“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.
Middle East
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.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Lebanon’s church leaders to protesters: ‘We hear your cry’
In a statement following their emergency meeting Oct. 23 led by Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch, the Christian leaders said of the protesting Lebanese, “We express solidarity with their peaceful uprising.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Lebanon’s Catholic patriarchs support protesters seeking economic reforms
Lebanon’s Catholic patriarchs — who have repeatedly raised their voices against political corruption, imploring the government to address the country’s dire economic situation — expressed their solidarity with the demonstrators.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Turkey’s incursion into northeast Syria raises serious moral questions on citizen protections
Turkey’s long-threatened incursion into northeast Syria after the sudden pullout of U.S. military forces from the country in early October raises serious moral questions on the responsibility to protect civilians caught in the middle of a new conflict.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Erbil’s Archbishop Warda urges protection of innocent civilians in northern Syria
Bashar Warda, C.Ss.R., the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil in Iraqi-Kurdistan, urged all parties in the new conflict between Turkey and the Kurdish and allied militias of the Syrian Democratic Forces “to remember at all times their obligations to protect innocent civilians.”