Conflict in the Middle East

Lebanon has been gripped by panic and internal displacement crisis following Israeli evacuation orders as part of the U.S. and Israel–Iran war, with the country coming to reflect the growing pressure on Middle Eastern Christians, raising fears the conflict could force many to leave the region permanently.

Two Maronite bishops in the U.S. are calling for prayer, dialogue and solidarity after a Maronite priest was killed in Lebanon amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

Amid the escalating chaos of another war in the Middle East, Benedictine Father Nikodemus Schnabel said the abbey where he resides has become an “island of hope in an ocean of suffering” where even people of different faiths have found refuge.

The Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon issued a statement March 5 in which they called “for an immediate halt to the spiral of violence” currently taking place in the Middle East and urged “a return to constructive dialogue and responsible diplomatic action, grounded in the pursuit of the common good of peoples who long for a peaceful life founded on justice and dignity.”