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Iraqi Christians heartened by determination, stubbornness of Pope Francis Mar 5, 2021 contributor A worker hangs the Vatican flag on a utility pole in Najaf, Iraq, Feb. 27, 2021. Pope Francis is visiting Iraq March 5-8. (Credit: Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters via CNS.) Before Pope Francis left for his historic trip to Iraq, several observers objected to the risks he was taking, given the security situation and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, one American working in the country said, “it’s never an optimal time to come here.” Before Pope Francis left for his historic trip to Iraq, sever...

Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with bishops, priests, religious men and women, seminarians and catechists in the Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad March 5, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring Maryann Cusimano Love, an associate professor of international relations at the Catholic University of America in Washington, is trying to think of a time when Pope Francis walked into a more dangerous and complicated situation than he did today, touching down in Baghdad. “Well, the Central African Republic was no cakewalk,” she said, recalling the pope’s 2015 visit to wh...

Papal travel during a pandemic – what impact will it have? Dec 11, 2020 senior correspondent A doctor checks the blood pressure of a displaced Iraqi woman in a medical center at a camp in Dahuk March 7, 2020. Catholic aid agencies helping the displaced in northern Iraq say they are reaching those in need as the COVID-19 situation there slowly improves. (Credit: Ari Jalal/Reuters via CNS.) Pope Francis’s visit to Iraq in March will carry huge significance for the nation’s small and persecuted Christian minority living in an ancient culture with deep Christian roots, but it takes on spec...

Religious Freedom: Will U.S. Emphasis Continue Under Biden? Susan Crabtree © AP Photo/Fay Abuelgasim It was already a deeply moving tour through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum when it became personal for one visitor. Senior State Department officials were wending their way through the sobering exhibits accompanied by recent survivors of religious persecution at an event kicking off the 2019 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, a Washington gathering of high-level delegations from 106 countries around the globe. When the group reached the display of a train ...