Christians lived in Iraq for nearly 2,000 years, but the violent rise of the Islamic State has convinced many Christian refugees they must forever leave their homeland.

“No, we will never go back,” Taif Hanna, an engineer from Mosul, told reporters in Amman October 28.

“ISIS tried to kill us,” he said. The militant group offered three choices: Conversion to Islam, payment of an extortionate tax, or death.

“So we all fled Iraq,” Taif said.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you”: Suheila, an old Christian woman from Mosul was effusively expressing her gratitude as she met a delegation from the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “May God make things easy for you in your lives.”

By the end of 2014, after initial successes on several fronts in both Iraq and Syria, ISIL forces began to be pushed back on several fronts. The most important factor in ISIL's retreat were the US-led air attacks. During the five months of air attacks that commenced in August ending on December 30, the coalition, according to Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Bill Urban, "flew 13,232 combat missions and dropped 3,891 munitions."

In the first Angelus of 2015, Francis warns us against the ‘law that does not free, but imposes unbearable yokes’.

When a Vatican official suggested that Pope Francis was contemplating an encyclical on the environment a year ago, he signaled that climate change and environmental degradation were such pressing concerns that the pope wanted to address them in a teaching document.

No word has emerged on what the encyclical might say or when it would appear in 2015, but references by officials at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace have pointed to a document that Catholics can apply in everyday life.

The outrages of radical Islamists on Iraqi and Syrian territory have not only deprived Christians who live under the yoke of the takfirists of the joy of Christmas, but also alarmed neighboring regions that for the moment are free of the terrorists, reports Linga with reference to news agencies.

According to the eyewitnesses’ evidence, on the territories occupied by “the Islamic State” the very utterance of the word “Christmas” is equated with the public preaching of Christianity and is punishable by death.

Bethlehem has always loomed large in our imagination. For generations, the feelings evoked by this town have been captured in multiple art forms, serving to inspire both believers and non-believers with its message of hope and the joyful promise of new life.

The "Arena" theater in Amman was full of people who braved the rainy weather of a cold December evening to attend a concert by Majida Al-Roumi after a 14-year absence from Jordan theaters.

As Advent winds to a close, Christians around the world prepare to celebrate the birth of God. Every human heart should be gladdened by the tidings of comfort and joy that were revealed to poor shepherds two millennia ago. But some are particularly in need of hope and cheer. For persecuted Christians around the world, 2014 has been a trial by fire.

No, Miriam, Santa Claus did not forget you this year.

In these circumstances, though, and being far from home, it is a reasonable question for a 5-year-old to ask.

"Yes, he will come, he will never forget you," Miriam's mother, Hamama, told her.