Tag: Italy

‘Middle East without Christians would not be the Middle East’ – Pope Francis

July 10, 2018 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Islamic extremism, Italy, Middle East, Pope Francis, Syria

Pope Francis lights a candle inside the cripta of the St. Nicholas Basilica in Bari, southern Italy July 7, 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Pope Francis says religious fundamentalists in the Middle East, “under the guise of religion, have profaned God’s name, which is peace, and persecuted age-old neighbours”, Reuters reports. The pope was speaking during a summit of Christian leaders in Bari, Italy, on Saturday, 7 July. He spoke of the “terrible suffering” . . . Read More

Ad in Vanity Fair tells #MeToo celebrities of women who suffer for their faith

June 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, India, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Italy, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Women, Yazidis

Rebecca Bitrus was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and suffered because of her faith. (Photo credit: Claire Giangravé/Crux news agency)

An ad in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair has called for the global #MeToo campaign to include women who suffer violence because of their religion. The Vanity Fair ad includes an open letter to some of the actresses who spoke out as part of the #MeToo initiative, like Asia . . . Read More

Rome’s Colosseum to be floodlit red to remember Asia Bibi and Boko Haram victim

February 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asia Bibi, Boko Haram, Iraq, Italy, Paris, Syria

The Colosseum in Rome will be floodlit in red later this month to highlight the persecution of Christians around the world, particularly in Iraq and Syria. The iconic landmark, in which some of the earliest Christians are believed to have been martyred under the Romans, will be floodlit red on . . . Read More

Life for some Christians in German refugee shelters ‘still unbearable’

October 17, 2016 Afghanistan, Angela Merkel, Chechnya, Eritrea, Europe, Germany, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Migrants, Refugees, Syria

Mahan, 2, an Iranian Christian refugee who along with his parents is seeking asylum in Germany, peeks from behind a glass partition in the dining room at the Spreehotel refugee centre in January 2015 in Bautzen, Germany. About 200 refugees, many from Syria and Tunisia, but also from Chechnya, the . . . Read More

Italy takes 1,000 refugees via humanitarian visas

February 9, 2016 Ethiopia, Europe, Italy, Lebanon, Migrants, Morocco, North Africa, Refugees, Syria

Italian Protestant churches will help settle 1,000 refugees arriving there this month through a “humanitarian corridor” from camps in Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia. The refugees, including both Christians and Muslims, will travel under the safety of humanitarian visas so they are not tempted to risk deadly sea crossings to Europe. . . . Read More

Billionaire proposes ‘refugee island’

September 9, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Egypt, Greece, Italy, Refugees, Syria

A tweet from Egypt’s third richest man went viral last week when the Coptic billionaire offered to purchase a large island from Greece or Italy to host “hundreds and thousands of refugees” fleeing the conflict in Syria. Telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, the chief executive of Orascom TMT, told both Agence . . . Read More

‘Greater collaboration’ will help ME Christians

May 1, 2015 Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Italy, Middle East, Minorities, UK

Bishop Angaelos, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, told an international conference this week that there is much to lose if the international community doesn’t take ownership of the suffering of Christians in the Middle East. Speaking at ‘Christians in the Middle East: What Future?’ in Bari, . . . Read More

African migrants risk lives to flee war and persecution

October 8, 2013 Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Italy, Lampedusa, Libya, Migrants, Mussie Zerai, Netherlands, Refugees, Somalia

The latest tragic incident of hundreds of African migrants drowning in European waters tells a wider story. Scratch beneath the surface and for many of the migrants, their stories are not only of wanting a better life. Often they will be of fleeing persecution or conflict at home, and paying . . . Read More

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