Asian

Screening in Rome of documentary about Jimmy Lai, jailed for more than a thousand days

“If you’re a bird, you’d rather die singing than living a silent life,” is a Chinese saying and starts off The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s extraordinary struggle for freedom, a documentary produced in 2022 by the Acton Institute whose premiere in Italy was held yesterday afternoon at the Institut Français Centre Saint-Louis in Rome. The film tells the […]

Danial, the Pakistani tailor who went from being destitute to becoming a ‘Good Samaritan’

Danial Masih, 46, is a tailor in the city of Faisalabad, Punjab. The father of three daughters and two sons, he has nine relatives who depend on him. Danial had a dream, making school uniforms for local Christian and public schools. However, for a long time, this project was out of his reach because he […]

Rare bail is granted to Pakistani Christian blasphemy duo

A rights group has hailed a Pakistani court’s granting of bail to a Christian couple accused of blasphemy for allegedly defiling the Quran and called for changes to the Muslim-majority nation’s blasphemy laws. In a press statement on Oct. 19, Nasir Saeed, director of the UK-based Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) called […]

Gaza, Mother Teresa’s nuns under bombardment: ‘Where will these people go?

“In our convent we also felt the effects of the explosion at the al Ahli hospital, we are close to the affected area. The people we host are afraid that it could happen to us too,” recount the Missionaries of Charity, the nuns of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, present in Gaza for 50 years. They share their plight with AsiaNews through […]

Pakistani Senate body seeks end of ‘unjust’ blasphemy cases

A parliamentary body in Pakistan has sought clarifications on cases under the country’s blasphemy laws in its attempts to end ‘unjust’ detentions and to develop standard procedures to address the suffering of religious minorities. A total of 179 Pakistani citizens are currently in detention, awaiting trial for blasphemy, according to the Standing Committee on Human Rights of […]

What name for Jesus in the Indonesian language?

The Indonesian government will no longer use, in Bahasa, Indonesia’s national language, the term “Isa Al-Masih,” a word of Arabic origin, to refer to Jesus Christ and Christian holidays. An end will thus be put to the decades-long practice of using the term routinely used by believers of the Islamic religion, who draw from the […]

Two Asians speak at the Synod, giving voice to basic communities and those who are silent

Asia’s sufferings but also its gifts echoed yesterday at the Synod Assembly in the Vatican through the words of Vanessa Cheng, a lay woman from Hong Kong and a member of the Focolare movement, and Fr Clarence Devadass, a priest from Malaysia, during the public session that opened the days dedicated to the examination of […]

Lawyers, civil society support judge who fled Sri Lanka

Lawyers have decided to boycott court proceedings as protesters took to the streets in support of a judge who fled Sri Lanka after an order on a disputed religious site. Rallies have been taking place in Northern and Eastern provinces almost all days this week, demanding independence of the judiciary after district judge T Saravanarajah […]

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Pope: Red Cross’ humanitarian work shows that fraternity is possible

New Vatican document lists ‘grave violations’ of human dignity