CRUX: Ordinary people are not powerless to resist anti-Christian genocide

Pilgrimages to Holy Land sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have declined.

By John L. Allen Jr. for CRUX
Associate editor
March 21, 2016

ROME — Now that the United States officially has joined most of the rest of the world in declaring that the violence unleashed by ISIS on Christians and other minorities constitutes genocide, attention shifts to what to do about it.

Often, that conversation is pitched at a broad geopolitical level that ordinary people can’t really control: Should the United States put boots on the ground to fight ISIS? Should our policies on accepting refugees change? Should Western nations make a greater investment in reconstruction of areas wrested back from ISIS control?

Yet that’s not to say ordinary people are completely powerless to push back against the genocide, as an event in Rome Friday featuring Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches, illustrated.

The purpose of the event was to present a new book, “Ma Non Vincerà la Notte” (“But the Night Will Not Win”), featuring letters to persecuted Christians from several prominent Italians, including Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan and Maria Voce, head of the worldwide Focolare movement.

The book is published by Edizioni Terra Santa, the publishing arm of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, and was officially released at the Rome headquarters of the Custody. It was put together by author Cristina Uguccioni; the event was moderated by Italian Vatican writer Ignazio Ingrao.

Proceeds from the book will go to the annual Good Friday collection on behalf of the Holy Land, which right away is a reminder of one thing ordinary people certainly can do: Give generously on Good Friday, because God knows the Christian communities of the Middle East need the help.

CRUCIFIED FOR BEING CHRISTIANS - A GENOCIDE STORY OF THE CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Crucified for being Christians in Syria (Photo Source: Express News)

We will NEVER FORGET their sacrifices. Martyrs of the Church, remember us and pray for us! -CD2000

John Kerry: ISIS responsible for genocide

By Elise Labott and Tal Kopan, CNN

Posted March 17, 2016

(CNN) Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that the United States has determined that ISIS' action against the Yazidis and other minority groups in Iraq and Syria constitutes genocide.

"My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims," he said, during a news conference at the State Department.

Kerry said that in 2014, ISIS trapped Yazidis, killed them, enslaved thousands of Yazidi women and girls, "selling them at auction, raping them at will and destroying the communities in which they had lived for countless generations," executed Christians "solely for their faith" and also "forced Christian women and girls into slavery."

"Without our intervention, it is clear that those people would have been slaughtered," he said.

This is the first time that the United States has declared a genocide since Darfur in 2004.

The House of Representatives on Monday unanimously passed a resolution labeling the ISIS atrocities against Christian groups in Syria and Iraq "genocide," a term the State Department had been reluctant to use about the attacks and mass murders by the terror group.

The genocide finding does not legally obligate the U.S. to take any particular action, but it could put pressure on the Obama administration to take more aggressive military action against ISIS. It could also give weight to calls by other lawmakers and humanitarian groups pushing the Obama administration to welcome more refugees into the United States.

House to Obama: Label ISIS attack against Christians 'genocide'

The move, aimed at ramping up pressure on the Obama administration, appears to have worked.

The measure was non-binding, but both Republicans and Democrats in the House joined together 393-0 to back a "sense of Congress" saying the crimes committed against Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic and religious minorities in the region amount to war crimes and, in some cases, genocide.

Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, whose Nebraska district is home to the largest group of resettled Yazidis in the U.S., authored the resolution with California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo.

During debate on Monday, Fortenberry noted it was a rare instance of an issue that has "risen above the petty and difficult differences we often work out on the floor of the House of Representatives."

Women secretly film inside ISIS stronghold