For the second straight year, Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to ongoing war in Gaza.
War and Peace
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Peace is necessary for climate solutions. That’s why U.S.-China tensions should worry us.
Peace among nations is a necessary precondition for any solution to the climate change crisis. Instead, we have a renewed arms race and a mad dash for exhaustible natural resources.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis reveals he survived two assassination attempts during visit to Iraq
In a new autobiography, Pope Francis revealed that he escaped two assassination attempts during his visit to Iraq in March 2021, including one involving a young woman who was believed to be attempting a suicide bombing.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Pope Francis and Palestinian president meet at Vatican
As the fighting in Gaza drags on, Pope Francis welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican. The Vatican press office said the two spoke privately for 30 minutes.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
What will the fall of al-Assad mean for Syria’s ancient Christian community?
Many Syrians remain apprehensive about how religious minorities, including Christians, will be treated in a new political reality being established by a Sunni militia that is still listed as a terror organization by the U.S. State Department.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Mozambique struggles to manage post-election unrest and a deadly insurgency
After another disputed election, street protests wrack Mozambique. while a northern province, Cabo Delgado, endures a deadly Islamist insurrection.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
A Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest on 1,000 days of war
“Each day is becoming more difficult, but we do not surrender,” Father Igor Boyko, 48, the rector of the Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv, told Gerard O’Connell. “To surrender means we are finished.”
Posted inFaith, News
Hostages freed from Gaza meet with Pope Francis
The freed hostages also said they hoped the incoming Trump administration would work with the outgoing Biden administration to bring the remaining hostages home.
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
President Biden should pressure Israel to end war in Gaza before he leaves office.
The Editors: This moment cries out for the kind of decisive action that perhaps only a lame-duck presidency can bring about: putting the burden of peace on Israel for bringing the war in Gaza to an end.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
The Holy Land’s Christian leaders speak out against humanitarian disaster in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank
Joseph Hazboun, CNEWA’s regional director in Jerusalem, described expanding difficulties for the Christian Arab community on the West Bank but added that nothing, of course, compared to the complete humanitarian breakdown being experienced in Gaza.