Iraq hopes to lure Christian pilgrims with new church in ancient Ur
Baghdad, Iraq Reuters The bell of a new church built near Iraq’s ancient city of Ur chimed for the first time last week as part of a push to lure back pilgrims to a country that is home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. The church is part of a complex that rises […]
Updated: Pope, top Iraq Shiite cleric deliver message of coexistence
Updated: 8.25am, 7th 2021 (AEDT) Plains of Ur, Iraq AP Pope Francis walked through a narrow alley in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf for a historic meeting with the country’s top Shiite cleric Saturday, and together they delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence in a country still reeling from back-to-back conflicts over the past […]
Vatican defends Pope’s Iraq trip amid virus as “act of love”
Vatican City AP The Vatican defended Pope Francis’ decision to go ahead with his trip to Iraq this weekend despite rising coronavirus infections there, saying Tuesday all healthcare precautions have been taken and that the trip is an “act of love for this land, for its people and for its Christians.” Francis is due to […]
For Iraqi priest, Pope’s visit raises hope of restored trust between Christians and Muslims
Vatican City RNS In Iraq, the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of three major faiths, religion has rarely so divided the country, and Christians, descendants of one of their faith’s oldest communities, feel more threatened than they have in living memory. Rev Karam Qasha, a parish priest of the Chaldean Catholic Church of St George […]