As Trump returns from Middle East with massive arm deals, patriarch says ‘no’ to weapons May 16, 2025By Dale Gavlak OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News As U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Gulf Arab countries, ending May 16, brought “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done, according to the White House fact sheet, Catholic leadership in the region expressed its concern to resolve long-standing conflicts, particularly in the Middle East, peacefully.
Jerusalem patriarch, back in Holy Land, reflects on conclave, ‘inconceivable’ Gaza situation May 14, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, World News The importance of continuity and diversity as well as the issues of war and peace were a main topic of conversation for the 133 cardinals as they gathered to vote in the conclave May 7-8, said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.
Francis’ final gift to Gaza: Popemobile will be transformed into mobile clinic for children May 5, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Remembering Pope Francis, World News With the declining situation in Gaza always in his heart, in his final months, Pope Francis bequeathed his popemobile to Caritas Jerusalem and directed the agency to turn it into a mobile health station for the children in Gaza.
In Middle East, cardinal has shown political savvy, pastor’s heart May 1, 2025By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: 2025 Conclave, Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News Although conventional wisdom says he is too young to become pope, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, began appearing on media lists of possible future popes soon after he was created a cardinal in September 2023.
Gaza is in a state of ‘extreme poverty,’ but Christians still share what they have with others April 17, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News More than 1,500 people have been killed in Israeli bombardment of the enclave since it renewed the Israel-Hamas war on March 18, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.
4,000 process in Jerusalem for Palm Sunday amid Israeli bombardment of Gaza April 14, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News For the second year in a row, few foreign pilgrims were in attendance at the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into the Old City of Jerusalem due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But even the gray skies that threatened rain didn’t dampen the spirit of the 4,000 participants.
Franciscans in the Holy Land ask support through Good Friday collection April 12, 2025By Catholic News Service Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Giving, News, World News While pilgrimages to the Holy Land have been few and far between in the past 18 months, hundreds of Franciscan friars celebrate Mass at the sites associated with the life of Jesus each day and continue to support the local Christian populations.
U.S. bishop warns renewed Israel-Hamas war augurs ‘dire consequences’ for the region March 26, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News Ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas will have “dire consequences” for civil society’s future and is likely to worsen the region’s tensions for another generation, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, said in a statement following the breakdown of a ceasefire agreement in the Holy Land.
Holy Land collection is sign of solidarity, faith, hope, cardinal says March 22, 2025By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Giving, News, World News While anchored in the hope that comes from Jesus’ resurrection, Catholics should not forget the “tears, despair and destruction everywhere” they have seen in images from the Middle East, a top Vatican official said.
‘No one knows the end’ of deadly violence in Syria, says archbishop March 14, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News Hundreds of civilians have been killed since March 6 as Syria’s security forces battled armed supporters of former Syria president Bashar Assad.
St. John Paul II hailed as model for Catholics to fight rising scourge of antisemitism March 12, 2025By Simone Orendain OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, News, World News St. John Paul II’s example as a strong bridge-builder between Catholicism and Judaism should be used against enduring antisemitism, especially in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to a theologian who wrote a two-volume biography of one of the longest serving popes.
Church leaders condemn killings, urge prayers amid horrific Syria violence March 10, 2025By Dale Gavlak OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Religious Freedom, World News Syria’s top Christian leaders have condemned the killing and wounding of hundreds of Alawites, many of them civilians, by security forces and gunmen linked to the country’s new Islamist rulers.
