domingo, 17 de janeiro de 2016

Imigrantes islâmicos e os estupros que a imprensa escondeu na Alemanha

  • Although the rape took place in June, police kept silent about it for nearly three months, until local media published a story about the crime. According to an editorial comment in the newspaper Westfalen-Blatt, police are refusing to go public about crimes involving refugees and migrants because they do not want to give legitimacy to critics of mass migration.
  • A 13-year-old Muslim girl was raped by another asylum seeker at a refugee facility in Detmold, a city in west-central Germany. The girl and her mother reportedly fled their homeland to escape a culture of sexual violence.
  • Approximately 80% of the refugees/migrants at the shelter in Munich are male... the price for sex with female asylum seekers is ten euros. — Bavarian Broadcasting (Bayerischer Rundfunk).
  • Police in the Bavarian town of Mering, where a 16-year-old-girl was raped on September 11, have issued a warning to parents not to allow their children to go outside unaccompanied. In the Bavarian town of Pocking, administrators of the Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium have warned parents not to let their daughter's wear revealing clothing in order to avoid "misunderstandings."
  • "When Muslim teenage boys go to open air swimming pools, they are overwhelmed when they see girls in bikinis. These boys, who come from a culture where for women it is frowned upon to show naked skin, will follow girls and bother them without their realizing it. Naturally, this generates fear." — Bavarian politician, quoted in Die Welt.
  • A police raid on the Munich refugee facility found that guards hired to provide security at the site were trafficking drugs and weapons and were turning a blind eye to the prostitution.
  • Meanwhile, the raping of German women by asylum seekers is becoming commonplace.
A growing number of women and young girls housed in refugee shelters in Germany are being raped, sexually assaulted and even forced into prostitution by male asylum seekers, according to German social work organizations with first-hand knowledge of the situation.
Many of the rapes are occurring in mixed-gender shelters, where, due to a lack of space, German authorities are forcing thousands of male and female migrants to share the same sleeping areas and restroom facilities.
Conditions for women and girls at some shelters are so perilous that females are being described as "wild game" fighting off Muslim male predators. But many victims, fearing reprisals, are keeping silent, social workers say.
At the same time, growing numbers of German women in towns and cities across the country are being raped by asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Many of the crimes are being downplayed by German authorities and the national media, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments.
On August 18, a coalition of four social work organizations and women's rights groups sent a two-page letter to the leaders of the political parties in the regional parliament in Hesse, a state in west-central Germany, warning them of the worsening situation for women and children in the refugee shelters. The letter said:
"The ever-increasing influx of refugees has complicated the situation for women and girls at the receiving center in Giessen (HEAE) and its subsidiaries.
"The practice of providing accommodations in large tents, the lack of gender-separate sanitary facilities, premises that cannot be locked, the lack of safe havens for women and girls — to name just a few spatial factors — increases the vulnerability of women and children within the HEAE. This situation plays into the hands of those men who assign women a subordinate role and treat women traveling alone as 'wild game'.
"The consequences are numerous rapes and sexual assaults. We are also receiving an increasing number of reports of forced prostitution. It must be stressed: these are not isolated cases.
"Women report that they, as well as children, have been raped or subjected to sexual assault. As a result, many women sleep in their street clothes. Women regularly report that they do not use the toilet at night because of the danger of rape and robbery on the way to the sanitary facilities. Even during daylight, passing through the camp is a frightful situation for many women.
"Many women — in addition to fleeing wars or civil wars — are also on the run for gender-related reasons, including the threat of forced marriage or genital mutilation. These women who face special risks, especially when they are on the run alone or with their children. Even if they are accompanied by male relatives or acquaintances, this does not always ensure protection against violence because it can also lead to specific dependencies and sexual exploitation.
