An Iraqi priest from Nineveh says Christianity is finished in his homeland. “Today the story of Christianity is finished in Iraq,” the priest who identified himself as Fr Nawar told the Catholic News Agency on August 8. He is currently studying in Rome. His home city of Qaraqosh (Bakhdida) near Mosul fell to ISIS forces Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
Expulsion of Christians from Mosul like Nazi Germany
Friday, July 25th, 2014
The expulsion of Christians from Iraq’s second largest city has been compared to 1930’s Nazi Germany by a former British ambassador to the Holy See. Francis Campbell, who served in Rome from 2005 to 2011, said he was deeply disturbed by the West’s indifference to the events in Mosul. The extremist Islamic State of Iraq Read more
AKL Catholic and Anglican Bishops express concern over Iraq
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
Bishop Patrick Dunn and Bishop Ross Bay, the Catholic and Anglican bishops of Auckland New Zealand have issued a joint statement expressing their sadness at the extreme violence of the current insurgency of troops affiliated with the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). “Acknowledging the religious and political complexity which characterises Iraqi Read more
Religious difference: The cause of global conflicts
Friday, February 7th, 2014
The last weeks have seen a ghastly roll call of terror attacks in the obvious places: Syria, Libya, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Pakistan. Also suffering are places where we have only in recent years seen such violence: Nigeria, and in many parts of central Africa, in Russia and across Read more
Chaldean patriarch cautions against regime change
Friday, May 24th, 2013The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church has questioned the motive behind supporting regime change in Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Libya, saying that Islamic fundamentalist regimes are “even worse” than authoritarian ones. Instilling democracy and a culture of freedom, said Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako, requires education and a sound strategy for the long term. But Read more
Persecution driving Christians out of Muslim world
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013The mass exodus of millions of Christians from one part of the Islamic world to another as the result of persecution by Muslims has reached epidemic proportions, according to a Middle East and Islam expert. “This matter of Muslim persecution of Christians is a humanitarian crisis at this point,” said Raymond Ibrahim. He said the Read more
Global state of religious freedom is ‘dire’
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
The state of religious freedom around the world is “increasingly dire”, according to the chairperson of a United States agency that monitors threats to this human right. The reasons include the rise of violent religious extremism and the actions and inactions of governments, according to Dr Katrina Lantos Swett of the US Commission for International Read more
Iraq’s moral legacy
Friday, December 23rd, 2011
According to The Washington Post and The New York Times the Iraq War has ended—again. But we still have not come to terms with what it has really meant. Those with long memories remember that the first George Bush Gulf War ended as we slaughtered the helpless remnants of the Iraqi army fleeing from Kuwait, Read more
Iraq Christians living in fear of fresh violence
Friday, November 25th, 2011
Christians in Iraq continue to be scared of fresh violence, according to Fr Amir Jae, the superior of the Dominican order in Baghdad. Jae, who is also vicar to the Arab World told Aid to the Church in Need that “Living in Iraq means living in fear.” There is nowhere people can feel safe and Read more
The future of Iraqi Christians uncertain
Friday, November 4th, 2011
The Assyrian International News agency is expressing concern about the future of the Iraqi Christian community in Baghdad. One year ago, in the worst violence against Assyrians since the liberation of Iraq, Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked Iraqui Christians at Our Lady of Deliverance Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad during a Sunday evening church service, killing 58 parishioners, Read more