For today's Catholic News podcast we turn our attention to the Middle East - the region of Christ's birth, ministry, death and resurrection.
Our studio guest is an experienced commentator on regional realities. Ziad El-Sayegh is the Policies and Communications advisor to the Middle East Council of Churches and has been in the UK talking to some of our bishops about the work of the council and the challenges facing the the Christian communities in the Middle East.
Ziad corrects me when I call the Christians 'minorities':
"First of all, the Christians of the region, the Middle East, are not minorities - they're citizens. And they're partners and have responsibility alongside their brothers and sisters of other religions... working to build a better future for the region.
"Of course we're facing challenges. We're in a crisis area. In Palestine since 1948, the Nakba [mass exodus of Palestine's arab population], in Iraq since 2003, in Syria since 2011, in Lebanon we faced a war from 1975 to 1990 but we were occupied by Syria and Israel in the south.
"I agree that the citizens have been suffering for decades but they're also creators of hope. They are trying together to sustain their presence and to put an end to their suffering by seeking an inclusive citizenship far from religious and ethnic discrimination.
"In the region we are still handling the symptoms of the crisis and it's time to handle the root causes. The root causes are about moving from politics to sustainable policies and peace-building."
