The following is a text of a letter from Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr to the pastors of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati urging prayer for peace next Sunday.  “Dear Father, Many of you have heard the repeated calls of our Holy Father to pray for peace in Iraq. Violence there has …

By Doreen Abi Raad Catholic News Service  BEIRUT — Mideast Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs denounced the “total international silence” on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and called for Muslim religious authorities to issue fatwas, or legal edicts, banning attacks against Christians and “other innocents.”

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Given the “grave situation in Iraq,” Pope Francis has asked Cardinal Fernando Filoni to travel to the region to meet church and government officials, but especially to meet Christians chased from their homes by militants of the Islamic State.

By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service  WASHINGTON — Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, in Washington to meet with federal government representatives and members of Congress, decried the “mass cleansing” of Christians from Mosul, Iraq, by what he called “a bed of criminals.”