Today, December 28, the Church commemorates the massacre of the children of Bethlehem ordered by Herod, who wanted to get rid of the newborn Jesus. These children can be compared to many young people in today’s world, who are afflicted by wars and abuse that adults are responsible for. Pope Francis dedicated much of his Christmas Eve message to them, while the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has declared 2017 “Year of Protection of the Sacredness of Childhood”

After the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square on the Feast of Saint Stephen, Pope Francis expressed his condolences to the Russian people and the families of victims of the Christmas day plane crash that took the lives of 92 people near Sochi.

Pope Francis on Monday,December 26, called for prayerful and concrete solidarity with Christians throughout the world suffering because of the faith.

In his Christmas message,Pope Francis sent out appeals for Syria, the Holy Land, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Venezuela, Colombia, Myanmar and Korea. He also spared a thought for victims of terrorism and those affected by earthquakes.

As the conflict situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and the battle to retake the once predominantly Christian Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS) enters its second month, what hope is there for Christians in those countries in 2017?

In this, her seventh year behind bars, the Christian woman who was sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan has only words of peace and forgiveness for her persecutors.

Inhabitants of all religions and backgrounds are celebrating the laying down of arms by the rebels. Vatican Insider reports the accounts on two priests who are preparing to celebrate their first peaceful Christmas.

Between Christmas and Easter Christ still walks, thus giving us a lot to celebrate each day.

He still walks amongst us with hands out stretched for the meek and lonely. He listens to our cries and hears our prayers.

What a comfort we have in Him to know that Jesus is the Lord of mercy, who before we shed the first tear He cried first, before we felt pain He felt it first on the cross, and fought our fights against all evil. Jesus Christ saved us from death by giving us eternal life.

Marina Markos, a Coptic Orthodox Christian refugee from Cairo, Egypt, plunged into the 2016 Christmas season in Queens, New York — the city she now calls home, after immigrating to the United States earlier this year.

Delighted by the Christmas decorations that festoon local stores and the holiday greetings publicly exchanged by friends and acquaintances, Markos remembered the more restricted celebrations of her religious community in Egypt.

“Christmas is about preparing our hearts and then our homes to receive Jesus as a baby,” Markos told the Register.

This is not intended to propagate the significance of the Restaurant of Mercy, but rather to shed light on its grand message. The Restaurant of Mercy is Jordanian. It was launched almost a year ago with the initiative of Caritas Jordan (Caritas means love in German) and the Latin Vicariate. This restaurant took a nonpareil coverage by different media outlets over the past year. Why? Becuase it is a charity restaurant that offers hot meals on daily bases for free to whoever gets in.

A journey through the country with the highest intake of refugees in the world (accounting for around 30%-40% of the population), that is trying to turn over a new leaf after two years of political vacuum