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St Elian monastery, in the recaptured town of Qaryatain, was bulldozed by the terrorist group last summerThe bones of a saint have reportedly been discovered among the ruins of a monastery in the Syrian town of Qaryatain, which was recaptured from ISIS on Sunday. Photographs taken of the ruins of the Mar Elian (St Julian) monastery appear to show a destroyed sarcophagus containing a skull and bones. The photographs, taken by Channel 4 News reporter Lindsey Hilsum, show bones laying on the ground amid rubble. The remains are thought to be those of St Julian, who was martyred in 284...

In addition to being Good Friday for Western Christians, last Friday was March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, recounted in the Gospel according to Luke (1:24-38). This event is pivotal, marking the beginning of the Incarnation and God’s plan of salvation. From Luke’s Gospel: Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said...

I recently wrote about some of the "Startling Similarities (and Contrasts) Between the Bible and the Quran." Here are six more important differences between the holy books of the world's two largest religions: 1. Conversion Stories As I have been reading the Bible for the past 40 years, I've noticed that its message first and foremost is the story of God extending grace to rescue fallen mankind. There are many stories of ordinary people and "great" prophets, all struggling in their faith. There are also several conversion stories. For example, in the Old Testament, Manasseh is a diabolically murderous...

A Pakistani descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who was nearly stabbed to death by radical Muslims and brought back to life by the power of Jesus Christ, has released a new book detailing the life-threatening extremism he escaped and his life on the run. Ali Sayed Husnain Shah, who comes from a prominent Shia Muslim family with direct genealogical connection to Muhammad, details in new book, The Cost: My Life On a Terrorist Hit List, how he went from being a member of one of the most prestigious Islamic families in Lahore to an infidel being forced to move...

L'Osservatore Romano published a column on the front page of its Holy Saturday edition cautioning against one-sided media portrayals of Islam. In the column, Zouhir Louassini, a Muslim journalist who works for Italy's state-owned 24-hour news channel, argued that Western media fail to cover diverse views of Islam that "fill the Arab public square." Louassini cites a Moroccan professor's statement that the Qur'anic phrase "people of the book" really means "family of the book," with the implication that Judaism and Christianity are worthy of the same respect as Islam.

Dear Omar Alnatour: Thank you so very much for offering “anyone $10,000 if they can find me a verse in the Quran that says it’s ok to kill innocent people or to commit acts of terror.” My 1999 Toyota is on its last legs, and your generous gift will enable me to replace it with a modest but fully operational used midsize sedan. Or maybe (since it has been years since I’ve had a break), if I can keep the jalopy going for awhile, I will use your ten grand take a vacation to Paris and Brussels -- before it’s...

A Turkish-Islamic Center in Maryland, which features a double-minaret mosque, will be opened in the US during Turkish President Erdogan's official visitThe $100 million mega-mosque in Maryland, US will soon be open in the Washington, DC area, as Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan is expected to open the mosque during his official visit to the US between March 29 and April 2. America's largest mosque complex, officially known as the Turkish-American Culture and Civilization Center, was built with Turkish funding under the supervision of the Turkish religious foundation (Diyanet). Almost all $100 million for the mosque was funded by the Religious...

The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, Australia, has charged that "slow-motion genocide" is taking place in West Papua, an historically Christian province of Indonesia. "The Indonesians want to replace the Christian religion with Islam," said Sister Susan Connelly, the author of the commission’s report. "There is clear evidence of ongoing violence, intimidation, and harassment by the Indonesian security forces," added the commission’s executive officer, Peter Arndt.

The east African country, which borders Ethiopia and Kenya, has an overall population of about eleven million, of which 99.8% are Muslim.When built in 1928, the Catholic cathedral in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital city, was the largest on the African continent. But more recent decades have not been kind to Somali Catholicism. In fact, the nation's last Catholic bishop, Salvatore Colombo, was assassinated in 1989 while holding Mass inside the Mogadishu Cathedral, which since has been destroyed. Though the country's President at the time, Siad Barre, offered a reward for the capture of Colombo's assassin(s), many suspected that Barre was behind...

Father Tom Uzhunnalil was seized when four armed militants stormed an old people's home in Aden in Yemen on March 4, killing 16Fears are growing for a priest believed to have been kidnapped by ISIS as sickening reports suggest he may be crucified on Good Friday. Father Tom Uzhunnalil was seized when four armed militants stormed an old people's home in Aden in Yemen on March 4. The gunmen killed 16 people, including four nuns in the brutal attack. No group has come forward to claim responsibility for the kidnap of the priest, who was a member of the Silesian...

