Vatican officials said about 70,000 people filled St. Peter's Square for Francis' noonday speech and blessing. They included many people flying Palestinian flags, as well as some Ukrainian ones.
For the final devotional exploring Advent in a time of bloodshed in Israel, Brian Kaylor reflects on how Gaza is significant in a biblical story that doesn’t explicitly mention the place.
Palestinian Christians have felt abandoned by global Christian church leaders’ statements on the Israel-Hamas war, with some viewing the war as a moment for Western denominations to reckon with their colonialist past.
Azar Ajaj, president of Nazareth Evangelical College, brings our attention to overlooked Middle Eastern Christians as instruments that God is using to bring peace to the region.
This issue of A Public Witness shares some of the meaningful insights we’ve learned from Unsettling Advent this year on the topics of state executions, political anxieties, and bloodshed in Israel.
Christmas reminds us it is precisely in the midst of the darkness of hatred that it is time for love to be born.
'It’s war, it’s terrorism,' Pope Francis said.
Officials in Jesus's traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.
Rev. Alex Awad, a retired minister who served as pastor at East Jerusalem Baptist Church and a professor at Bethlehem Bible College, reflects on modern-day Herods and how the Christmas story gives oppressed people around the world hope.
Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace, offers this first entry in our week exploring the theme of Advent during a time of bloodshed in Israel.