The U.S. will be working against the use of technology to suppress religious minorities, the religious freedom ambassador announced.
“The United States announced that we will pursue the topic of misuse of technology to oppress religious minorities,” said Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Free-dom, on a Nov. 17 press call about the 2020 Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Brownback cited China’s abuses against Ughurs; it has created a “virtual police state” to track the movements of the population and to engage in predictive policing.
“We’re seeing this graphically done in Xinjiang, where high-tech observation systems using artificial intelligence and facial recognition are oppressing a dominantly Muslim majority from practicing its faith, this along with being locked up in detention facilities – over a million Muslim Uyghurs locked up in detention facilities,” Brownback said.
Poland hosted the third annual ministerial, held virtually on Nov. 16-17 due to the pandemic. The meeting featured leaders from more than 50 countries and international organizations. –CNA
Category Archives: Asian
Britain urged to grant asylum to Pakistani girl
A U.K. based charity has called on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to grant asylum to a 14-year-old Christian girl who was abducted at gunpoint during the Covid-19 lockdown and forcibly married and converted to Islam by a Muslim married man.
The Catholic charity Aid to Church in Need, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, is urging concerned Chri-stians to add their names to an online petition that will be sent to the Prime Minister on behalf of Catholic teenager Maira Shahbaz in Pakistan, who was abducted in April.
In August, Maira fled the home of her alleged husband, Mohamad Nakash, weeks after the Lahore High Court ordered her to return to her abductor and ruled that she was legally married to the Muslim man.
“Regardless of what the court eventually decides, Maira’s life will forever be in danger,” the charity said. “There is the threat of honour killing. Extremists in Pakistan consider her an apostate and will kill her at the first chance. Her lawyer said men have been looking for her, knocking on doors and asking for her whereabouts.”
–MATTERS INDIA
Lebanon’s is a model of coexistence
Lebanon’s “living together,” the historic vocation perceived and conferred by Pope John Paul II to Lebanon, and proposed by him – for our greatest honour and confusion – as “model for East and West,” is once again in the spotlight because of what is happening in a world where multi-religious societies are constantly growing, not without frictions, wars and sometimes horrible massacres.
In his homily on Sunday 15 November, in which he accused those who are delaying the formation of a government by Saad Hariri of trying to “overthrow of the State of Greater Lebanon” established by the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the head of the Maronite Church, Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi, sought to comfort the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh that Azerbaijan has just militarily conquered, by offering them as model Lebanon’s “living together,” encouraging them not to flee their homes and their shrines, but to agree to coexist in good harmony with the Muslims of Azerbaijan, in a multicultural and multi-religious state in which the believers of the two great Muslim and Christian religions stand together in an atmosphere of mutual acceptance. –AsiaNews
Baoding, priests, nuns and seminarians seized by government officials
Catholic sources in Hebei say that on the morning of November 2, two priests from the unofficial community of Baoding and more than a dozen seminarians and nuns from the same community were forcibly taken away by government officials. After a few hours, two seminarians were released.
On the same day, Fr Lu Genjun, former vicar general of Baoding, was taken away. Until now, no one knows where they are being held.
A priest from the underground community of Baoding, commenting on the incident, pointed out that the abduction took place shortly after the renewal of the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican. He asked all Catholics to pray for the kidnapped and for full religious freedom in China.
The diocese of Baoding, with over 500,000 faithful, is one of the cornerstones of the unofficial community. Its bishop, Msgr Giacomo Su Zhimin, has been missing in police custody since 1997 and nothing is known about his fate since then.
His coadjutor bishop Francesco An Shuxin, after a long period of imprisonment, decided to enter the official church.
-AsiaNews
Karachi: Court approves the conversion and marriage of 13-year-old Arzoo Raja. The mother’s desperation
The High Court of Sindh in Karachi has agreed with the kidnappers of Arzoo Raja, a 13-year-old girl who, after being kidnapped, was converted to Islam and forced into a forced marriage with a 44-year-old man.
The court, to which the kidnappers had turned after being accused by the girl’s family, agreed with them, stating that Arzoo had freely accepted Islam and freely married 44-year-old Ali Azhar. The court also ordered that no arrests be made.
During the court proceedings, Arzoo’s mother, Rita Masih, burst into tears (see video): “Let me see my daughter, she’s in there but they [the kidnappers, the police and the court] won’t allow me to see my innocent little daughter. Arzoo, my sweet-heart, come to your mom and give me a big hug, my dear daughter. Your sister got sick from what happened to you; your brother no longer eats because they want you home. My daughter is only 13, she is innocent. They [the kidnappers] keep lying and won’t let me meet my little girl. I want my daughter back! Please, please, help me!”
Then Rita Masih passed out, but the court, the police and the kidnappers did not allow her to meet her daughter. In another room, Arzoo was crying (see photo 1) and spread her arms as if to hug her mother, but the police blocked her and kept her away.
