JERUSALEM – The heads of Jerusalem's Christian churches expressed "serious concern" over an escalation in tensions in Jerusalem's Old City as hostilities remained high following the mid-July shooting deaths of two Israeli policemen and three gunmen on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

WASHINGTON – The president of the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference and two committee chairmen condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the fatal shooting of two Israeli police officers July 14 in Jerusalem's Old City near some of the world's holiest sites.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has looked favourably on His people and redeemed them.”

JERUSALEM – Less than a year after restoration work began, the Edicule – the traditional site of Jesus' burial and resurrection – was inaugurated in an ecumenical ceremony led by representatives of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian churches, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

WASHINGTON – The Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires wise U.S. engagement to build a better future for both peoples, and this future could be endangered by an embassy relocation, the U.S. Catholic bishops told the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican's hopes for a peace-filled world and its defence of the right to religious freedom have supported its consistent position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for 70 years.

JERUSALEM – Except for specific incidents in Egypt and one in Libya, Christians in the Middle East are suffering the same fate as their fellow citizens, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told media in response to a journalist's question at his first Christmas news conference.

Canada’s Catholic bishops have joined forces with the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox bishops in Canada to raise money for restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Four years ago, the co-curators of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s mind-bending new show, “Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven,” visited Theophilos III, that city’s Orthodox patriarch, and solicited his community’s cooperation.

JERUSALEM – Stuart Levy, a nurse at a Jerusalem hospital, updates his ward’s work schedule several times a week, with staffers’ vacations, birthdays and more religious holidays than many people know exist.

JERUSALEM – On a tidy residential street of the Christian Quarter of the Old City, boys still play with marbles along the cobblestones, and neighbours call out to one another from balconies abloom with red carnations.

JERUSALEM - One week after a Christian cemetery was desecrated outside of Jerusalem, two more Christian sites were vandalized in the city.

JERUSALEM - The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the vandalism of seven graves at the Salesians of Don Bosco Beit Jamal monastery outside of Jerusalem and called for more education for respect toward people of different religious backgrounds.

JERUSALEM - Following a week that included Palestinians stabbing Israelis, bloody clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, and despair rising on both sides, the parishioners of St. Saviour Church in the Old City of Jerusalem came to Mass Oct. 19 to pray, mainly for peace.

JERUSALEM - It has been painful to watch as violence has taken over Jerusalem once again, especially along the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus suffered in order to dissuade the use of violence, said Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, Latin Patriarchate chancellor.