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In the Arab countries they are fewer and fewer, driven to exodus by growing hostility. An up-to-date map of how many and who they are, three months before the pope's voyage to the Holy Land by Sandro Magister ROME, February 11, 2014 – Behind the scenes preparations are in full swing for the voyage of Pope Francis to the Holy Land, scheduled for May 24-26. When half a century ago Pope VI went to Jerusalem - the first pope in history to do do so - almost all of the holy places of the city were within the boundaries of...

Relaunching of Dialogue with Early Churches That Split After Chalcedon VATICAN CITY, JAN. 27, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Rome is witnessing a new ecumenical development aimed at overcoming a 1,500-year-old schism. Representatives of the early Eastern Churches, separated both from Rome as well as from the Byzantine Orthodox Churches during the Council of Chalcedon, in 451, are in the Vatican through Wednesday, to relaunch a second phase of dialogue leading toward full unity. In the first phase of dialogue, John Paul II and these Christian Churches signed important joint declarations on the nature of Christ, to overcome one of the principal reasons...

June 5, 2002 A NEW CENTURY OF CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM: THE UNTOLD MIDDLE EASTERN CRISIS by Srdja Trifkovic A book that relates the untold story of the murder of 45 million Christians in the 20th century alone has caused controversy in Italy. The author of The New Persecuted: Inquiries into Anti-Christian Intolerance in the New Century of Martyrs, Antonio Socci, has been accused that by raising the issue of Christian suffering in the Muslim world he "demonizes Islam." Socci provides evidence that in the past 2,000 years some 70 million Christians have been killed primarily or exclusively for the reason of...