In recent days, demonstrations were held throughout the country to denounce the violence against minorities, forced marriages and the specific case of Arzoo Raja.
Xiaoyu, left standing in class because he believes in God
A young teenager named Xiaoyu has had to endure stand-ing in class for over a month, in punishment because he believes in God and because he dared to challenge his teacher who wanted to convince him not only of the theory of evolution, but also of non-existence of God.
The testimony sent to us by Fr Stanislaus, a priest from north-eastern China, is anonymous out of respect for the young man and the teacher. But it is very significant of the campaign implemented by the United Front to curb the faith among young people. This happens not only with the ban on going to Mass for minors under 18, but also with checks and disciplinary measures among teachers and students if any of them declare themselves a believer.
I was surprised, but also moved when a faithful told me about his son. In class, the professor declared: “The Bible says that man was created by God, this statement is wrong. God does not exist, man evolved from apes, proof of this is Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the fossil anthropoids…”
After that, the professor asks Xiaoyu and he replies: “Professor, I don’t understand. How does the Theory of Evolution prove the non-existence of God? Although humans evolved from apes, where did they [the apes] come from? How can it be proved that they were not created by God? How is the beginning of all existence?…”
Asian Catholic bishops welcome Biden’s victory in US elections
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) welcomed the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States of America.
“We warmly send our prayerful wishes and congratulations to the people of America and the President-Elect Joe Biden,” read a statement signed by Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, FABC president.
The prelates noted that with the election of Biden the United States “enters into a new phase in their glorious history, affirming democracy and universal good.”
“President-Elect Joe Biden comes from a long tradition of Catholic faith-based life. His concern for the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor is a refreshing welcome,” read the bishops’ statement.
“The world with its poor and its climate challenges look forward to the USA fortifying the global fight against global warming and poverty,” it added.
“With prayerful wishes we welcome him and do hope his tenure will pay greater attention to countries in the margins like Myanmar,” read the statement.
The federation of Catholic bishops’ conferences expressed hope that the United States “will play its leadership role in the company of international organizations like the UN.
Pope Francis appoints new Indonesian archbishop in Papua
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi of Amboina as archbishop of Merauke in Papua.
The appointment was announced by the archdiocese’s secretary-general, Fr Hendrikus Kari-wop, on Nov. 11 during a Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral Church that was broadcast online. Abp. designate Mandagi of the Congregation for Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has been the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator since August last year following the death of its previous administrator, Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika. “Because I believe it is God’s will. I must not reject God’s will,” he said on Nov. 12.
Catholic Church no ‘little bubble:’ Brunei’s cardinal-designate
Cardinal-designate Cornelius Sim certainly was surprised to learn Pope Francis had chosen him to be one of 13 new cardinals.
“For me, it was a bit of a shock and unexpected,” Cardinal-designate Sim told Vatican News.
Sim, 69, is Vicar Apostolic of Brunei. His 1989 ordination marked the first time a native Bruneian was ordained a Catholic priest for the country, which shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Indonesia.
He was appointed Prefect of Brunei in 1999, then Vicar Apostolic in 2004, and he was consecrated a bishop in January 2005. Besides Sim, the vicariate has three Catholic priests. Sim said he wanted to thank the Pope for “choosing someone from the peripheries.” He described the Church in Brunei as a “periphery within a periphery.”
Homeless, Buddhists and Caritas: Taiwan’s national holiday in the name of ‘Fratelli tutti’
On October 10 is the national holiday of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Usually, the Taiwanese embassy to the Holy See invites friends and personalities to a gathering with a generous buffet. This year, in response to Pope Francis’s encyclical “Fratelli Tutti,” the way of celebrating the 109th anniversary of the Republic has radically changed.
With the collaboration of His Holiness’s almsgiver, Card. Konrad Krajewski, Caritas Rome and the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation were invited to a Taiwanese-style lunch with the homeless and abandoned people, who are “relegated to the peripheries and destined to become shadows” as the Pontiff often says.
The embassy donated “made in Taiwan” sleeping bags to the homeless and to Caritas, the Tzu Chi Foundation distributed tuna cans and ecological blankets, made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
The two events took place on 8 October inside Palazzo Migliori, thanks to the assistance of Card. Krajewski, and on 7 October at the Casa Santa Giacinta of Caritas Rome, Fr Benoni Ambarus and Andrea Zampetti, director and general secretary of Caritas Rome.
Ambassador Matthew S.M. Lee says “it was an honour to share the spirit of National Day with our struggling brothers and sisters, as well as the values of inclusion, hospitality and friendship embraced by Taiwan. The Embassy wished to put into practice the Pope’s encouragement in ‘Fratelli Tutti’ in matters of fraternity: ‘Fraternity is not a trend or a fashion… but rather it is the demonstration of concrete acts,’ and to promote cooperation and exchanges interreligious in order to send humanitarian aid where it is most needed.”