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Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai left for Iraq Monday where he led a mass at the Our Lady of Salvation church on the first anniversary of an attack that left 58 people dead. Rai was accompanied by Bishop Camille Zaidan and Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan. “It is necessary that we go together [with Younan] to Baghdad to express solidarity with the Iraqi people, the entire Iraqi people who definitely reject violence and war,” Rai told reporters at Rafik Hariri International Airport prior to his departure. “And also to express our solidarity and brotherhood with our Christian brothers and...

Churches empty and Christmas decorations are put away after al-Qaida renews deadly threat. Their cathedrals stand silent and their neighbourhoods are rapidly emptying. Now Iraq's Christians face two further unthinkable realities: that Christmas this year is all but cancelled, and that few among them will stay around to celebrate future holy days. It has been the worst of years for the country's Christians, with thousands fleeing in the past month and more leaving the country during 2010 than at any time since the invasion nearly eight years ago. Christian leaders say there have been few more defining years in their...

In Iraq, a wave of attacks targeting Christians is leading to an exodus from Baghdad and other cities. Before the 2003 U.S. invasion, there were nearly 1 million Christians in the country. That number was cut in half in the past several years. Now, with the latest violence, families are seeking refuge in northern Iraq and trying to emigrate. The latest spate of attacks on Christians started at Our Lady of Salvation Church, a Syrian Catholic church in a mixed, middle-class neighborhood in Baghdad. During evening mass on Oct. 31, militants climbed the walls of the church, shot scores of...

Under Saddam Hussein, Christians in Iraq were around a million. Today, more than half have fled, living as refugees in other countries, in particular Syria and Jordan. Those who are left behind feel betrayed and abandoned by the government and the international community, with only one desire, to ... Birmingham – “There is now a real danger that Christians in the Middle East, and in Iraq in particular, of being exterminated, due to both persecution and large-scale emigration,� this according to Dr Joseph Seferta, an Iraqi-born Chaldean Catholic living in Birmingham, Britain, where he is a member of the Commission...

Unless told what to look for, the casual visitor to the once glamorous Baghdad thoroughfare that hugs the east bank of the Tigris would almost certainly pass them by. The Stars of David carved into the stonework of the low-slung buildings that line the alleyways of Abu Nuwas Street are little more than a curiosity these days – a memento of a civilisation lost to the pages of history. Judaism has a connection to Iraq that no other faith can match. The patriarch Abraham may well have been born there; the prophet Jonah reluctantly returned to foretell the destruction of...

The martyr in their midst was known all around the area. But in case anyone had missed it, a mourning sign had been posted outside Saad Adwar's house in the Baghdad suburb of Kampsar, revealing exactly where he lived. It said simply that Adwar had been killed "by the hand of a spiteful and hateful enemy while he prayed to his holy God in Our Lady of Salvation church" nine days ago. This morning, the terrorists who had killed 44 of Baghdad's Christians at their place of worship, came hunting them once more – this time in their homes. They...

A series of bomb blasts targeting Christians in Baghdad has killed at least three people and injured two dozen more, security sources have said. At least 14 roadside bombs were detonated and a mortar round was fired in Christian districts across the Iraqi capital last night and early this morning. An interior ministry source told Reuters that the attacks were a “continuation” of the massacre at Our Lady of Salvation church which killed dozens of worshippers last week. According to one report, today’s bombings targeted the family of one of the victims of the massacre. The Islamic State of Iraq...

(CNN) -- A Syriac Orthodox archbishop in Britain called for all Christians in Iraq to leave the country Sunday, one week to the day after gunmen stormed a Catholic church in Baghdad. Some 50 people were killed and 75 wounded in the attack at the Sayidat al-Nejat church last week, including women, children and two priests. Archbishop Athanasios Dawood slammed the Iraqi government for not doing enough to protect the rights of minorities and urged Christians to quit the country. "I say clearly and now -- the Christian people should leave their beloved land of our ancestors and escape the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Catholic Online) - Catholics, other Christians, other people of faith and people of good throughout the world continue to mourn and reflect upon the brutal killing of Catholics at Holy Mass in Baghdad last Sunday. However, those associated with the Muslim extremists who perpetrated the evil act continue to spew their hateful and violent rhetoric. We are committed to updating our global readers on the unfolding danger that these threats portend against Catholics and other Christians. Serious times demand a serious response. Asia News has provided excellent coverage of the massacre and its aftermath. On November 3, they...

e-mail this to a friend printable version » 11/03/2010 09:20IRAQAl Qaeda threat: Christians are legitimate targetsThe authors of the terrorist massacre in the Baghdad church publish a message on the internet that is a threat to all Christians, and make explicit reference to the Vatican. Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) – “The ultimatum made two days ago to the church of Egypt for the release of two Muslim women held prisoner, has expired. We have had no response and now you are all involved in the war on Islam , so be careful of the souls of your followers. "...

