Newsfeed
Pope meets with Lebanon’s PM-designate, urges end of crises
Author: Nicole Winfield
Publication Date: 22/4/2021
Source: AP
Pope Francis met with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday and urged all Lebanese political leaders to “urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation,” as the country endures a series of crises and disagreements that have prevented the formation of a government.
Hamas considers creating Christian media center
Author: Ahmad Abu Amer
Publication Date: 24/4/2021
Source: Al-Monitor
A Christian leader in the Palestinian territories has called on Hamas to establish a media center to counter Western propaganda about the movement’s ties with Christians.
Lebanon, a haven for Christianity, on the brink of collapse if world fails to act, experts warn
Author: Emily Wood
Publication Date: 15/4/2021
Source: Christian Post
Lebanon, known as a haven for Christianity in the Middle East, is on the brink of financial collapse and teeters on the edge of failed-state status if its path is not quickly reversed, an expert roundtable hosted by a leading Middle Eastern Christians advocacy group warned.
Died: Ashur Eskrya, Champion of Iraq’s Displaced Christians
Author: Jayson Casper
Publication Date: 9/4/2021
Source: Christianity Today
Ashur Sargon Eskrya, president of the Assyrian Aid Society–Iraq (AASI), passed away today from COVID-19 complications. A champion of the Assyrian Christian minority, he was also a central figure in US efforts to shelter refugees from ISIS and later rebuild the Nineveh Plains.
Hariri: Pope Francis to Visit Lebanon after a Government is Shaped
Publication Date: 22/4/2021
Source: Naharnet
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, that the Pope is willing to visit Lebanon but after Lebanese leaders form a government, noting that parties obstructing the formation “are known to the Vatican.”
23,000 Christians reported returning to Iraq after Pope's visit
Author: Cara Bentley
Publication Date: 7/4/2021
Source: Premier
Thousands of families are said to be returning to Iraq, just a few years after the towns were taken over by ISIS and Christians killed.
Pope Francis' visit to Iraq has apparently given hope to Iraqi Christians returning to their homeland after fleeing years of violence.
Easter church services go ‘virtual’ in coronavirus-hit Palestine and Jordan
Author: Daoud Kuttab
Publication Date: 13/4/2021
Source: Arab News
- Rituals in Jerusalem to be either cancelled or held without the faithful for the first time in centuries
- Church embraces technological tools to transmit images of Holy Week ceremonies in Old City
ISIL-linked group in Egypt claims execution of Copt, 2 tribesmen
Publication Date: 19/4/2021
Source: Al-Jazeera
An Islamic State-affiliated group has claimed the execution of a Coptic Christian and two tribesmen in Egypt’s restive Sinai region, in a video posted on its Telegram channel.
The Coptic Church, which makes up between 10 and 15 percent of Egypt’s 100 million population, on Sunday named the Christian killed as Nabil Habashi Salama.
New archaeological discovery in St. Hilarion Monastery
Author: Ahmad Abu Amer
Publication Date: 13/4/2021
Source: Al-Monitor
In cooperation with Palestinian experts, a French antiquities mission found graves dating back to the Byzantine era at the site of St. Hilarion in the western Gaza Strip.
Turkey imprisons Syriac monk over act of charity
Publication Date: 9/4/2021
Source: ACN Ireland
On the 7th April, a court in Turkey sentenced a Syriac Orthodox monk to prison for giving “help to a terrorist organisation”. Father Sefer Bileçen, informally known as Fr. Aho, was sentenced to 25 months in prison after being found guilty on trumped up charges of assisting PKK fighters. The trial was held behind closed doors. Fr. Aho was not at the courtroom and categorically rejects the charges. Fr. Aho gave bread to two PKK fighters who visited his monastery to request food. The PKK, or in English the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, is an outlawed Kurdish Maoist terrorist organisation, which has previously carried out suicide bombings and is involved in fighting in Syria.
