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Following the brutal murder of an elderly Catholic Priest in France, ISIS has publicly warned British Christian clergy and their congregants: you're next. Police publicly warned Britain's 5.4 million Christian church goers, pastors and clergy to be on alert as they are likely targets for ISIS. The Daily Mailreports that security has now been increased for Britain's 47,000 churches in response to ISIS's threat to target Christians and churches in major world cities. Roughly 5.4 million British citizens are church members. "Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: 'Following recent events in France, we are reiterating our protective security advice to...

After every Islamic terrorist attack, whether in Europe or the U.S., people ask what can be done to prevent it from happening again. But when the obvious solutions are proposed, they are invariably met with the objection that “you can’t do that,” or “that’s unconstitutional,” or words to that effect.Some of the obvious solutions are to close radical mosques and radical Islamic schools, to monitor suspected mosques, to deport radical imams, and, of course, to restrict Muslim immigration or ban it altogether. If you dare to say such things, however, it quickly becomes apparent that—for many, at least—only politically...

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JULY 28 - French religious leaders met on Wednesday with President Hollande to ask for increased security in places of worship, following the attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on Tuesday in which two armed teens claiming allegiance to ISIS took four people hostage and killed 84-year-old Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel. On Tuesday, Hollande spoke with Pope Francis and said France will "do everything to protect our churches and our places of worship". French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the country's anti-terrorism operation "Sentinelle" will increase military presence to 10,000 soldiers, 4,000 assigned to Paris and the remaining distributed...

On Wednesday, July 27, Pope Francis arrived in Krakow, Poland, in order to celebrate World Youth Day. As part of this trip, the pope commented on controversy surrounding Muslim migration to Europe. Many of these comments reveal an apparent ignorance of Polish history and current reality, a privileging of Marxist and culturally relativist worldviews that distort reality, and an abandonment of true Christian ideals. I write as a devout Catholic. I wish my pope would read what I write here.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has said recent comments by Cardinal Raymond Burke on Islam's desire to govern the world are unhelpful at a time when Europe reels in the aftermath of a spate of terror attacks. The archbishop decried the murder of elderly French priest, Fr. Jacques Hamel, in Normandy as "something that no religion would stand over," adding that the atrocity in the small parish church of Saint Etienne du Rouvray has been "horrifying to everyone" and that people have been "absolutely stunned by the brutality" of it. Speaking from Poland where he is attending World Youth Day,...

In a wide-ranging interview for CRUX, the spiritual leader of the world's 200,000 Syriac Catholics describes the growing despair of the Iraqi refugees, the war in Syria, Bashar Assad, and the causes of Islamic fundamentalism.LEBANON - The displaced Syriac Catholics of the Iraqi areas of Nineveh and Mosul are fast losing hope that they will ever return home, according to their spiritual leader, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan. Some 100,000 Iraqi Christians were forced to flee to the Kurdistan region in the north in the summer of 2014, where they are languishing in expectation of a return that...

Many know that Jesus is considered by Islam to be a prophet, second only to Muhammad. What is not generally known is how the "Islamic Jesus" figures into "The Last Day ";one of "Pillars of Islam", which MUST be believed to be Muslim. They do, as Christians, believe that Jesus will return at the end time; leading the Righteous Armies of God to defeat the Armies of Evil, in order to found the Kingdom of God. However,in Islam, Jesus is a Muslim leading the Righteous Armies of Allah to destroy the Infidel Forces of Evil. Folks, that's us, and when...

CAIRO (AP) — The leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian church warned on Monday of increased attacks on Christians, saying national unity is being "defaced." In a meeting with lawmakers, Pope Tawadros II said that since 2013 there have been 37 sectarian attacks on Christians — nearly an incident a month. He describes the situation as "very painful." He told lawmakers that preserving national unity is "our responsibility in front of the world, future generations, history and in front of God." His remarks were published on his personal website. The Pope's website also quoted lawmaker Saad el-Gammal as saying that parliament...

The Pope spoke to reporters on his flight to Poland for World Youth DayPope Francis says the world is at war, but has stressed that it’s not a war of religions. Francis spoke to reporters on the papal plane en route from Rome to Poland, where he began a five-day visit for World Youth Day. Asked about the slaying of an 85-year-old priest in a Normandy church on Tuesday, Francis replied: “the real word is war…yes, it’s war. This holy priest died at the very moment he was offering a prayer for all the church.” He added: “I only want...

The ISIS terrorists who carried out the France church attack forced a parish priest to kneel before filming themselves slitting his throat, it has emerged. Father Jacques Hamel, 86, was made to get to his knees before he was brutally butchered at the church in Normandy today, says a nun who escaped the attack. His two murderers captured the slaying on a mobile phone, according to Sister Danielle, who was one of several worshippers taken hostage during morning mass. They then performed a 'sermon' around the altar in Arabic - as armed cops rushed to the scene and terrified...

