Middle East

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic begin to ease, and people are allowed to travel again, the Holy Land is ready to welcome pilgrims.

Relief efforts are continuing in Afghanistan where a deadly earthquake earlier this week has claimed over 1,000 lives.

Pope Francis says he is praying for the victims of a devastating earthquake in Afghanistan that has killed more than 1,000 people and injured 1,500 others. He also issued an appeal for help for all those affected.

Moving a 4.7-ton piece of an ancient marble column is never easy.

After 10 years of systematic work, the Old City of Jerusalem is more accessible to the disabled and the elderly.

In a lengthy, searing letter published amid Iraq’s ongoing political standstill, Chaldean Patriarch Luis Raphael Sako criticized leaders’ inability to root out corruption and rid the country of discrimination against minorities, who are still treated like “second-class citizens.”

Meeting with a delegation from B'nai B'rith International, Pope Francis emphasizes the need to care for our sisters and brothers, inviting Jews and Christians to work together for the poor, for justice, and for the protection of creation.

The presence of the Christian community is indispensable to the identity of Jerusalem, considered holy by all three Abrahamic faiths, several European bishops said at the end of a visit to the Holy Land.

The war in Syria is mostly over, and not a house was unaffected, said a nun based there. But now, the economy is so bad that people look back on the war and say, "at least then we had some food to eat and we could feed our children."

The Pope assures the new president of the United Arab Emirates of "all his prayers", joining the people of the Emirates in mourning the death of the former president.

The story of a Catholic couple in Pakistan falsely accused of blasphemy, jailed, and finally released in 2021 by the Lahore High Court. Shagufta Emmanuel shares her experience with the Pontifical Foundation "Aid to the Church in Need" expressing gratitude for the support she and her family have received and for their faith in God whom, she says, has always sustained them.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III, the bishops and the faithful of the Christian communities underscore in a common statement their condemnation of a violent intrusion carried out last Friday by the Israeli police in the funeral procession carrying the body of reporter, Shireen Abu Aqleh.

Israeli riot-control police attacked mourners and pallbearers as thousands came to pay their respects at the May 13 funeral of prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shereen Abu Akleh, who was killed in clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin, West Bank.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has condemned the killing of a Palestinian journalist by Israeli forces.

King Abdullah and Queen Rania, Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan were honored with the 2022 Path to Peace Award for their role in promoting interfaith harmony and dialogue, Jordan’s humanitarian efforts to host refugees, as well as their efforts in bolstering prospects for peace at the Path to Peace Foundation’s 29th annual Gala which took place on Monday in Manhattan, New York.

After several days of searching, the remains of two Syrian Chaldean martyrs, killed for their faith by the Ottoman Empire, were found last week in a chapel outside the Christian village of Qaraqosh in Iraq’s Nineveh Plain.

Bishop Paolo Martinelli, the newly appointed Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, speaks to Vatican News about his new mission in the Arabian Peninsula.

The newly created Catholic Bishops' Conference of Central Asia elected Spanish-born Bishop José Luis Mumbiela Sierra of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as its first president.

Afghanistan’s worsening economic and food crisis is heavily impacting families and children, says Save the Children. Only 7 per cent of families reported having enough to eat in March.

The capsizing of a small boat overloaded with passengers trying to illegally leave Lebanon is "the biggest proof of the terrible crisis" that the country is enduring as it continues to sink economically, said Carmelite Father Michel Abboud, president of Caritas Lebanon.