The Voice of the suffering in Middle East

The end of Christianity in Syria would be a great loss, because “the Church stands as a reminder to every one of the ethics of justice and human dignity as a supreme value,” says Archbishop Jacques Mourad.  The Church in Syria is “dying,” a Syriac Catholic bishop warned recently, during a presentation in Rome. Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs, Hama, and al-Nabek said the Church in Syria faces an unbearable and unsustainable political and legal situation, with Christians leaving the ...

For the first time since the war began, the faithful of Holy Family Parish in Gaza gathered on Sunday in silence — no bombs, no sirens, only prayer. Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, an Argentine-born missionary and parish priest of the Holy Family Church, called on his faithful to “forgive all those who have failed and ask forgiveness for our own shortcomings,” as he led a Mass filled with hope and thanksgiving. “The long-awaited day has come to begin the implementation of ...

While indirect talks are taking place in Egypt between Israeli envoys and Hamas, the hope for a beginning of peace is cautiously laying roots in the Holy Land. The parish priest of the Catholic parish in Gaza spoke to Aid to Church in Need (ACN) about the heavy toll from two years of war.  “Two years of war: it seems unbelievable,” Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, pastor of Holy Family parish, the only Catholic parish in Gaza City, told Aid to the ...

In the midst of a new wave of fighting, the Argentine priest describes hours of anguish in Aleppo, Syria. His parish has once again become a refuge for dozens of families.  With the sound of loud explosions and heavy weapons in the background, Fr. Hugo Alaniz, who has been a missionary in Aleppo for over a decade, tells Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) about one of the most difficult days that the city’s Christian community has experienced in ...

Bashar Matti Warda reflects on founding, growth, and future of institution born amid ISIS invasion. On December 8, 2015, in a city in northern Iraq, 11 students began taking classes in a new university, born amid terror, war, and fear – and one of the most dramatic persecutions of Christians to be seen in modern times. The name of the new institution was The Catholic University in Erbil (CUE). Its initial enrollment of 11 doesn’t sound like much, but for ...

In the summer of 2014, Yohana Yaqoob Abdeesh Al-Zeebaree was a 12-year-old boy when his world turned upside down. From his home in Duhok, a city in northern Iraq, he recalls the whispers spreading across neighborhoods: ISIS was moving closer. “There was this huge scare,” said Al-Zeebaree, a Chaldean Catholic who is now 23. “I remember the night when they said ISIS got close to the northern cities, like Erbil and Duhok. Everyone was watching the news, and we got ...