Vatican City, Dec 19, 2019 / 12:51 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis Thursday hung a cross encircled by a life jacket inside a Vatican building in memory of migrants and refugees who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.
He also welcomed Dec. 19 a gro… […]
In one of his Christmas sermons, St. John Henry Newman speaks of Christmas as “a time for innocence and purity and gentleness and mildness and contentment and peace.” In this season, he says, we are […]
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Dec 19, 2019 / 10:47 am (CNA).- Extremist attacks have risen dramatically in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, from 180 incidents in 2017 to more than 800 violent attacks in 2019, according to the Center for Strategic and Intern… […]
Mosul, Iraq, Dec 19, 2019 / 03:01 am (CNA).- The Great Al-Tahira Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Bakhdida remains charred black inside, five years after the Islamic State plundered and set it aflame; however, in 2020 the Syriac Catholic cathedral will be restored as Iraq’s largest Christian community fights to rebuild and regain what was lost.
“It is a very significant church because it was built from the donations of local people, agriculture workers,” Fr. Georges Jahola, a parish priest from Bakhdida, told CNA.
Bakhdida, also known as Qaraqosh, is located 20 miles southeast of Mosul. Fr Jahola said that the local Christians hope that in the future their town will be referred to as as Bakhdida, the Aramaic and more historic name of their town, rather than Qaraqosh, a Turkish name that came from the Ottoman Empire.
The cathedral in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains was constructed from 1932-1948 as Catholic farmers donated each year from their harvest, the priest explained. The Great Al-Tahira served a growing Christian community, until the Islamic State turned the cathedral into an indoor shooting range from 2014-2016.
After Bakhdida’s liberation from the Islamic State in 2016, Masses resumed in the damaged cathedral as Christians returned to rebuild their community. Aid to the Church in Need committed to completely restore the cathedral’s fire-damaged interior in late 2019.
Christianity has been present in the Nineveh plain in Iraq – between Mosul and Iraqi Kurdistan – since the first century.
Rebuilding the 6,936 damaged homes in Bakhdida began in earnest in May 2017, and since then more than half have been completed, Fr. Jahola said.
The latest rebuilding statistics for Bakhdida divide the rebuilt homes into three categories: completed destroyed, partially destroyed, and partially damaged.
Of the 2,100 homes that were burnt and partially destroyed in Bakhdida, 818 homes have been rebuilt and 1,282 remain in need of repair. Thirty-two of the homes that were completely destroyed have been totally rebuilt, while 30 such houses remain. A little over half of the 4,774 homes that were partially damaged by the Islamic State in the city have been repaired.
“With the help of many NGOs we were able to rebuild many houses,” he said, noting the contributions of Aid to the Church in Need, Samaritan’s Purse, the Salt Foundation, SOS Chrétiens d’Orient, Malteser International, Fraternity in Iraq, and others to Bakhdida.
The Hungarian government office for Aid of Persecuted Christians announced in October a partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development to contribute to the rebuilding of homes in Bakhdida and Sinjar in northern Iraq.
“It is indeed the cradle of Christianity,” Tristan Azbej, Hungarian State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians told CNA.
“What we have partnered for is that Hungary would provide donations of local Syriac rite Orthodox Church to reconstruct close to 100 local homes and USAID will provide donations and provision of reconstruction of the market center for the local businesses of the town Qaraqosh Baghdeda,” he said.
Fr. Jahola told CNA that Bakhdida needs news jobs. “Young people have no work, so some of them go to Erbil or leave Iraq,” he said. “It isn’t easy. Also because Iraq now is in an unstable political situation.”
At least 400 people have died since anti-government protests began across Iraq in October.
Among the Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Chaldean, Armenian, Assyrian, and Muslim commities in Bakhdida, there was one reconstruction committee that has worked together to manage rebuilding, Jahola said.
The Al-Tahira Cathedral was one of four churches in Bakhdida to be desecrated and burnt by the Islamic State: two Syriac Catholic churches and two Syriac Orthodox.
Fr. Jahola is the parish priest of the Syriac Catholic Church of Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah, a desecrated church that was renovated and rededicated on the feast of the Assumption of Mary this year.
