The Voice of the suffering and persecuted​

Frank Marooki was just eight when he lost both parents and all his siblings when their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea following their escape from Iraq’s Nineveh Plains which had been seized by ISIS in summer 2014.

“As long as the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] remains in the government, Christians will face high levels of injustice and persecution."

“The Prime Minister wants the RAA to formulate an intellectual response to blasphemous acts in the West. A perfect response would be to discourage people from taking the law into their own hands and to punish others without a fair trial."

The flat: everything is clean and tidy but furnished with only the barest necessities and there is no electricity or running water.

"In my dreams I relive the time when we were in hiding. Since the terrorists used to attack by night, we would get out of the town as soon as night began to fall and hide in the bush."

"The kids were excited when they came to pick up their rosary. Then they all, about 90, gathered on the altar to pray a decade."

"A context of extreme poverty, poor housing for many, and the irrefutable lack of basic services to live with dignity is clearly a challenge that can trump other dubious needs, such as a church."

"There are times when riches prove to be a curse. South Sudan has oil fields, but the profits do not trickle down to the people."

The construction of the Cathedral marks a big step forward in Church-state relations and is also a testimony to the ever-increasing number of Catholics in the region.

"Unlike many other Orthodox Churches, the Georgian Orthodox Church does not recognize Catholic baptisms and marriages. "