The editors of America have been critical of the actions of President Trump regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since he retook office in January, but last week’s accord is a moment where credit should be given where credit is due.
Middle East
Posted inNews
Pope Leo XIV to visit Turkey and Lebanon next month on first foreign trip
Pope Leo XIV will visit Turkey and Lebanon next month on his first foreign trip as pope. The Vatican said Tuesday that Leo will be in Turkey from Nov. 27-30 and Lebanon from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo calls for human dignity for migrants and an end to war in Gaza
He also expressed concern at “the rise of anti-Semitic hatred in the world,” following the terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, this past week.
Posted inFeatures
When Eastern and Western church calendars lined up, Christians celebrated the Ascension at this Jerusalem chapel
This is the story of how Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians in Jerusalem came to celebrate their feast of the Ascension in the holy space where they all believe Jesus ascended to heaven.
Posted inFaith in Focus
Fasting for peace in Gaza: What Pope Leo’s call really means
I can’t will myself into a spiritual experience, into a sense of solidarity or meaning or nobility or deep and somber union with God and man. I can will myself into doing regular daily things and recording them and seeing what comes of it all.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo’s first international trip could be to Lebanon, cardinal says
The Mediterranean nation of around 6 million, including more than 1 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees, has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East and is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Now is the time for the Trump administration to help Syria. Will it?
A brief opening to shore up progress toward stability in Syria unfortunately coincides with Trump administration decisions to sharply curtail humanitarian and development assistance and to terminate the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Leo XIV: Western Christians must reject ‘fake news’ and help the suffering Eastern churches
Pope Leo XIV denounced the “violent conflict [that] seems to be raging in the Christian East with a diabolical intensity previously unknown” and said the Christians of the West must do more to help the Christians of the East, especially those suffering in Ukraine, Gaza and other places in the Middle East.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Leo calls for Middle East peace after ‘heinous terrorist attack’ on church in Syria
Aware of the deep concern this new act of violence has caused among Christians in this part of the world, Pope Leo offered these words of assurance: “I say to the Christians of the Middle East: I am close to you! The whole church is close to you!”
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Movie Club
Catholic Movie Club: An Iranian film that humanizes ‘the enemy’
In ‘Where is the Friend’s House?,’ we see the faces of the Iranian people captured with sensitivity and detail.