"Most female refugees have experienced a variety of traumatizing experiences in their country of origin and while on the run. They are victims of violence, kidnappings, torture, rape and extortion — sometimes over periods of several years.
"The feeling to have arrived here — in safety — and to be able to move without fear, is a gift for many women.... We therefore ask you...to join our call for the immediate establishment of protected premises (locked apartments or houses) for women and children who are travelling alone....
"These facilities must be equipped so that men do not have access to the premises of the women, with the exception of emergency workers and security personnel. In addition bedrooms, lounges, kitchens and sanitary facilities must be interconnected so that they form a self-contained unit — and thus can only be reached via lockable and monitored access to the house or the apartment."
After several blogs (herehere and here) drew attention to the letter, the LandesFrauenRat (LFR) Hessen, a women's lobbying group that originally uploaded the politically incorrect document to its website, abruptly removed it on September 14, without explanation.
The problem of rapes and sexual assaults in German refugee shelters is a nationwide problem.
In Bavaria, women and girls housed at a refugee shelter in Bayernkaserne, a former military base in Munich, are subject to rape and forced prostitution on a daily basis, according to women's rights groups. Although the facility has separate dorm rooms for women, the doors cannot be locked and men control access to the sanitary facilities.
Approximately 80% of the refugees/migrants at the shelter are male, according to Bavarian Broadcasting (Bayerischer Rundfunk), which reports that the price for sex with female asylum seekers is ten euros. A social worker described the facility this way: "We are the biggest brothel in Munich."
Police insist they have no proof that the rapes are taking place, although a police raid on the facility found that guards hired to provide security at the site were trafficking drugs and weapons and were turning a blind eye to the prostitution.
On August 28, a 22-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for attempting to rape a 30-year-old Iraqi-Kurdish woman at a refugee shelter in the Bavarian town of Höchstädt. The reduced sentence was thanks to the efforts of the defense attorney, who persuaded the judge that the defendant's situation at the shelter was hopeless: "For a year now he sits around and thinks about — about nothingness."
On August 26, a 34-year-old asylum seeker attempted to rape a 34-year-old woman in the laundry room of a refugee facility in Stralsund, a city near the Baltic Sea.
On August 6, police revealed that a 13-year-old Muslim girl was raped by another asylum seeker at a refugee facility in Detmold, a city in west-central Germany. The girl and her mother reportedly fled their homeland to escape a culture of sexual violence; as it turns out, the man who raped the girl is from their country.
Although the rape took place in June, police kept silent about it for nearly three months, until local media published a story about the crime. According to an editorial comment in the newspaper Westfalen-Blatt, police are refusing to go public about crimes involving refugees and migrants because they do not want to give legitimacy to critics of mass migration.
Police chief Bernd Flake countered that the silence was aimed at protecting the victim. "We will continue with this policy [of not informing the public] whenever crimes are committed in refugee facilities," he said.
Over the weekend of June 12-14, a 15-year-old girl housed at a refugee shelter inHabenhausen, a district in the northern city of Bremen, was repeatedly raped by two other asylum seekers. The facility has been has been described as a "house of horrors" due to the spiraling violence perpetrated by rival gangs of youth from Africa and Kosovo. A total of 247 asylum seekers are staying at the shelter, which has a capacity for 180 and a cafeteria with seating for 53.
Meanwhile, the raping of German women by asylum seekers is becoming commonplace. Following are a few select cases just from 2015:
On September 11, a 16-year-old girl was raped by an unidentified "dark-skinned man speaking broken German" close to a refugee shelter in the Bavarian town of Mering. The attack occurred while the girl was walking home from the train station.
On August 13, police arrested two Iraqi asylum seekers, aged 23 and 19, for raping an 18-year-old German woman behind a schoolyard in Hamm, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia.
On July 26, a 14-year-old boy was sexually assaulted inside the bathroom of a regional train inHeilbronn, a city in southwestern Germany. Police are looking for a "dark skinned" man between the ages of 30 and 40 who has an "Arab appearance." Also on July 26, a 21-year-old Tunisian asylum seeker raped a 20-year-old woman in the Dornwaldsiedlung district ofKarlsruhe. Police kept the crime secret until August 14, when a local paper went public with the story.
