Pope Francis has expressed a wish to visit Iraq in 2020. In discussing the turmoil in the Middle East, he condemned the hypocrisy of those who “talk peace” but foment war with arms sales and neglect to ameliorate the suffering of innocent people.
Iraq
Posted inNews Analysis, Politics & Society
Catholic leaders caution against war with Iran as tensions escalate
“There is little probability that another war in the most volatile region in the world, where the recent and current experiences of conflict in Syria, Iraq and Yemen are vivid, will succeed in bringing peace to the region.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
How two Iraqi peacemakers are rebuilding community after ISIS
“We have a mission here; we have a mission with the Muslim people. Our Christian community believes in this mission, that we should be ready to stay, to take this responsibility,” no matter the risks.
Posted inFaith, Features
Can Christianity in northern Iraq survive after ISIS?
Christians are slowly returning to help rebuild northern Iraq, but many remain fearful of an ISIS resurgence and feel abandoned by the national government.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Iraqis amid Mosul’s silent ruins fear the loss of a dialect
For centuries, residents of Mosul have spoken a unique form of Arabic enriched by the Iraqi city’s long history as a crossroads of civilization, a singsong dialect that many now fear will die out after years of war and displacement.
Posted inFaith, GoodNews
GoodNews: The ‘extraordinary power of faith’ in Iraq
Prince Charles described how as Isis extremists advanced on the Christian town of Qaraqosh in 2014, Sister Luma “got behind the wheel of a minibus crammed full of her fellow Christians and drove the long and dangerous road to safety.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Aid may finally reach Nineveh Christians, but time is running out
The Christian community in Iraq has been decimated by decades of conflict, persecution and disorder, culminating in the unbelievable savagery of ISIS. After two millennia in Iraq, the Christian population has reduced to a vanishing point, raising concerns around the world about the viability of this ancient community.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Trump signs bill to provide relief to genocide victims in Iraq and Syria
The bill will provide humanitarian relief to genocide victims in Iraq and Syria and hold accountable Islamic State perpetrators of genocide.
Posted inFaith, News
Ultranationalism threatens religious freedom, says report from Aid to the Church in Need
“Religious Freedom in the World 2018” found worsening conditions for religious freedom in 17 nations, citing attacks on Christians in India and Iraq.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Deployment to Iraq changed my view of God, country and humankind. So did coming home.
War experience, and trauma more generally, can be an assault not only on one’s physical sense of safety, but on one’s social, moral, and spiritual conception of the world.