Pope Francis on Wednesday called for prayers for 12 Orthodox nuns reportedly taken by Syrian rebels. Religious officials in the region have said the women were abducted, but a Syrian opposition activist said they were merely removed for their own safety. The 12 nuns join two bishops and a priest who are already believed to Read more
How can so much pain and suffering be inflicted upon a people and no notice taken by those that are inflicting it? Tell me the ideology or political view that outweighs the right to life? Around 9.3 million of Syria’s 23 million inhabitants need aid. The number of people who have lost their homes or Read more
A mortar round hit the apostolic nunciature in the Syrian capital, causing limited damage to the building and no casualties, the Vatican ambassador to Syria was quoted by a report on Catholic News Service. Archbishop Mario Zenari, the Vatican nuncio, said if the rocket had been launched just a half-hour later, he would have been Read more
Two Orthodox bishops kidnapped in Syria by rebel forces in April are alive, and the head of the Lebanese secret services says negotiations are under way for their release, according to media reports. The Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Hassoun Badreddin — the spiritual leader of Sunni Islam, said the bishops are now being held Read more
Surgery without anaesthesia is a miserable and brutal reality in Syria. Doctors report that demolished hospitals and humanitarian blockades have left some Syrians to suffer, awake, through amputations and Caesarean sections. I saw similar horrors while working in a northern Syrian field hospital under airstrikes in August. I operated on children who had the bone 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
‘Urgent help is needed to assist refugees as well as those affected within the country,’ says Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand Director Julianne Hickey. ‘Caritas will also be there to help Syrians recover and rebuild, when – we pray – peace is re-established.’ While the immediate threat of escalation of the Syrian crisis has eased, the Read more
The Archbishop of Westminster has attacked politicians’ “shameful” response to conflict in Syria as thousands of Christians around the country gathered this weekend to pray for peace. Speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Sunday programme Archbishop Vincent Nichols criticised the leaders of the G20 group of nations for failing to reach an accord when they met Read more
There is proof the footage of the alleged chemical attack in Syria was fabricated, Mother Agnes Mariam el-Salib, mother superior of St. James Monastery in Qara, Syria, told RT. She says she is about to submit her findings to the UN. Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20 years Read more
Pope Francis appealed before 100,000 people on Saturday to avert a widening of Syria’s conflict, urging world leaders to pull humanity out of a “spiral of sorrow and death.” The pontiff led the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in a global day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, the Middle East and the Read more