On June 9, two Somali asylum seekers, aged 20 and 18, were sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for raping a 21-year-old German woman in Bad Kreuznach, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, on December 13, 2014.
On June 5, a 30-year-old Somali asylum seeker called "Ali S" was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for attempting to rape a 20-year-old woman in Munich. Ali had previously served a seven-year sentence for rape, and had been out of prison for only five months before he attacked again. In an effort to protect the identity of Ali S, a Munich newspaper referred to him by the more politically correct "Joseph T."
On May 22, a 30-year-old Moroccan man was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for attempting to rape a 55-year-old woman in Dresden. On May 20, a 25-year-old Senegalese asylum seeker was arrested after he attempted to rape a 21-year-old German woman at the Stachus, a large square in central Munich.
On April 16, a 21-year-old asylum seeker from Iraq was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison for raping a 17-year-old girl at festival in the Bavarian town of Straubing in August 2014. On April 7, a 29-year-old asylum seeker was arrested for the attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl in the town of Alzenau.
On March 17, two Afghan asylum seekers aged 19 and 20 were sentenced to five years in prison for the "particularly abhorrent" rape of a 21-year-old German woman in Kirchheim, a town near Stuttgart, on August 17, 2014.
On February 11, a 28-year-old asylum seeker from Eritrea was sentenced to four years in prison for raping a 25-year-old German woman in Stralsund, along the Baltic Sea, in October 2014.
On February 1, a 27-year-old asylum seeker from Somalia was arrested after attempting to rape women in the Bavarian town of Reisbach.
On January 16, a 24-year-old Moroccan immigrant raped a 29-year-old woman in Dresden.
Dozens of other cases of rape and attempted rape — cases in which police are specifically looking for foreign perpetrators (German police often refer to them as Südländer, or "southerners") — remain unresolved. Following is a partial list just for August 2015:
On August 23, a "dark skinned" man attempted to rape a 35-year-old woman in Dortmund. On August 17, three male "southerners" attempted to rape a 42-year-old woman in Ansbach. On August 16, a male "southerner" raped a woman in Hanau.
On August 12, a male "southerner" attempted to rape a 17-year-old woman in Hannover. Also on August 12, a male "southerner" exposed himself to a 31-year-old woman in Kassel. Police say a similar incident occurred in the same area on August 11.
On August 10, five men of "Turkish origin" attempted to rape a girl in Mönchengladbach. Also on August 10, a male "southerner" raped a 15-year-old girl in Rinteln. On August 8, a male "southerner" attempted to rape a 20-year-old woman in Siegen.
On August 3, a "North African" raped a seven-year-old girl in broad daylight in a park inChemnitz, a city in eastern Germany. On August 1, a male "southerner" attempted to rape a 27-year-old woman in downtown Stuttgart.
Meanwhile, parents are being warned to look after their daughters. Police in the Bavarian town of Mering, where a 16-year-old-girl was raped on September 11, have issued a warning to parents not to allow their children to go outside unaccompanied. They have also advised women not to walk to or from the train station alone because of its proximity to a refugee shelter.
In the Bavarian town of Pocking, administrators of the Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium havewarned parents not to let their daughters wear revealing clothing in order to avoid "misunderstandings" with the 200 Muslim refugees housed in emergency accommodations in a building next to the school. The letter said:
"The Syrian citizens are mainly Muslim and speak Arabic. The refugees have their own culture. Because our school is directly next to where they are staying, modest clothing should be worn in order to avoid disagreements. Revealing tops or blouses, short shorts or miniskirts could lead to misunderstandings."
A local politician quoted by Die Welt newspaper said:
"When Muslim teenage boys go to open air swimming pools, they are overwhelmed when they see girls in bikinis. These boys, who come from a culture where for women it is frowned upon to show naked skin, will follow girls and bother them without their realizing it. Naturally, this generates fear."
The increase in sex crimes in Germany is being fueled by the preponderance of Muslim males among the mix of refugees/migrants entering the country.

