Kirkuk, Iraq, Sep 7, 2012 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Iraqi Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk has asked the Catholic patriarchs and bishops of the Middle East to speak with Pope Benedict XVI about their fears that the survival of Christianity in the region is at risk.

“The patriarchs and the bishops should go beyond the formalities to speak directly and openly with him about their fears and concerns. We should make clear our worries and the challenges ahead,” the archbishop told Aid to the Church in Need on Sept. 4.

Christian leaders will meet with the Pope in Lebanon during his Sept. 14-16 visit.

“The rise of political Islam is a matter of worry,” he said. “We Christians are a minority and there is no prospect of us gaining equal citizenship in the concrete reality of day-to-day life and there is no vision of a better future.”

“Everyone is speaking of democracy and freedom but the reality on the ground is different,” he explained.

The archbishop said “sectarianism” is rising and the majority population is not caring for minority groups.

There are “real fears” that more Christians will leave, he reported. The Christian exodus shows no signs of stopping in Iraq, where more than half of the Christian population has left. The trend of Christians leaving their homes has spread to other countries in the Middle East like Syria.

The archbishop recounted the violence against Christians in Iraq, which peaked after the U.S. overthrow of President Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003. Dozens of churches have been bombed in the country, while Christians have been targeted for kidnapping and murder.

He said it is difficult for him to encourage the faithful in his diocese to stay. There are “few” families left.

“I am doing my best to keep them, defend them and encourage them. That has limited the problem but it is sad to see them leaving for good,” he wrote. “As a pastor, I feel bad.”

  Whatever the outcome of the Syrian uprising, the regime of Bashar al-Assad will not have the same grip over Lebanon’s politics as before. While the government in Damascus fights against the rebels, Beirut’s political landscape is also at a crossroads, as the two main Lebanese political blocs, March 8 and March 14, still base […]

  Security forces have been placed on alert ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Lebanon, the visit’s coordinator said on Wednesday. "All Lebanese security organizations are on a state of alert poised to protect His Holiness the Pope," who will travel to Lebanon September 14-16, said Father Abdo Abou Kasm. Referring to what he said was […]

• By Andrew M. Greenwell, Esq.
• 9/5/2012
• Catholic Online

It is in the area of intrinsic evils where the comparison of Ryan and Biden as a ‘tale of two Catholics’, falls apart.

Given Joe Biden’s support for what his Church has identified as intrinsic evils – and thereby persistently against the common good – and given Paul Ryan’s position consistent with the indisputable and unchangeable teachings of his Church on these issues, it seems that what is involved is not a "Tale of Two Catholics" but rather a tale of one Catholic and one . . . well, whatever we call him, it is something considerably less than Catholic. An intrinsic evil is always against the common good, regardless of the circumstances.  No Catholic politician can advance an intrinsic evil.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) – This election season we are presented with some fundamental contrasts on a whole series of levels, politics, economy, health care, and so forth.  But perhaps no contrast is more interesting than the contrast between two supposedly Catholic vice presidential candidates, the Republican Representative Paul Ryan and the current Vice President, the Democrat Joe Biden. 

Numerous articles have been written on the face-off between these two under the title, "A Tale of Two Catholics," for example, the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, the Underground, and CBN News.

Now political differences are political differences, and they ordinarily do not touch on fundamental matters of faith and morals.  This is because politics, which has classically been defined as the art of the possible, is, in the main, involved in prudential decisions. 

Jerusalem Sep 5, 2012 / 03:44 pm (CNA).- Vandals set fire to the door of the Latroun Monastery near Jerusalem on the morning of Sept. 4 and spray painted the walls with blasphemous phrases in Hebrew.

The monks at the monastery were awakened in the early morning hours and found the front door on fire and their outside wall spray painted with the phrases, “Jesus is a monkey” and “Ramat Migron.” The second phrase was an apparent reference to the illegal Jewish settlement in the Palestinian West Bank, which was dismantled by Israeli authorities on Sunday.

The BBC reported that Israeli police have launched an investigation into the attack on the monastery, which is located in Palestinian territory just 15 kilometers from Jerusalem.  They said the attack may have been committed by pro-settlement Jewish extremists as revenge for the eviction of 300 Israelis from Ramat Migron, which has become a symbol for hard-line groups that oppose any withdrawal from the West Bank.

In a Sept. 4 statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it was “indignant” over the “disgraceful and hideous” attacks which “dishonor Christian sites in Israel and attack the person of Christ, Son of this Holy Land.” The patriarchate oversees all Roman Catholic churches in the Holy Land.

The patriarchate also condemned any attempt to “create divisions between the communities” and called for tolerance and values that “bear witness to human greatness.”

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land issued its own statement asking, “Why are Christians still in the crosshairs?

“What is happening in Israeli society to the point that Christians are the sacrificial lambs of such violence?” 

  President Michel Suleiman praised on Monday the army on its efforts in defending Lebanon and maintaining civil peace. He stressed on the anniversary of the end of the Nahr al-Bared clashes the “importance of internal unity and national will in allowing the security forces and army in fulfilling their duties towards the nation and people.” He […]

  It’s an overused and oft abused metaphor that Beirut is the Paris of the Middle East,  but the phrase seemed to ring true Sunday – at least in a section of Ashrafieh. With pedestrianized streets, people cycling everywhere, and art littering the sidewalks, all part of the Ashrafieh 2020 initiative, the area seemed positively […]

  * هل اتّفاق الطائف ما زال قابلاً للتطبيق؟ – إتّفاق الطائف، وكأيّ اتّفاق مفصليّ في الحياة السياسية اللبنانية، يُعتبر وليد ظروف معيّنة كانت سائدة في أواخر الثمانينيات، ويعبّر مضمونه عن شقّين: سياسي وسيادي. إلّا أنّ حصر القرار اللبناني بالشؤون الأساسية في الجانب السوري حال دون تطبيق الإصلاحات السياسية والبنود السيادية، فكنّا أمام واقع تحويل […]

    لم تتأخر بيروت كثيراً في اللحاق بركب التكنولوجيا الرقمية ، فها هو المشروع النموذجي  Beirut digital; district ينطلق من منطقة الباشورة قرب وسط العاصمة كباكورة مشاريع ستعم لبنان تباعا ً. إنه المبنى الأول من أصل ستة مبان ستبنى في المنطقة على مدى السنوات الخمس المقبلة بمساحة تصل الى أربعين ألف متر مربع الهدف […]

  Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Saturday that any dispute with Speaker Nabih Berri would be short-lived, warning opponents against banking on any disputes emerging between them. He said: “I enjoy excellent ties with Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun is our partner in government.” He made his remarks after holding talks in […]