Sathyadeepam Weekly – Page 3

A homecoming without justice is no homecoming at all: The problem of Rohingya refugees

After years of diplomatic stalemate, Myanmar has agreed to receive an initial group of 5,000 Rohingya refugees currently in Malaysia, with more expected to follow. For a country that has hosted tens of thousands of Rohingya over decades despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, the announcement could represent a long-awaited breakthrough. […]

Pilgrims seeking peace caught in deadly Nepal-Tibet floods

Mount Kailash is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. They came to the Himalayas seeking spiritual renewal, drawn by Tibet’s sacred, snow-capped Mount Kailash. Instead, many pilgrims were caught in deadly floods that tore through the Nepal-Tibet region, wiping out entire villages. “I saw two buses carrying Indian pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar,” said 27-year-old Laloma, […]

Protesters seek judicial probe into attack on Bangladeshi Christians

Ethnic Garo Christian families came under a mob attack in Sherpur district on Aug. 12 About 200 mostly ethnic minority Christians joined a protest rally in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka demanding a judicial probe into a recent mob attack on Garo Christian villagers. The Garo Student Union (GSU), a body of ethnic Garo students, organized the […]

Slavery was abolished, but exploitation of labour continues

Migrants remain vulnerable to exploitation, modern slavery, challenging the Church to defend their dignity and freedom. How easily can an exploited migrant worker become a victim of modern slavery? On Aug. 23, the world marked the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The date recalls the night of Aug. […]

25 years on, 9/11 still reshapes Church life in Pakistan

Komal Maria, 23, walks smoothly through the metal detector at the entrance to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Lahore, a northern city regarded as Pakistan’s cultural capital. She routinely presents her purse for inspection, placing her phone in the tray and her keys beside it before nodding as a guard briefly pats her down. For […]

The Dangerous Illusion of Anti-Politics

Countless analyses have already been written about the causes of Péter Magyar and the Tisza Party’s landslide success and the resulting electoral realignment. Yet, there is a crucial factor that receives relatively little attention: the complete depoliticization of political struggle. The parliamentary elections birthed the newest and most successful product of the 21st-century Hungarian wasteland: […]

‘Protect Our Christian Heritage’: Italian and Danish PMs Rally Europe against Mass Migration

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen have made a joint appeal for a tougher European approach to migration, bringing together two leaders from opposite sides of the political divide. In “A joint message for Europe”, published on August 10, the conservative Italian premier and centre-left Danish leader said Europe must both […]

From Adenauer to Spahn: The Unraveling of Germany’s Christian Democratic Tradition

The recent controversy surrounding German politician Jens Spahn, until recently the parliamentary leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag and long regarded as a potential future chancellor, was revealing. Spahn resigned after it emerged that he and his same-sex partner had commissioned an American surrogate mother, despite belonging to a party […]

Pope Leo calls Uruguay “a Country of Young People Who have Faith”

Mortal remains of prominent Church leaders Return to Timor-Leste