Hassake (Agenzia Fides) - In the massacres in Brussels, after those in Paris, "unfortunately innocent people reap what European powers have sown in Syria and Iraq in the last few years". This is the bitter reflection regarding the tragic events of the Belgian capital that the Syrian Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo delivered to Agenzia Fides. According to Mgr. Hindo, who heads the Syrian Catholic Archeparchy of Hassake-Nisibis, the serious responsibility of European and Western leadership, often influenced by short-sighted selfish interests, are manifested with evidence in several points. "Although several European leaders" remarked the Syrian Catholic Archbishop "until recently...

Unidentified attackers hacked a Christian convert to death in northern Bangladesh Tuesday, amid growing attacks on religious minorities by suspected Islamist militants in the Muslim-majority country. Police said at least two attackers stopped Hossain Ali while the 68-year-old was taking his regular morning walk in the town of Kurigram and then lunged at his neck with sharp weapons. "He died on the spot. The attackers exploded a molotov cocktail to create panic and left the scene on a motorcycle," Kurigram district police chief Tobarak Ullah told AFP. Ullah said Ali had converted to Christianity from Islam in 1999 but he...

In 2013, the Faith and Reason Institute (parent institution of The Catholic Thing), along with the Westminster Institute, published a monograph that I wrote on The Prospects and Perils of Catholic-Muslim Dialogue. In it, I examined a decade and a half of efforts by the three regional bishops’ conferences to engage in such dialogue. The results were not encouraging. Undeterred, undismayed, and unaware, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has upped the ante by establishing a national Catholic-Muslim dialogue. What can we expect from this? I’m sorry to predict: further confusion. The problems are several: like most Americans, the bishops...

The resolution was presented by a Hindu deputy. Activists working on behalf of minorities appreciate the decision. Others point out some shortcomings: the holidays will be reserved only for religious minorities and not to the entire population. Focus needed on concrete respect for minority rights.Islamabad (AsiaNews) - The Pakistani National Assembly has passed a resolution that grants holiday time for Christians to celebrate Easter and Hindus and their Holi and Diwali celebrations. The resolution is the work of Vankwani Ramesh Kumar, an Assembly member of the Hindu faith. While some minority rights activists appreciate the initiative, others point out that...

Two weeks ago, four Missionaries of Charity in Yemen were among the victims of a brutal terrorist attack on a care home where the nuns were working. In this week's Catholic Herald, Gerard Russell examines the background to the murders.One of the MCs, Sister Sally, survived, and gave an account of the events to another nun, Sister Rio. Her account was recorded by Sister Adriana, whose note is available here. A full transcript is published below.SISTER RIO’S WORDS TO SISTER ADRIANA, MC: Friday, midday, March 4, 2016 Sisters had Mass, breakfast as usual. As usual, Father stays back in chapel...

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, spoke before Germany's Parliament on Tuesday, addressing topics of interfaith dialogue and combating terrorism The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, told the German Parliament on Tuesday that Christianity was the first to provide sanctuary to Islam, saying that without it the religion would have been eradicated at its inception. "Christianity was the first to provide sanctuary for Islam; without Abyssinia [modern day Ethiopia] and its Christian king who protected [the first Muslims], Islam would have been destroyed in its cradle ," he told the Bundestag. The sheikh...

The archbishop of Bologna, Italy is calling for the construction of a mosque in the city. At a conference last week organized by the local Muslim community, Abp. Matteo Maria Zuppi, recently appointed to head the archdiocese, seized the opportunity to express his sympathy towards the Muslim community by calling for a mosque to be built in Bologna. He also asked for the accommodation of Muslim festivities in Italian schools. Quoting Cdl. Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan - a cleric with similar sympathies - Zuppi said, "I really think it's time for a mosque in Bologna. Some people think otherwise...

Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - The jihadists of the Islamic State (Daesh) have released via the internet a short video documenting the burning of Christian books in the area of Mosul. The images show a militant jihadist who throws in flames books and dossiers that have crucifixes on the cover. The video, launched under the title "The Diwan (office) for Education destroys books regarding Christian Education in Mosul", was released on the net at the end of last week through the application Android jihadist Amaq News, with the intent to promptly disseminate all the news that concerns operations and terrorist attacks...

Building does not belong to any individual or organisation, according to council report on long-running row Local authorities in Cordoba have dealt a blow to the Catholic church's claim of legal ownership of the Spanish city's mosque-cathedral, declaring that "religious consecration is not the way to acquire property". The report, written by the city council's secretary general, Valeriano Lavela, marks a significant intervention in long-running row over the building, which lies on the site of a Visigothic Christian church built in the early 9th century and was given to the local bishop by Fernando III in 1236 when the city...

An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul sits inside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Chaldean Church in Telkaif, Iraq, in July 2014. (CNS photo/Reuters) “If this is not genocide, then truly this word has no moral or legal meaning.” That’s according to a Chaldean Catholic priest from Iraq, speaking at a press event today accompanying the release of a new report documenting ISIS atrocities against Christians. The 278-page report is the work of the group In Defense of Christians and the Knights of Columbus, in an effort to convince the US State Department to...