The visit to China by Bishop Stephen Chow of Hong Kong may have been a mistake, but it is also an indicator of Beijing’s continuing war on faith.
Bishop Chow, wittingly or unwittingly, may have made himself a pawn in Beijing’s co-option strategy. Time will tell what his reasons are, how much in control of his plans he actually is, and to what extent he was coerced into complicity. That his visit was distressing, disturbing and disappointing is not in doubt, especially for those of us – like me – who greeted his appointment last year with relief and some hope.
Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime desires ultimately to eradicate religion and, in the short to medium term, to restrict, repress, control and co-opt religion. The bishop’s visit, and his remarks, are a sign of just how much pressure is to come on religious freedom in Hong Kong.
Until now, religious freedom appeared to be the last remaining freedom: Christians and other religious communities have been free to go to places of worship and practice their faith freely. To an untrained eye, even though all other freedoms have been stripped from Hong Kong, religious adherents are still able to worship. Yet that has always been a fallacy, for several reasons.
First, as soon as freedom itself – and its component parts – is trampled upon, inevitably freedom of religion or belief will be impacted. As soon as freedom of association, expression and assembly are undermined, freedom of religion or belief is eroded.

A 435-year-old Baroque-style church in the Philippines was declared an “important cultural property” by the government on April 22. Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Our Lady of the Remedies), more popularly known as “Malate Catholic Church” in the capital Manila, was recognized by the National Museum of the Philippines for its historical and cultural role. “A panel of experts was convened on Dec. 5, 2018, by the director-general of the National Museum of the Philippines.”

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taek of Seoul attended the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in South Korea and urged the migrant workers and students to strive for their goals despite difficulties in the foreign land.
The community, established by the Migrant Pastoral Committee of Seoul Archdiocese, marked the celebrations at the Pastoral Hall in the national capital on April 23, Seoul Archdiocese-run Good News reported on April 24.
“Living in an unfamiliar foreign country away from your beloved family and hometown is a difficult task that requires great sacrifice,” Chung said.
“All of you here are also enduring various hardships in foreign countries because of work or study…  I will pray that God blesses you so that you accomplish what you set out to do,” the prelate added.
About 550 Vietnamese Catholics joined the anniversary Mass and a Thanksgiving program sponsored by the archdiocese.

The new Member of Parliament in Kazakhstan, Karakat Abden, has put forward a proposal that has unleashed discontent in her country: that of “imposing a tax on Kazakh girls who marry foreigners”. A group of women’s rights activists immediately started collecting signatures for a petition, leading to Abden’s removal from her parliamentary seat.
In her speech on a TV programme, the MP argued that “a ‘Kazakh woman’ is a national talisman, and we cannot lose cede this abroad, which is why I call for a tax on mixed marriages”. The politician had already hinted at this project in last year’s presidential election campaign, when she was listed as a ‘front’ candidate competing against outgoing President Tokaev.
Having become a member of parliament for the social-patriotic Auyl party, Abden claims to have the support of the other deputies in her group. The country’s feminists have risen up against her, who had already marched on 8 March with the slogan ‘we are not your toys’, aimed precisely at those who, like Abden, want to manipulate the role of Kazakh women.
A woman married to a foreigner, Ajžan, who lives with her husband and family in Thailand, intervened on social media: ‘If the MP is hungry for taxes, let her take them from husbands who beat their wives’.

Christian leaders in Pakistan have slammed the ongoing national census saying the questionnaires were erratic and accused the enumerators of not counting many members of minority groups.
“Many parish houses [parsonages] have been skipped. Maybe they thought no one stays in churches. Since every parish has at least three priests, at least 40 people will be missing in the count [in the city],” Father Mario Rodrigues, rector of St. Patrick’s High School in Karachi, the country’s largest city, told UCA News.
The population in the port city stands at more than 16.5 million as per the seventh national population and housing census that started last month.
Christian leaders like Rodrigues in Karachi and those in other cities have issued a series of allegations against the first-ever digital census including undercounting, faulty questionaries, and delaying tactics.
Based on the latest data, the state-run Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said the current population of the country is estimated at 235 million. The agency did not reveal data on the religious minorities in the predominantly Muslim country.
The bureau initially planned to hold the census from March 1- April 1, but it was later extended to April 30, media reports say. The field activities were halted on April 20 for the Eid-ul-Fitr festival and will resume on April 26.

At least 85 people were killed and 322 injured in a deadly stampede at a charity distribution event in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Thursday, according to an AFP report.
The stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior’s spokesperson said in a statement.
At least “85 were killed and more than 322 were injured” after the stampede in the Bab al-Yemen district of the capital, a Huthi security official said. The toll was also confirmed by a health official.
Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive the donations, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, two witnesses involved in the rescue effort told Reuters.
A video posted by Houthi television on Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety.
A video broadcast by the Huthi rebel’s Al Masirah TV channel showed a several bodies piled up, with survivors struggling to get out of the place.
Armed fighters in military uniforms and distribution workers screamed at the crowd to turn back as they rescued people from the stampede.
The dead and injured have been moved to nearby hospitals and those responsible for the distribution were taken into custody, the Huthi’s interior ministry said in a statement carried by the rebel’s Saba news agency.
Families rushed to hospitals but many were not allowed to enter as top officials were also visiting the dead and wounded.