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Indian bishops saddened over tragic fire mishap in Kuwait

Catholic bishops in a south-ern Indian state have expressed their condolences to the families of 49 expatriate workers, most of them Indians, killed in a fire mishap in Kuwait. A major fire broke out in a six-story building in the Mafreg area in southern Kuwait on June 12. Nearly 150 people were living in the […]

Indian bishops tell Modi to make his new term ‘inclusive’

Catholic bishops have appealed to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make his new term “inclusive” by treating all citizens equally and upholding the country’s constitutional values. Modi was sworn in for another five-year term on June 9 after his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the help of allies, se-cured 293 seats in the […]

3 in 5 children in Middle East suffering severe food poverty

3 in 5 children in the Middle East and North Africa, 34 million in total, are living with severe food poverty. That’s according to a new report by UNICEF entitled Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivation in Early Childhood, which analyses the consequences and causes of food deprivation among the world’s youngest children. The report notes that around […]

Church’s votes ‘no’ to mining permits for religious organisations

Indonesia’s Catholic Church has rejected President Joko Wido-do’s plan to allow religious organisations to manage mining deposits whose concessions have been withdrawn from companies. Last week Jokowi – as the president is known at home – signed a decree to make the proposal official, as a gesture of appreciation for the contribution made by religious […]

Christians join global calls for repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws

Some 300 Christians marched on the legislature in Pakistan’s Punjab province, joining global calls for the repeal of the country’s draconian blasphemy laws days after a Christian lynching victim died in hospital. During the protest on June 8 in Lahore, the provincial capital, the protesters condemned the government for failing to stop recurrent Muslim mob attacks based […]

Climate change exacerbates poverty in vulnerable Asian communities, says Gariguez

“Climate change hits hardest at the poorest communities, fundamentally because they lack the resources to adapt,” said Fr. Edwin A. Gariguez, social action director of the Apo-stolic Vicariate of Calapan, south of Manila. Gariguez was the keynote speaker at the Caritas Asia Regional Conference, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 11, attended by […]

Christian communities wishing Buddhists well for Vesak

As Buddhists today mark the start of Vesak, their most important holy day, some Christian leaders in Southeast Asia have sent messages of good wishes as a way to promote interfaith dialogue. The Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) extended its best wishes to the Buddhist community in the Malaysian state and throughout the Southeast […]

Vatican official: Hundreds of millions of Christians ‘face high levels of persecution’

“More than 365 million Christians, approximately 1 in 7, face high levels of persecution for their faith,” Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Vatican secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, said at a conference on religious freedom held in Rome. The conference, titled “Religious Freedom and Integral Human Development: A New Global Platform,” was jointly […]