Officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warn that the Syrian refugee crisis—four million people have fled the war-torn state—has reached a dangerous “tipping point.” Turkey alone has absorbed almost two million refugees from Syria and is now the only regional pow
“There is a need for immediate action similar to what took place in Kobani,” said Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac National Council of Syria, urging coalition airstrikes to aid Christian and Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State militants on Feb. 26. • On Feb. 25 a Greek Orth
The international director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, Peter Balleis, S.J., said, J.R.S. staff in Afghanistan and around the world were elated to have Alexis Prem Kumar, S.J., home in India and recuperating after almost nine months of captivity. “He’s in good spirits, physically well;
The director of the Holy See Press Office, Federico Lombardi, S.J., came out swinging on Feb. 27 in response to a collection of articles published in the Italian weekly L’Espresso. The articles purport to show internal struggles within the Vatican on ongoing economic reforms. “Passing co
On Feb. 26, the Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham said, “It is shocking that the whole world” has not responded in a proper way to the ongoing crisis in Syria. He called for international unity against the Islamic State to protect Assyrian Christian villages in northeast Syri
The chaos in South Africa’s Parliament on Feb. 12—the expulsion of one party and the walkout of a number of others during President Jacob Zuma’s annual State of the Nation address—was arguably the worst moment in the history of South Africa’s legislature. The spectacle