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Pope Francis raises concerns over Christian safety
Pope Francis arrived in Baghdad on Friday for a three-day visit to Iraq, undeterred by suggestions that his trip might fuel a surge in coronavirus cases, undaunted by the precarious security situation and committed to offering support to a Christian community decimated by years of war.
It’s the first trip Francis has embarked on since the pandemic swept the world and the first time a head of the Roman Catholic Church has visited the country.
The journey promises to be as rich in symbolism as it is fraught with risk.
“I am happy to travel again,” the pope said, taking off his blue surgical mask to address reporters en route to Iraq. His Alitalia flight was accompanied by U.S. aircraft from the Ayn al Asad military base after entering Iraqi airspace.
By choosing Iraq as his first destination since the pandemic began, Francis waded directly into the issues of war and peace, and poverty and religious strife, in an ancient biblical land.
“This trip is emblematic,” he said, calling it “a duty to a land martyred for many years.”
He was welcomed by a small color guard and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
The pope left the airport complex in a black BMW, his window rolled down. He waved as he passed a small group of faithful waving Iraqi and Vatican flags behind a metal fence on the side of the highway.
The pope’s vehicle was surrounded by a police motorcycle escort as he drove past miles of concrete blast walls that were put up during Iraq’s sectarian violence.
After 2003, the road was one of the most dangerous in Baghdad, with frequent roadside bombs and suicide car bombs. Those are now in the past, and palm trees planted to beautify the road greet visitors.
As he arrived at the presidential palace, the pope’s car was flanked by members of Iraqi security forces on horseback. Francis emerged from that car, limping noticeably as he made his way along a red carpet.
The pope is known to suffer from sciatica, which he told reporters in 2013 was the worst thing that had happened to him in his early days as pope.
It was the start of what promised to be an arduous journey that will take the 84-year-old pontiff to battle-scarred churches and desert pilgrimage sites.
In an area known as the cradle of civilization, the modern history of Mesopotamia — now present-day Iraq — has been scarred by lasting hardship: three decades of despotic rule, followed by nearly two decades of war and a wave of carnage unleashed by the Islamic State.
Once a rich tapestry of faiths, Iraq has been hollowed out as orthodoxies hardened. Its Jews are almost completely gone, and its Christian community grows smaller every year. About one million have fled since the 2003 United States-led invasion. An estimated 500,000 remain.
That backdrop makes the pope’s visit on Saturday to the ancient city of Ur — traditionally held to be the birthplace of Abraham, who is revered by Muslims, Jews and Christians alike — all the more powerful.
To that end, his trip carries a motto from the Gospel of Matthew: “You are all brothers.”
But the pope’s agenda also casts a spotlight on the terrible toll wrought when divisions harden and violence takes over.
On Friday evening he met with priests, bishops and others at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. Just over a decade ago, the church came under assault when attackers unleashed fusillade of grenades, bullets and suicide vests. At least 58 people were killed in the assault, which was carried out by an affiliate of Al Qaeda.
It was far from the deadliest massacre in the country, where tens of thousands of Muslims have died in war and sectarian fighting, but the attack tore at the heart of the Christian community.
An image of Francis is painted on the blast walls that now ring Our Lady of Salvation.
Francis made it clear that after Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI had to scuttle plans to visit the remaining Christians in the country, he would not cancel his own trip.
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കാത്തിരിപ്പ് സമയം വെട്ടിക്കുറയ്ക്കും; ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് ആശ്വാസമായി 2025-ൽ പുതിയ യുഎസ് വിസ നിയമനം
യുഎസിൽ ജോലി ചെയ്യാനും യാത്ര ചെയ്യാനും ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്ന ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് പുതുവർഷം ആശ്വാസം പകരും. 2025 ജനുവരി 1 മുതൽ, ഇന്ത്യയിലെ യുഎസ് എംബസി, നോൺ-ഇമിഗ്രൻ്റ് വിസ അപ്പോയിൻ്റ്‌മെൻ്റുകൾ ഷെഡ്യൂൾ ചെയ്യുന്നതിനും റീഷെഡ്യൂൾ ചെയ്യുന്നതിനുമുള്ള പുതിയ നിയന്ത്രണങ്ങൾ അവതരിപ്പിക്കും.
ഡിപ്പാർട്ട്മെൻ്റ് ഓഫ് ഹോംലാൻഡ് സെക്യൂരിറ്റി (DHS) H-1B വിസ പ്രക്രിയ നവീകരിക്കുന്നതിനുള്ള പുതിയ നിയമങ്ങൾ വെളിപ്പെടുത്തിയതിന് തൊട്ടുപിന്നാലെയാണ് ഈ പ്രഖ്യാപനം.
രണ്ട് പ്രഖ്യാപനങ്ങളും ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് അനുകൂലമാണ്, കൂടാതെ നടപടിക്രമങ്ങൾ കാര്യക്ഷമമാക്കാനും അപേക്ഷകരുടെ നീണ്ട കാത്തിരിപ്പ് സമയം കുറയ്ക്കാനും ലക്ഷ്യമിടുന്നു.
