Tag Archives: Church

Pope Francis said he is not sure if his trip to Iraq in March can take place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He cast doubt on the trip, which would be the first by a pope to the country, in an interview with Italy’s Canale 5 broadcast on Sunday night. …

Young volunteers have been clearing dust and debris from St. Thomas church in Mosul, as the Iraqi city occupied by Islamic State militants seeks to sweep away the horrors of a brutal three-year rule and welcome back members of minority faiths. The Syriac Catholic church, dating from the mid-1800s, was …

Lebanon’s Christian authorities slammed politicians on Sunday for failing to remedy an economic meltdown that has left many poor, piling pressure on the country’s leaders as it spirals deeper into crisis. In a sermon, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, the top Christian cleric, accused politicians of thinking only of their …

A Turkish court on Thursday heard a case aimed at converting Istanbul’s sixth century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and will announce its verdict within 15 days, a lawyer said, on an issue which has drawn international expressions of concern. President Tayyip Erdogan has proposed restoring the mosque status …

An American pastor on trial in Turkey has denied charges of aiding a terrorist organisation, in a case that has frayed Turkey-US relations. Andrew Brunson is accused of helping a group led by Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Muslim preacher who Turkish authorities allege was behind a failed 2016 coup. Mr …

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied East Jerusalem will continue to be closed until Israel backs off its decision to collect taxes on hundreds of properties in the city owned by the church, a Palestinian official said. Hanna Amira, chairman of the Palestinian National Authority’s Higher Presidential Committee …

Two unidentified gunmen killed nine people as they opened fire early Friday on a church south of Cairo, ahead of Coptic Christian celebrations next week, Egypt’s state TV and health ministry said. Security forces shot dead one of the assailants in an exchange of fire outside the church of Mar …

Two suicide bombers attacked a church packed with worshipers on Sunday in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least eight people and injuring at least 30 others, several critically, officials said. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta, the capital of the restive Baluchistan Province, …

The gunman behind the worst mass shooting in Texas history escaped from a psychiatric hospital while he was in the Air Force, and was caught a few miles away by the local police, who were told that he had made death threats against his superiors and tried to smuggle weapons …

An armor-clad gunman opened fire inside a rural Texas church on Sunday, killing more than two dozen people in the largest mass shooting in the state’s history, officials said. Twenty-six people were killed during the shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a …

A gunman wearing a ski mask stormed into a Nashville-area church on Sunday, shooting seven people, including the pastor, before attacking a church usher who ultimately subdued him with a personal weapon, Nashville police said. The shooting — which left a 39-year-old woman dead — occurred shortly before noon at …

THE LEVANT – Pope Francis has sought to encourage Iraq’s beleaguered Christians under threat from Islamic militants, saying they are the “heart” of the church and that the church is proud of them. In comments translated into Arabic during his weekly Wednesday general audience, Francis said the Catholic Church is like …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE – Eight priests of Mosul have showered great praise on to the Kurdistan Region for their part in helping the Christians of Mosul. The priests claim that no country offered assistance to the Christians in their time of flight, but the Kurds accepted them with open arms. …