Gunfire and shouts of jubilation echoed through the streets of Damascus, Syria’s capital, as rebel forces opposed to Bashar Assad’s government took control of the city on Dec. 7 and proclaimed an end to the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty.

Sr. Surabhila’s face glows with joy and an inner serenity that belies her horrific ordeal at the hands of terrorist kidnappers.

A miracle of peace and interreligious harmony in a region deeply wounded by struggle and violence, Bethlehem University, the only Catholic University in the city, offers more than a quality higher education to its students— about 80 percent of whom are Muslims. 

As airstrikes continue to pound southern Lebanon, adding one more catastrophe to the avalanche of tragedies that have pushed its people to the limits of human endurance, churches and humanitarian organizations are urgently seeking help from international donors to provide emergency relief to millions fleeing their homes in desperation.

It’s a long way from Montreal to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. So long that you may never get there. Because your plane might have to fly over some of the most dangerous airspaces in the world. 

A unique research project out of King’s University College in London, Ont., has given a a face and a voice to Yazidis who settled in Canada, a decade after Islamists attempted to eradicate them from this world.

A prolonged economic crisis, exacerbated by the spill-over effects of the war in Gaza, is causing an increasing number of Catholic schools, the mainstay of the education system in Lebanon, to close their doors, say officials of Catholic charities and educators battling to help these institutions to survive.

With the restoration of Cardinal Louis Sako as the official head and patriarch of Iraq’s Chaldean (Eastern rite Catholic) Church, the dwindling Christian minority has reason to hope for a better future in their own homeland, say Church leaders.