When we look back on the Third Crusade (1189-1192) it is all but impossible not to be struck by how close King Richard and the Christian host came to decisively defeating Saladin and re-taking Jerusalem. Twice during the campaign—in January 1192 and again in July 1192—the crusaders advanced to within a dozen or so miles of the Holy City, only to withdraw without making a serious effort to besiege it. In this brief essay, I will attempt to explain the strategic decision to abandon the first advance on Jerusalem in 1191/2. From Acre to Bayt NubaDuring the summer and autumn...

An Interview with Monsignor Gyula Màrfi, Archbishop of Veszprém, HungaryIt is not accidental that there is this enormous pressure on Europe regarding immigration; the motivation to conquer on the part of Muslims may play a part, but the great powers also support it – so says Monsignor Gyula Màrfi, Archbishop of Veszprém, in an interview where we discussed the need to rediscover the Christian faith. It is a fundamental task to contemplate anew the Christian faith seriously. Is Europe still Christian?Recently I was in Poland with some pilgrims. According to the external signs, Christianity is still alive there. Along with...

The head of the Syriac Catholic Church—an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See—offered strong criticism of “American, French, English, [and] European Union politicians” whose efforts to remove President Bashar al-Assad have led to a nightmare for the region’s Christians. Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan told the National Catholic Register that Syria was a place “where they were fighting against illiteracy, where you had medical care for all, a peaceful country, where you could go wherever you wanted to go, 24 hours a day without any problem — they [the Western powers] find it has a dictatorship...

Concerns are growing for the future of Christians in Turkey, the birthplace of St Paul, in the wake of the failed coup. Two churches in eastern Turkey in places already known for historic murders of Christians were vandalised during the attempted coup, reports Middle East Concern. In Trabzon on the Black Sea, ten people attacked the Catholic church of Santa Maria where Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro was murdered in 2006. Muslim neighbours intervened and drove them away. In Malatya, where three Christian workers were murdered in 2007, there was an attempt to smash the windows of the Protestant Church....

(RNS) Amid heightened tensions over ISIS-fueled terror attacks and anti-Muslim rhetoric, a prominent U.S. cardinal says Islam “wants to govern the world” and Americans must decide if they are going to reassert “the Christian origin of our own nation” in order to avoid that fate. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Rome-based prelate known as an outspoken conservative and critic of Pope Francis’ reformist approach, said in an interview on Wednesday (July 20) that Islam is “fundamentally a form of government.” While Catholic teaching recognizes that all Abrahamic faiths worship the same God, Burke criticized Catholic leaders who, in an effort to...

Minya, Egypt, Jul 19, 2016 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For Christians in Egypt, the possibility of martyrdom is not a remote one. Icon of the 21 Martyrs of Libya. Image courtesy of Tony Rezk, via tonyrezk.blogspot.com“It is something they concretely feel, it is part of their Christian life,” Father Paolo Asolan, an Italian priest who recently visited Egypt, told CNA. “And for a mother and a father, the fact that one of their sons can become a martyr is always a great gift.” The Islamic State’s beheading of 20 Coptic Christians and another man shocked the world in February...

Pro-government mob groups attack religious in the aftermath of the attempted coup in Turkey, a democratic watchdog reports. Reportedly, in some cases Muslim citizens reacted against the mobs to protect their fellow citizens. The attacks by Islamist mobs begun on Saturday evening, that is, the evening after the attempted coup had been averted. Attacks were reported at the Catholic Church of Santa Maria in Trabzon; a second attacks was reported on a Protestant Church in Malatya. In Trabzon a mob of 10 people attacked the Catholic Church, throwing stones drawn from the pavement. The mob also carried sledge hummers. Fortunately,...

She was a 7-year-old kid while he was there even before history.She loved him since she woke up to life, watching stories of him on TV, mainly on special occasions, but didn’t know him, as no one around her knew him. Those around her refused to get to know him or recognize him.She grew up and he entered her life again, without permission. She betrayed him a lot but he forgave her each and every time and she adored him even more. When her family members knew about her love story, they refused and condemned it. But she insisted on wearing...

A senior adviser to Pope Francis has said he is worried about the anti-Muslim rhetoric of presumptive US Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. In an interview with RTÉ News, Cardinal Seán O’Malley also warned against scapegoating Muslims following this week's atrocity in Nice and other terrorist attacks on the west. Speaking in Knock, Co Mayo, the cardinal recalled that the Irish were once blamed for America's ills. And he urged Catholics to heed the advice of Pope Francis to strengthen dialogue with Muslims. "It’s very easy to stir up resentment and to blame groups of people. "I think immigration is...

Good day friends. Not to minimize in any way, the terrifying number of the dead, the tragic end of innocent citizens who thronged the promenade in Nice to watch the firework display on occasion of a national holiday and the identity of the criminal, the Islamic terrorist who perpetrated the massacre of at least 84 people, among them many children, what is extremely important right now is that we finally acknowledge we are at war and - most especially - the enemy we have to fight and defeat: Islam. If, however, those who govern us continue to absolve Islam by...