“Climate change hits hardest at the poorest communities, fundamentally because they lack the resources to adapt,” said Fr. Edwin A. Gariguez, social action director of the Apo-stolic Vicariate of Calapan, south of Manila. Gariguez was the keynote speaker at the Caritas Asia Regional Conference, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 11, attended by approximately 100 representatives from 25 Caritas organizations across Asia. The priest said that small farmers, fishers, and indigenous peoples are on the front lines, grappling with the direct impacts of environ-mental changes that threaten their livelihoods and survival. Gariguez emphasized the need for effective policies that could provide immediate relief and long-term sustainability.
Discussing various extreme weather events, including the 2023 humid heatwave across South Asia and devastating typhoons in the Philippines, Gariguez explained that these phenomena “do not just disrupt daily lives–they obstruct long-term development.” Recent scientific data showed the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, under-scoring the urgent need for regional adaptive strategies, according to Gariguez. “The correlation between escalating climate events and the surge in health issues is undeniable,” noted Gariguez, adding that climate change exacerbates health crises, particularly respira-tory and water-borne diseases. “Our faith implores us to see the environmental crisis not just as a physical challenge but as a moral imperative,” Fr. Gariguez remarked.
He said that different Asian communities integrate spiritual beliefs and cultural values into their environmental conservation efforts, showing how these practices can forge strong commitments to ecological stewardship. The priest praised organizations like Caritas Internationalis for their role in blending humanitarian aid with developmental strategies. “By integrating immediate disaster response with long-term development plans, we pave the way for sustainable resilience,” he said.

As Buddhists today mark the start of Vesak, their most important holy day, some Christian leaders in Southeast Asia have sent messages of good wishes as a way to promote interfaith dialogue. The Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) extended its best wishes to the Buddhist community in the Malaysian state and throughout the Southeast Asian country.
In view of many international crises, wars, and dissensions, as well as aggressions, divisions, and conflicts, the Buddha’s teachings and message of peace, compassion and devotion to humanity are something that must be heard more and more, this according to the Rt Rev Danald Jute, ACS president and Anglican Bishop of Kuching. “In a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation such as Malaysia, it is essential that we respect and celebrate our similarities as well as our differences,” the prelate said. “Let us affirm the good in each one of us. In this way, we can all help to build a more peaceful, respected, and prosperous nation.”
Cardinal William Goh, Catholic Archbishop of Singapore also issued a message for the city-state’s Buddhist community. “As you celebrate the birth, enlightenment, and final nirvana of Gautama Buddha, may your hearts be filled with peace and joy,” he said. “In today’s world, many pursue material wealth while relegating spiritual values and their sense of morality to the back seat. As Buddhists and Christians, our religious principles and moral responsibilities motivate us to help mankind in its search for truth and peace.” According to the cardinal, “Constant care and attention are needed to preserve trust among the different faith communities in Singapore. This is especially important when our world is experiencing increasing levels of geopolitical tension and ethnic and religious polarisation today.” With this in mind, “Let our communities continue to adopt a way of life that seeks truth over falsehood, compassion over hatred, and forgiveness over revenge to ensure lasting peace and prosperity,” he added.
Catholic Archbishop Julian Leow of Kuala Lumpur also issued a brief message to Malaysian Buddhists. “May this celebration inspire us to cultivate greater understanding, kindness, and harmony within our communities. May we also strengthen our commitment to work for reconciliation and resilience.”

