Asian

Pakistani PM orders probe into forced conversions

Church leaders have thanked Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for ordering an investigation into forced conversions of females from religious minorities. “The PM has ordered an investigation on a case-by-case basis of incidents of forced con-versions of minor girls belonging to minority communities, particularly Christian and Hindu, to find reasons for this issue. Law and rights are […]

Loyola College professor listed among world’s top scientists

A female professor at Loyola College (Autonomous) is listed in the world’s top 2 percent scien-tists. J. Judith Vijaya of the De-partment of Chemistry has been named in the world’s top scientist, in the field of “materials.” The analysis was conducted by a team of scientists from Stanford University, USA, led by John P. A […]

China criticizes pope over comment on Uighur Muslim minority

China criticized Pope Francis on November 24 over a passage in his new book in which he mentions suffering by China’s Uighur Muslim minority group. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Francis’ remarks had “no factual basis at all.” “People of all ethnic groups enjoy the full rights of survival, development, and freedom of religious […]

Card. Cornelius Sim: Ours is a ‘hidden’ Church, ‘not noisy’, small but alive

“A hidden Church,” “not noisy;” as small as “a Fiat 500,” but alive, which envisions its apostolate above all through schools and help for migrants. This is the image of the Church of Brunei, depicted by the new cardinal- designate Cornelius Sim speaking with AsiaNews via Zoom. Despite being among the smallest churches in Southeast […]

US religious liberty ambassador calls out China for using tech to suppress religion

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Eviction-facing Indian Catholics to fight Muslim charity’s claims

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica