International
North Korea leads the organization’s annual World Watch List for the 20th straight year.
Open Doors’ 2021 watch list highlights impact of COVID-19 on religious persecution worldwide

by: Emily McFarlan Miller Jan. 13, 2021 (RNS) — The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a number of existing problems: political divides, inequities, conspiracy theories. It also has exposed religious persecutionRead More
“The gift is completely free, unearned by any of us, pure grace.”
Pope Francis: “Tonight (Christmas eve) cannot be explained in any other way: it is purely grace.”

Pope Francis: Nativity of the Lord – Midnight Mass 24.12.2020“ Pope Francis 24.12.20 Midnight Mass, Vatican Basilica Solemnity of the Nativity of the LordIsaiah 9: 1-6, TitusRead More
The pandemic's repercussions on life dominated Francis' reflections on the past year.
Pope on Christmas: Vaccines for all; needy, vulnerable first

by: Paul O’Donnell (Frances D’Emilio) VATICAN CITY, Dec. 25, 2020 (AP) — Pope Francis made a Christmas Day plea for authorities to make COVID-19 vaccines available to all, insisting thatRead More
Open Doors USA ranks China 23 on the 2020 World Watch List...
Report: In China ‘there is no longer a safe place to be a Christian’

by Diana Chandler SILVER SPRING, Md. , July 23, 2020 (BP) — China persecutes Christians to gain leverage in future diplomatic relations with the U.S., a Christian seeking U.S. asylumRead More
In any case, mainstream Islamic scholars believe that, according to the Quran, that the first direction of ritual Islamic prayers (Salat) was Jerusalem.
Hesham Shehab: Jerusalem Day: Religious Symbols and Mass Mobilization

This Friday, May 22, 2020, Arabs and Muslims celebrate International Jerusalem Day. Since it will undoubtedly include anti-Israeli demonstrations and religious-political propaganda, it is important to dispel some myths aboutRead More
A personal journey...
Hesham Shehab: The ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’ was destroyed 45 years ago today… What Should Americans Learn?

Hesham Shehab CHICAGO, April 13, 2020 — On April 13, 1975, Lebanon was plunged into a civil war that destroyed the “Switzerland of the Middle East” forever. I lost myRead More
In Rome, the Via Crucis procession usually takes place late in the evening on Good Friday in the shadow of the Colosseum.
Pope Francis shines a light on prisoners during Good Friday’s unusual Via Crucis

by: Claire Giangravé VATICAN CITY, April 10, 2020 (RNS) – It’s common knowledge that things don’t change quickly in the Vatican. But that was before the coronavirus. In Rome, theRead More