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Pope to Make History With ‘Devil Devotees’Francis will pray with Peacock-Angel-worshipping Yezidis in IraqVATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis will be the first pontiff in history to pray with members of a syncretistic sect who worship a "fallen angel" depicted as a peacock and identified with the Devil.An Iraqi Catholic looks forward to welcoming Pope Francis The Yezidis — persecuted to the point of genocide by the Islamic State (ISIS) as "Devil worshippers" — will participate in the pope's Saturday interreligious service in Ur with Muslims, Mandaean-Sabeans and members of Iraq's other religious communities.While the mainstream media and some religious...

An organizer reads excerpts from a sacred Zoroastrian text at one of the Kurdistan Region's fire temples in Darbandikhan, Aug. 8, 2019. (Photo: Kurdistan 24/Karwan Yara) A local organization dedicated to the Zoroastrian religion and philosophy on Thursday held a special ceremony at one of the group's fire temples located in the Kurdistan Region.Members of the Basna Organization, whose efforts usually focus on preserving local archaeological sites, performed the rite in Sulaimani province’s town of Darbandikhan.During the event, participants observed a number of the religion's rituals and read some of the faith's texts and core doctrines aloud to attendees. Organizers...

Full title: State Department lawyers removing references to ISIS 'genocide' against Christians, other religious minorities The State Department's top lawyers are systematically removing the word "genocide" to describe the Islamic State's mass slaughter of Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria from speeches before they are delivered and other official documents, according to human rights activists and attorneys familiar with the policies. Additionally, Democratic senators are delaying confirmation of Mark Green, Trump's pick to head the U.S. Agency for International Development who has broad bipartisan support. These efforts guarantee that Obama-era policies that worked to exclude Iraq's...

The Yezidis are now on the move. This has been secretly planned for months. What we now have is a potentially mass exodus from ISIS-controlled Iraq. They have reason to believe that Bulgaria will grant them asylum. However, Turkey, which they must enter and exit on their way to Bulgaria, is giving them trouble. According to my informant Ghulie Khalaf, “There have been clashes between the refugees and the Turkish police. Ten buses are on their way but there are seventeen more buses to be packed but the Turkish guards are stopping them at the border. We want media attention.”

For the last three days, United States and French warplanes have shelled the Sinjar city center and the surrounding areas in northern Iraq. According to sources from Peshmerga forces in the area, as a result of Tuesday night airstrikes on the Yezidi majority town, sixteen Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed along with the destruction of ten IS-stolen Humvees. The Peshmerga source also told BasNews that after the attacks, as an act of revenge, the Islamic insurgents burned about 60 houses in Sinjar. The source also revealed that the Jihadi group has planted IEDs in some neighborhoods in Sinjar....

Pro-ISIS protesters in Germany. Photo: Veooz. COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A German national accused of fighting for the Islamic State (IS/ISIS) in Syria is on trial in Germany, in the first case of its kind. Kreshnik Berisha, a German-born 20-year-old whose parents are originally from Kosovo, faces a prison term of up to 10 years if found guilty. Prosecutor Horst Salzmann wrote in a press release that Berisha “wanted to create a theocracy under Shariah law. He took the oath. He was ready to die for his goals.”  Salzmann said that Berisha traveled to Syria via Turkey in July 2013...

Exhausted mothers. Fathers fearing for their families. Children dying of thirst and hunger. Brand new babies delivered with no medical assistance. Dehydrated elderly. These are just some of the dire circumstances the Yezidi community has faced since being forced to flee their villages for the top of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, after terrorists from the Islamic State attacked them for their religious beliefs Aug. 2.On Aug. 11, thousands of Yezidis braved the 100-degree weather and embarked across the mountain chain in hopes to find refuge in northern Iraq and Syria.Iraqi Army helicopters evacuated small groups of Yezidis and some have escaped...

(CNN) -- The U.S. air strikes carried out Friday against ISIS are likely to have one unintended consequence: immediately increase the terrorist threat in Europe and the United States, Western counter-terrorism officials tell CNN. Within hours of U.S. military jets and drones conducting a strike on ISIS artillery that had been used against Kurdish forces defending Irbil, ISIS supporters called for retaliatory attacks against the United States. "It is a clear message that the war is against Islam and the mujahideen. The mujahideen must strive and seek to execute proactive operations in their own home, America, to discipline America and...

Iraqi MP defends Lucifer10/08/2005 17:55 - (SA) Baghdad - The devil looked in on Iraq's parliament on Wednesday when a member of parliament upbraided Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari for speaking ill of Lucifer. Kameran Khairi Said, a Kurdish MP and a member of the minority Yezidi community that worshipped the peacock angel, also known as Lucifer, angrily interrupted the prime minister during a parliamentary debate. "Mr Prime Minister and ministers, my speaking out might seem strange to you, but we feel insulted when you repeatedly use the expression in your speeches and statements 'God protects us from the devil'. "Each...

The escalation of terrorism against religious places of worship, holy sites and believers in Iraq is causing non-Muslim minorities to flee in ever increasing numbers, threatening their survival, says an independent panel in a letter to President Bush. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, created by Congress to advise the president and secretary of state, said it has urgently requested a meeting with Bush to discuss the "dire" situation.