It's another sad day for Iraqis. An unknown number of people were killed after suicide bombers stormed a Catholic church in Karrada and held at least 100 people hostage. Iraqi antiterrorist forces stormed a church where gunmen had taken close to 100 hostages on Sunday in an afternoon of chaos that became a bloodbath. At least 30 hostages and 7 security officers were killed, and 41 hostages and 15 security force members were wounded, according to a source at the Ministry of the Interior. Officials said on Monday that the death toll had risen to around 50, according to news...

BAGHDAD - Assailants attacked a prominent Baghdad church Sunday evening during mass, and were holding parishioners hostage as Iraqi troops ringed the area, security officials said......

At least 37 people have been killed after Iraqi security forces stormed a Catholic church in central Baghdad to free dozens of hostages being held by gunmen there, security sources say. Twenty-five hostages were among the dead, along with seven members of the Iraqi security forces and at least five of the attackers, they told the BBC. About 100 people had been inside Our Lady of Salvation for an evening Mass. The gunmen had reportedly demanded the release of jailed al-Qaeda militants. Continue reading the main story Struggle for IraqEnd to Iraq's epic journey in sight? US troops in Iraq...

Fox News just reported that 50 Catholics are being held hostage in a church in Iraq by Al Quida. More to follow,.

I read about "atheists actually know more than Protestants and Catholics" in U.S. This article shocked & make me sad, & I don't know if this because of too much freedom or technology or kind of political system to destroy our Christianity, & I don't know who is responsible here, people or priests or churches??? Are you following faith with blind mind??? - I believe most people do that, & most them, "OK, I have faith, why should I read Bible, I'm enough, that's it", do you think Jesus taught us to be blind? & how can you have faith...

Most of those who came to console us having some special one who passed away by terrorist or illness like cancer which became very common here just like flu; most them having their own story to tell, I was thinking if we were going to write a book about Christians in Iraq after 2003 we will never complete it or reach the end, because of how much stories we have from those families, like a story of a family lost her only son in 2005 by terrorist, they wanted to kidnap him while he was driving his car in substreet...

With bombing and burnings still a horrific reality of theirs lives, how have we forgotten about our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq? Listen as Father Thomas Loya sits down with Juliana Taimoorazy of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council to talk about the ongoing crisis in Iraq.

Christian children have been tortured to death, reported the U.S. Catholic Bishops. Islamic fanatics broke into a Chaldean home near Mosul and killed a ten-year-old boy while shouting, "We've come to exterminate you. This is the end for you Christians!" ChaldoAssyrian workers have been murdered for "collaborating" with the United States. And Christian women have been hit hard; it was at Mosul University that some young Christian women were raped and killed for offending some Muslims by wearing jeans and having a picnic with male colleagues.

Bombs target buses of Christian students in Iraq The Associated Press Sunday, May 2, 2010 | 3:27 a.m. SNIPPET: "Two bombs exploded minutes apart Sunday near buses carrying Christian students in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least one bystander and injuring around 100 others, a security official said." SNIPPET: ""Today was terrible and I will not forget it for the rest of my life," said Wisam Jarji, a student who was wounded in the blast. "Following the explosion, the situation in the bus was chaotic and I could see blood stains and hear screams all over the...

MOSUL, Iraq, MARCH 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Faced to ongoing violence against Christians in Iraq, the archbishop of Mosul of the Chaldeans is building a new school as a sign of hope for the people. Archbishop Emil Shimoun Nona, 42, who was installed as head of the Mosul Archeparchy in January, stated his plans in a letter last month. "The murder and persecution of Catholics in Iraq, particularly in the cathedral city of my diocese, Mosul, has lead to a social and spiritual crisis," he affirmed. The prelate continued: "I minister to the needs of a displaced and demoralized people. "Many...

Supporters of Iraqi Christians demonstrate in St. Peter's Square Vatican City, Feb 28, 2010 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- After the Angelus on Sunday, the Holy Father exhorted the international community to do “everything possible” to give Iraqis a future of “reconciliation and justice." His words against anti-Christian violence in Iraq were well received by Iraqi demonstrators in St. Peter's Square. Pope Benedict XVI related the "profound sadness" he felt upon learning of the killings of Christians in Mosul last week. He added that he has followed the violent events perpetrated against unarmed victims with "great preoccupation."The pontiff said that...

