Middle East Christians

From being kidnapped and held hostage by Islamic terrorists, miraculously liberated and now ministering to a dwindling Christian community in Syria, Archbishop Jacques Mourad exemplifies the suffering and resilience of his people during the darkest days of a brutal civil war and the reign of terror by ISIS.

Christians in the West Bank and Palestinian territories where Jesus lived, preached the Gospel and died will be observing a subdued Easter due to the ongoing conflict and displacement this year.

While pilgrimages to the Holy Land have been few and far between in the past 18 months, hundreds of Franciscan friars celebrate Mass at the sites associated with the life of Jesus each day and continue to support the local Christian populations.

For the second year in a row, few foreign pilgrims were in attendance at the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into the Old City of Jerusalem due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But even the grey skies that threatened rain didn't dampen the spirit of the 4,000 participants.

A Chaldean Catholic archbishop denies claims by an Iraqi-American businesswoman that he "aided and abetted" acts of "international terrorism," including her alleged kidnapping and torture, amid political infighting and turmoil in Iraq in 2014.

Churches in Jerusalem are in dire financial straits and Church-run institutions such as schools and hospitals are in danger of closing as they struggle with a renewed barrage of demands by the city to pay a tax called “Arnona.”

The election of Joseph Aoun, a Maronite (Eastern-rite Catholic), as the 14th president of Lebanon and a fragile ceasefire have raised hopes that the war-ravaged and crisis-ridden country will finally reverse its steep descent into chaos.

Amid the turmoil of war, the custos of the Holy Land, has a unique perspective on the plight of Christians in the region.

Christmas marked by uncertainty as war leaves shop empty

After Pope Francis prayed on Christmas Day for Syrian Christians facing uncertainty amid the country's regime change, the leader of the Catholic Church in neighboring Iraq said the toppling of the regime left Christians in the region feeling "tense."