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Pope surprises 95-year-old Indian grandmother of a priest with video call

Francis has a well-earned reputation as the “Cold Call Pope,” often phoning people out of the blue who’ve written him or whom he wants to contact for some other reason. He recently burnished that reputation with a video call to the 95-year-old grandmother of a member of his travel team. On Sept. 2, Pope Francis […]

Pakistan pays Christians who lost homes to Muslim mobs $6,800

Pakistani authorities on Sept.19 handed out thousands of dollars to nearly 100 Christian families whose homes were destroyed or damaged by a Muslim mob angered over an alleged desecration of the Quran last week. The government of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said each household was getting 2 million rupees ($6,800) in compensation on Monday. […]

Jimmy Lai marks a thousand days in prison for calling for democracy in Hong Kong

September 26 marks a sad anniversary: a thousand days in prison for businessman Jimmy Lai. Her was jailed for suppor-ting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. His newspaper, and his newspaper, the Apple Daily, was forced to close by Chinese authorities after they imposed a draconian national security law. Baptised by Card Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai, 75, […]

Priest commits suicide after police complaint for protesting anti-Christian violence

A Catholic priest who faced a police complaint for a social media post protesting recent anti-Christian violence in the Indian state of Manipur committed suicide on Sept. 13, with his body found hanging from a tree in a cemetery. A spokesman for the Diocese of Sagar in India announced the death of Father Anil Francis […]

Indian Christians seek equal treatment for their schools

Christians in a southern Indian state have urged the provincial government to end discriminatory education policies that adversely impact Christian-run schools receiving state funds. The Christian community runs around 6,000 of the estimated 8,403 schools in Tamil Nadu that receive government aid, and hence are referred to as “aided schools.” “Most of them are in […]

Indian Catholic school targeted by hardline Hindu mob

Hardline Hindu activists stormed a Christian school in central India, accusing it of disrespecting a Hindu god and demanding a police probe against its nun-principal. The move “seems to be part of a well-orchestrated conspiracy to target our school,” said Sister Sarita Joseph, principal of the St Mary’s Convent School at Deori in Madhya Pradesh state’s Sagar district. […]

Dynamics of obedience, dissent within Chinese society

Since the commencement of the treated radioactive water release from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea in late August, an unsettling surge of over 400,000 nuisance calls has flooded the Japanese embassy in Beijing. This disturbing influx of harassing calls appears to be fuelled by an escalating anti-Japan sentiment in China, whether born […]

Iraq, Card. Sako: if Rome remains silent the future of Iraqi Christians at risk

Concerned for the future of Christians who today face a “different threat”, but one that is no “less serious” than the Islamic State. Embittered by the Holy See’s silence in the face of the mystifications of Rayan the Chaldean, the leader of a local militia calling itself Christian (but in the pay of Tehran) who […]