In the first speech since his arrival in Seoul, Francis invoked the “gift of peace” from “a land which has long suffered because of a lack of peace.” “This national legacy has been tested through the years by violence, persecution and war.” The Pope addressed his speech in the presence of President Park Geun-hye and South Korea’s civil and military authorities, in the “Blue House”, the presidential residence. He spoke in English for almost 15 minutes, after 5:00 pm local time.

This is the story of the mass exodus from the Plain of Nineveh.

The expulsion of Christians from cities in northwestern Iraq at the hands of Islamic State (IS) militants is still resonating and felt throughout Lebanon for different reasons.

The first is that Lebanon comprises the largest number of Christians compared to other countries in the Levant. Second, Christians assume leadership positions in Lebanon, allowing them to raise issues, take a stance and make demands, a luxury that Christians in neighboring countries do not enjoy.

Pope Francis has arrived in Seoul on his third international trip. He is visiting Korea on the occasion of the Asian Youth Day that is being celebrated in Daejeon and will also proclaim 124 lay martyrs saints. These individuals paid the price of their faith with their life.

“I place before you the tears, the suffering and the heartfelt cries of despair of Christians and other religious minorities of the beloved land of Iraq.” Just before Francis left for Korea and after sending Cardinal Fernando Filoni to Iraq in light of the escalating violence, Pope Francis wrote to the UN’s South Korean General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon, “with a heavy and anguished heart”, to ask the international community “through the norms and mechanisms of international law, to do all that it can to stop and to prevent further systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities.” P

Iraq's Yazidi and Christian minorities have made vital contributions to Arab-Islamic civilisation and are integral to the fabric of Iraqi society, intellectuals and artists told Al-Shorfa.

These contributions include preserving the Kurdish language and giving the country some of its key scientific innovations and its most treasured art and literature, they said.

In an interview with the Vatican Television Centre (CTV), the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, talked about the issues Pope Francis will be focusing on during his visit to Korea: evangelization in Asia, the Asian youth gathering, the beatification of 124 Korean martyrs who are examples of lay saints and he Pope’s call for dialogue and reconciliation between the two Koreas.

Iraqi Christians driven from their homes by Islamic State fighters are beginning to die in crowded camps, witnesses have claimed.

Sahar Mansour, 40, who lectured in chemistry at the University of Mosul before she fled the city in June, said newborn babies, the sick and the elderly in the Ankawa refugee camp on the outskirts of Irbil are dying from diseases, thirst and malnutrition. Mansour now resides in the camp.

In a declaration issued today, August 12, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue called for “a clear and courageous stance on the part of religious leaders, especially Muslims, as well as those engaged in interreligious dialogue and all people of good will,” on the violence Jihadists of the self-proclaimed Caliphate are inflicting violence on Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in Iraq.

The memory of that brutal June evening in his home near Mosul, Iraq, brought 48-year-old Joseph, now a refugee in Lebanon, to tears.

"These people know no limits of humanity, decency, or respect for human life," he said of the Islamic State fighters.

Meeting with Catholic News Service August 8 at the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center in Beirut, he and other Catholic Iraqi refugees asked that their real names not be used to protect their identities as they shared the traumatic experiences that led to their exodus.