The United States has expanded its list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
Two new nations—Cuba and Nicaragua—were added  to the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). Two others—Vietnam and the Central African Republic (CAR)—were added to its Special Watch List (SWL). And one new organization was added to its list of Entities of Particular Concern (EPC): Russia’s mercenary Wagner group, due to its cited offenses in CAR.
“Around the world, governments and non-state actors harass, threaten, jail, and even kill individuals on account of their beliefs,” stated Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State. “The United States will not stand by in the face of these abuses.”
His own watchdog, however, is unconvinced.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) tweeted its “outrage” over the non-inclusion of Nigeria and India. It is “inexplicable,” the independent bipartisan organization continued, given the State Department’s own reporting.
The sections on Nigeria and India were particularly lengthy.
“They each clearly meet the legal standards for designation,” stated Nury Turkel, USCIRF chair. “USCIRF is tremendously disappointed that the Secretary of State did not … recognize the severity of the religious freedom violations.”
Afghanistan — No. 1 on WWL, North Korea — No. 2, Eritrea — No. 6, Pakistan — No. 8
Iran — No. 9, Saudi Arabia — No. 11, Myanmar — No. 12, China — No. 17, Turkmenistan — No. 25, Cuba — No. 37, Tajikistan — No. 45

Rhoda Jatau, a Christian and mother of five, was charged with blasphemy in a Nigerian court on December 19 for forwarding a video defending a lynched Christian student.
During her arraignment on Monday, Jatau was officially charged with blasphemy, inciting a mob, and exciting contempt of religious creed.
She is being tried in the northeast Nigerian state of Bauchi’s high court. Bauchi practices a form of Sharia law, under which blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution.
Jatau, a 45-year-old medical worker, was arrested by Nigerian authorities on May 20 and has been held without the ability to communicate and without a trial for over six months, which is against both Nigerian and international law, according to religious rights advocates.
Jatau was arrested after forwarding a video of a Muslim denouncing the mob killing of Nigerian Christian college student Deborah Emmanuel.

Jatau forwarded the video defending Emmanuel via Whatsapp to her work colleagues at the Primary Healthcare Board of the town of Warji. Some of her co-workers reported the video and Jatau was subsequently accused of blasphemy.
According to local news source Light Bearer News, when news of Jatau’s actions reached the public many immediately called for her death. One Muslim group posted her photo online and called her “the one God has cursed.”

The Archdiocese of Guada-lajara, Mexico, has joined the Je-wish community to provide 40,000 Christmas dinners for the poor this Dec. 25 in an initiative called “10,000 Christmases in one.”
The event, which is being held for the fourth consecutive year, will bring food from 40 parishes and a shelter to those most in need in the Guadalajara metro-politan area.
Fr Javier Magdaleno Cueva, secretary chancellor of the Arch-diocese of Guadalajara, said at a press conference that this initia-tive seeks to “bring hope to those whose lives have been difficult or who have suffered that year.”
He also noted that the number of people who benefit from this event increases every year.
The first year, the organizers of “10,000 Christmases in one” set a goal of serving 10,000 people, and they ended up providing dinners to 13,000. By 2021, the projected number of beneficiaries was 20,000 people. However, they provided dinners to 30,000. This year, the estimated number of people that will be served by this initiative is 40,000.

A Brazilian man who was forcibly laicized by the Church two years ago, meaning expelled from the priesthood, is now appealing to the secular Supreme Court in the world’s largest Catholic country, in effect seeking damages against the church he claims unjustly penalized him.
Although laicization is an internal church matter and thus normally considered beyond the reach of secular courts, an attorney for the ex-priest is arguing that because the Vatican has treaty agreements with Brazil, it’s obligated to abide by Brazilian guarantees of due process and a right to defence.
The lawsuit does not seek to compel the church to reinstate Alcimir Pillotto to the priesthood, but rather to force the church to reinstate his pension and cover his insurance costs. The case already has been dismissed at lower levels, but attorneys are now vowing to take it to the country’s Supreme Court.
Pillotto, who had been in charge of a parish in the city of Blumenau in Brazil’s Santa Catarina State in the southern part of the country, was expelled from the clerical state in 2020.

Pope Francis on December 28 thanked retired Pope Benedict XVI for his silent service to the church and asked the faithful to offer special prayers for his predecessor, who, Francis said, is “very sick.”
Speaking during his Dec. 28 General Audience, the pope said, “I would like to ask you all to say a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who, in silence, is supporting the Church: remember him, he is very sick, asking the Lord to console him and support him in this witness of love for the Church until the end.”
In a statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that “in the past few hours there has been an aggravation” in Benedict’s health “due to advanced age,” but that “the situation at the moment is under control, followed constantly by the doctors.”
According to the statement, Pope Francis after his general audience went to the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae monastery to visit Benedict XVI. “We join him in praying for the Pope Emeritus,” it said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources with knowledge of Benedict XVI’s condition told he was “normal” as of a week ago, and they did not believe there was reason to think his life was at immediate risk. Elected in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI sent shockwaves around the world when he renounced the papacy in 2013, becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign, saying he lacked the physical and mental strength required to fulfil the demands of guiding the Catholic Church.
Since stepping down, Benedict has resided in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican gardens, receiving occasional visi-tors, including Pope Francis and new cardinals during a consistory, and writing various contributions to books and conferences, as well as letters to friends.
Apart from a handful of conversations with mostly German-speaking journalists, he has largely kept to his vow to live “hidden to the world,” though at times media attention to his rare public remarks and writings has tended to pit him against his successor.