Hundreds of civilians have fled their homes and are seeking refuge in churches in Myanmar’s conflict-torn Kachin State amid the military’s offensive against Kachin rebels.

More than 900 civilians from Kasung and Zup Mai villages are taking refuge in two Catholic Churches and a Baptist Church in Namti town after church groups rescued them on April 22. Father Peter Hka Awng Tu, parish priest of St Columban’s Cathedral, said people from Zup Mai had to walk for three days after fleeing their homes on April 20.

The priest said clothes donated by parishioners and food were given to the displaced people on April 23.

He said they rescued fleeing civilians, including women, children and the elderly, after he had a meeting with the military’s northern commander, who gave the green light. “At present people can’t go back to their villages as it is not safe for them because more fighting could erupt. Church groups will continue providing humanitarian assistance,” Father Awng Tu told.

On April 20, Myanmar’s military launched an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) by using airstrikes near Kasung village that led to hundreds of people fleeing their homes.

More than 1,000 civilians from Kasung, which is about 25 kilometers from Namti town, fled their homes in August 2017 following clashes between the military and the KIA.

More than 2,000 people remain trapped in a jungle since heavy fighting between Myanmar’s military and the KIA erupted near Awng Lawt and nearby villages on April 11.

About 200 Catholics remain stranded after attending a jubilee celebration on April 8-9 in Tanai, a gold and amber mining region, and cannot return to their village, according to Father Awng Tu.

“I am nothing but an instrument in God’s hands, a channel to show the world His mercy,” Fr Jyoti Francis Costa, tells Asia News. We met the assistant to the general secretary of the Bengali Episcopal Conference (Cbcb) in Rome, where he participated in the meeting convoked by Pope Francis with the Missionaries of Mercy. The Pope created this body of priests during the Extraordinary Jubilee of 2016 to “absolve even the most serious sins.” Fr Costa is one of the two missionaries chosen for Bangladesh.

Reflecting on his delicate assignment he states: “I am superior to none. I am there to listen, console the anxieties, welcome the faithful who want to be reconciled with God. I have no merit, it is the love of God that converts hearts.”

The priest is incardinated in the archdiocese of Dhaka, but thanks to the assignment he has been able to visit “parishes, dioceses and pilgrimage centres. Here the local Churches have organized masses, meetings, seminars and retreats.” In particular, he recounts, “I went on several occasions to the dioceses of Barisal [in the south of the country,] and Sylhet [to the east]. Some meetings have been dedicated to religious and consecrated persons, others to all the local faithful and neighboring parishes.”

With the papal mandate, since 2016 he has been able “to preach to thousands of people the teachings of the Gospel and the mercy of the Lord. Moreover, thanks to the special faculties granted us by the Pope, I have been able to confess to many faithful and absolve the sins reserved for the Apostolic See. I have listened to many personal stories and experiences.”

She has been described as frail, old, skinny and weak, but she made the tough-talking leader of the Philippines seethe in public. “Who are you?” fumed President Rodrigo Duterte. “You do not have the right to criticize us…. Just because you are a nun? The president even admitted that he personally ordered an investigation into the activities of Sister Patricia Anne Fox. Who indeed is this 71-year-old Australian nun whose detention hogged the headlines in Manila?

Sister Pat, as her friends call her, and her Congregation of Religious Sisters of Our Lady of Sion have been working in the Philippines since 1990. Marie Theodor Ratisbonne and his brother Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne established the missionary congregation in France in 1843. In 1890, the congregation established its presence in Australia with a mission “to improve Catholic- Jewish relations and to witness God’s faithful love for the Jewish people.”

“I fell in love with the Filipino people. I was inspired by their resilience and sense of humour, even in the middle of a crisis,” she told.

She said her congregation needed “to see the world through the eyes of the poor” and they saw the widespread poverty in Asia.

Pakistan’s top judge has announced he will take up the appeal of a Catholic mother of five children who has been on death row since 2010 for blasphemy.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar told lawyer Saif ul Malook — the chief counsel for Asia Bibi — to prepare for her appeal. “Be ready, Saif ul Malook. I am going to fix your case soon and I myself will preside over the bench,” Nisar told Malook on April 21.