Where are the women?
Of the 411,567 refugees/migrants who have entered the EU by sea so far this year, 72% have been male. Above, some of the hundreds of migrants who arrived in Munich on September 12, 2015.

A record 104,460 asylum seekers arrived in Germany in August, bringing the cumulative total for the first eight months of 2015 to 413,535. Germany expects to receive a total of 800,000 refugees and migrants this year, a four-fold increase over 2014.
At least 80% of the incoming refugees/migrants are Muslim, according to a recent estimate by the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (Zentralrat der Muslime in Deutschland, ZMD), a Muslim umbrella group based in Cologne.
The asylum seekers are also overwhelmingly male. Of the 411,567 refugees/migrants who have entered the European Union by sea so far this year, 72% have been male, 13% women and 15% children, according to calculations by the United Nations Refugee Agency. Information about the gender of those arriving by land remains unavailable.
Of the asylum seekers arriving in Germany in 2014, 71.5% of those between ages 16 and 18 were male; 77.5% in the 18-25 age group were male; as were 73.5% of those between 25 and 30, according to German migration statistics. Data for 2015 is not yet available.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. 

sábado, 16 de janeiro de 2016

O que foi a França

FRANCE, DEFENDER AND PROTECTOR OF THE FAITH IN INDOCHINA

NEWS: COMMENTARY
by Christine Niles  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  January 12, 2016    6 Comments

With the historic opening of Vietnam's first pontifical university this year, and renewed relations between the Vatican and the Communist government, the Catholic faith seems to be making slow inroads in a country where hostility towards the Church has been the norm for half a century. But the history of the Faith everywhere from the founding of the Church is one of struggle, suffering, endurance and perseverance, the Faith seeming to die amidst violent persecutions, only to rise up in later ages as the blood of the martyrs that previously soaked the ground bear fruit — in God's mysterious and remarkable economy of salvation — in future generations of converts. The story is no different in Vietnam.
Image
Fr. Alexandre de Rhodes on Indochinese postage stamp
In 1620, after an arduous journey from Europe, two Jesuits set foot on the shores of Indochina — a peninsula four times the size of France, bordered by China in the North and India to the West. Although Portuguese missionaries had come to these same shores a century earlier, they had made little headway among the natives. But the courage and dedication of these French priests — Fr. Alexandre de Rhodes and Fr. Antoine Marquez — was blessed by God and would result in the conversion of more than 6,000 souls in seven years.
Thousands more would come to the Faith in the next 40 years such that the newly established Society of Foreign Missions in Paris — founded with the aim to evangelize pagan lands — felt the need to send their men overseas. The first Vicars Apostolic were sent, charged with overseeing the spiritual administration of Tonkin and Cochinchina (present-day North and South Vietnam, respectively). Under their care, parishes and seminaries were founded and native clergy trained to serve their own people.
The local monarch, however, was hostile, and forbade Catholic worship. This was the start of persecutions on and off for the next two centuries, resulting in the torture and slaughter of many thousands of Catholics.
Father Pierre Joseph Pigneaux, sent from France in 1765, can be credited with perhaps the most far-reaching impact on the Faith in Indochina. Within a mere six years, his zeal won for him not only many souls but also an appointment as Vicar Apostolic of Cochinchina and bishop of Adran. Bishop Pigneaux helped restore the deposed prince of Annam to his throne — and by that act obtained the freedom of Catholic worship throughout the southern region. The Faith flourished for more than half a century.
Image
St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions,
martyred for the Faith in the 19th-century persecutions
But such felicitous circumstances would not last long. Successors to the throne did all in their power to stamp out every vestige of Catholicism. In 1833, Catholics were ordered to renounce their faith, and as proof they had to trample on a crucifix. Death was decreed for all priests.
Like the hunted Jesuits in Reformation England, these missionaries went into hiding, going from place to place in secret to offer the consolation of the sacraments to the faithful, sheltered in the homes of native converts loyal to their pastors. And like their forebears, captured priests faced torture, dismemberment and beheading. Prison cells overflowed with Catholics, many who died there — but rare was the case of apostasy. Even among those who renounced the Faith amidst tortures, they were quick to repent and be reconciled to the Church.
In 1841, the emperor — claiming Catholics were conspiring against him — ordered that all foreign priests be drowned in the rivers and all native clergy be cut in half. By 1855, Catholicism was outlawed throughout the land, and the massacre began in earnest.
The blood of many Catholic martyrs would soak the Indochinese soil for the next seven years.
Government officials showed no mercy. Hundreds of convents and Catholic towns were burned to the ground and their inhabitants slaughtered or imprisoned. One third of all native clergy were wiped out. Among the 300,000 faithful who dispersed, 40,000 succumbed to death from sickness and starvation.
All told, 600,000 Catholic faithful died in the persecution.
France, outraged by the attack on its people, sent ships to seize Turan and then Saigon. The emperor, out of fear of his enemies' strength, signed a treaty in 1862 handing over portions of Cochinchina to French control, and promising freedom of worship.
The persecution ended — for a time. It was then that the martyrdoms of before bore fruit: The Faith spread rapidly, and the Church opened Her arms to tremendous numbers of converts. Baptisms tripled between 1865 and 1869, and the once-razed parishes and convents formed the foundation of new structures where the Faith would once again find a home and thrive.
The freedom enjoyed in the South was not mirrored in the North. Catholics suffered harassment by local mandarins, while government officials looked away. In response to this breach of the treaty, France intervened and seized town after town along the northern peninsula. Reprisals were savage and swift: Annamite soldiers raped, pillaged and butchered the faithful. The number of Catholic martyrs would again reach into the many thousands.
The persecution finally came to an end with the Franco-Annamite Treaty of 1886, which placed all power in the hands of France. French Indochina was thus born — an amalgamation of four French protectorates: Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina and Cambodia.
Image
Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Saigon,
built in the period of French Indochina
This period of colonial rule saw the greatest flourishing of the Catholic faith in the entire history of Indochina. Catholicism held favored status, and around the turn of the century the average number of converts per year numbered a stunning 50,000. Native clergy were more numerous than in any other missionary country in the world.
Evil never rests, however, and this time of good fortune would see a swift end in the mid-20th century, when Ho Chi Minh declared himself president of the Democratic National Republic in the North, taking over the South some years later. French rule would cease completely in 1954.
Under the Communist regime, the Faith was placed under interdict, and the Catholic population quickly dwindled, until it is now only a fraction of the populace.
Image
1950s Saigon in French Indochina
But France's presence is everywhere felt, whether in the faith, language, architecture, dance or food. It was Fr. Rhodes who latinized the Vietnamese tongue, transcribing the tonal language into the Western characters used by all Vietnamese today. And Saigon, the former capital of Indochina, evidences France's influence in its European architecture, tree-lined streets and public gardens. Ballroom dancing, a popular pastime among the Vietnamese, is a French import. And the French contributions to Vietnamese food are too numerous to recount, whether in their coffee, cheese, pastries or main dishes.
Although French Catholicism has long since been rejected and cast off by the ruling elites in Vietnam, even so, its spirit and influence endures.

