A Bangladeshi court jailed an ethnic tribal leader for eight years for an alleged charge of extortion, about a year after he was released from nearly five years in secret detention.

A court in Rangamati district of Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) region in southeast Bangladesh sentenced Michael Chakma and two others to eight years rigorous imprisonment on Oct. 8. The case was filed in 2007 during the tenure of the military-backed caretaker government.

Chakma, 46, an ethnic Chakma and Buddhist, is a leader of the CHT-based political organization, the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), which seeks autonomy for the hilly, forested, and restive region.

He disappeared while visiting the national capital, Dhaka, in 2019. Chakma told the media that the state forces kept him in secret locations until he was dropped off at the door of his home on Aug. 7, 2024, two days after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India following a massive student-led public uprising.

He is among about 700 victims of enforced disappearance during the 15-year authoritarian regime of Hasina’s Awami League government.

The interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus, which replaced the ousted regime, formed the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances to probe into hundreds of people who were either killed or secretly detained. Chakma was convicted in absentia in 2023 for alleged illegal possession of arms, which he termed “yet another false case.”

Leaders from Christian and Hindu communities have criticized Pakistani authorities for their failure to form a commission to protect the rights of religious minorities despite nearly five months after the parliament passed a related law. Pakistan’s parliament passed the National Commission for Minorities’ Rights Bill 2025 on May 12. The law was hailed as a landmark move to safeguard the rights of minorities in a country criticized for violations of religious freedom.

The criticism came as media reports suggest the bill has been in limbo after being returned by President Asif Ali Zardari to the Ministry of Human Rights for review. In a report released on Oct. 10, the Catholic bishops’ National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) expressed disappointment over the limbo.

The report titled “Thousands of Slips Stand Guard” cited administrative hurdles and political apathy as major causes for the delay in forming the proposed 30-member minorities commission. The NCJP urged the government to ensure the commission enjoys independence.

It further urged the government to re-table the bill, ensure amendments comply with the Paris Principles, the standards for the credibility and effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993.

The founder of a prominent Chinese underground church has been detained along with more than 20 of its members in a sweeping national crackdown, according to his daughter and one of its pastors. Police arrested Jin Mingri, who founded the unregistered Zion Church, at his home in the southern region of Guangxi on Oct. 10, along with several pastors in other cities, including Beijing, who were taken into custody overnight.

Jin was detained on “suspicion of the illegal use of information networks,” a detention notice stated. At least seven pastors, including Jin, who also goes by the name Ezra, may face criminal charges for “illegal dissemination of religious information via the internet,” according to a church statement.

Police searched their homes and confiscated their computers and cell phones. “It is just a blatant attack on religious freedom,” Jin’s daughter Grace said. Since Oct. 9, police have apprehended church leaders and members in Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Shandong, Sichuan and Henan, according to a list compiled by church members.

Four people have since been released following interrogation. Police barred lawyers from meeting detained church members in the Guangxi city of Beihai on Oct. 13 morning, according to Grace.

It was not immediately clear if those detained have been able to speak with lawyers since then. “We are not criminals, we are just Christians,” said Sean Long, a Zion pastor based in the United States who has been in touch with family members of those detained in China. “We pray for the best, but we have to prepare for the worst.”

The Daughters of St Paul, a member of the Pauline Family, on October 1 elected Sister Mari Lucia Kim as their superior general during their 12th general chapter in Rome. Sister Kim is the first Asian to head the 110-year-old congregation founded by Blessed James Alberione along with Mother Thecla Merlo. She is the eighth successor of Mother Merlo.

The Korean nun, who will turn 60 on November 1, has been a member of the congregation since 1995. She is currently the Korean provincial. She had served as a member of the general council during 2013-2019. Sister Kim replaces Sister Anna Caiazza, who led the congregation for the past six years. She will head the congregation until 2031.

The Daughters of St Paul, who entered South Korea in 1960, are known as the “Media Nuns” in the Southeast Asian nation. The sisters spread the Gospel through various forms of media and literature, supporting Catholic culture among young people.

The sisters operate 15 bookshops throughout Korea and manage 12 communities. In 2020, they opened a new apostolic centre in Seoul called Hyehwa Namu, which includes a bookstore, snack bar, event spaces, and a small theatre. Their primary focus is on forming young people through new media and establishing a website for their mission in Asia. They are involved in training and motivational programs for young people in schools and universities. The Daughters of St Paul has 1,815 members in 11 provinces and 14 delegations. As many as five houses are directly under the generalate.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said politicians in the Philippines must remember that they are “not God” following a major corruption scandal. “Please, you are human beings. You are created in God’s image. Can you please look at yourself and, with humility, say, ‘I am not God. I should not pretend to be God. I am a creature with many other creatures, and so my responsibility is to take care of what God has given to us for the good of all,’” Cardinal Tagle told the ABS-CBN News Channel.

Tagle, pro-prefect at the Dicastery for Evangelisation, was the Archbishop of Manila from 2011 to 2019. The 68-year-old theologian, who finished his doctorate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, remains an influential voice in the Filipino Church.

Speaking in an interview published on 4 October, Tagle expressed disbelief at the corruption controversy involving billions of pesos for flood control projects. He said it demonstrates “the mystery of the capacity of human beings to destroy each other through corruption”.

Acknowledging that this was partly a failure of formation by the Church, the cardinal challenged Filipinos to go beyond the massive protests that have rocked the country in recent weeks. “After the rallies, we should now look for lasting change, because we cannot effect change simply by expressing our anger,” he said.

