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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWNews.com - Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked four non-Muslim villages in central Nigeria on January 10 and 11, killing 18 and burning down a church and over a dozen houses. Soldiers reportedly collaborated in the attack.
“The dramatic news from Nigeria, where once again innocent lives have been destroyed by attacks targeting the Christian community, shows that the phenomenon of religious intolerance is widespread and of a vast scale,” said Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini.
“The attackers used weapons including guns, machetes, daggers, bows and arrows to attack their victims who were reportedly taken unawares,” according to a Nigerian press account.
Attacks on Christians in Jos on Christmas Eve claimed the lives of 84.
15% of Nigeria’s 146.5 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics. 25% are Protestant, 50% are Muslim, and 10% retain indigenous beliefs.
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CWNews.com - Less than two weeks after a church bombing in Alexandria left 21 Coptic Christians dead, an off-duty policeman shot four Christians on a train, killing a 71-year-old man. A fifth person was also wounded.
“This lunatic went up and down the coach looking for Christians,” said Coptic Orthodox Bishop Morcos of Shobra El-Kheima, who had spoken with witnesses to the shooting. “Seeing a group of girls and women who were not wearing the [Islamic’ veil, he took them for Christians and fired, shouting Allahu Akbar [Allah is great].”
The new attack on Christians came just after the Egyptian government announced that it was recalling its ambassador from the Holy See, in a protest against the Pope's statement that the country must do more to protect Christians. Before returning to Cairo the ambassador, Lamia Aly Hamada Mekhemar, met with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States.
A Vatican statement after the meeting said that the Egyptian envoy “described the concerns of her government at this present difficult time.” The statement indicated that Archbishop Mamberti “gave assurances that the it also fully shares the Egyptian government's concern to avoid the escalation of religiously motivated conflict and tensions, and appreciates the efforts being made to that end.”
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CWNews.com - The government of Egypt has recalled its ambassador to the holy See, in protest against Pope Benedict's charge that Egypt had not done enough to protect Christians from mob violence.
In his annual address to the Vatican diplomatic corps, delivered on January 10, Pope Benedict decried the attacks on Christians in Iraq, Egypt, and Nigeria in recent days, saying that governments must provide security for Christians. Egypt's foreign ministry said that the Pope's remarks were "an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs."
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"When we think about the New Year, we should ask the Lord for the gifts which he grants us be accepted with an open heart," the head of the UGCC Patriarch Lubomyr said on December 31 at a thanksgiving prayer in the Annunciation of the Mother of God Church in Kyiv.
"Everything that happened last year was the will of God,” the patriarch said as he explained to the faithful why there is so much emphasis on gratitude. “If we used God's gifts, we must thank the Lord for giving us strength to use this good in favor of God."
The head of the church said we can evaluate what is happening in the public, but only we know what’s going on in our hearts: "When we want to make a summary of the year, each of us has to do it on our own. We have to ask ourselves how we used it. We have to thank God and when necessary apologize to Him," said the head of the UGCC.
"On the eve the New Year, we ask ourselves how the New Year will be,” continued His Beatitude Lubomyr. “The Lord does nothing to our detriment, because he is the Good Father.”
The patriarch called the faithful to refrain from activity that would waste the great gift which God gives to us.
The patriarch concluded his speech with a wish for everyone to learn to thank God for everything He gives us.
Information Department of the UGCC
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CWNews.com - Amid tight security-- 70,000 policemen were stationed at Coptic churches throughout Egypt, and cars were banned from parking in front of churches-- the nation’s Coptic Christians commemorated Christmas Eve on January 6, less than a week after a church bombing killed 21 and injured over 100.
Hundreds of Muslims-- including two sons of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak-- stood around Coptic churches to act as "human shields," protecting against attacks. Mohamed el Sawy, a wealthy art dealer who organized the effort, explained that the terrorist attacks on Christians were an affront to all Egyptians. "We either live together or we die together," he said.
“I would like to condole our sons in Alexandria for the martyrdom of a large number of innocent people, who had committed no sin,” said Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, during the solemn liturgy at his cathedral.
Observers reported that the attendance at services was high. “Whatever happens I must go to church,” one Coptic Orthodox layman told BBC. “If they try to shoot me or blow me up, I will still go because this is my religion. It is the birthday of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
An explosive device was found at a church in Minya, a suburb of Cairo.
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CWNews.com - Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople met on January 6 with the deputy prime minister of Turkey. It was the first meeting between the Ecumenical Patriarch and a Turkish government official since 1952.
For years the government of Turkey has refused to recognize the Patriarchate of Constantinople as anything more than a local religious community. But in November, a landmark court ruling required the government to recognize the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a legal institution with international standing.
Bulent Arinc, the official who met with Patriarch Bartholomew, said that he hoped the visit would “mark the beginning of a new era.” He said that the government looked upon the Orthodox hierarchy at Phanar as an important group of Turkish citizens “who have a centuries-old presence in these lands."