Christians in Pakistan have taken to the streets across the Muslim-majority nation following yet another mob attack over false blasphemy accusations in the central Punjab province. Uca news agency reported that from Peshawar city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to southern Karachi in Sindh, Christians gathered in large numbers this week-end to protest the attack on two houses and a shoe factory owned by a Christian family in Sargodha district in Punjab.
The Christian factory owner, Mr. Nazil Gill Masih and his son were accused of having burnt pages of the Quran in their garbage in the residential area of the Gillwala Mujahid colony of Sargodha and last week were attacked by over 400 men armed with batons, bricks, and stones ransacking and burning their shops and homes. Although twelve members of the family were able to escape, Mr. Masih was badly beaten and severely injured before police arrived and managed to remove him from the mob. He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition. His son was also reportedly beaten and, according to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), ransacking and fires continued after the attack, posing a grave threat to the safety and well-being of the local Christian community.
The Minorities Alliance Pakistan (MAP) demanded punishment for the perpetrators of violence. For its part ACN has joined in strongly condemning the incident, and has expressed its solidarity with the affected family and the whole Christian community in Pakistan. The police, meanwhile, ha registered cases against 450 unknown persons under an anti-terrorism law and 25 people have been arrested in connection with the attack.
At a demonstration in Peshawar, Christians declared May 25 as a “black day” and more than 500 protesters at the Faisalabad District Council Chowk in central Punjab blocked traffic for two hours and 20 women burned their head scarves in protest, Akmal Bhatti, a Catholic political leader and head of the MAP said.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, said there is an “unprecedented state of turmoil and suffering, which seems to have no end” in the country resulting from a coup d’état at the beginning of 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conflict has already left more than 100 places of worship bombed or damaged, the cardinal said, and the violence has spread in many areas of the territory. In addition, he said that almost 3 million people have been displaced and are in urgent need of assistance, which has been arriving little by little thanks to the work of the Catholic Church and other nongovernmental organizations such as Religions for Peace.
Although Myanmar is a pre-dominantly Buddhist country, the constitution guarantees religious freedom. However, Bo pointed out a worrying reality: “The last de-cade saw the emergence of funda-mentalist forces that targeted mi-nority religions.”
The situation has been exa-cerbated by recent political unrest affecting people of all faiths who are suffering the consequences of an expanding civil war. “Peace is the common prayer of all the religions,” the cardinal emphasized.

“We, the Christians of Bangladesh, and their leaders – the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB) and the United Forum of Churches (UF-CB) are surprised and worried,” said a joint statement issued on Sunday.
In today’s globalised and secularised world, the idea of a “Christian state” is absurd, said the statement signed by Abp Bejoy D’Cruze of Dhaka, the president of CBCB and UFCB.
The reaction came after Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused Christians of plotting to carve out a “Christian state” of their own by taking parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar. “Like East Timor …they will carve out a Christian country taking parts of Bangladesh [Chattogram] and Myanmar with a base in the Bay of Bengal,” national English newspaper The Daily Star quoted Ms Hasina as saying on May 23.
She said the government is under pressure to allow a foreign government to use a base in the Bay of Bengal, which she rejected without naming the country. “Many have their eyes on this place. There is no controversy here, no conflict. I won’t let that happen. This is also one of my crimes [in their eyes],” she said, adding that this is why the Awami League Government is always in trouble.
The alleged plot is neither supported nor accepted by Christians, he said.

This year marks one hundred years since the Council of Shanghai, the first Plenary Council of the Church in China. For the occasion, the Pontifical Urbaniana University in cooperation with the Agenzia Fides organised a conference, which was held today, to highlight the historic event a century ago, but also to look at today’s challenges, starting with the notion of “sinicisation” of religions, an issue central to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s religious policy.
Pope Francis also underlined the importance of the council in 1924, which brought together the bishops and apostolic prefects present in China at the time, in a video message.
A lot of curiosity surrounded the first official visit in Rome of the current bishop of Shanghai, Msgr Joseph Shen Bin, at the centre of tensions last year after Chinese authorities unilaterally transferred him to China’s foremost epis-copal see, a situation later settled by Pope Francis’s decision to appoint him as well.
Bishop Shen was joined by important academics and Church officials from the People’s Republic of China, who brought their vision of what happened a century ago, as well as their views about the relationship between the “inculturation” of the faith promoted by the doctrine of the Church and “sinicisation”, processes seen as two circles that overlap but also diverge.
This also comes with the need for dialogue in the perspective of fraternity to avoid the risk of fuelling “new self-referential closures”, as Card Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation, put it this in his conclusion. “The stories of our Chinese brothers and sisters have something important to show to the universal Church,” Card Tag-le said. “There may be misunderstandings, but [they are] never half-hearted with respect to the Church’s journey in China.”

Instruments and institutions at the service of the disabled. And permits for the construction of two new churches in the archdioceses of Jakarta and Pelambang. These are the new projects put in place in agreement with the local Church by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, through its Directorate for Catholics (Bimas Katolik Kemenag), presented in a meeting held with the Bishops’ Conference.
In particular, the government will take care of the dissemination of a Braille translation of the Gospel of Mark for the visually impaired and the establishment of two Catholic high schools to train catechists prepared to serve the disabled in the district of Nagekeo, located on the island of Flores, in eastern Nusa Tenggara province, and on the island of Nias, in Sumatra province.
‘Our agency has a primary focus on the neglected people in the remote areas of the country,’ explained the Director of the Directorate for Catholics, Mr Supraman, ‘providing a financial aid package to establish or renovate places of worship and to procure essential tools for apostolate in education or other areas. The project for the disabled is being carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Expressing his thanks, the President of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Antonius Subianto of Bandung, commented: ’We really have things in common: the good spirit of helping others, especially the neglected people.

