Priests, nuns, and seminarians staged a candle-lit prayer rally on May 17 to protest against what they called the “tyrannical tendencies” of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

The protest came days after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila released a letter to parishes warning that the Philippines is “facing a crisis of truth.”

The Manila prelate noted that even Philippine legal experts have “given us conflicting interpretations on basic questions of law.” Cardinal Tagle issued the letter to priests and religious in his archdiocese days after the Philippine Supreme Court ousted the country’s chief justice.

The court decision has been widely criticized by various groups, including civil society organizations and Catholic Church leaders.

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon said the removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno could be the start of “another dark period in the country’s history.”

“A real dictatorship of a strong man is emerging,” said the prelate, adding that “more controversial issues are surely coming.” He said the court decision “is the most shameful act in the history of the Philippine judiciary.”

Cardinal Tagle said the “crisis of truth” has already resulted in “suspicion, mistrust, and fragmentation.”

“Partisan politics has turned into political tribalization. The common good is one of the first casualties,” the Manila prelate said.

Leading Catholics in terrorism-plagued Indonesia have criticized prosecutors who demanded the death sentence for the alleged mastermind behind a deadly spate of suicide bombings and attacks against police that have left many dead.

From a moral perspective and the view of the church, the death penalty is wrong no matter what the crime is, said Father Antonius Benny Susetyo, an adviser to a presidential unit that promotes communal tolerance and understanding. “The death penalty does not provide an effective deterrent against perpetrators of these sort of crimes,” he said.

He was responding to calls on May 18 from prosecutors demanding that judges impose the death sentence on Aman Abdurahman, alleged leader of an Islamic State-linked terror group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), who is standing trial on terrorism charges in a Jakarta court. Abdurahman, 46, is standing trial for allegedly masterminding a series of attacks that included a February 2016 bombing in Jakarta that killed eight people and an attack in November 2017 against the Batak Society Christian Church of Oikumene in Samarinda, East Kalimantan that killed four people.

Despite tight security and fears of further deadly attacks, defiant Christians in Surabaya flocked to services and Masses on May 20 – Pentecost Sunday – according to church officials.

Christians at the Santa Maria Catholic Church and Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church held services in their church buildings which were attacked by suicide bombers on May 13. Meanwhile, members of the Surabaya Pentecostal Church, which suffered the most damage, held services in a large tent. Twelve Christians were killed during the attacks, committed by members of the same Muslim family.

Church officials told on May 20 that Christians prayed as usual, while fully-armed police and military personnel stood guard outside.

Those entering the churches were thoroughly searched and had to pass through a metal detector.

Father Alexius Kurdo Irianto, parish priest at the Santa Maria Church, said he did not see any decline in church attendance during Mass.

Two Christians have survived after they were fired upon by armed men who wanted to prevent them from regaining possession of their land.

The incident occurred on May 17 in the village of Sankhatra (Punjab province), where the Christian community blocked the streets to protest against the ille-gal occupation of their properties. For months they have been unable to go back into their homes because of a land dispute with a politician from the ruling party. The wounded are Shahbaz Masih Gill, 36, and Samina Tasneem, 28. Both suffered gunshot wounds to the legs and are currently in hospital.

The police took their statement and filed a case under the Pakistan Penal Code, sections 324 (Attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, i.e. murder), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), and 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object).

“I was coming home after fixing an electric motor when armed men on a motorcycle stopped and attacked me with wooden sticks and punches,” Gill told.

“With my forehead bleeding, I joined the protest against the attack. We had gathered at 6:50 pm when they returned and shot five fires.” Despite this, “We did not panic and retaliated by throwing bricks at the attackers causing them to flee. That’s when I realised blood was dripping from my right leg.”

“Planning and implementing a suicide attack by taking their children with them is a new” form “of violence. It is a family tragedy,” decries Msgr. Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, Arch-bishop of Jakarta and President of the Indonesian Bishops’ Con-ference (Kwi).

He was commenting on the dynamics of the attacks that have hit three churches in Surabaya, capital of the province of East Java two days ago. Meanwhile, following the death of Nathanael, an eight-year-old Catholic child, the number of victims of the co-ordinated attack has risen to 12.

The terrorists belonged to a single terrorist family. The father, Dita Oeprianto, is the Pentecostal Church bomber (Gpps), while the two teenage sons carried out the attack on the Catholic Church of Saint Mary Immaculate (Smtb), aboard a motorcycle. The mother and her two small daughters, aged nine and 12, carried out the suicide attack at the Christian Church of Indonesia (Gki).

“I am convinced – says Msgr. Suharyo – that the two young daughters had no idea what would happen. This is incomprehensible and I think this kind of thing should never happen again, clouding our humanity.”