For decades, the people of Bethlehem have watched tour buses drive up to the Church of the Nativity, disgorge their passengers for a few hours at the traditional birthplace of Jesus, and then return to Israel.
Middle East
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Catholic leaders urge Israel to investigate hate crimes in Arab villages
Graffiti was scrawled in Hebrew on a wall and a car was burned in the Palestinian town of Taybeh
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Pope Francis saddened by deadly protests in Iraq
Since the protests began Oct. 1, an estimated 400 demonstrators have been killed.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
U.S. support for Israeli settlements could doom a Palestinian state
The Trump administration has reversed a 40-year U.S. policy critical of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, writes Drew Christiansen, S.J., raising the obstacles to Palestinians ever achieving a homeland.
Posted inFaith, News
Victims of Christian persecution remembered at ‘Night of Witness’ service
“Many of these victims suffer and perish anonymously,” said George Marlin, chairman of Aid to the Church in Need-USA, the charity sponsoring the service.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Vatican renews call for two-state solution in Israel-Palestine after U.S. policy reversal
“The Holy See reiterates its position of a two-state solution for two peoples as the only way to reach a complete solution to this age-old conflict.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
A priest is killed as ISIS revives in Syria, and deadly protests continue in Iraq
Armed groups affiliated with ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, celebrating erroneously in a statement the killing of “two priests.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
I’m a Jesuit in Lebanon. Here’s why I’m protesting with my brothers and sisters.
Conditions in Lebanon have been so bad for so long that most people seemed to have come to accept a profound level of government dysfunction. But this summer a series of difficulties—from wildfires raging across the countryside to a national shortage in fuel—highlighted the costs of government mismanagement and financial ineptitude.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Advocate: Turkish forces doing ‘soft’ ethnic cleansing in northeast Syria
People in northeastern Syria say despite Erdogan’s reassurances, the Turkish military and its allied Syrian armed groups are persecuting religious minorities.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
New report details challenges for Christianity in Asia and the Middle East
Christianity is disappearing from towns and cities in parts of the Middle East, warns a new report from the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need.