The Voice of the suffering in Middle East

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 ...

Aid to the Church in Need echoes Pope Leo’s call for peace. The Gaza Strip is currently going through one of the darkest periods of its recent history. Last week, a United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide against the population of Gaza, denouncing crimes against humanity in the conflict which has been ongoing for almost two years. Deeply moved, Pope Leo XIV has once again raised his voice to call on the international community ...

“What once was meant to be silenced has become a proclamation: Faith has survived, and hope is stronger than death.” Christians who survived jihadist attacks in northern Iraq have come together to celebrate a major festival, which will proclaim that Faith is still alive in the region.  From September 9-13, 2025, Christians from across the region’s different traditions – Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean, Syriac Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox – are joining together for an extended celebration of the ...

Harshly persecuted for her faith, Sofia ended up finding solace in God and the strength to forgive those who drove her from her country and nearly killed her several times. On August 6, 2014, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians had to leave everything behind and escape their homeland, as terrorists from the Islamic State overran their villages and towns in the Nineveh Plain. Among them was Sofia, who was just a 12-year-old girl at the time. Gripped with fear ...

In a joint statement, the Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem call on both parties to end hostilities and allow families on both sides to begin to heal the wounds of war.  Both the Catholic and the Greek Orthodox clergy and religious in Gaza will stay in their respective compounds, to care for all those who wish to remain despite recent evacuation orders, as Israel undertakes a ground offensive to control Gaza City.  In their joint statement, published ...