After a year of constant war, as the cycle of death continues unabated, we feel the need as Christians and as citizens to seek out the hope that comes from our faith. First, we must admit that we are exhausted, paralyzed by grief and fear.
Pope Francis' letter to the Christians in the East incorporates several messages. He chose to publish it on October 7, which is a pivotal day that affected all components of the Arab people in one way or another, including the Christians who opted to remain in the Gaza Strip, in churches--especially the Church of the Holy Family and the Church of Saint Porphyrius--and who experience daily martyrdom, hunger, as well as all kinds of physical and psychological pain.
Among the few world leaders with a steadfast commitment to advocating peace, recognizing its importance not only regionally but globally, is His Majesty King Abdullah II. This was evident during his recent address to the UN General Assembly 2024.
Lebanon, a nation plagued by decades of crises, has now been engulfed in a devastating war, destroying cities, villages, and uprooting its people. The spiral of violence has exacerbated the wounds inflicted upon Lebanon, with foreign perpetrators continuing the destructive work begun by domestic ones.
I write this time from the United States of America, and though the body is here, the heart is there, particularly in Gaza, which has been tormented for about a year, yet the suffering is escalating nowadays in fraternal Lebanon. It is Lebanon that recently marked two great ecclesiastical figures, namely the beatification of Patriarch Estephan El-Douaihy, who led the Maronite Church between 1672 and 1704, and Armenian Patriarch Cardinal Gregory Peter XV Agaganian, who was one of the most prominent religious figures in the world and whose body was returned to Beirut in a grand offi
In August 2009, I came to Chicago, whereby the founding committee for the establishment of an Arab Catholic parish invited me to celebrate a Holy Mass which I did with pleasure, during which I prayed for the families present from different regions. The beautiful dream that Mr. Majdi Bader and his companions had at the time was to establish a church that would serve a mother church that encompasses at its people. At the time, we prayed fervently for the church to see the light.
Caritas Jerusalem has all the times been playing an active role in the field of alleviating the suffering of the people in the Holy Land by undertaking viable and propitious solutions designed to reverse difficult situations that erupt from time to time and that wreak havoc on several walks of life.
From Dili to Singapore. What a culture shock. What a poignant experience to touch with hand the two faces of our increasingly polarized world, marked by injustice and inequality that, as Pope Francis never tires of reminding us, lead to forced migration, exploitation, hatred, conflict.
In Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis fulfills his dream of embracing the world's most remote periphery.
There are tunnels of war and terror, designed to hide soldiers, militants, and hostages. But there are also tunnels built to foster friendship among people of different faiths.
In Jakarta, the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, stands across from the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, separated only by a three-lane highway.
