By Eva-Maria Kolmann NEW YORK—A bishop from Malawi has expressed concern about the growing trend towards Islamization in his Mangochi Diocese, in the south of the country. Speaking with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Stima Monfort stressed that traditional Islam in Malawi has been moderate and that Christians and Muslims […]
Hope in the midst of hopelessness “Christ revealed Himself to Sister Faustina between the two World Wars” reflects Fr. Stanislaw. “At a moment of deep hopelessness, when people were afflicted with tragedy after an evil that was done, exactly in this very moment, out of the deepest hopelessness when everything was lost, ruined, God revealed […]
By Oliver Maksan NEW YORK—In an urgent appeal to the outside world, Franciscan Father Ibrahim Alsabagh is calling on Christians throughout the world to pray for the Syrian city of Aleppo, currently caught up in the midst of heavy fighting. “Never, since the beginning of this terrible war were things as bad as they are […]
Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have in no uncertain terms asked their new president to enact and enforce policies that—in accordance with the country’s constitution—would guarantee fair treatment of Christians in the north of the country where they are often relegated to second-class status. Meeting May 2, 2016 with President Muhammadu Buhari, the bishops’ demands—voiced in a […]
By Oliver Maksan NEW YORK—The conflict in Syria entered its sixth year in March, but the ceasefire and ongoing talks in Geneva between the major warring parties have for the first time given rise to a glimmer of hope that an end to the conflict might be possible. However, real security and peace remain elusive, […]
By John Pontifex NEW YORK—Victims of the Easter Sunday Pakistan bomb blast have received a personal message of sympathy from the Pope. Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore described how he was going from bed to bed visiting the wounded in a local hospital when he received a call on his mobile phone from Vatican officials […]
The Catholic Church on the Arabian Peninsula has expressed its dismay at the indifference world opinion has shown in response to the nuns murdered in Yemen. In Aden on March 4, 2016, four nuns of the order founded by the Blessed Mother Teresa, whose work involved the care of the elderly and disabled—as well as […]
By John Newton NEW YORK–A Bishop in Ethiopia has expressed his horror after the Feb. 18, 2016 torching and looting of a Church compound by the very people being helped by priests and women religious. In a message sent to international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Abraham Desta described how Gighessa […]
By Julieta Appendini MEXICO CITY—During his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis has expressed his concern for people’s social problems, pain and suffering, and he has shared optimistic messages of hope and comfort. His smile graces all his language and his expressions of love permanently underscore his words. “The tears of those who suffer do not […]
By Oliver Maksan Confirmation that Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery has been completely destroyed by ISIS has caused widespread distress in Iraq. “St. Elijah’s monastery in Mosul was a symbol of the Christian presence in Iraq. The fact that it has been destroyed is terrible,” Father Dankha Issa told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church. […]
By John Pontifex NEW YORK—Food has become “the most deadly weapon of war” in Syria, according to a leading Catholic charity’s Middle East expert, who charged that both government and rebel forces are blocking humanitarian aid to force entire communities—already on the brink of starvation—to submit to their rule. He added that rebels have confiscated […]
By Oliver Maksan JOSEPH AND MARY quietly rocked the child. Shepherds gathered around them. Children in costumes were enacting the Nativity of Jesus the subterranean chapels tucked away into nooks and crannies under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A silver star marks the birthplace in a grotto right nearby. The young actors that […]
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako I—celebrating Christmas in ‘silence and amidst tears’ The feast of the birth of Christ is one of the greatest feasts celebrated by millions of Christians around the world and particularly in Iraq. But this year Iraqi Christians will celebrate Christmas in deplorable circumstances, one the one hand because of the deteriorating […]
By Oliver Maksan The Holy Year of Mercy, solemnly inaugurated by Pope Francis in Rome Dec. 8, 2015—on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception—is being hailed by Catholics throughout the Arab world International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) gathered some impressions. Father Dankha Issa is a Chaldean monk in Alqosh. Last […]
By Oliver Maksan BAGHDAD—Father Luis Montes is glad and he has reason to be: “We have just consecrated a new chapel. It was high time that our refugees got their own small church. This gives them back a piece of the home they have lost. And the people can now go to Mass without risking […]
By Eliane També ALEPPO, Syria—War rages on in Syria. Aleppo, the country’s major business center—what’s left of it—is a city at war, subject to regular bombardments by various factions fighting for dominance. Last year, a mother of two sons, 48-year-old Joumana Jarjour, a Melkite Catholic, was gravely wounded by scrapnel from a rocket that landed […]
By Claire Creegan NEW YORK—Pope Francis’ scheduled Mass in Uganda in observance of the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the Ugandan Martyrs will help revitalize the faith of one of Africa’s youngest Churches, a local Church official said. In an interview with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Msgr. John Baptist Kauta, […]
By Oliver Maksan NEW YORK—Thousands of Syrian Christians are fleeing after fierce attacks by ISIS on the town of Sadad and its surroundings, reported Syrian Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh of Homs. Sadad is some 35 miles south of Homs and 65 miles north east of the Syrian capital of Damascus. The region has been […]
By Oliver Maksan HAVANA, Cuba—The skyline of the suburb of Guiteras, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, is dominated by grey prefabricated buildings that are crumbling badly, weakened by the moist tropical temperatures. Some 32000 people live in this place that looks like so many others on the island nation. But Guiteras is very […]
Requesting anonymity, Catholic sources in Nepal have told the international Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, about growing fears within the country’s small Christian population for their future safety in Nepal. In the early hours of Sept. 14, 2015, three Protestant churches were bombed in eastern Nepal where the Christian population is most […]
By Marta Petrosillo ROME—“We Christians are determined to stay on in Syria and continue to give our witness.” Grim-faced and speaking with determination, Chaldean Archbishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, addressed media here today. The archbishop commented on the mass exodus of Syrians, spurred on in recent weeks by the welcome shown by some European […]
By Oliver Maksan JERUSALEM—“Welcome to our new reception room;” Sister Agathe offered her visitor a warm greeting. The nun is in charge of finances for the Carmelite Sisters’ convent on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Substantial renovations were just completed. Everything is clean and bright. “The renovations help us to receive guests better, while […]
By Eva-Maria Kolmann NEW YORK—“Priests who do not have a calling will not last long here in the Ukraine.” Such, plain and simple, is the verdict of Roman Catholic Bishop Bronislaw Bernacki of Odessa-Simferopol. Soviet-era communism may be long gone, but the local Church is still in rebuilding mode, the prelate said in an interview […]
By Daniel Konstantinovic NEW YORK—August 6, 2015 marks the one-year anniversary of the expulsion from their convent of a group of Dominican sisters who had been serving Christians on Iraq’s Nineveh Plane for many years. That day, ISIS forced the women religious into exile in Erbil, capital of Kurdistan. Discovering that Kurdish militia had fled […]