“I think it is very important to support this town because it is the biggest symbol of Christianity in Iraq. Until now, we kept it as a Christian city, but we do not know what the future will bring for us,” he said.
An estimated 225,000 Christians remain in Iraq, according to In Defence of Christians.
Washington D.C., Dec 19, 2019 / 12:03 am (CNA).- As support for the death penalty decreases in the U.S., so does the number of inmates executed by the states, said a new report this week.
The non-profit Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) said in … […]
Digos, Philippines, Dec 18, 2019 / 10:01 pm (CNA).- After a southern Philippines earthquake killed at least nine and displaced thousands of people on Monday, survivors emphasized their need for fresh water, and Catholic leaders called for prayer and ai… […]
I could write a pamphlet, perhaps even a short book, about all the factual errors and distortions in Brazilian director Fernando Mereilles’ film The Two Popes. However, despite the film’s numerous inaccuracies, a couple of […]
Washington D.C., Dec 18, 2019 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- The U.S. Supreme Court will decide two religious freedom cases concerning Catholic schools during its upcoming term, the court announced on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The court consolidated the cases Our Lady … […]
Vatican City, Dec 18, 2019 / 04:50 pm (CNA).- Since October, CNA has been covering a Vatican financial scandal involving an investment in a London luxury apartment development through a controversial broker, a loan from a Swiss bank account associated … […]
Washington D.C., Dec 18, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A Georgia congressman’s office defended a claim made Wednesday that Jesus Christ was afforded more rights during the trial that led to his crucifixion than President Donald Trump has been given during impeachment proceedings.
“Before you take this historic vote, today, one week before Christmas, I want you to keep this in mind: When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) said on Wednesday on the House floor, amid House debate on a motion to impeach Trump.
“During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus, than the Democrats have afforded this president in this process,” he added before yielding his time.
“…When Jesus was falsely accused of Treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus, than Democrats have afforded this president in this process.” #ShamImpeachment pic.twitter.com/n8FZRe64eo
— Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) December 18, 2019
“Congressman Loudermilk was simply making a comparison about the process; that Pontius Pilate allowed Jesus face his accusers, but the Democrats refused to allow the president or Republicans to even know who the accuser was, much less the right to question him or her,” Brandon Cockerham, Loudermilk’s press secretary, said in an email to CNA.
The 23rd chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke recounts that Jewish religious leaders took Jesus, who had been arrested while praying in Jerusalem’s Garden of Gethsemane, to the home of Pontius Pilate, who was then governor of the Roman empire’s Judean province.
“We found this man misleading our people; he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar and maintains that he is the Messiah, a king,” the crowd with Jesus told Pilate, according to St. Luke’s Gospel.
While Luke’s Gospel recounts that Pilate found “no guilt” after questioning Jesus and sent him to be questioned by Galilean tetrarch Herod Antipas. Pilate eventually acquiesced to repeated insistence that Jesus be executed.
Christ, subsequent to that execution, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Loudermilk’s Dec. 18 remarks also took issue with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who said in November that if Trump had proof of his innocence, “he should make that known.” The congressman claimed that Trump has repeatedly been denied his Constitutional rights throughout the impeachment process.
“The Constitution also guarantees that the accused can call witnesses to testify on their behalf,” said Loudermilk. “But the Republicans and the president were continually denied that right throughout this process.”
The congressman’s remarks refer to a “whistleblower,” who earlier this year accused the president of abusing the power of his office by apparently implying to Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid to the country would be withheld unless the president worked to assure an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The “whistleblower” and as such, Trump has not been able to question the party. This, said Loudermilk, is a violation of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, which states that people have a right to a fair trial and to face their accuser.
The impeachment process officially began on September 24, 2019, and concerns whether or not Trump abused his power. The two articles of impeachment filed against Trump accuse him of “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” regarding the legislative body’s investigation of Ukraine.
The House of Representatives is set to vote on Wednesday evening to impeach Trump. There will be separate votes for each of the two articles of impeachment that were filed against the president. If the vote passes, the Senate will then hold a trial to decide whether or not to remove Trump from the presidency.
© Catholic World Report