In his trip to Sri Lanka, that will take place between the 13th and the 15th of January 2015, before proceeding to the Philippines, Pope Francis will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu and will thus be the first Pope in history to set foot in a territory where most inhabitants are Tamil. Francis chooses to touch on the sore point of the civil war between the Sinhalese and the Tamil people that devastated the island for 26 years (1983-2009) and has left deep wounds.

The unofficial announcement was given on Sunday 17th of August in Buenos Aires by Cardinal Mario Poli, the successor of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as archbishop of the Argentinean capital. The Pope will celebrate Mass to remember the victims of the Armenian genocide on the 12th of April 2015, its 100th anniversary. Cardinal Poli announced this in the church of Our Lady of Narek, the Armenian Catholic Cathedral in Buenos Aires.

“Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters” is the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 48th World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on January 1, 2015.

A statement of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace underlined that many people think that slavery is a thing of the past. In fact, this social plague remains all too real in today’s world.

Last year’s Message for January 1, 2014 was dedicated to brotherhood: “Fraternity, the Foundation and Path way to Peace”. Being children of God gives all human beings equal dignity as brothers and sisters.

Iraqi Christians' faith is not diminished, even as they face exile from their homes and profound suffering, an official with a Catholic pastoral charity has said after visiting Kurdistan, where many have taken refuge.

“The faith is the reason for their lives. And despite the persecution, children wear rosaries around their necks and the people do not hide their tattoos of crosses or their medals that identify them as Christians,” Maria Lozano, adjunct communications director for Aid to the Church in Need, told EWTN News following her August 12-16 visit to Erbil.

The beheading of American journalist James Foley brought swift and strong words by US leaders.

"ISIS has not ideology or any value for human beings. Their ideology is bankrupt," said President Obama.

But, the video that shocked the American public showed a kind of brutality that Assyrian Christians in Iraq say they suffered since ISIS claimed significant territory in Iraq.

After Iraqi Christian Riyad Hazem found himself and his family refugees, ending up in Jordan, he seeks asylum in a Western country to feel safe again.

The 42-year-old father of two said Christians in the city of Mosul were subjected to a great threat following the fall of the city to the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

Pope Francis launches another appeal to ask that “all means be used to solve the humanitarian crisis” in Iraq, in a letter signed on the 8th of August and delivered in the past few days to the Iraqi President Fuad Masum by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Pope’s personal envoy in the Middle Eastern country. In the letter, the Argentinean Pope reiterates his “pain” for “the brutal suffering of Christians and other religious minorities”. Cardinal Filoni, who arrived back in Rome last night, was received in an audience with the Pope today, in order to report on the mission.

A group of 11 sick, disabled and elderly Iraqi Christians — including an 80-year-old woman with breast cancer — defied terrorists who ordered them to convert to Islam or be beheaded, saying they preferred death to giving up their faith.

The united resistance prompted the Islamic State extremists to drop their demands and order the Christians to immediately leave their village of Karamless after first robbing them of their possessions, according to one of the survivors.

In April 2013, the parents of slain US journalist James Foley attended a prayer vigil at Marquette University in Milwaukee to pray for their son, who at that time had disappeared in Syria.

Before Diane and John Foley had confirmation that spring that their son was missing, Diane said she just felt it -- he had missed one of his usual phone calls home -- and once they knew for sure, the couple said they were relying on their Catholic faith to cope and leaning on prayer to bring him home.

When word reached Hanifa and her family that the fighters of the so-called Islamic State were approaching their village, they knew they would have to flee, and fast. The fanatics were coming on like a storm sweeping through the desert, and Yazidis like Hanifa's family were the special targets of their hateful fury.