The judge made his comments as the lawyer appeared before the Supreme Court seeking police protection for taking on Bibi’s case after it had been withdrawn by the Punjab police. Nisar ordered the Punjab police to again provide Malook with protection.

Malook said that he had high hopes of Bibi’s conviction being struck down by the Supreme Court.

“Bibi’s family and everyone else who understands her ordeal, are ecstatic at the news that her appeal will be heard soon,” Malook said. Bibi was arrested in 2009 for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad during an argument with Muslim women at an orchard in a small town in Punjab province.

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, a Christian chapel has been opened in an Islamic university. This is the church of St Mary, housed in the atrium of the Agriculture University of Faisalabad. It was inaugurated, on April 15th by Joseph Arshad, archbishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi and president of the Pakistani Episcopal Conference, formerly titular of the diocese of Faisalabad. During the ceremony, he said: “The presence of a church inside the university enclosure will offer a message of love and harmony throughout the country. Christians will come here to pray for the progress and prosperity of the institute and of the country.”

The new chapel is a novelty for the majority Muslim country. Up until now, more than 177 universities and colleges have been allowed to build only Islamic mosques. Christian places of worship were only allowed in Christian institutions. At the same time, there are no Hindu or gurdwara temples for Sikhs.

The Catholic Church in South Korea had 5.813 million worshippers accounting for 11% of the country’s population as of Dec. 31, 2017, up 1.3% from one year earlier, according to newly released statistics. But the figures released on April 13 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) also represent the slowest rate of growth in the last decade, leaving church authorities concerned about a continued wind-down. Last year, a total of 96,794 young Catholics were baptized in the country but this also represents a slowdown as the figure dropped 12.9% from 2016.

Sri Lanka is awaiting cabinet approval of a proposal to make Sunday school education compulsory for students aged 6-19 of all religions after the Christian Affairs Ministry sought feedback from Catholic priests about the idea earlier.

Father Piyal Janaka Fernando, institute director of the National Catechetical, Educational and Biblical Centre, forwarded their feedback to the government. Officials reportedly approached the priests based on their experience but plan to make Sunday lessons mandatory for Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus and students of other faiths, too. The issue was proposed in 2017 by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and chief Buddhist monks in the wake of a series of demonstrations against extra-curricular school-related teaching on Sundays.

Cardinal Ranjith even wrote to Sri Lanka’s president urging that tutorial classes be banned on Sundays from 6am to 2pm so they do not interfere with religious instruction.

Many private tutors work at weekends focusing on secular studies as this can result in a lucrative side income given the intensifying competition for the national school qualifying exams each year.

The Catholic Church has 1,155 Sunday schools, over 13,000 teachers and nearly 202,000 students in 12 dioceses across the country. A cabinet paper will be submitted at an as-yet-undecided date to the ministers in charge of all religions to implement a six-day study week with a focus on religious teaching on Sundays, said Buddhist Affairs Minister Gamini Jayawickrema Perera. He made the remarks while addressing a meeting in the North Western Provincial capital of Kurunegala on March 29. The move is aimed at installing more discipline in young people, he added. When Cardinal Ranjith called for the ban on tutorial classes, the argument he shared with other religious leaders was that these were detrimental to a child’s spiritual education as they preclude enrolment at Sunday school.

Four members of a Catholic family were killed in a militant attack in southern Pakistan a day after the minority community celebrated Easter.

Ucanews.com reported the deadly gun attack took place April 2 in Quetta, the capital of restive Balochistan province. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. “Four Christian relatives were going to a nearby market on an auto-rickshaw when two unknown gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on them,” police officer Moazzam Jah Ansari told ucanews.com. “It was a targeted attack and an act of terrorism.” Police said the casings of 9 mm bullets were recovered from the crime scene.

Pervaiz Masih, Tariq Masih, Imran Masih and Firdous Bibi died in the attack, and a 10-year-old girl was injured. A neighbor, Aftab, told that Pervaiz, a rickshaw driver, was taking his relatives to an ice cream shop when they were targeted just outside their home. “Pervaiz Masih had been living in Quetta for 10 years. His relatives came from Lahore and Dubai for the first time to celebrate Easter with him on March 29,” Aftab said.