“Things are so desperate, our people are disappearing. We have had people massacred, their heads chopped off. Are we seeing the end of Christianity? We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end, but it looks as though the end could be very near.

The vicar of the only Anglican church in Iraq has warned that the end was “very near” for Christians in that country. Mosul is Iraq’s second largest city, and six weeks ago, 35,000 Christians lived there. Today, there are no Christians in Mosul.

“Enough with all these child deaths! It's time to stop!” At his Sunday Angelus, July 27, the Pope sent out an appeal for three crisis-stricken parts of the world: the Middle East, Iraq and Ukraine. “May God give the people and their leaders the wisdom and strength to carry along the path of peace with determination, resolving all disagreements with the tenacity of dialogue.”

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.” (Gospel)

There is a parable told about St. Lawrence, perhaps only a legend, which merits retelling.

Can one go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem despite the war that is raging on in Gaza and the rocket missiles that are raining down on Israel? Is it too dangerous? And aside from the concerns to do with security and the difficulty of travelling to Israel now that many airlines have cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv, is it right to travel to the Holy land when so many are dying there?

"Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said Pope Francis has accepted his invitation to attend the World Meeting of Families in the U.S. next year. Chaput has made the announcement before giving his homily during the opening Mass of the Tekakwitha Conference in Fargo,” The National Catholic Reporter writes.

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Isha who was sentenced to death for apostasy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and eventually released, was received by Pope Francis for a half an hour meeting in the Vatican, along with her husband, Daniel Wani, her two young children and the Italian deputy foreign affairs minister who escorted her to Rome this morning.

“The Pope plans to reform the papacy and this will benefit relations with the Orthodox,” says the Prior of the monastic community of Bose, Enzo Bianchi. Pope Francis has appointed Bianchi as one of the new consultors of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Vatican dicastery led by Cardinal Kurt Koch who is in charge of ecumenical matters.

While Israel ramped up its offensive in Gaza on Sunday, with appalling loss of life and injuries, 1,200km to the north-west in Iraq a different, but hardly lesser, tragedy was under way as the Christian community of Mosul poured out of the city where they have lived for 1,600 years in search of refuge.

"Chaldean website ankawa.com says a university professor was killed after speaking out against anti-Christian persecution. Meanwhile, the Islamic State has set the jizyah at $450"

The situation Christians are facing in Iraq is becoming increasingly dramatic.The Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) extremists have burned down the Syro-Catholic bishopric in Mosul, the Patriarch of the Syro-Catholic Church, Ignace Joseph III Younan told Vatican Radio in a statement condemning the act. Pope Francis is following the developments in Iraq closely and with great concern as Christians are struggling to survive. After almost 2,000 years, there are now no Christians left in Mosul.