to information provided to the international charity Aid to the Church in …

Christian martyrs become a symbol of ecumenism and friendship between Orthodox and Catholics

The 21 martyrs—20 Egyptian and one Ghanaian—who were killed by Islamic State militants in Libya, in 2015, will be commemorated on the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, making them the first saints to be honoured by both the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic Churches since their split following the Council of Chalcedon in 451AD. In …