Amy Balog, Author at ZENIT - English

Articles By Amy Balog

Nigeria: more than 400 people died in one state alone in 2023 due to anti-Christian persecution

Extremists murdered 414 people and injured, raped or kidnapped almost 100 more in Benue State last year, according to a report sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by Makurdi Diocese’s Foundation for Justice, Development and Peace.

Jan 25, 2024 23:40

Amy Balog

Local Church•Persecuted Christians

6 kidnapped nuns freed in Haiti

The Sisters of Saint Anne and their two companions were held captive for five days after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on Friday, 19th January while travelling in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

Jan 25, 2024 23:32

Amy Balog

Local Church

Iraq: new Catholic day care center opens, «a dream come true»

In a country where the Christian minority faces frequent discrimination and is often treated as second-class citizens, many parents wish to send their children to a school with a Catholic ethos.

Jan 23, 2024 01:55

Amy Balog

Local Church•Persecuted Christians

Calls for six kidnapped Sisters to be freed

The abduction took place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, when six Sisters of Saint Anne – who have not been named – were travelling to a university.

Jan 22, 2024 23:23

Amy Balog

Persecuted Christians

Record number of priests arrested, kidnapped or murdered in 2023

Of the 132 cases, 86 members of clergy were arrested or detained in 2023, while the rest were already in custody or missing at the start of the year.

Jan 17, 2024 23:37

Amy Balog

Holy Land•Persecuted Christians

Israel destroys homes of Catholics in southern Lebanon

More than 130 people have died in Lebanon because of violence in the border region, including 17 civilians, according to media reports. While Israeli strikes have been directed at Hezbollah targets, located mostly in Shi‘a areas, a number of Christian villages also suffered collateral damage.

Dec 20, 2023 02:49

Amy Balog

Testimonies

Syria and Lebanon: where nuns become Santa Claus for children at Christmas time

Those receiving gifts this Christmas include the children of two widows, Farha and Nidaa, from the Lebanese village of Qaa on the Syrian border, whose husbands – the families’ sole breadwinners – were killed in a Daesh (ISIS) suicide attack in 2016.

Dec 14, 2023 14:02

Amy Balog

Holy Land•Persecuted Christians

22 Christians killed in Gaza. Unexploded rocket found in parish church

An airstrike killed 17 Christians sheltering in the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius on 19th October, and five others have died from the lack of medical care.

Dec 12, 2023 23:46

Amy Balog

Local Church

Poverty and mass exodus threatens future of Christianity in Syria

Syria’s Christian population declined from about 1.5 million to between 300,000-500,000 during the 12 years following the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, according to ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2023.

Dec 05, 2023 22:42

Amy Balog

Pope’s article in The New York Times: There Is Faith in Humor

“Generally, we priests tend to enjoy humor and even have a fair stock of jokes and amusing stories, which we are often quite good at telling, as well as being the object of them”, writes the Pope in the best-known newspaper in the United States

the Vatican formally launches his cause for beatification and canonization

The process of beatification of King Baudouin of Belgium officially begins: Vatican and Pope give their approval

In a statement released by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, it was confirmed that the process officially began on December 17, 2024, with the establishment of a historical commission. This panel, comprising leading experts in Belgian history and archival research, is tasked with gathering and evaluating documentation related to King Baudouin’s life and deeds.