Successor to a martyred Archbishop Emil Shimoun Nona was consecrated bishop and installed as the new Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul on January 17, 2010. The new Archbishop is 42 years old. He is the successor of the martyred Paulos Faraj Raho, killed by Islamic militants in 2008. More pictures of the consecration and installation rites -- done according to the Chaldean Rite as it now stands -- can be found here.

A 75-year-old greengrocer is shot dead in front of his house. The abduction of a Christian female student is still shrouded in mystery. A wave of violence that includes attacks against churches, abductions and targeted killings of Christians is trying to force them into a mass exodus. Mosul (AsiaNews) – Mosul's Christian community has been the victim of another targeted killing. Hikmat Sleiman, a 75-year-old greengrocer, was killed yesterday. His death follows a wave of violence against Iraqi Christians that included a number of attacks over the past few weeks against churches and convents as well as abductions and execution-style...

LONDON – An Iraqi archbishop has predicted a new wave of emigration from Iraq involving Christians who have tired of waiting for their situation to improve. Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk said many Christians taking refuge in northern Iraq were determined “to leave the country for good” after concluding that, nearly seven years after the invasion of Iraq by a U.S.-led coalition, it was still unsafe to return to their homes in the South. He told the British branch of Aid to the Church in Need, a charity set up to help suffering and persecuted Christians, that a...

SNIPPET: "The Chaldean Church of St. George and Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Thomas hit. One bomb was hidden in a cart carrying vegetables. The explosion kills a Chaldean Christian and two Muslim. Archbishop of Kirkuk: "disturbing message" to two days before Christmas." SNIPPET: "Mosul (AsiaNews) - Two separate bombs struck this morning in Mosul, the Chaldean church of St. George and Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Thomas. The death toll so far is of three dead - a Chaldean Christian and two Muslims - and several wounded. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, speaks to AsiaNews of a "disturbing message"...

BASRA, Iraq — The small group of American troops and Iraqi Catholics held hands around a table heaped with dishes of rice, chicken, lamb and pizza. "Our Father," began the archbishop of Basra, the Most Rev. Imad Aziz al-Banna, before continuing the prayer in Aramaic, a version of the ancient language likely spoken by Jesus Christ. In the next room at Basra’s Chaldean Catholic Church, a plastic Christmas tree twinkled amid graying photographs of old patriarchs and a newer shot of Pope Benedict XVI. Several of the Americans said while assembling and decorating the tree that it was likely the...

Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa Rome, Italy, Nov 30, 2009 / 03:52 am (CNA).- Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of Mosul said last week that last Thursdya’s anti-Christian attacks in Iraq which destroyed a church and damaged a convent “show that there is a strategy to erase our cultural heritage and more than 2000 years of history” on the part of Muslim extremists.  In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, the archbishop said these Islamic groups “want to destabilize the atmosphere of trust in our country. We must oppose this atmosphere of hatred with strength and with prayer,” he added. The strategy...

Acting Bishop of Basrah, Imad Al Banna, holds a Catholic Mass at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Nov. 7. Banna also had lunch with troops and civilians and was given a Liberty Bell statuette by the 28th Combat Air Brigade, Pennsylvania National Guard. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Jones, 28th Combat Aviation Brigade. COB ADDER — The acting Bishop of Basrah held Catholic Mass here in honor of the service members and civilians working toward a safer, more secure Iraq, Nov. 7. Bishop Imad Al Banna, a Chaldean priest, spoke Aramaic, an ancient language spoken in Palestine 2,000 years ago and still...

"150 Iraqi Christians have sought refuge in the Cathedral of St. Enechubeng to ask the immigration authorities to reconsider the decisions to refuse their asylum applications in Sweden, reports Christians of Iraq. They recently organized themselves and began to campaign for review of decisions by the immigration authorities against them. More than 150 of them who are threatened with deportation from Sweden gathered at the Cathedral of Linköping, to ask the Church of Sweden to help deliver their message to the politicians and stave off their being deported."

AINA) -- The oppression of the Iraqi Christians started when Arabs occupied the land in the seventh century. Their method of wiping out Christianity from the region involved the implementation of a simple rule: either convert and follow the Islamic banner or pay heavy taxes (which many Christians could not afford) or face war. Looking at more modern history, the first genocide of the 20th century began on April 24, 1915. By 1918, 2.65 million Christians including 750,000 Assyrians, 1.5 million Armenians, and 400,000 Greeks were killed by the Ottoman Empire and the Kurds. The Assyrians called this genocide "seyfo"...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials tightened security around churches in Baghdad and in two mostly Christian towns on Monday and braced for possible violence this weekend when huge crowds visit a holy Shiite shrine in the capital.

