Indonesian Protestants celebrating the start of the Reformation 500 years ago have embraced Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World, calling it a document that can significantly help mend ties among Christians in a country blighted by growing religious intolerance.

The Protestant Reformation began on Oct. 31, 1517, when Martin Luther, a German pastor sent his Ninety-Five Theses on the power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the Archbishop of Mainz in which he criticized the Catholic Church and the papacy.

During celebrations in Jakarta on Oct. 31 to mark the event Indonesian Protestant leaders said the pope’s message in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium or The Joy of the Gospel, in which he a called for churches to avoid blaming each other, held special meaning in Indonesia as fears grow over rising intolerance in the country.

“The invitation by Pope Francis in the document is very relevant, asking churches to distant ourselves from blaming and slandering attitudes,” Rev. Herniette T. Lebang, chairwo-man of Communion of Churches in Indonesia, said at the Oct. 31 gathering.

In Pakistan, Christian prisoners are denied the consolation of faith offered by chaplains denounces The World Watch Monitor, granted permission to visit detainees in prisons across the country. The Rev. Maurice Shahbaz, director of the Prison Mission Society of Pakistan, says he has been trying to get consent for visits to prisoners by missionaries, evangelicals, and pastors for more than a year. This would allow Christians, already discriminated against by cell companions because of their faith, to have at least the consolation of faith.

Tariq Mehmood Khan Babar, deputy general inspector, says the ban on imam visits to detainees dates back to early 2015, in conjunction with the approval of the National Action Plan. This is the terrorism prevention plan launched by Islamabad following the Taliban massacre at the Peshawar military school in December 2014, which resulted in the deaths of 132 children.

The threat of violent extremism remains in the predominantly Catholic Philippines even after the end of a five-month siege by terrorists in a southern city, said Catholic and Muslim officials.

Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Philippines bishops’ Public Affairs Committee, told Catholic News Service that, according to some analysts and the president, “terrorist cells are already everywhere. It’s not only concentrated in Marawi, but there is a presence also in other parts of Mindanao.”

The historically peaceful Marawi on Mindanao Island in the South was the site of a sustained siege by Islamic State loyalists, who wanted to claim it as an IS caliphate. More than 1,100 people — mostly IS fighters — died in the battle where the fighters, fortified with munitions and provisions, withstood a military offensive backed by intelligence and special training from the United States, Australia and other countries.

The military killed two local leaders who headed the fight, prompting the president to declare the siege over.

Days later, Mindanao’s Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato told reporters “the threat of terrorism is still there” and that extremist ideology and plans for a caliphate continue.

Manila-based terrorism analyst Rommel Banlaoi told CNS the fall of the IS-held capital of Raqqa, Syria, Oct. 17 meant the terror group would end moves to set up a worldwide caliphate in Iraq and Syria and decentralize. We value your input. Please help us improve NCRonline.org by taking this quick survey.

Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace Violence and Terrorism Research, said the caliphate would instead be in the “hearts and minds” of its fighters. He predicted IS would become more of a “franchise operation,” using the internet to urge followers to carry out terrorism acts against “the infidels and crusaders” in their home countries.

“ISIS is planning to set up a strong foothold in Asia,” he said. “And in Asia, the epicenter of their plan is the southern Philippines.”

The Philippine House of Representatives has not renewed the license of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to operate dozens of radio stations across the country.

The bishops lodged an application to renew the license in January, because their previous one was due to expire Aug. 7, reported silencing-of-54-radio-stations. The application, which sought the extension of the license, or franchise, for another 25 years, remains stuck at the committee level of the Lower House of Congress.

Philippine law requires radio and television networks to have a franchise, which is granted through legislation by Congress, to be able to operate, reported ucanews.com. The franchise granted to the bishops’ conference was last renewed in 1992.

At least 54 radio stations under the country’s Catholic Media Network would be affected by the failure of the renewal of the franchise this year. Despite the non-renewal of its franchise, several Catholic radio stations continue to operate. The network’s stations reach 11 regions and 35 provinces of the country. It is the largest broadcaster in the Philippines in terms of the total number of stations and transmitting power per station.

Radio Veritas, a radio station operated by the Manila Archdiocese, has a separate franchise that was renewed during the previous administration.

Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the public affairs committee of the bishops’ conference, said he is not discounting politics as the reason for the failure of the franchise renewal, especially because Catholic Church leaders have been vocal in criticizing President Rodrigo Duterte. “It’s sad that politics could get in the way of our democratic processes,” said the priest, adding that “it may be one reason why Congress didn’t renew the franchise.”

Secillano, however, said the real losers were the people who relied on the service.

“It’s the voice of the people and our search for truth that’s being undermined by Congress,” he said.

The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong has held a Mass to pray for missing underground Bp. James Su Zhimin, who was seized by Chinese authorities 20 years ago.

