Kayla Mueller was a human rights activist and humanitarian aid worker from the United States, who lived her life for the needy, out of a deep conviction of God in her and in others. She was taken captive in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria, while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital. She was held in brutal captivity by the extremist group ISIS for 18 months before she was killed in February 2015. She was 26. It was reported that Kayla had been forced into marriage to ISIS head, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who tortured and raped her repeatedly, and that she was a "personal captive" of Abu Sayyaf, the high level ISIS commander who oversaw the terrorist group’s lucrative gas and oil operations. Since Kayla’s death, her parents Carl and Marsha Mueller, have been the voice of their daughter and what she stood for. The couple was recently invited to share their testimony at a special e...
Kayla Mueller was a human rights activist and humanitarian aid worker from the United States, who lived her life for the needy, out of a deep conviction of God in her and in others. She was taken captive in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria, while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital. She was held in brutal captivity by the extremist group ISIS for 18 months before she was killed in February 2015. She was 26. It was reported that Kayla had been forced into marriage to ISIS head, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who tortured and raped her repeatedly, and that she was a "personal captive" of Abu Sayyaf, the high level ISIS commander who oversaw the terrorist group’s lucrative gas and oil operations.
Since Kayla’s death, her parents Carl and Marsha Mueller, have been the voice of their daughter and what she stood for. The couple was recently invited to share their testimony at a special event at the United Nations headquarters in New York on April 28, organized by Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. The theme of the event was, “Defending religious freedom and other human rights: stopping mass atrocities against Christians and other believers.” In our edition of THE BACKGROUNDER, we bring you excerpts from the heart-breaking testimony of Carl and Marsha Mueller, who at times choked with emotion talking about their daughter, Kayla. To begin with, Carl Mueller:
A Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish procession honoring the patroness of Cuba on Sept. 7, 2023. / Credit: Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Havana, CubaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba has prohibited several Holy Week processions in different cities of the country, including the El Vedado area of Havana as well as in Bayamo, a town that was the scene of major protests earlier this month.Last week, ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, reported on the prohibition of processions in the Diocese of the Most Holy Savior located in the Bayamo-Manzanillo area in the province of Granma, due to the regime's fear that new protests would break out. The prohibition has been extended to the capital, Havana, according to a Catholic priest.In a March 25 Facebook post, Father Lester Zayas, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the El Vedado business district of Havana, reported that the day before he had been notifie...
The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord's Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David's tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this "Upper Room," called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles' feet, and instituted the Eucharist. It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher,...
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...