Page 2 - Ragheed Ganni News Today

Remembering Father Ragheed Ganni, who was murdered 15 years ago today in Iraq.

On March 4, Alitalia flight A330 landed at Baghdad International Airport at around 2pm local time. The plane was carrying Pope Francis as he began his apostolic journey to Iraq, a land known as the cradle of many a glorious civilisation, but which now lies in ruin after more than 30 years of war and sanctions, two decades of al-Qaeda terrorist attacks and the recent brutal occupation of large swathes of its territory by ISIS. For decades, Christians were victims of sectarian wars. Many of them ...

Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq highlights the country’s recent history of atrocities against Christians Since 2003, Iraq has been in a state of insecurity that allows terrorist groups to express their hatred towards religious and ethnic ‘others’. Pope Francis attends a prayer for war victims in Mosuls Old City, Iraq. | Abdullah Rashid/ Reuters Recording casualties during a conflict can provide a body of evidence of how violence has affected particular communities or grou...

Recording casualties during a conflict can provide a body of evidence of how violence has affected particular communities or groups, such as the Yazidis in Iraq and the Kurds in Syria. When the Islamic State entered Iraq in 2014, they immediately started committing gross human rights violations and displayed violence of an increasingly sectarian nature against religious and ethnic groups, including Christians and Yazidis. But as Pope Francis makes the first papal visit to Iraq, it’s importa...

Christians in Iraq: The past century in a nutshell After centuries of Ottoman rule, Iraq emerged as a political unit of its own one hundred years ago. Over the past century, Iraqi Christians have witnessed times of wealth and peaceful coexistence, but they have also had to endure some horrible wars and persecutions. By Emil Anton Pope Francis’ Apostolic Journey to Iraq, which kicks off on Friday, coincides with the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Kingdom of Iraq, first under British ...

Left: Sr. Wanda Boniszewska (1907-2003). (Image: CNA/episkopat.pl); right: Blessed Cyprain Micheal Iwene Tansi (Image: Jennifer Udoka Igboanugo/Wikipedia) VILNIUS—The Church has opened the beatification cause of Sr. Wanda Boniszewska, a Polish nun who was a reputed stigmatist and was tortured by Stalin’s secret police. Being a stigmatist means someone either literally or mystically bore the wounds of Christ’s Passion. Boniszewska began to have mystical experiences in 1921 that lasted ove...