The Voice of the suffering and persecuted​

“These boys claim that they took up guns to protect the population and it is a great contradiction that these guns are now being used to terrorize the very population they claimed to be protecting. We all joined together to decry the brutality of the military against the people, but now it is our own children who have turned against their own people – and they think it is normal?”

"The birth rate currently stands at 1.38. It needs to be 2.1 simply to replace the present generation. Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, summed up the problem very well, saying: ‘there is a lack of hope in society and a lack of love in families.’"

Iraq stands at a historic crossroads. The Christian and other minority communities of Iraq stand with - and often beside - Muslim protestors as together they seek a better life, based on equality regardless of religious belief.

“We wondered how it could be possible that so many people know nothing of our situation and how Western governments and Western media are simply not making any mention of it. Many of the Western powers have an interest in seeing the violence continue, and their profits are more important than our lives."

“There is a mentality that since 1952 has treated Christians as second-class citizens. Now, some change has happened and things are getting better. Building Churches is easier than before. We don’t have to wait years to get permission to have a church built.”

He also recalled how 17 years ago, he narrowly escaped death, when young Muslim extremists put a gun to his head: “I felt the cold nozzle of a .45 caliber pistol at the back of my head. Then I heard ‘click.’ Miraculously, the weapon jammed.”

Hooded vandals had dragged out the pews, statues and sacred images into the street, smashing them and setting them on fire. They also sprayed graffiti and abusive slogans on the inside walls of the church as well as on its doors.

"I cannot go anywhere alone, for I might be attacked again, and I cannot worship freely. I have no security or legal protection. Still, I do not want to leave my country. This is my home."

“Seeing people from different ages, different backgrounds, different religions and from all over Lebanon, all united together against this corrupt system—that’s all I needed to regain my hope in the Lebanon I dream of."