French Priest Murdered by ISIS in Church

Details.

Memory eternal!

Report: Catholic Priest Crucified by ISIL on Good Friday

Details are sketchy and the reports appear to be mainly coming from the Austrian press/media who got the news from Cardinal Schönborn. While no formal confirmation has yet come from the Holy See, it has been rumored for a while that ISIL was planning on doing this.

Source

Update: The Indian Government is throwing cold water on the report. Let us pray they are right. Source

Peter Hitchens: Reflection on the British war debate

Robert E. Lee probably didn’t say ‘It is well that war is so terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it’. But his great opponent, William Tecumseh Sherman, almost certainly did say: ’I am tired and sick of fighting –its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands and fathers. It is only those who have never heard a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded and lacerated … that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.’

And a few years afterwards, to graduates of Michigan military academy: ‘I’ve been where you are now and I know just how you feel. It’s entirely natural that there should beat in the breast of every one of you a hope and desire that some day you can use the skill you have acquired here.

'Suppress it! You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is Hell!’

Sherman prosecuted war with merciless vigour and is nobody’s idea of a pacifist. I suspect him of believing (as Prussia’s elite military corps did) that the only mercy in war is a swift victory by one side or the other , an unpleasant truth especially hard to stomach if yours is the side that loses.

Almost all the people I have met who knew about war held opinions similar to Sherman’s.  As a small boy, rather in love with war and its alleged glory,  and as a callow youth, amoral about violence in what I thought was a good cause, I thought them soppy and foolish. And when, without meaning to , I blundered into the edges of a couple of war zones, and heard live firing for the first time, and saw corpses after bullets had passed through them, and dirty, overcrowded hospital wards full of wounded men, and buildings which had been hit by modern munitions,  I very much took that view myself.  I am not a pacifist. I believe war is sometimes necessary, mainly in self-defence - and I absolutely support the training and maintenance of strong and usable armed forces.

But if I by some chance I were an MP, and if I were asked to support a warlike policy, I would need to hear arguments far better than those advanced in Parliament yesterday.  I am amazed at the strange enthusiasm which war still seems to produce in so many adults. I think it immature and naive.  I suppose I must just be very lucky to have known the people I knew, and seen the things I have seen.

Read the rest here.
HT: Dr. Tighe

An excellent read.

Patriarch Younan: IS cannot be defeated with air raids, the West has betrayed Christians

The head of the Syrian Catholic Church, Mar Ignace Youssif III Younan, accuses Western governments of perpetuating an "endless conflict in Syria" out of regional interests. The terrorists who use Islam as an excuse for violence “have already infiltrated Europe, supported by money from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States under the supervision of Western governments." Pope Francis "true defender of justice, is deeply pained by what is happening in Syria and Iraq."

Read the rest here.
HT: A blog reader.

ISIS bulldozes ancient Syrian monastery

ISIS fighters have demolished a monastery in central Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Mar Elian monastery in the town of Qaryatain near Homs, was captured by the terrorists  from the Syrian Army two weeks ago. This week they used bulldozers to raze the holy site,

Mar Elian is also where Fr Jacques Mourad was kidnapped in May. He remains one of six clergy in Syria who have been kidnapped by rebel groups, their fates unknown.

Qaryatain is near a road linking the ancient Roman city of Palmyra, also ISIS-controlled to the Qalamoun mountains on the border with Lebanon.

ISIS has also kidnapped 230 people including dozens of Christian families after taking Qaryatain. Of those captured, 48 had been released and 110 were transferred to Raqqa province, the headquarters of the Islamist group.

From here.

Islamic State Obliterates 10th Century Monastery

The Islamic State (Isis) has blown up a 10th century Chaldean Catholic church north of Mosul and bulldozed a nearby graveyard, according to sources.

Nineveh Yakou , Assyrian Archaeologist and Director of Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Affairs at A Demand for Action, exclusively told IBTimes UK that the Mar Gorgis or George (St George or Markourkas) monastery has been "wiped out" by IS militants.

The building, located on the Ba'werah neighbourhood on a hill north of Mosul on the other side of the Tigris river, was founded by the Assyrian Church of the East on the 10th century but rebuilt as a seminary by the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1846.

Read the rest here.

ISIS 'bulldozed' ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud

(CNN)ISIS has again destroyed cultural treasures, this time bulldozing the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, state-run media said Thursday.

The extent of the destruction wasn't immediately revealed, according to Iraq's state broadcaster Iraqiya TV, which cited the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism.

Nimrud was a city in the Assyrian kingdom, which flourished between 900 B.C. and 612 B.C. The archaeological site is located south of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Read the rest here.

Hostis Humani Generis

Islamic State brutes fed a distraught woman searching for her kidnapped son some meat and rice – and then told her she had just eaten her son, according to a British man who joined the fight against ISIS.