Christine Niles is a staff writer, producer and anchor for ChurchMilitant.com

Follow Christine on Twitter: @ChristineNiles1

quinta-feira, 14 de janeiro de 2016

Perseguição contra cristãos na Índia

by Christine Niles  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  January 14, 2016    6 Comments

Killed for their faith in the worst persecution of Christians in the history of India

MUMBAI (ChurchMilitant.com) - About 100 Catholics slaughtered for the Faith in India may soon be declared saints. The bishops of India are now assembling materials to look into their possible canonization, even though the official process is yet to begin.
"The official process has not yet started," says Fr. Ajay Singh, an advocate on behalf of survivors of the anti-Christian pogroms. "But we are working on it and hope to start it in a few months."
In what's considered the most violent persecution of Christians in the history of India, the reign of terror in Orissa (now Odisha) began in August 2008, after the murder of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda. Although Maoists had publicly claimed responsibility for the assassination, Hindu extremists took advantage of the situation to blame Christians and foment anti-Catholic violence.
The persecution in Orissa lasted four months, and included the torture, rape and displacement of about 60,000 Christians, driven from more than 600 villages. Nearly 400 churches were razed and 6,500 houses plundered and destroyed, resulting in $14 million dollars' worth of damage. More than 3,300 riot-related complaints were lodged at local police stations in that time.
Free clip from CHURCH MILITANT premium
Not a subscriber? Start your free trial.
One nun recounted her experience being raped and paraded half-naked in the streets by a group of militant Hindus while local police looked on. A mob had invaded her home, dragging her by the hair onto the verandah while the parish priest protested. 
"They pulled out my saree and one of the [sic] stepped on my right hand and another on my left hand and then a third person raped me on the verandah mentioned above. When it was over, I managed to get up and put [on] my petticoat and saree." 
She and the priest were forced to walk through the streets while the mob hit them and taunted them. "They tried to strip [me] even there and I resisted and they went on beating me with hands on my cheeks and head and with sticks on my back several times." 
When they reached the local police station, instead of helping the victims, the police appeared friendly towards the Hindu mob. The nun eventually filed a police report about the incident, but nothing was ever done.
Other survivors have similarly complained that nothing was done to punish the perpetrators, and they're seeking justice from the president of India. Father Singh, speaking on behalf of the survivors, last year said, "The president has constitutional powers to intervene and ensure justice for citizens. We hope he will exercise his powers to help our hapless people."
Another 2008 attack involved the destruction of the pastoral center of the local diocese, with thousands of Hindu extremists overruning the building and shouting "Kill Christians and destroy their institutions!" 
Similar attacks nearby involved destruction of parish property, as well as burning down a van belonging to Bd. Teresa of Calcutta's order the Missionary Sisters of Charity, and a vehicle belonging to the Daughters of the Most Precious Blood.
All told, about 100 Catholics who refused to deny the Faith and convert to Hinduism were killed during the 2008 violence.
"Many would not have been killed if they simpl[y] abandoned their faith and hailed Hindu gods," Fr. Singh said. "[T]hey stood up for their faith, and dared to be butchered. These are remarkable witness stories, good enough to embolden Christians facing persecution anywhere in India."
The church in Odisha has plans to construct a memorial to the martyrs in the 2008 persecution, and the canonization process is expected to begin in a few months.

