An investigation has ruled out sabotage as the cause of skin rashes from ashes used during an Ash Wednesday ritual in a Manila diocese.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan said the “mystery burns” people had on their foreheads after the ashes were administered were caused by acid.

Bishop David said several Mass-goers reported feeling a burning sensation on their foreheads immediately after being marked. When the people washed the ashes off, rashes and blisters appeared on their skin.

The ashes in question were not used after reports were received. Doctors who examined the rashes said a chemical substance caused the skin burns. The ashes are still being tested in a laboratory. He has already ordered a review of close-circuit television footage to look for possible “sabotage.” A laboratory test found high level of acidity in the ashes due to “over burning.”

“They call it overcooked charcoal that turned into caustic ashes that produced high acidity when mixed with water,” said the prelate.
He said a similar incident was reported in

Ireland several years ago.
Bishop David said the burning of a huge pile of palm fronds resulted in the “over burning” of ones on the bottom that produced greyish ashes instead of black charcoal.

“Not everybody was affected. Only those who received the acidic ashes had blisters,” said the prelate.

After reviewing close-circuit television footage the possibility of sabotage was ruled out.

He said the parishioners who suffered blisters received proper medication.

Mass-goers reported feeling a burning sensation on their foreheads immediately after being marked with ashes.

The Catholic Church in China registered 48,556 baptisms in 2017, reflecting the vitality and missionary strength of the Catho- lic communities there, according to a report by Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The figures likely are in- complete, however, given the difficulty of procuring data from Catholic communities in the rural parts of China, the report said.

But the numbers still “reflect the vitality and the missionary dynamism of a community that fully lives faith,” said the organization conducting the annual survey: the Faith Institute for Cultural Studies, a church-run organization based in Shijiazh- uang. Fides republished the organization’s findings Feb. 15.

The province of Hebei which consistently has the highest number of baptisms each year of all the Chinese provinces – topped the list again with 11,899 bapti- sms, the report said. The Arch- diocese of Beijing registered 1,099 baptisms, while the Dio- cese of Ningxia had 128 new Catholics baptized. China’s north west autonomous region of Xinjiang, where the majority of the population is Muslim, registered 66 baptisms. The Qinghai province had 54 baptisms, and isolated communities such as Hainan Island in southern China and Tibet had 38 and 11 baptisms, respectively.

Christian and Muslim clerics signed a peace accord to restore calm in the Pakistani city of Lahore, a day after hundreds of minority families fled their homes fearing attacks from hard-line groups over alleged blasphemy.

More than 1,000 Christian families left the Shahdara neigh- bourhood after locals protested against Patras Masih, 18, who allegedly shared a photo of a Hindu wearing shoes in Roza-e- Rasool, the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holy cities.

Masih was arrested on Feb. 19. His family is in hiding. “He was a member of a Facebook page titled “paglo ki basti” (the slum of lunatics). The existence of this photo challenges the religious sentiments of Muslims. This may result in an unpleasant incident,” said complainant Hafiz Muhammad Awais.

A mob carrying wooden sticks and placards gathered on a main road, burned tires and chanted religious slogans on Feb. 21 while demanding the public execution of the Christian sanitary worker. They also gathered outside the teenager’s house and threatened to burn all Christian houses in the area.

The news of an “imminent” agreement between China and the Holy See on how to appoint bishops is arousing tensions, debates and the taking of positions among the official and unofficial Chinese Catholics (under- ground). Above all, the campaign in favour of signing the agreement that some media have undertaken to convince the world the benefits of a deal and perhaps even to convince China, which so far has not expressed itself, is being targeted. Several speeches criticize the fact that this campaign has silenced the voice of the unofficial Church. The following article, received from AsiaNews, is from an underground Catholic of China, known to us, who signs with the pseudonym “John.”

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them” (Mt. 7:15- 19). Before starting, I wanted to mention this biblical passage to remember what is happening or is about to happen.

Reading the article “China, the “under-ground” bishop: we will follow the Pope, because we trust the Lord,” I would like to thank the author because he put quotation marks on “underground” to describe this Chinese bishop of Qiqihar [this is Msgr Giuseppe Wei Jingyi, interviewed by Vatican Insider, on February 16th last]. All this is really ridiculous: this so-called underground bishop is actually an official bishop who wants to represent the underground Church and claims to be an authoritative voice. The bishop asks his friends in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan to “set aside the pretence” to speak in his place. If this is true, I would like to ask: who should represent the voice of the underground Church? Whose voice should that be? Based on what? What is the core of our Catholic faith? Who can represent the interest of the Chinese faithful?

Jolekha Begum is eight months pregnant but the Muslim primary school teacher still travelled more than 150 kilometres across Bangladesh on a wintry morning in late January to worship at a miracle-bestowing shrine that has gained fame nationwide. This year, about 50,000 devotees flocked there to attend the feast on Feb. 2, which was presided over by Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario. Traditionally, it is celebrated ahead of Lent, which begins on Feb. 14 this year, rather than on June 13, St Anthony’s feast day in the church’s liturgical calendar. Most devotees are Catholics from Dhaka Archdiocese’s Bhawal region, one of country’s oldest and largest Catholic strongholds covering seven parishes.

Have the monks from one of the last monasteries in eastern Turkey finally won their battle? In 2014, fifty properties belonging to the Syrian Orthodox Church were expropriated by the government in southeast Turkey. Among them were several ancient monasteries where a dozen monks continue to live. Since then, the monks have launched a series of legal cases to recover their properties. A recent decree may finally grant them victory, according to a report in the Hürriyet Daily News in early February.