BEIRUT – In Easter messages, Catholic patriarchs in the Middle East deplored the widespread carnage and suffering, yet affirmed the presence of Christians in the region by calling upon their faithful to carry on with hope.

WASHINGTON – The next few months will determine whether Iraqi Christians can return to their homes in areas where Islamic State had been routed, according to Msgr. John E. Kozar, international president of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.

IRBIL, Iraq – The Chaldean Catholic patriarch is supporting a more than 80-mile peace march during Holy Week to urge an end to violence in his homeland and throughout the Middle East.

Amid a backdrop of the historical Christian village of Alqosh in the Nineveh Plains in Iraq, Athra Kado passionately talked about protecting his Assyrian people as a soldier of the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit.

VATICAN CITY – Given the ongoing crises in the Middle East, North American, European and other Western nations will need to be more generous in coming to the aid of refugees and displaced peoples, said two prominent church leaders.

AL-UM-KUNDUN, Jordan – Catholic leaders have expressed concern for tens of thousands of Iraqi Christian refugees sheltering in Jordan as access to international aid tightens with crises deepening in the Middle East and elsewhere.

CAIRO, Egypt – A spike in attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt, spurred by a video threat from ISIS, has drawn the prayers and concern of advocates, who are urging global leaders to take notice.

OXFORD, England – A spokesman for Egypt's Catholic Church praised local Muslims for helping embattled Christians after a series of Islamic State attacks in Sinai.

AMMAN, Jordan – Jerusalem Bishop William Shomali, newly appointed to the Latin Patriarchate of Jordan, says that although Christians are a very small minority in Jordan, through the Catholic schools, hospitals and charities their presence is strongly felt in the communities.

MONTREAL – A Quebec priest best known in English Canada for composing the anthem for World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, has released the second edition of a CD to draw attention to the plight of Christians who are being persecuted for their faith.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' private audience with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas this Jan. 14 will be a delicate diplomatic moment for the Holy See.

MOSUL, Iraq – As villages on Iraq’s Nineveh Plain are liberated from Islamic State forces, the Christians who lived there have returned, only to find destruction and betrayal.

BEIRUT – Lamenting the exodus of Christians from their ancestral homelands, Catholic patriarchs of the Middle East pleaded for peace and security in their annual Christmas messages.

WASHINGTON – As Christians in the Middle East look back on 2016, they wonder if there will be much to celebrate amid mounting challenges, particularly for those displaced by conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

DAMASCUS – Fr. Alejandro León is a Salesian missionary who has lived more than 13 years in the Middle East, and in Syria since 2011 – precisely when its civil war began. He has said that being there during the war is “ a sign of mercy and the love of God,” even though it involves risking his own life and often being close to death.