At least 48,365 baptisms were celebrated in churches and Catholic communities in the People’s Republic of China in the year 2018. This is the number reported in the official publication of the Faith Institute for Cultural Studies, based in Shijiazhuang, the capital of the Chinese province of Hebei. The figures bring together data from 104 Catholic dioceses recognized by the Chinese authorities, scattered in more than 30 national provincial divisions. These data appear in substantial continuity with those of the previous year, when the Faith Institute had certified the celebration of 48,556 baptisms in the Chinese Catholic communities.

Also in 2018, as in previous years, the largest number of new Catholics baptized reported by the Faith institute (almost 13,000) was concentrated in the Chinese province of Hebei with other remarkable percentages of new baptisms celebrated in the Catholic communities of the provinces of Shanxi (4124), Sichuan (3707) and Shandong (2914). Faith institute also reported on baptisms celebrated in Catholic communities in the regions where Muslim populations and ethnic minority groups are found, such as Tibet (8 baptisms), Hainan (35), Qinghai (43) and Xinjiang (57).

“There will be no official or unofficial church when the church is united,” he said. Asked if it meant the so-called underground church would be forced to dis-appear, he said: “Don’t you want the church to be united? A church schism is not the fundamental aspiration of Catholics.”

Bishop Zhan said those Catholics who refused to join the official church were acting in their personal interests, but there was no timetable for the integration of the underground church — those who have refused to register with the government — with Beijing’s hierarchy.

“Everyone works hard and works together,” he said. The push to “Sinicise religion” — make it more culturally Chinese — was introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2015 and written into party orthodoxy in 2017. Experts see it as an attempt by the officially atheist Communist Party to bring religions under its absolute control.

“The agreement is provisional only, and we will improve it in the future,” Cardinal Filoni said after celebrating Mass in Hong Kong March 5.

The Christian community in Nepal has not been spared the wrath of society’s caste-based inequality, even though bottom-rung Dalits are increasingly turning to Christianity as a means to escape their fate.

Religious conversions are illegal in Nepal but the numbers suggest many consider it a risk worth taking as the “untouchables” are among the most oppressed by this complex social system, which leaves no sphere untouched. Testament to how legions of Dalits are prepared to gamble on breaking the law in search of a more dignified life, Nepal now harbours one of the fastest-growing Christian populations in the world.

The Federation of National Christians Nepal (FNCN) estimates there are 12,000 churches in the country and millions of Nepalese are believed to have turned to Christianity despite a 2011 census claiming Christians make up just 1.4% of the population, or several hundred thousand people. A whopping 65% of the newly converted are Dalits, according to the FNCN.

There are between 3.6 million and 5 million Dalits in Nepal, which means they could comprise as much as one fifth of the total population.

There are three Dalit sub-groups: those who live in the hilly regions, the mountain dwellers, and the Madeshi Dalits of the Terai, a lowland region in the south that extends to northern India.

The discrepancy in numbers is partly due to so many having legally changed their surname to make it sound like they belong to a more privileged caste as a last-ditch attempt to ease the discrimination they so often face.

In a Lenten message to young Catholics in Bangladesh, Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario of Dhaka called on them to get closer to Jesus Christ and to refrain from using their mobile phones on every Friday leading to Easter Sunday. “My dear young people, during this Lent I appeal to you for a unique sacrifice. I request you to abstain from using mobile phones from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Friday starting from Ash Wednesday. During this time, you can try to strengthen your relationship with each other and with Jesus Christ,” Cardinal D’Rozario said.

His message resonates with Pope Francis’ call to young Bangladeshis during his visit to the nation in 2017. The cardinal reiterated his appeal during his homily at the Ash Wednesday Mass at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in central Dhaka on March 6 where he was the main celebrant.

“I know, my dear young friends, you love your mobile phone, but it should not be more than your love for each other and for Jesus Christ who saved mankind from sins,” he told more than 3,000 faithful.

“There is a madness in today’s world — we need to grab everything on our way. But remember we came with nothing and nothing will go with us. Only our good deeds will remain, so let’s do good to others as much as we can.”

“I take the cardinal’s message positively, I have serious doubts whether young people, who are seriously addicted to their smartphones, will pay heed to his call. I think the prelate could have asked them to reduce mobile phone use every day,” William Nokrek, a Garo Catholic and former president of Bangladesh Catholic Students’ Movement.

Charges of desecrating the pages of the Qurân saw three young Christian women, including two minors, placed under arrest. It was later discovered that none of the charges were true, but by then the news had spread across their Karachi neighbourhood, provoking a violent reaction by local Islamic radicals who forced some 200 Christian families living in the area to abandon their homes to save themselves.

In Pakistan the accusation of blasphe-my-even without evidence-triggers action by Muslim extremists. Thankfully, Christian clerics were able this time to intervene quickly and mediate the affair, which ended peace-fully. One of the clerics, Fr Saleh Diego, a member of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan (CBCP), told AsiaNews that “police released the young women, who now live at a secret location for security reasons.”

The three victims falsely accused of insulting Islam are Permisha, 16, Suneha, 15, and Sunaina, 22. The latter is married. All live in a predominantly Christian part of the Farooq-e-Azam district.

At the centre of the incident is a woman related to all three, Mrs. Khurshid Bibi, who is the grandmother of the first two and Sunaina’s mother-in-law.

In January 2019 she rented a flat to a Muslim couple, Fayaz and Samina Riaz. After three weeks, however, given the disrespectful behaviour of the couple, she asked them to leave the premises.

On 19 February, the three Christian women went to the flat owned by their relative to clean it. Since the Muslim couple had not yet moved, they asked Fayaz and Samina to take away their belongings so they could clean the rooms. At that point, Samina, by her own admission, decided to accuse the three of blasphemy.  She went outside and started screaming that the “kafirs” (infidels) had stolen a copy of the Koran and thrown it into a tub.

Her screams attract the attention of Muslims, who surround the area and attacked several Christian homes causing damages.