Baghdad, Iraq, Jul 14, 2009 / 03:21 am (CNA).- More than 40 people were killed or injured in renewed attacks on Christians in Baghdad on Sunday.Shortly after 7:00 on Sunday evening, a car bomb exploded in front of the gates of St. Mary’s Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad. The explosion occurred just as churchgoers left Mass.Seven were killed and around 30 were injured, with 18 requiring hospital treatment, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.Bombs reportedly went off at three other Baghdad churches around 4:30 pm, two of which were St. George’s Church in the Al-Ghadier section and St....

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, Iraq, had just finished celebrating Mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church and was talking to parishioners in the courtyard. Moments later, while he was in his office, a bomb exploded on the road that runs alongside the church. The July 12 bomb blast was one of six that targeted Christian churches in Baghdad July 11-12; another church was bombed in the northern city of Mosul July 13. Contrasting the Mass with the mayhem that ensued, Bishop Warduni told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview, "We...

Car bomb explodes outside Iraqi church, kills 4 Attack comes as military predicts violence could continue for years BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded near a church as worshippers left Sunday Mass, killing at least four civilians and injuring 18 in one of several attacks on Iraq's beleaguered Christian minority. The coordinated assault came as the Iraqi military predicted that insurgent attacks, though declining, could continue for a few years, raising the prospect of militant violence after the scheduled withdrawal of all U.S. troops by the end of 2011. Three Christians and one Muslim died in the bombing at around...

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - A series of car bombs targeted seven Chaldean and Orthodox churches of Baghdad tonight. The worst hit church is the Chaldean Church of St Mary, in Sharaa Philistine, where the patriarchal vicar of Baghdad, Mgr. Sleimon Wardouni officiates. The car bomb exploded on the road that runs alongside the church and left four dead and dozens wounded many seriously. The other churches, because of their distance from the road, suffered slight damage and some wounded, other churches have not reported damage to people or buildings. The other churches targeted were: the Chaldean Church of Saint George in...

SNIPPET: "Hanna, a Christian, was driving with his daughter in Kirkuk when gunmen pulled him from the car and shot him dead, police there told the German Press Agency dpa. His daughter witnessed her father's murder, which took place in the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Dumiz, police added...."

Since the Iraqis were freed from the iron hand of Saddam Hussein , Christians there have been persecuted. Where is the Muslim outrage over this, or even the outrage by our own government? Obviously what happens to Christians does not matter.

It’s finally on the air! It has taken more than a year of intense prayer, and a meeting between Joshua Fund President Joel C. Rosenberg and the Hon. Nechirvan Barzani, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), requesting his personal assistance. But by God’s grace, and with the kind assistance of the Prime Minister’s office, the Kurdish government of Iraq in May gave permission for a Christian radio station that The Joshua Fund has helped finance to officially begin broadcast operations. The establishment of such a station owned and operated by Iraqi followers of Jesus Christ is really...

As the West continues to reach out to the Muslim world with a message of tolerance, some Muslim communities are growing increasingly intolerant toward people of other faiths. A case in point is Iraq, where Christians are being chased out of their homeland.

Note: The following article SNIPPET is a quote: WASHINGTON, D.C. (ANS) -- The body of a kidnapped 5-year-old Christian boy was discovered riddled with gunshots in Iraq on May 11. International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that Tony Adwar Shaweel was kidnapped on March 5, 2009 by an unknown group who demanded a ransom of $50,000. ICC says the identity of Tony's kidnappers and murderers is still unknown. However, Christians in Iraq have been increasingly targeted by criminal gangs, Islamic extremists and other armed groups as part of a broader strategy to drive the Iraqi Christian population from country....

KIRKUK, Iraq, May 13, 2009 – Provincial police representatives in Iraq’s Kirkuk province met May 4 with Christian leaders in Kirkuk city to address concerns about increased violence against Kirkuk's Christian minority. Only about 3 percent of Iraq's total population -- about 800,000 Iraqis -- are Christian. "Anyone that targets you, targets us also," said Maj. Gen. Turhan, the Kirkuk city deputy police chief, a Kurdish Muslim. Two attacks April 26 left three Christian residents of Kirkuk dead and two others injured, the third series of attacks targeting Christians in the city in recent months. "Our history has always coincided...

