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Attack on shrine upsets Christians in southern India

Unidentified vandals destroy-ed statues of Mother Mary, Infant Jesus and the Sacred Heart of Jesus at a hill shrine in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh causing shock among the local Catholics. The incident happened on the intervening night of May 14 and 15. “We came to know about it through some Catholics who […]

Reparations unlikely for victims of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia

Hopes of financial compensation for survivors of Pol Pot’s brutal regime that ruled Cambodia with an iron fist between 1975 and early 1979 are becoming less likely as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal continues to wind down. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), which was sworn in 16 years ago and charged with […]

Historic Catholic village under fire again in Myanmar

The Myanmar military has continued to target a historic Catholic village in the country’s Bamar heartland while pressing ahead with attacks on religious buildings in predominantly Christian regions. At least 320 out of the estimated 350 households were burned down during a military raid on Chaung Yoe village in the Sagaing region on May 20, […]

Chinese bishop remains in detention one year on

A Vatican-approved Chinese bishop remains in detention more than one year after his arrest for allegedly violating the communist country’s repressive regulations on religious affairs. Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang in Henan province was arrested on May 21 last year. His arrest came a day after police arrested 10 priests and an unknown number […]

Pakistan: ‘I spent 8 years on death row falsely accused of blasphemy’

In July 2013, Shagufta and Shafqat Emmanuel, a Catholic couple in Mian Channu, a small town 155 miles south of Lahore, Pakistan, were arrested on false charges of blasphemy. After eight years on death row, separated from each other and from their four children, they were finally released on 3 June 2021 by the Lahore […]

Hoping for divine intervention to save the Philippines

It has been five decades since the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law on Sept. 21, 1972. In this 50th year since the iron fist of repression was imposed, his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., will soon be the country’s head of state. Sara Duterte, daughter of outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte, will serve […]

21 new cardinals created by Pope Francis: Abp Filipe Neri Ferrão of Goa and Anthony Poola, of Hyderabad Cardinals, First Dalit cardinal

There will be 16 cardinals under the age of 80 elevated at the next consistory, to be held Aug. 27. This will be the eighth consistory of Pope Francis’ pontificate, and the first of his to be held in August. The last time a cardinal was made in August, a torrid month in Rome when […]

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) declares its ‘full independence’

A council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) on May 27 resolved on its “full self-sufficiency and independence,” distancing the Church from Russian Orthodoxy. The decision comes amid the third month of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been prominently supported by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. “The Council adopted relevant amendments and additions […]