Pope arrives in Iraq to rally Christians despite pandemic
Updated: 10.30pm (AEDT)Baghdad, IraqAP Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday to urge the country’s dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his first-ever papal visit. The Pope, who wore a facemask during the […]
Explainer: Pope’s risky Iraq trip aims to boost Christians
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis is pushing ahead with the first papal trip to Iraq despite rising coronavirus infections, hoping to encourage the country’s dwindling number of Christians who were violently persecuted during the Islamic State’s insurgency while seeking to boost ties with the Shiite Muslim world. Security is a concern for the 5th to 8th […]
Patriarch: Pope to meet Iraqi Shiite leader Sistani in Iraq
Rome, Italy AP Iraq’s top Catholic official said Thursday that a deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad hasn’t thwarted Pope Francis’ plans to visit, and he confirmed the pontiff would meet with the country’s top Shiite cleric, Ali al-Sistani, in a significant highlight of the first-ever papal trip to Iraq. The Chaldean Patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphael […]
Concept of a ‘protected area’ for Christians in Iraq gains support
World Watch Monitor A “protected area” should be set aside for minorities, including Christians, in Iraq’s north-east Nineveh plains after the ‘Islamic State’ has been defeated, a US advocacy group has argued. The group, In Defense of Christians (IDC), made the suggestion at the National Convention in Washington, DC, last week. IDC hopes to enlist the […]
POSTCARDS: “PART OF OUR HEART IS MISSING” – PARENTS OF GIRLS HELD BY IS
World Watch Monitor reports on the daily heartache facing Iraqi Christian Ayda whose then three-year-old daughter Christine was taken by followers of the so-called Islamic State more than two years ago…