In an interview April 4 with Vatican News, the cardinal said that despite the war, up to this point Christians in Syria celebrated Holy Week and Easter every year, “even under the risk of bombs and mortar attacks.”
Syria
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
‘We are in human misery,’ Franciscan in northern Syria tells pope
Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. human rights chief, called on Syria and its allies to permit safe humanitarian corridors to be set up in the conflict areas.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Mideast Catholic patriarchs pray for those suffering, appeal for dialogue
“The wounds of the Islamic State have not been healed yet, together with the ongoing violence, poverty, unemployment and poor services that have pushed thousands of people, especially youth, to demonstrate peacefully, demanding the right to live with dignity and freedom in a stable, secure and strong independent homeland,” Cardinal Louis Sako, patriarch of Chaldean Catholics, said of anti-government protests.
Posted inFaith, News
Middle East Catholic leaders call for peace and stability in region
Amid deadly protests in Iraq, a people’s uprising in Lebanon and continued suffering in Syria, Catholic leaders of the Middle East called upon officials of their homelands to “ensure safety, peace and tranquility and stability for their citizens.”
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
Armenian genocide and religious persecution draw U.S. attention as Syrian refugees arrive in Iraq
This is only the latest wave of Syrian refugees and internally displaced people from Iraq to seek safety in Iraqi-Kurdistan, which already hosts 38 camps. So far 12,000 Syrian civilians have taken refuge across the border.
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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.
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Caritas works to help Syrians displaced by Turkish bombings
The Catholic aid agency Caritas Syria is working around the clock to aid those displaced by Turkish bombing and shelling.
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.”
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Turkish planes bomb Syria, causing panic among Christians, others
Turkish warplanes have begun attacking northeastern Syria, causing widespread panic among Christian and other religious communities caught up in the aerial bombardments.