Baghdad, Iraq, Mar 5, 2021 / 07:00 am MT (CNA).- Here is the full prepared text of Pope Francis’ address to the Iraqi authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps, delivered March 5, 2021, at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad. Mr President, Members of Government and the Diplomatic Corps, Distinguished …

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Feb 25, 2021 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- In a week’s time, Pope Francis is expected to make history by becoming the first pope to travel to Iraq. His March 5-8 trip will take him from excavations of historical biblical sites dating back thousands of …

By Doreen Abi Raad Catholic News Service  BEIRUT — Mideast Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs denounced the “total international silence” on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and called for Muslim religious authorities to issue fatwas, or legal edicts, banning attacks against Christians and “other innocents.”

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service  WASHINGTON — Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, in Washington to meet with federal government representatives and members of Congress, decried the “mass cleansing” of Christians from Mosul, Iraq, by what he called “a bed of criminals.”