Rome, Italy, May 9, 2009 / 12:33 am (CNA).- During the Papal Mass on May 10 in Amman, Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI will give First Communion to 40 Iraqi children, according to the Secretary of the Chaldean Diocese of Jordan, Msgr. Raymond Moussalli. The SIR news agency reports that Msgr. Moussalli, who is in charge of welcoming Iraqi refugees in Amman, said Jordan children would be among the group as well. "Their desire is to pray with the Pope for reconciliation and peace in Iraq. It will be an important moment for us faithful not only in Jordan but also...

An Iraqi Christian girl attends Mass at St Joseph's Chaldean Church in Baghdad (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) Chaldean Catholic leaders have said that Iraq's diminishing Christian population should be an "alarm bell" for the rest of the world and could foreshadow the transformation of the Middle East. Chaldean Bishop Michel Kassarji of Beirut said at a conference that the Iraqi model of depleting Christians could extend to the whole of the region. He said the mission of the conference was to "sound the alarm bell ... to avoid the transformation of the East into a desert of Christianity". The bishop said...

Beirut, Lebanon -- Christians continue to flee Iraq because of religious persecution, even as some Iraqi church leaders are calling on their compatriots to return home. The church leaders fear that Iraq will become emptied of Christians if the mass exodus continues, leading some of them to issue calls to return that have angered refugees. "The Muslims of Daura are calling on Christians to come back," the Chaldean bishop of Baghdad, Monsignor Andraos Abouna, told Newsmax in an exclusive interview in Beirut this week. The Daura neighborhood of Baghdad has been the scene of mass persecution of Christians since the...

Beirut (ENI) -- A group of Christians meeting in Lebanon have declared that people of their faith have belonged to Iraq since the nation's birth and that they are not just a minority but an essential part of Iraqi society and deeply rooted in its history and civilisation. "As authentic children of this land, they have the right to live freely in it and enjoy equal rights and responsibilities along with all other citizens," the 12 Iraqi church leaders said after their meeting on 10 and 11 February in Dar Sayedat Al Jabal, Fatka in Lebanon. "The solution to current...

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi Christians still reeling from a string of murders last fall find themselves caught in the middle of a power struggle between Kurds and Sunni Arabs that was fueled by this weekend's elections. The minority community has faced years of violence and intimidation from al-Qaida in Iraq and other Islamic extremists. In the northern city of Mosul and surrounding areas, many also fear the Kurds want incorporate parts of the area into their semiautonomous region in northern Iraq. The issue came to the fore in Saturday's vote for members of ruling councils in most of Iraq's...

Iraq Christians face 'bleak future' Story Highlights: · Iraq's Christians face killings, intimidation; many have fled to other countries · Community has decreased from 1.4 million in 2003 to half that · One expert sees diversity decreasing, fears Muslim extremist majority in Iraq · Christians in Iraq face "horrible situation," says U.S. congresswoman By Joe Sterling CNN (CNN) -- It's a bittersweet Christmas season for Joseph Kassab, who grew up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime and now lives in Detroit, Michigan. Tempering the season's joy is his concern for fellow Iraqi Christians, who have endured killings, displacement and...

partial...BAGHDAD – Iraq's Christians, a scant minority in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, quietly celebrated Christmas on Thursday with a present from the government, which declared it an official holiday for the first time. A senior Shiite cleric, Ammar al-Hakim, attended the Mass flanked by bodyguards in a gesture of cooperation with Christians. "I thank the visitors here and ask them to share happiness and love with their brothers on Christmas; by this they will build a glorious Iraq," the cardinal said.

In his homily on Thursday, Chaldean Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly praised the establishment of Christmas as an official holiday as a step toward easing tensions. "I thank the government for giving chances to all to serve each other for the general benefit, and I thank it too for making this day an official holiday where we pray to God to make us trust each other as brothers," he said at the Christmas Mass before several dozen worshippers in the small chapel of a Baghdad monastery....A senior Shiite cleric, Ammar al-Hakim, attended the Mass flanked by bodyguards in a gesture of...

BAGHDAD — Iraq's Christians, a small minority in the overwhelmingly Muslim country, quietly celebrated Christmas on Thursday with a present from the government, which declared it an official holiday for the first time. But security worries overshadowed the day for many, particularly in the north where thousands of Christians have fled to escape religious attacks. Overall security in Iraq has improved markedly in the past year, but a fatal car bombing in Baghdad on Christmas morning was a gruesome reminder that serious problems remain. The bombing outside a restaurant frequented by police killed four people and wounded 25 others in...