Iraq Archives - Catholic Herald

Iraq

Critics who paint the Pope as a ‘meek’ peacenik over Ukraine fail to see how victory can lie in unexpected places

April 01, 2024

If this Easter we celebrate Christ’s victory over Death through His Resurrection, we must do so knowing our thanksgivings occur amid a world mired in intractable conflict once again, including on the edges of Europe and in the Holy Land. Pope Francis has attempted to address this and the subsequent slaughter and countless deaths of

Persecution of the faithful: the greatest story never told

July 08, 2022

Peninah was only 24-years-old when her husband Paul was murdered by Al-Shabaab terrorists in Kenya. Attackers with Kalashnikovs, lined the men up in the street and demanded they recite sections of the Koran. Paul was a Christian and they shot him. In Afghanistan, the Taliban dragged Zabi’s 60-year-old Christian father away into the night. After

A year after Pope Francis’s historic visit, Iraq’s Christians face new threats

March 11, 2022

Returning to Iraq, a year after covering Pope Francis's trip, John Cookson asks why the Biden administration is cutting aid to the country's Christians

Iraq’s Christians are still waiting for a miracle

March 07, 2022

A year ago Pope Francis made an historic pilgrimage to Iraq. Journalist John Cookson covered the visit for the Catholic Herald and now he's returned to discover if the papal visit has changed the lives of the country's beleaguered Christians. This is the first of two reports.

Faith amidst the ruins

January 27, 2022

Iraqi Catholics are braving all manner of dangers to keep alive one of the oldest churches on earth

US Catholics Prepare to Celebrate Religious Freedom Week

June 03, 2021

“Through prayer, education, and public action during Religious Freedom Week, the USCCB hopes to promote the essential right of religious freedom for Catholics and for those of all faiths.”

Pope Francis prays for victims of tragedies in Caribbean, Iraq, and the Mediterranean Sea

April 25, 2021

Pope Francis expresses his spiritual closeness and offers prayers for victims of tragedies in Iraq; the Mediterranean; and the the Caribbean island nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Pope Francis: Keep praying for ‘our sorely tried brothers and sisters’ in Iraq

March 10, 2021

He said that by visiting Iraq, he had fulfilled a dream of his predecessor Pope John Paul II, who had hoped to mark the turn of the millennium with a journey “in the footsteps of Abraham,” but was unable to travel to the ancient city of Ur.