The Mass was also dedicated to other clerics detained by Chinese authorities. Or Yan Yan, a project officer for the commission, told ucanews.com that Bishop Su, from Hebei Province and now aged 85, is still in the hands of authorities. Or noted that many people think the Catholic Church in China is developing well because they see it has beautiful buildings. However, she said underlying problems remained, not least the detention of clerics such as Father Liu Honggeng of Baoding, Coadjutor Bishop Cui Tai of Xuanhua and Bishop Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou. All three were current cases, said Or.

She noted rumours that Bishop Su is in a nursing home for the aged, but even if true, this was not the same as being free as it would still be a form of house arrest.

Pope Francis’ visit to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh has coaxed an overdue show of compassion from Aung San Suu Kyi for her Muslim Rohingya countrymen. In tandem with confirmation of the typically packed papal itinerary that begins in Yangon Nov. 27 and winds up in Dhaka six days later, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party is launching an unprecedented interfaith peace prayer rally across the country.

In a welcome show of leadership by the ruling NLD party, the event, certain to cause domestic controversy amid the party’s Buddhist base, includes prayers for Rakhine, the state where the ethnic Rohingya Muslims have suffered unspeakable sometimes-deadly mistreatment at the hands of Myanmar’s military.

Myanmar’s first Cardinal Charles Bo told ucanews.com that the Pope’s motto is love and peace: Love among the ethnic groups, among the religious people and the majority Buddhist and other religions. And peace means to end decades-long civil wars, which are still raging in the country’s north.

The Holy See has asked Indonesian Bishop Hubertus Leteng, who recently resigned over allegations of theft and having an affair, to return the church funds he is accused of stealing. The request over the missing money was not mentioned in an Oct. 11 announcement by Vatican of the resignation.

However, according to Father Robert Pelita, who participated in a meeting between officials of the Vatican, Indonesian Bishops’ Conference and Ruteng Diocese, the request was made directly to Bishop Leteng.

“The Vatican representative said that in principle the money must be returned,” Father Pelita told ucanews.com on October 13, although the Vatican did not say when the bishop should pay it back. Pope Francis approved the resignation of the 58-year-old bishop following the investigation into allegations that he secretly borrowed US$94,000 from the Indonesian bishops’ conference and US$30,000 from the diocese, without providing an accountability report.

However, a diocesan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that at a recent meeting Bishop Leteng promised to return all of the funds.

Since the case went public, he has repaid 75 million rupiah (US$5,555) of the money he took from the diocese, the source said.

Bishop Leteng has said he will gradually repay money owed to the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference. Officials at the Indonesia Bishops Conference refused to comment, saying that the case is under the Vatican’s authority.

After the death of their teenage son on his third day of school, his family says they just want to know what happened.

On their son’s third day of high school, the parents of 17-year-old Sharoon Masih learned that he had been in a fight, had suffered a serious injury, and been taken to the hospital. They rushed to the hospital and there found him dead.

“The boys from his class who had brought him there told us that he died in the classroom,” said his mother, Razia Bibi, a Christian woman in a predominantly Muslim country.

Police said that on Aug. 27 another student at the school – in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province – kicked Sharoon in the stomach and that he died of internal injuries. The student charged in his death now awaits trial, but police are not calling the attack a hate crime.

Advocates for Christians in Pakistan note that another Christian boy was killed violently this year: On October 9, police killed a 14-year-old Christian boy in an incident still under investigation.

Pakistan is fourth on the list of 50 countries that the U.S.-based non-profit Open Doors – which advocates for persecuted Christians – lists as the most difficult in which to be a Christian.

Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, has defended his country’s leader in the face of global criticism over the alleged ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority. Cardinal Bo said Aung San Suu Kyi, state counsellor, still represented the best hope that Myanmar would emerge from a military dictatorship into a democracy.

He suggested that she did not have the power to stop the expulsion of the primarily Muslim Rohingya from the Buddhist-majority nation.

“As we know, her role has come under scorching criticism,” he said in a message to the 24th World Congress of the Apost-leship of the Sea, which took place in Taiwan 2-6 October.

“Her status is not official under the constitution,” he said, adding, “As long as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi continues, we have hope. She is a strong woman with strong principles.

“Despite the piercing criticisms of the international community, Myan-mar depends on her for many compassionate responses,” he said.

“Our perception is that she is trying to stabilize the fragile democracy,” the cardinal continued. “Democracy is hard won and it took 60 years to reach where the country is.”

Excerpts of the cardinal’s message were released on 6 October by the United Kingdom branch of Aid to the Church in Need.

Defending the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Cardinal Bo said: “The army, like the Thai army, has no patience with democracy and grabbed power from democracy thrice already in Myanmar.

“I think Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has an agenda to pull the country from the grips of the army which controls 25 percent of the parliamentary – and also the important – ministries.