ISIS

The Latest

The president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka.

South African bishop decries government inaction on alleged ISIS operations

Aug 12, 2024

By Silas Isenjia

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka said the group is destructive based on its activities in Mozambique and Nigeria. Read more

Father Martin Banni in front of St. Barbara’s Shrine carrying the Eucharist on Liberation Day in 2016.

Iraqi priest recounts night of exodus, ISIS invasion a decade later

Aug 7, 2024

By Georgena Habbaba

For Father Martin Banni, pastor of St. Korkis Chaldean Church in Karamlesh, Iraq, the memories of Aug. 6, 2014, remain... Read more

Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako presides over the dedication ceremony of the altar of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mosul, Iraq. April 5, 2024.

As new altar is consecrated at destroyed Iraq church, former parishioner recalls ‘wonderful days’

Apr 18, 2024

By Zoe Romanowsky

Georgena Habbaba says her eyes filled with tears to see her childhood parish and school in Mosul, Iraq, reconstructed and... Read more

CNA

Kidnapped by ISIS, priest in Iraq recounts story of facing fear with faith

Apr 14, 2024

By Georgena Habbaba

A Syriac Catholic priest in Mosul opens up about his nine-day kidnapping ordeal. Read more

Bishop Massimiliano Palinuro arrives at the Jan. 29, 2024, funeral of Tuncer Murat Cihan, 52, who was murdered during Sunday Mass at Santa Maria Italian Church on Jan. 28 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Victim of Istanbul attack was a Muslim who often went to Catholic Mass

Jan 31, 2024

By Courtney Mares

The sole victim of Sunday’s attack on a Catholic church in Istanbul was a Muslim man who regularly attended Mass,... Read more

Duha Sabah Abdullah, the mother of David Abdullah, who was killed when ISIS shelled the Catholic city of Qaraqosh in Aug 6, 2014, meeting Pope Francis in March, 2021 in Iraq.

Remembering the night the ‘city of Christians’ fell to ISIS in Iraq

Aug 6, 2023

By ACI MENA

Aug. 6 marks the ninth anniversary of the fall of Qaraqosh, a city that was almost entirely Catholic and where... Read more

French President Emmanuel Macron tours Our Lady of the Hour Church in Mosul, Iraq, Aug. 29, 2021.

French president visits Catholic church in Iraq damaged by ISIS

Aug 31, 2021

By Courtney Mares

Emmanuel Macron toured Our Lady of the Hour Church in Mosul. Read more

Fr. Jacques Hamel.

Fr. Jacques Hamel: Catholic priest honored 5 years after he was killed at Mass in terrorist attack

Jul 26, 2021

By CNA Staff

Islamic State supporters killed the French priest on July 26, 2016. Read more

Christian refugees iving in an abandoned mall in Lebanon.

Christian refugees in Lebanon live in abandoned mall amid economic crisis

Jul 9, 2021

By Courtney Mares

An NGO has documented the harsh living conditions. Read more

Fr. Jacques Hamel.

Probe into Fr. Jacques Hamel’s murder shows attackers’ links to ISIS

Jul 7, 2021

By Courtney Mares

The priest was killed at Mass on July 26, 2016. Read more

Pope Francis greets Secretary Antony Blinken at the Vatican on June 28, 2021.

Pope Francis meets Secretary Antony Blinken at Vatican

Jun 28, 2021

By Courtney Mares

Secretary Blinken and Pope Francis discussed China, as well as "the humanitarian crises in Lebanon, Syria, the Tigray region of... Read more

Funeral Mass in Nigeria

‘This thing’s going to blow up on us’: The religious extremism fueling violence in Nigeria

May 14, 2021

By Matt Hadro

Escalating bloodshed in Nigeria is fueled in part by religious extremism – and the United States must recognize this in... Read more

The national flag of Egypt.

Coptic Orthodox Christian executed by ISIS affiliates in Egypt

Apr 21, 2021

By Hannah Brockhaus

In a video, 62-year-old Nabil Habashy Salama can be seen being killed by a gunshot Read more

Chalice desecrated by ISIS.

Chalice shot by ISIS militants to be displayed in Spanish churches

Aug 28, 2020

As part of an effort to remember and pray for persecuted Christians, several churches in the Diocese of Málaga, Spain... Read more

Chaldean Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph in Ankawa, Iraq.

Iraqi prime minister tells Christians to come home, but is it safe?

Aug 21, 2020

By Matt Hadro

The Iraqi prime minister has encouraged Christians to come home—but  Catholic leaders and aid agencies say without stability and economic... Read more

The Church of Mar Behnam and Mart Sarah in Qaraqosh, Iraq celebrates Christmas Mass Dec. 25, 2018 before the church's renovation.

‘Life after ISIS’: Christians are leaving Iraq due to ongoing security concerns

Jul 7, 2020

By Courtney Mares

More Christian families left the Nineveh Plains than returned to their hometowns last year amid ongoing security concerns in the... Read more

Cardinal Pietro Parolin gives an intervention during a panel discussion hosted by Hungary at the UN General Assembly in NYC, Sept. 27, 2019.

At UN, Holy See requests increased aid for Middle Eastern Christians

Sep 28, 2019

As displaced Christians return to their homes in the Middle East, the Vatican Secretary of State encouraged U.N. representatives Friday... Read more

Refugees flee the Syrian Civil War in 2015.

Rebuilding broken hearts: A Syrian sister’s prayer for her country

Jan 31, 2019

By Courtney Mares

As the people of Syria work to rebuild the cities, hospitals, homes, and schools that were destroyed through years of... Read more

A center for internally displaced persons, most of whom are Christians, in Dawodiya, Iraq, April 10, 2016.

Trump signs law to aid Christians in Iraq, Syria

Dec 11, 2018

By Christine Rousselle

President Donald Trump signed into law Tuesday the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act, which seeks to ensure... Read more

Monastery of St. Paul First Hermit, Egypt.

At least seven Christians killed in attack on bus in Egypt

Nov 2, 2018

At least seven Coptic Christians were killed and 12 more injured in Egypt when a bus traveling to a desert... Read more