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Last Updated: 07 August 2015

CWN - An Eritrean priest and religious sister have called upon Europeans to have compassion upon the refugees that have made a dangerous journey across the desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

“When mentioning Eritrea, we talk only about people who are coming to Europe, but not about what they are fleeing from,” Father Mussie Zerai told La Stampa’s Vatican Insider, which cited “systematic violations of fundamental freedoms, the repression of any and all dissent, no election (the former guerrilla leader Isaias Afewerki has been in power in Asmara since 1993), a compulsory military service that is extended for years turning into forced labor, [and] a surveillance system so capillary as to bring anyone under suspicion as a potential spy.”

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Last Updated: 07 August 2015

Philadelphia, PA – On Wednesday, August 5, 2015, His Eminence STEFAN (Soroka), Metropolitan-Archbishop of Philadelphia celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center during the 133rd Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus. The Divine Liturgy was televised live by EWTN and is available on-demand at the following link:

http://www.catholictv.com/shows/knights-columbus/divine-liturgy-133rd-supreme-convention

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Last Updated: 06 August 2015

CWN - One year after Iraqi Christian refugees fleeing the Islamic State began to arrive in Jordan, Pope Francis has written a letter decrying the persecution of Christians.

In an August 6 letter to Bishop Maroun Lanham, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem’s vicar for Jordan, Pope Francis lamented the “atrocious, inhumane, and inexplicable persecution” of Christians, victims of “intolerance and fanaticism” in the face of the “silence” of the international community.

“They are the martyrs of today, humiliated and discriminated against because of their fidelity to the Gospel,” the Pontiff added, as he called for daily prayers for the refugees and gratitude for their witness.

Pope Francis also thanked communities that did not “look the other way” but instead assisted the refugees.

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Last Updated: 06 August 2015

CWN - Catholic prelates from Iraq and Syria charged that US immigration officials are discriminating against Christian refugees from the Middle East.

Speaking in Philadelphia to the national convention of the Knights of Columbus (KofC), Archbishops Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq, and Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Aleppo reported that only a tiny number of Christian refugees have been approved for visas to come to the US; Muslim refugees have been approved at a significantly higher rate. “Our people are asking these questions: How come we apply for the American visa and are denied,” Archbishop Warda said.

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Last Updated: 06 August 2015

CWN - Turkish warplanes have crossed into Iraqi territory to bomb Kurdish separatists, causing deep concern among Iraqi Christian refugees.

Last year, thousands of Iraq’s Christians fled to Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq, to escape the advance of the Islamic State.

“At night, from the village of Komane, we can see Turkish planes bomb the Kurdish mountains,” said Chaldean Catholic Bishop Rabban Al-Qas of Amadiyah (Amedi) and Zaku. “Villagers and Christian refugees are scared.”

The prelate called for “direct international pressure” on the Turkish government to stop the bombing.

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Last Updated: 06 August 2015

CWN - Twenty years after the Croatian army decisively won the War of Croatian Independence, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church lamented the final battle as a “tragedy of biblical proportions.”

Patriarch Irinej of Serbia denounced the “grave crime committed by our brothers in faith” and noted the “common historical ties … with the small difference that we are Orthodox and they are Roman Catholics.”

The Serbs, he added, are not a genocidal people: “such an image is far from what we really are.”