The Holy See Press Office has released the official logos and mottos for the Pope’s upcoming visit to Asia. The Pope’s journey to the continent – which will include stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Singapore – is scheduled to take place on September 2-13, 2024.
Pope Francis will land in Jakarta, Indone-sia, on September 3, remaining until the 6th.
The logo for this visit features the Pope with his hand raised in blessing, standing in front of a golden “Garuda”, a sacred eagle, which has been depicted in a manner reminiscent of traditional Indonesian “batik” fabric. Inlaid is a map of Indonesia, an archipelago characterized by a great variety of ethnic and social groups, languages, cultures and religious beliefs. The Apostolic Journey has been given the motto ‘Faith – Fraternity – Compassion’.
Next, the Pope will travel to Papua New Guinea, where he will remain until Sept. 9.
The centrepiece of the logo for this visit is a cross, depicted in colours meant to evoke Papua New Guinea’s sunrises and sunsets. On the cross, a Bird of Paradise, symbolising Papua New Guinea, can be seen. The motto for this Apostolic Journey is “Pray”, inspired by the disciples’ request to Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1).
From Papua New Guinea, Pope Francis will travel to Timor Leste, remaining until September 11. In the centre of the logo for this journey, we see Pope Francis with his hand raised in blessing. Behind him is the globe, from which a map of Timor Leste emerges. Above, written in an arc, is the motto of the papal visit, “May your faith be your culture”, an exhortation to the Timorese people to live out their faith according to their culture and traditions.
The Pope’s final stop will be the island nation of Singapore, which he will visit on September 11-13. The logo for this Apostolic Journey depicts a stylized cross, inspired by the star that guided the Magi, by the Eucharist and by the five stars of the flag of Singapore. On either side of the Cross is the motto of the Apostolic Journey: “Unity–Hope.”

Catholic students from Pamulang University (UNPAM) were threatened by Muslim extre-mists as they prepared to pray the rosary. A group of armed Mus-lim men broke into the home of a Catholic family in South Tange-rang[I] that was hosting students. Shouting threats, the attackers ordered the university students to stop the prayer activity and dis-perse as soon as possible.
It seems that the hostilities were fomented by a man called Diding. “If you perform any praying, do it in your church as we local Muslims are used to do it in our mosque; not in a resi-dential house like this,” Mr Di-ding said, according to witnesses. “A dozen UNPAM students were reciting the rosary at the home of a local Catholic,” said a political activist known as Mr A. “We were at the police’s command post until at 3 am to demand perpe-trators be held accountable for last night’s hostile deed,” Mr A told. Speaking to local media, Chief Superintendent Alvino Cahyadi said police were looking into the case after a video about the incident was posted on social media. Some female students suffered minor injuries.
A similar incident took place in 2014, when Julianus Felicianus, a Catholic, opened his home to the community near Yogyakarta to pray the rosary, an activity that many Christians engage in, in the month of May. A group of Mus-lims targeted the Catholic gather-ing and Felicianus received threats, including death threats, from several people.

Exactly one year after his historic visit to Beijing in April 2023 (almost 30 years after the last one), a delegation of the Diocese of Hong Kong led by Card Stephen Chow Sau-yan made a new, important visit to Catholic communities in mainland China.
From 22 to 26 April, the Chinese cardinal – together with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, Vicar General Fr Peter Choy Wai-man, and a small group of priests and lay people involved in pastoral care – travelled to Guangdong province where they held meetings in the dioceses of Guangzhou and Shantou as well as the Church of Shenzhen.
This is a very significant aspect of the task of building bridges, the cardinal laid out in his ministry for the Church of Hong Kong. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are large metropolises in southern China. With Hong Kong, they constitute the huge metropolitan area of the Pearl River Delta, which are increas-ingly becoming a single commu-nity through large-scale infra-structural development under-taken by Beijing.
For Card Chow, this was his first visit to these dioceses and on his return he relayed his impre-ssions to the diocesan weekly Sunday Examiner. He said, for example, that he was struck by the large number of parishes that a priest has to serve in China, citing as an example two parish priests who serve 31 parishes in Shantou.