Fresh evidence uncovered by Amnesty International indicates that members of the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) have launched a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq, carrying out war crimes, including mass summary killings and abductions, against ethnic and religious minorities.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center the number of Middle Eastern countries experiencing sectarian violence between religious groups has doubled from five to 10 since 2011.
The research finds an increase in faith-based hostilities and that Christians faced persecution in growing number of countries in the region.
“The king of Bahrain claims to be willing to help 200 Christian families from Mosul, and receive them in Bahrain. This shows his generosity towards Christians”. Combonian Camillo Ballin, the Apostolic Vicar for Northern Arabia, related the episode himself in an interview he gave a few days ago to Vatican Radio.
Christians and other religious minorities who have fled areas in Iraq that have fallen under Islamic State control are now helping one another to survive as refugees, an aid worker said.
“They themselves have been displaced and they’re going around caring for those who are in need, who are in situations like they are,” Todd Daniels, International Christian Concern regional manager for the Middle East, told EWTN News August 27.
In the crosshairs of the burgeoning Caliphate, and its brutal conquest, the Middle East's Christian minority finds itself in the existential balance, facing the all-but-imminent threat of complete annihilation.
Professor Massimo Introvigne, founder of the CENSUR (Centre for Studies on New Religions) says that “to talk about a clash between Islam and Christianity is an oversimplification, I believe that the Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin and Pope Francis are right. It is essential that the international community intervenes with the involvement of Muslim countries. Otherwise we end up acting out the script of the self-proclaimed caliph al-Baghdadi, who is doing all he can to present the war as the final showdown between crusaders and Islam”.
The Kurdish government wants to give weapons to Iraqi Christians so that they can defend themselves, but there are (not surprisingly) Christian leaders who are actually against the giving of arms.
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.
