An Al Quaeda affiliate group Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen has released a video of kidnapped Colombian nun Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez. Narváez, a missionary sister, was kidnapped in February. She had been working in Karangasso, Mali, caring for orphans, teaching adult women to read and write, dispensing needed medications and giving assistance to women. On Read more
Blaise Pascal once wrote: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.” How true! This has been going on since the beginning of time and is showing few signs of disappearing any time soon. We still do violence and evil and justify them in God’s name. Read more
Three years ago, the Islamic State (Isis) did not exist; now it controls vast swathes of Syria and Iraq. Showing off its handiwork daily via Twitter and YouTube, Isis has repeatedly demonstrated that it is much more than a transnational terrorist organisation – rather, it is an entity with sophisticated command, control, propaganda and logistical Read more
A kidnapped Jesuit priest and peace activist who was seized by rebels in July is alive and well in the hands of an Al-Qaeda-linked group, according to an international news agency. Father Paolo Dall’Oglio disappeared on July 28, after he entered Syria, apparently in an attempt to negotiate the release of hostages held by rebel Read more
A Carmelite nun says the armed insurrection in Syria is “producing a totalitarianism that is worse” than that of President Bashar Assad’s regime. Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross, a religious superior in Syria, also appealed to the international community to stop supporting violent militias linked to al-Qaida and other extremist groups guilty of atrocities Read more
Media reports present the Syrian conflict as a battle waged by President Bashar al-Assad against his people struggling for human rights, but Christian observers warn the situation is much more complicated, with foreign interests — including al-Qaeda — playing key roles. “The situation is much more complex and difficult to assess than the media in Read more
A U.S. al-Qaida official concluded that Catholics were “fertile ground” for conversion, “particularly after the rage expanding against the mother church (Vatican) as a result of its scandals and policies refused by many of its public.” American al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn wrote Osama bin Laden in January 2011 and laid out reasons for reaching out Read more
The Vatican said the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, a man who sowed division and hatred and who caused “innumerable” deaths, should prompt serious reflection about one’s responsibility before God, not rejoicing. The Vatican statement May 2 came the day after President Barack Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden in Read more