Nuncios speak for IS victims

Christians driven from their homes by terrorists from the Islamic State (IS) must be given the right to return to their homes and the freedom to practise their religion, the Vatican’s Middle East experts have declared, write Hannah Roberts and Ellen Teague.

Fundamentalist jihadis now control vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. The papal nuncios of Syria, Jordan-Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Egypt and Turkey last week gathered at the Pope’s Domus Sanctae Marthae residence in the Vatican, to discuss how the Church can help persecuted Christians and other groups. The participants issued a statement saying: “One cannot be silent, nor the international community remain inactive, in the face of the massacre of persons merely because of their religion or ethnicity, in the face of decapitations and crucifixions of human beings in public squares, in the face of the exodus of thousands of persons and the destruction of places of worship.”