Displaced by fighting between the Iraqi army and the Islamic State group, a family leaves a processing center for displaced families Jan. 27, 2017, outside Mosul. (CNS/Paul Jeffrey)
Amman, Jordan Christians and others practicing their faith experienced serious challenges to religious freedom around the world this year, heightened by dangers posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The challenges ranged from institutionalized practices to violent killings and kidnappings. Others saw threats to religious freedom in pandemic lockdown restrictions.
In Iraq, where Pope Francis is set to make a pilgrimage next March, pandemic conditions permitting, Catholic leaders have expressed grave concerns for the conflict-ridden country s brutally displaced Christians and other religious minorities, like the Yazidis.
.A worshipper prays during Mass in 2018 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing. Christians and others practicing their faith experienced serious challenges to religious freedom around the world this year, heightened by dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS photo/Damir Sagolj, Reuters) .Bob Fu, president of China Aid, a Texas-based aid organization for Chinese Christians, speaks during a forum titled Religious Persecution 75 years After the Holocaust at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington Feb. 5, 2020. (CNS photo/Joel Mason-Gaines, courtesy U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum) .VolunteerS clean the Syriac Catholic Church of St. Thomas in Mosul, Iraq, Oct. 28, 2020. News reports said the effort seeks to sweep away the horrors of three years of rule by Islamic State militants and welcome back members of minority faiths who fled IS. (CNS photo/Abdullah Rashid, Reut