Iraqi and Syrian Christians have fled their homelands in huge numbers since 2011. About half of them have have left so far, says a report released by Christian advocacy groups Open Doors, Served, and Middle East Concern. Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Syria’
Church condemns US Syria missile strike
Monday, April 10th, 2017
Church leaders have condemned Friday’s US missile strike in Syria. They say it will only extend the country’s civil war, with Christians being its primary victims. The Pentagon says the missile strike was a retaliatory move following what appeared to be a chemical attack that killed 80 civilians in Syria’s Idlib province. While many Catholic Read more
Migrants paying the price in Europe says Caritas
Thursday, March 23rd, 2017
Migrants are paying a heavy price in Europe because of an agreement made a year ago between the European Union (EU) and Turkey, says Caritas The agreement aimed to stem the flow of migrants and refugees seeking protection in Europe. Caritas says the agreement has left thousands of vulnerable people stranded in degrading conditions in Read more
Aleppo conditions still “dire”
Monday, February 27th, 2017Aleppo and the conditions people have to live in are still “dire” says a Syrian priest. Father Ziad Hilal said “Previously, the dollar used to be worth 50 Syrian pounds, today it is equivalent to more than 520 Syrian pounds. Ten times more! The people of Aleppo lack money to live on, few people have Read more
Syria is a “workshop for cruelty” Caritas told
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016Syria is a “workshop for cruelty” says Pope Francis. Speaking to Caritas Internationalis, Francis said “I believe the greatest illness of today is cardiac sclerosis,”. He was implying a kind of hardening of the heart that renders a person unable to feel compassion or be moved by another’s suffering. He said Syria is an example Read more
Reality of the war in Syria — apocalypse
Tuesday, November 1st, 2016
There’s only one word to describe the images coming out of Syria as the conflict advances: apocalyptic. Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and once known as its jewel, sits in rubble, but more tragically so do its people. “The cradle of civilizations and the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Middle East has become Read more
Syrian priest who escaped ISIS says “Boycott Saudi Arabia”
Friday, October 21st, 2016A Syrian priest who was kidnapped by ISIS and escaped five months later says we should boycott Saudi Arabia. The priest, Father Jacques Mourad, had been the prior of a pilgrimage centre. It was destroyed when ISIS captured the nearby city of Al Quaryatayn last August. The city was liberated in April this year. In Read more
A million Syrian children’s call for peace brought to UN and EU
Friday, October 14th, 2016
A million Syrian children have signed a petition to the United Nations and the European Union. Three Syrian Church leaders are visiting EU and UN officials in Brussels and Geneva on the children’s behalf this week. Acting as “Ambassadors of the Children,” they will deliver the petition. In it, the children ask for peace in Read more
Biased coverage of Syria’s six-year conflict criticised by religious sister
Friday, October 14th, 2016Biased coverage of Syria’s six-year conflict has been criticised by a religious sister working with Christian families in Aleppo. Sister Annie Demerjian, a member of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, questioned why Western journalists focused on the plight of people in areas held by rebels and jihadis but seldom those in regions controlled by Read more
Iraq & Syria: genocide of Christian communities
Tuesday, October 11th, 2016
A young boy, 10 years old or so, faces the camera. Like many young boys, he is happy to be interviewed. This is war-torn Iraq, however, so he tells of the day ISIS came to his village. He starts to recount, horror after horror, what took place. It is hard to accept that one so Read more