OXFORD, England (CNS) – French Catholics have urged church support for a campaign to stop Western companies from buying oil from Islamic State, in effect funding the mass killing of Christians. “Our brothers and sisters are being massacred, women and children taken into slavery – and while Christians are suffering most, so are Muslims and […]
ISIS
Pope Mourns Beheaded Christians
Pope Francis sent his condolences to Patriarch Mathias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church for the execution of more than 20 Ethiopian Christians at the hands of Islamic State militants in Libya.
‘Genocide’ Continues
Pope Francis has shown brave witness at the Mass he celebrated in the Armenian Rite when he called the systematic slaughter of Armenian Christians “the first genocide of the twentieth century” and connected the Armenian genocide to the persecutions and murders of Christians today throughout the Middle East.
Recognizing Evil
This coming Sunday, April 12, on the feast of the Divine Mercy, Pope Francis, is scheduled to preside at an Armenian Catholic rite Divine Liturgy at St. Peter’s. The main reason why he is choosing to celebrate this Armenian liturgy on this day is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the massacre of Armenians by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, a Sunni Islamic state, in 1915.
Tunisian Bishop Asks Help from West
After terrorists attacked tourists in the famed Bardo National Museum, the head of Tunisia’s Catholic Church urged Western Catholics not to abandon his country.
Pleas for Help as ISIS Steps Up Attacks
Christian leaders again called for help for Assyrian Christians in northern Syria, who have been targeted by Islamic State militants.
Vatican Security on Full Alert
Islamic State militants have threatened the Vatican, but there are no indications of any planned attack, according to the head of Vatican security.
A Growing Threat
More and more, the media are waking up to the harsh reality that the Islamic State is a clear danger to all people in the Western world, and to Christians in particular. Following the beheading of the 21 martyrs of the Coptic Church came the news that these terrorists had abducted over 220 Assyrian Christians.
Modern Martyrdom
The militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video entitled “A Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross” in which they released a warning saying they were “south of Rome.” They then proceeded to murder, by beheading 21 Coptic Christian men. These Christian men were seen, on the video calling on the Holy Name of Jesus as they were savagely murdered.
More Christians Abducted as the West Watches
Dozens of Assyrian Christians were abducted by Islamic State forces during a new offensive against a string of villages in northeastern Syria, aid and civil rights organizations reported.