News

Between limbo and hope: celebrating Easter with the exiles of northern Iraq

  April 13, 2017 Iraq Ankawa, IDPs, Islamic State, Karamles, Palm Sunday

For the Christians of northern Iraq, this Easter is their third separated from their homes. But for some, it could mark the beginning of the end of their displacement, following military victories against Islamic State that have won back much of the territory the jihadists seized three years ago. “Next . . . Read More

Bombed Egypt church cancels Easter celebrations

  April 13, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Easter, Palm Sunday, Pope Francis, Tanta

One of the priests at the Mar Girgis (St George) Cathedral in Tanta, one of two churches attacked by suicide bombers on Palm Sunday, says his church will not hold its usual Easter Day celebrations as a mark of respect towards the families affected. “There will not be any festivities, only . . . Read More

Good Friday marks 3 years of agony for Chibok parents

  April 13, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Muhammadu Buhari

For the families of the 195 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped from their dormitories three years ago tomorrow (14 April 2014), grief and despair have been compounded by fear, as the perpetrators of their agony continue to terrorise their town and carry out further abductions with impunity. Since Boko Haram jihadists abducted . . . Read More

The uncountable cost of Egypt’s Palm Sunday attacks

  April 13, 2017 Egypt Palm Sunday, Tanta

As Egyptian society slowly recovers from the shock of the twin suicide bomb attacks on two Coptic churches on Palm Sunday, the real picture of the devastation caused is starting to emerge. The victims have now been buried, while dozens of wounded Christians remain in hospital – some in a . . . Read More

Mali: 2 months on, still no news of kidnapped nun

  April 12, 2017 Mali Bamako, Beatrice Stockly, Gao, Gloria Argoti, Kidnapping, Mali, Timbuktu

It’s been more than two months since a Colombian nun was kidnapped in southern Mali, a relatively safe part of the country, which has been mainly unaffected by Islamist attacks. Gloria Argoti, in her sixties, was kidnapped on 7 Feb, when assailants broke into her convent in Karangasso, 300km from . . . Read More

India’s churches also targeted on Palm Sunday, but Modi stays silent

  April 11, 2017 India BJP, Haryana, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Rajasthan, RSS, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

  India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticised for condemning the Palm Sunday attacks on churches in Egypt but failing to condemn attacks in his own country. On the same day that two churches were bombed in Egypt, five churches in India – in five different states – were targeted . . . Read More

Churches evacuate and shelter migrants after fire devastates Dunkirk camp

  April 11, 2017 Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, France, Grande-Synthe, Iran, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees, Sub-Saharan Africa

Local churches in Dunkirk helped to evacuate terrified migrants late last night (10 April) as a devastating fire spread through their camp in northern France. La Linière camp in Grande-Synthe, just outside Dunkirk, housed an estimated 1,500 migrants, including a handful of Christian converts, but has now been reduced to “a . . . Read More

As a Christian woman in Yemen, life is about survival

  April 11, 2017 Yemen Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Converts, Houthis, Sana'a, Women

Life in Yemen is not easy for a woman. Especially if you are a woman who has decided to become a Christian. Yemen is a tribal country, where leaving Islam is seen as a betrayal of that tribe, punishable by death. Nadeen (*), a born-and-raised Yemeni woman in her late . . . Read More

Are attacks on DRC churches religiously motivated?

  April 10, 2017 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Catholics, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila, North Kivu

Amid the increasing political unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, senior Catholic leaders have reported increasing attacks on church properties, and the intimidation and even torture of clergy. Below, World Watch Monitor’s Africa Bureau Chief, Illia Djadi, gives his perspective on what’s driving the new wave of violence. What . . . Read More

Egypt’s Christians mourn 49 killed in Palm Sunday church bombings

  April 10, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Palm Sunday, Pope Tawadros II, Tanta

Egypt’s Christians are in mourning and profound shock after yesterday’s twin suicide bombing attacks on churches packed for Palm Sunday, which left at least 49 people dead and more than 110 injured. The Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, narrowly escaped injury, having just celebrated Mass in one of the cathedrals that . . . Read More