Sources:azchavattomonline.com
ചിക്കാഗോ: ചിക്കാഗോ ലേഡീസ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പിന്റെ രണ്ടു വര്‍ഷത്തെ കോര്‍ഡിനേറ്ററായി സിസ്റ്റര്‍ മോളി എബ്രഹാമിനേയും, ജോയിന്റ് കോര്‍ഡിനേറ്ററായി സിസ്റ്റര്‍ ഗ്രേസി തോമസിനേയും തെരഞ്ഞെടുത്തു.
സിസ്റ്റര്‍ മിനി ജോണ്‍സന്റെയും,സിസ്റ്റര്‍ റോസമ്മ തോമസിന്റെയും പ്രവര്‍ത്തന കാലാവധി പൂര്‍ത്തിയായതിനെ തുടര്‍ന്നണ് പുതിയ ഭാരവാഹികളെ തെരഞ്ഞെടുത്തത്.ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ഓഫ് പെന്തക്കോസ്തല്‍ ചര്‍ച്ചസ് ഇന്‍ ചിക്കാഗോയുടെ കണ്‍വീനര്‍ ഡോ.വില്ലി എബ്രഹാമിന്റെ ഭാര്യയാണ് മോളി എബ്രഹാം.ഗുഡ് ഷെപ്പേര്‍ഡ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്‍ച്ചിലെ അംഗമാണ്.
ഗില്‍ഗാല്‍ പെന്തക്കോസ്തല്‍ അസംബ്ലിയിലെ സീനിയര്‍ ശുശ്രൂഷകന്‍ പാസ്റ്റര്‍ സാം തോമസിന്റെ ഭാര്യയാണ് ജോയിന്റ് കണ്‍വീനറായ ഗ്രേസി തോമസ്.
Sources:onlinegoodnews
An Israeli entrepreneur on a mission to highlight biblical artifacts has brought his “treasures from the Holy Land” to America.
Oded Golan’s “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” experience opened Dec. 3 at Atlanta’s Pullman Yards, with hundreds of ancient artifacts surrounding the New Testament on display.
“We are bringing [a] once-in-a-lifetime experience to people to look at items that they will probably not have other opportunities to see,” Golan recently told CBN News. “The 350 items that are presented here, most of them are from the time of Christ. They were all found in the Holy Land in Israel, and they are telling the stories that are mentioned in the New Testament, but in first hand.”
He added, “You’re almost touching the history.”
Golan said some of the items are related to Jesus’ family or people living during his lifetime. These elements allow people to explore life during biblical times, seeing the behaviors and practices that unfolded during the New Testament era.
Already, audiences are loving the experience, Golan said, noting that giving a lens into the past illuminates knowledge and understanding.
“It doesn’t change faith, it doesn’t change belief, but it changed, somehow, how do you feel and how do you see the stories that are mentioned in the Bible — in the New Testament,” he said.
Golan’s story is a fascinating one, as he started collecting antiquities when he was just a child.
What started as a passion project grew into something much more — a collection he calls the “biggest and largest … in the world of biblical archaeology items.”
“When I was young, even, you know, until the age of 16, 17, I had in mind that I should be an archaeologist one day,” he said. “But … in life it was changed … but I kept archaeology as a hobby.”
And that hobby grew as he traveled all over the Holy Land and collected artifacts — relics he brings to audiences in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.”
“In this exhibition, we present only items that came from a very short period of time,” Golan said. “We are talking about the early first century AD, the time of Jesus. A few items are from the 3rd, 4th, 5th century because this was the time when the first churches emerged — the cradle of Christianity.”
He believes audiences will be captivated regardless of their age or religious beliefs.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, and what [religion] you are, and how strong [a] believer you are,” Golan said. “It’s fantastic.”
The entrepreneur also made international headlines in 2012 when he was on trial after being accused by the Israel Antiquities Authority of forging an inscription on the James ossuary, a stone relic believed to hold the bones of Jesus’ brother, James.
He was acquitted after a seven-year legal battle. The ossuary, which has been a source of contention, has an Aramaic line that reads, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Proponents argue that the inscription pointed to evidence of Christ’s brother, James.
Ultimately, Golan was absolved of the most serious charges surrounding manufacturing elements of this inscription, among other serious charges. Some have since defended the authenticity of the artifact’s inscription, which would be the earliest reference to Jesus. Read more about the history of the matter.
Golan referred to this case while explaining he was in the “later stage” of his life – over the age of 50 — when he read the New Testament for the first time and started to understand it. Wanting to better comprehend the ossuary in his collection, he turned to the text for understanding.
Speaking about the James ossuary, he heralded the importance of the find, which is included in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.” He’s hoping the collection inspires visitors to think more deeply about the past.
“You’re touching the history — almost physically,” Golan reiterated. “And that makes … a big difference compared to any other kind of exhibition. And, as I mentioned, it’s not only the artifact exhibition. It has much more than that.”
After the Atlanta run, Golan hopes to bring “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” to other cities across America.
Sources:faithwire
കാത്തിരിപ്പ് സമയം വെട്ടിക്കുറയ്ക്കും; ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് ആശ്വാസമായി 2025-ൽ പുതിയ യുഎസ് വിസ നിയമനം
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