From here.

Reports: ISIS has begun killing Christian prisoners

I am unsure of the reliability of the reports, but given their track record there is no reason to believe that anything other than martyrdom awaits these tragic victims. Through the prayers of the Great and Holy New Martyrs, may God give them the strength to endure their Calvary.

HT: Blog reader John L.

ISIS Burns 8000 Rare Books and Manuscripts

While the world was watching the Academy Awards ceremony, the people of Mosul were watching a different show. They were horrified to see ISIS members burn the Mosul public library. Among the many thousands of books it housed, more than 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts were burned.

Read the rest here.

When compared to their other barbarous crimes the book burning looks pretty trivial. But I have to admit that there is something deep inside me that reacts with visceral horror to the deliberate destruction of books, artifacts and cultural heirlooms.

Coptic Orthodox Pope Canonizes the 21 New Martyrs of Egypt & Libya

The Coptic Orthodox Church has announced that the murder of the 21 Egyptian Christians killed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya will be commemorated in its Church calendar.

Pope Tawadros II announced that the names of the martyrs will be inserted into the Coptic Synaxarium, the Oriental Church’s equivalent to the Roman Martyrology. This procedure is also equivalent to canonization in the Latin Church.
 
According to terrasanta.net, the martyrdom of the 21 Christians will be commemorated on the 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar, or February 15th of the Gregorian calendar. The commemoration falls on the feast day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

Read the rest here.

Well that was quick. But honestly, sometimes there is just no need for prolonged hearings and investigations. Great New Martyrs of Egypt and Libya pray for us!

Islamic State 'planning to use Libya as gateway to Europe'

Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a "gateway" to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group's supporters have revealed.

The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.

The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping. 

Read the rest here.

Good morning Europe, this is your wake up call. May I suggest you skip the De-Caf and take you coffee straight this morning. I think you are going to need it.

Captured Pilot Burned Alive by ISIS

Savages.

Jordan threatens to execute all Islamic State prisoners if pilot killed

Jordan has threatened to execute all of its Islamic State prisoners if militants kill Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh.

Government officials warned that Sajida al-Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber, and other jailed Islamic State commanders would be “quickly judged and sentenced” in retaliation for the pilot’s death, The Daily Mail reported Friday.

The warning comes after a deadline for a possible prisoner swap allegedly set by Islamic State militants passed Thursday with no word on the fate of Mr. al-Kaseasbeh or Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.

Read the rest here.

I have no idea if this will influence ISIS or not. But I suspect it is more likely to get their attention than a threat to lodge a formal complaint with the International Court in the Hague. Before the Great War the laws of war were respected, or not, with the fairly clear understanding that gross breaches by one side were  likely to lead to retaliation by the other. In other words, it was understood that the laws of war were not a one way street and that very real consequences would almost certainly attend any deliberate abuse.

For some odd reason this seems to have been a more effective system than what we have in place today. Namely a court that could not adjudicate a parking ticket in less than decade and one that exercises very little real jurisdiction because most war criminals aren't in custody and don't ever expect that to change.

ISIS Destroys Memorial & Church of Armenian Genocide in Der Zor, Syria

Fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS) reportedly desecrated and blew up the Armenian Genocide memorial complex in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, near the site where vast numbers of Armenian refugees were forced to march to their deaths in the early 20th century. 

The Church, located in al-Rashidyeh neighborhood, was built in 1989-1990, and consecrated a year later. 

The Armenian Genocide Memorial Church contains the remains of victims of the Armenian Genocide collected from the Syrian desert and has served as a pilgrimage site for Armenians worldwide, and every year, on April 24, special commemoration ceremonies attended by thousands of people would be held at the site. 

Read the rest here.

US and allies launch heavy air strikes on ISIS

The United States and several Middle East partners pounded Islamic State targets in Syria Tuesday with waves of warplanes and Tomahawk cruise missiles in an aggressive and risky operation marking a new phase in the conflict.

A statement issued by the U.S. Central Command early Tuesday said that a “mix of fighter, bomber, remotely-piloted aircraft and Tomahawk” cruise missiles destroyed or damaged multiple Islamic State targets in Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than three years.

The U.S. statement said “partner nations,” including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, “participated in or supported” the operation, although it provided no details. The involvement of these regional allies are key for the legitimacy and logistics of the operation.

Read the rest here.

ISIS May Be Targeting Pope Francis

Pope Francis is at risk of an assassination attempt by the Islamic extremists of Isil, the Vatican has been warned, ahead of his first visit to a Muslim-majority country this weekend.

As the 77-year-old pontiff prepares to travel to Albania on Sunday for a one-day visit, Iraq's ambassador to the Holy See said there were credible threats against the pontiff's life.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church could also be vulnerable when he travels to Turkey in November, the ambassador said.

Read the rest here.