Throughout Europe and the Americas, churches have been vandalized in the past three months. Although the attacks seem unrelated, they show that religious freedom is not to be taken for granted. Vandalism at the popular European shrine of Medjugorje in Bosnia is the latest in a wave of attacks against churches in Europe and the Americas, involving acts of vandalism, desecration, arson, or theft. The number of incidents over the past three months raises concerns over a growing pattern of ...

Baghdad offering incentives for Christians to return to Iraq. Al-Zaidi’s words will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of Catholic bishops. Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has declared the return of Christian families a national priority and pledged to include returnees in a government program that is offering 1 million residential plots. “The return of Christians who were forced to leave the country due to the difficult circumstances Iraq endured is a national and government priority. Iraq’s true strength lies ...

Blessed Elias Hoyek, founder of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, a project partner of Aid to the Church in Need, is considered father of “Greater Lebanon.” On Saturday, July 25, thousands of faithful will gather in Dimane, the summer residence of the Maronite Patriarch, to celebrate the beatification of Elias Hoyek, founder of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in 1895. Hoyek, who was Patriarch of the Maronite Church from 1898 to 1931, continues to be one ...

ACN has committed to a second aid package, which, according to its executive president, will be “much higher than the initial grant. The Church has been present in the streets of La Guaira and Caracas, to care for and accompany the thousands of victims of the double earthquake that wrought great destruction in Venezuela on June 24. In a press conference organized by Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), Archbishop Raul Biord Castillo, S.D.B., of Caracas said that ...

Head of the Chaldean Church reveals what he discussed in recent meeting with Iraq’s prime minister. Eleven years after jihadists forced him to leave his homeland, the newly-elected Patriarch of the Chaldean Church heard a promise directly from Iraq’s prime minister: Iraqis who choose to return to the country will receive the gift of a new home and land. Patriarch Paul III Nona of Baghdad met recently with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al Zaidi, and the churchman was struck ...

Archbishop Paul Coakley expresses gratitude for America’s many blessings – and offers an example of someone that US Catholics could emulate. As the United States of America celebrates her 250th anniversary, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says that being faithful to the Gospel is the best way Catholics can build up the nation. And he has a particular American Catholic in mind as a model for that fidelity. “I think the first thing that comes to ...