Christine Niles is a staff writer, producer and anchor for ChurchMilitant.com

sexta-feira, 1 de janeiro de 2016

Perseguição ao cristianismo até entre os refugiados.

UK CARDINAL DECRIES LACK OF SUPPORT FOR CHRISTIAN REFUGEES

NEWS: WORLD NEWS
by Joseph Pelletier  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  December 31, 2015    4 Comments

Cdl. Vincent Nichols: "[T]here will be few, if any, Christians coming to this country"

WESTMINSTER (ChurchMilitant.com) - The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales is publicly decrying the lack of concern shown to Christians involved in the Syrian refugee crisis. 
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, claims that while Christians are facing the most persecution in Syria, they are receiving the least amount of assistance. 
In an interview last week with BBC Radio, the cardinal pointed out that around 20,000 refugees are scheduled to be shipped into Britain straight from refugee camps in Syria, but the camps they will be drawn from do not hold any Christians.
Nichols said that he can "see the point in going directly to the refugee camps" to bring in refugees — but "because for the most part Christian refugees do not go into the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camps" and are instead sent to Christian organizations, there will be "few, if any, Christians" coming into Britain. 
Cardinal Nichols said if Britain is going to "deal purely with UNHCR, according to their rules, there can be no preference given to anybody on behalf of their faith and we will simply bypass the Christian refugees, not intentionally, but in fact."
The cardinal is not alone in voicing this concern. The Anglican bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, notes in an editorial that "Christians represent the most persecuted people on earth in the 21st century."
"[W]e are not talking here of a bit of ridicule or silly marginalization," wrote Baines. "We are talking about men, women and children being singled out because of their Christian faith or identity and put to an unimaginably cruel death. Or being driven out of home, away from livelihood, deprived of identity and dignity."
Baines highlighted growing hostility toward Christians around the world, including bans on Christmas celebrations in both Somalia and Brunei — both Muslim-majority countries — as Muslim leaders have said the festivities run "contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage the faith of the Muslim community." 
Britain's foremost rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, also said the bans are emblematic of "an intolerance that, as Jews, we simply cannot countenance." 
In his annual Christmas message, British prime minister David Cameron claimed that as a Christian country Britain should "reflect on the fact that it is because of these important religious roots and Christian values that Britain has been such a successful home to people of all faiths and none." 
He also noted that "Christians from Africa to Asia will go to church on Christmas morning full of joy, but many in fear of persecution."
Cardinal Nichols has previously berated the U.K. government for its slow reaction toward the refugee crisis, stating in November that "so much more needs to be done." He has also supported the use of force in combating the growing threat of ISIS. 
Despite his strong stance on the refugee crisis and ISIS, Cdl. Nichols has previously come under fire for his controversial actions in expanding the Church's ministry toward the LGBT community, including presiding over a Mass specifically geared toward "LGBT Catholics." He has also presentedcontroversial views on extending Communion to the divorced and civilly remarried. 
To date, Britain has resettled 1,000 Syrian refugees, anticipating up to 20,000 over the next five years. 
To learn more on Christian persecution in the Middle East, please see our Special Report "Cold as ISIS."

Joseph Pelletier is a staff writer for ChurchMilitant.com