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.
Tens of thousands of Israelis line streets for funeral procession for Bibas family February 26, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News Tens of thousands of mourners Feb. 26 lined the streets as the funeral procession for Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, made its way nearly 40 miles from Rishon Lezion in central Israel to Tsoher Regional Cemetery in southern Israel.
Visiting the poor in Lebanon was a prayer for Pope Francis, cardinal says February 24, 2025By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, World News While Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, one of the cardinals closest to him traveled to Lebanon to demonstrate the pope’s ongoing concern for refugees and for peace in the Middle East.
Israel devastated by ‘macabre’ return of child hostages’ bodies as ceasefire holds February 21, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News Israel has identified three of the bodies of hostages returned Feb. 20 but said the body of Shiri Bibas — mother of two red-headed boys who became a symbol of Israeli hostage suffering, both confirmed dead — was not returned as promised by Hamas.
Vatican cardinal heads to Lebanon to express pope’s solidarity, prayers February 18, 2025By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News One out of four people living in Lebanon is a refugee, and the majority of children born in refugee camps are unregistered at birth, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Cardinal Parolin: Palestinians must not be deported from Gaza February 14, 2025By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, World News The same week U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his idea of emptying Gaza of more than 2 million Palestinians so it could become a “Riviera of the Middle East,” a top Vatican official said there must be no deportations.
Ceasefire overshadows Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, pontifical charity says February 3, 2025By Susan Korah OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News The long-awaited and elusive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has silenced bombs and halted air raids on the Gaza Strip, for the time being, but the humanitarian situation there is dire, the regional director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association reported.
Pilgrimages are ‘safe,’ Holy Land church leaders say, telling pilgrims: ‘We’re waiting for you’ January 22, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News Catholic leaders in the Holy Land called on Christian pilgrims to return to the region following the implementation of the long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
