The Vatican’s top diplomat at the United Nations has called for a co-ordinated international force to stop ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Italian Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said there is a type of genocide happening to Christians and other minorities in these countries, which must be stopped. Archbishop Tomasi told Crux’s John Allen that any anti-ISIS Read more
Church leaders, Caritas and Christian World Service are calling for an increase in peace efforts and humanitarian aid from the New Zealand Government and support from the New Zealand public. Leaders of the Anglican, Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, along with the Quakers, have addressed their members in an Open Letter encouraging them to support their Read more
ISIS is no more Muslim than the Irish Republican Army was Catholic, the Archbishop of New York has said. During an interview on CNN, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said: “The IRA claimed to be Catholic. They were baptised. They had a Catholic identity.” But, he continued, “what they were doing was a perversion of everything the Read more
The head of Vatican security says ISIS militants have threatened the Vatican, but there is no sign of any planned attack. The commander of the Vatican gendarmes, Domenico Giani, said security patrols of the Vatican perimeter are always on high guard. “There are not only the threats of the Islamic State, but also the risk Read more
The Federation of Islamic Associations says it still wants to meet Prime Minister John Key so it can help efforts to combat Islamic State (IS) It comes after Mr Key yesterday said the number of people on a Government watchlist of potential threats had grown. He said 30-40 people were on the list because of Read more
I was 18 or 19 when I told the local Church of Ireland minister in Dunmurry, Canon Robert C Ellis, that I was an atheist and could no longer sing in the church choir or superintend the Sunday School classes on the council housing estate in nearby Seymour Hill where I lived with my aging Read more
What is the Islamic State? Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States Read more
Militants claiming loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS) have declared that they intend to conquer Rome. The warning came in a video apparently showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians next to the Mediterranean Sea in Libya. In the video, an English-speaking militant said they are sending a message “from the south of Rome”. At Read more
The Islamic State has visibly attracted young Muslims from all over the world to its violent movement to build a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But here’s what’s less visible — the online backlash against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, by young Muslims declaring their opposition to rule by Islamic law, Read more
The New Zealand Catholic Church recognises the urgency of responding to the threat of ISIS in the Middle East, but it is important that powers under the anti terror laws were not misused in other situations. New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand say the Countering Terrorist Fighters Legislation Bill is being rushed Read more