Iraq awaits Pope Francis and prays that his visit may not only happen but also bear fruits of dialogue and peace among the people, long-tried by violence and divisions. The strife-torn nation continues to experience tensions not only along its border with Syria but also within, from Nasiriyah to the area of ​​Mosul, which was the capital of the 'Islamic State' between 2014 and 2017.

JERUSALEM - The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for the year 2021 in Jerusalem has been postponed, as a result of the COVID-19 imposed restrictions. The annual event, which takes place in January after the Armenian Church’s celebration of Epiphany, will be celebrated at the time of Pentecost in May.

The community of Grandchamp in Switzerland is a monastic community that brings together sisters from different churches and countries. It is this community that has provided the theme for this year’s “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," and that offers the daily reflections and texts that aim to nurture closer communion with one’s brothers and sisters in Christ and greater solidarity with the whole of creation.

Pope Francis explained that this year the theme highlights "Jesus' request that we abide in His love so that we might bear much fruit". He went on to note that the week will conclude on 25 January with the celebration of Vespers in the Basilica of St Paul's Outside-the-Walls in Rome, "together with the representative of the other Churches and Christian communities in Rome".

Lord our God, grant Pope Francis health and safety to carry out successfully this eagerly awaited visit. Bless his effort to promote dialogue, enhance fraternal reconciliation, build confidence, consolidate peace values and human dignity, especially for us Iraqis who have been through painful “events” that affected our lives.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has been jointly organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity of the Roman Catholic Church since 1968.

“A society is all the more human to the degree that it cares effectively for its most frail and suffering members, in a spirit of fraternal love.” Pope Francis makes the point in his message for this year's World Day of the Sick.

For the occasion of Christmas, new year and Epiphany, the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem gathered via Zoom yesterday morning, 11 January, to greet and wish well for each other, as His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III shared his hopes for a global relief from the current pandemic.

The health situation caused by Covid-19 continues to forces changes on daily life, which are also reflected in the Church’s sphere.

Muqtada al Sadr establishes committee to examine claims of illegal expropriation from Christian Iraqis.

Greetings to you from Copenhagen in this Epiphany season! As we celebrate the arrival of the magi to visit the baby Jesus, I am reflecting on our own journeys over the year that has just concluded and thinking about the future that is before us as 2021 dawns.

Given the special importance of Artsakh, as well as the ramifications of the recent war, which have raised great concerns, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia has designation 2021 as the “Year of Artsakh,” the Catholicosate’s press service announced on Wednesday.

With unanimous vote in the General Assembly, February 4 becomes the International Day of Human Fraternity.

Can we communicate by listening? We live in a time when it seems that if we do not have the last word we have "lost out" in communicating. It is something we see every day on television talk shows and in debates between politicians.

Diecisiete años después de la caída de Saddam Hussein, la fraccionada nación iraquí –dividida en su mayoría entre musulmanes sunitas, chiítas y kurdos– sigue sin poder acordar un día nacional.

Pero pudieron ponerse de acuerdo sobre la Navidad.

En su mensaje para el Día Mundial de la Paz de la Iglesia Católica, el Papa Francisco hace un llamamiento a la comunidad internacional y a cada individuo para que fomenten una "cultura del cuidado" avanzando por el "camino de la fraternidad, de la justicia y de la paz entre los individuos, las comunidades, los pueblos y las naciones".

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen. I congratulate and greet you for the beginning of the New Year, 2021, and for the glorious Feast of the Nativity. And when we begin a new year we begin it with joy and hope, for we know that the Eye of God is upon us from the very beginning of the year, knowing that it is God who leads our steps, knowing that God is the Ruler over all.

Unfortunately, our world and our country are witnessing a frantic and sometimes an armed race for power and money, rather than providing services. There is no real peace unless we get rid of this “fatal” selfishness in order to consolidate true fraternity among us. Peace is an essential and ultimate goal for every human being, and without it there is no stable life and no progress.

In his message for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, Pope Francis appeals to the international community and every individual to foster a “culture of care” by advancing on the “path of fraternity, justice and peace between individuals, communities, peoples and nations.”

In the midst of the difficulties we are experiencing this year, Christmas comes to remind us that God is present among us. He assumed our humanity, was incarnated and born for the sake of our salvation, to renew our nature and restore us to the dignity of His children, assuring us of eternal life.