faith diplomacy
Israeli and Palestinian presidents meet in an unprecedented prayer meeting with Pope Francis on Sunday, a gesture he hopes will “re-create a desire, a possibility” of eventually re-launching the Middle East’s stalled peace process.
Watch CBS' latest story on Pope Francis' 3-day trip to the Middle East, a strong Faith Diplomacy initiative that attempts to stabilize the position of the Christian population in the region.
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will meet with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to pray for peace on June 8. The pontiff extended the invitation to President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas when he was on his official visit to the Holy Land earlier this week.
Turkish faith-based NGOs are harnessing a positive image for Turkey in recipient countries.
Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has decided to pay the wages of imams in flood-hit Bosnia-Herzegovina, in addition to restoring mosques and other religious service buildings that have been damaged in the flood.“At the moment, the number of damaged mosques is over 10. Among them, there is the Recep Yazıcıoğlu Mosque in Maglaj, which was built by Turkey. These mosques need to be rebuilt,” Deputy Director-General of the Diyanet Foundation (TDV) Mustafa Tutkun told state-run Anadolu Agency on May 25.
Israel's police chief has vowed that Jewish extremists will not be allowed to spoil the upcoming visit of Pope Francis by vandalising Christian holy places. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem on Sunday, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said a group of "extreme elements" were attempting "to create pressure and the impression of pressure" ahead of the pontiff's visit, which begins on May 25. Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions, prompting widespread expressions of concern from Christian leaders."We will do everything to ensure they won't ha
Hours after a Sudanese court sentenced his pregnant wife to death when she refused to recant her Christian faith, her husband told CNN he feels helpless. "The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion, is abhorrent and should never be even considered," Manar Idriss, Amnesty International's Sudan researcher, said in a statement.