Other Church leaders have condemned the corruption scandal, even joining protests in different parts of the country. A Church-led protest on 21 September drew thousands of people, and a bigger one is being prepared for 30 November, a public holiday in honour of the nineteenth-century Filipino revolutionary Andres Bonifacio. The Bishop of Kidapawan Jose Colin Bagaforo, 71, said a group of clergy had joined a new movement to fight the “systemic corruption” and “excessive greed” that have led to poverty in the country. Their “Trillion Peso March Movement” is named after the successful “Trillion Peso March” protest on 21 September.

Towards the end of the Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists, and before reciting the noonday Angelus prayer on 28 September, Pope Leo addressed the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square. His thoughts turned in particular to Asia, where, he said, “a very powerful typhoon” has struck several regions, “in particular the Philippines, the island of Taiwan, the city of Hong Kong, the Guangdong region and Vietnam”

“I assure the affected populations,” the Pope continued, “especially the poorest, of my closeness and my prayers for the victims, the missing, the many displaced families, the countless people who have suffered hardship, as well as the rescue workers and civil authorities.” “I invite everyone to put their trust in God and to show solidarity with others. May the Lord give strength and courage to overcome every adversity.” Typhoon Ragasa, which said to be the strongest so far this year, has forced the evacuation of over two million people in Guangdong alone. In addition to extensive damage, flooding, power outages and landslides, it has caused at least 25 deaths in the Philippines and 14 in Taiwan.

The FABC Bishops Seminar on Synodality, held at Baan Phuwan, opened with Mass on September 23 presided over by Archbishop Anthony Weradet Chaiseri, vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand, ahead of the 2026 Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Plenary Assembly in Bali. “The purpose was to study and understand the Final Document of the Synod together, reflect on our dioceses, and consider how the Church in Asia can put it into practice,” Archbishop Chaiseri told LiCAS News. The prelate also noted that the gathering revisited the Bangkok Document, issued during the FABC’s 50th anniversary in 2022, which is deeply connected to the global synodal process.

Participants used a process modeled after the Synod of Bishops in Rome—combining lectures, prayerful reflection, and small-group sharing. 

Nine group discussions focused on three themes: the link between the Synod’s Final Document and the FABC’s Bangkok Document of 2022; the reception of the synodal pathway across Asia; and the need for transparency and accountability in a synodal Church.

Archbishop Chaiseri noted that Asia’s contemplative approach to discernment—marked by silence, listening, and consensus—aligns closely with the global synodal method of Conversation in the Spirit.  The seminar comes as the global Church enters the implementation phase of the Synod, following the release of the Final Document in November 2024 and a framework introduced by Cardinal Mario Grech in March 2025.

Running until 2028, the process calls for bishops to set clear goals and timelines while ensuring broad participation across all sectors of the Church. This includes not only clergy and parishioners but also young people, marginalized communities, and those sceptical of the synodal process. Catholic schools, hospitals, prisons, and digital platforms are also expected to play a role, alongside religious communities and lay movements.

“These meetings reflect the growing desire among Churches in Asia to deepen synodality, strengthen communion, embrace the path of synodality within the Church, and walk in closer unity with the Universal Church under the guidance of Pope Leo XIV,” Archbishop Chaiseri said.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has decided to forgive the school debts of all families in the diocese for the school years prior to the Jubilee of Hope as a gesture “to promote and demand justice, equity, and, above all, solidarity.” The patriarchate is the Latin-rite Catholic diocese based in Jerusalem, reestablished in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. Its ecclesiastical jurisdiction encompasses Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus, serving the Latin Catholic communities present in the Holy Land and these regions of the Middle East.

In a statement, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said the jubilee year “has taken place in a context of violence and war,” which “seems to be increasing evermore.” The cardinal explained that under the motto “Hope Does Not Disappoint,” Catholics are called “to a special conversion of heart. We are called to return to God, to rediscover our Christian roots and the beauty of our faith.” They are also called to “heal the relationships we have wounded” and to “rediscover the joy of encountering Christ.”

Despite the perilous situation in the region, one that has had “serious consequences for the lives of all our families and institutions,” Pizzaballa said he sees it as an opportunity not to get lost “in petty and short-sighted considerations but to focus on the essentials of life in our relationship with God and in the life of the world.”

Thus in order to give expression to “this desire for change, for renewal, for a return to God and to our brothers and sisters,” the patriarchate has decided to forgive “all debts of all the families to the schools of the Latin Patriarchate for the years prior to the jubilee, that is, up to and excluding the 2024-2025 school year.”

“This was not an easy decision to make because of the costs involved. As you can imagine, the various administrative offices did not fail to raise their legitimate concerns. Nevertheless, we feel it is necessary to make this gesture and to once again trust and rely on God and his providence,” the patriarch wrote. “We hope that this gesture will make life easier for many of our families in need and help them to regain confidence and hope,” the statement added.

New regulations from the State Administration for Religious Affairs in China have enacted a ban on several major forms of online evangelization for religious clergy of all religions, including Catholic priests. The new Code of Conduct for Religious Clergy on the Internet comprises 18 articles. Among stipulations that religious clergy must “love the motherland” and support Chinese leadership of the Communist Party of China and its socialist system, faith leaders are banned from preaching and performing other religious rituals through live broadcasts, short videos, or online meetings. 

Priests may only do so on “websites, applications, forums, etc. legally established by religious groups, religious schools, temples, monasteries, and churches” with approval from the Chinese government. Furthermore, whenever using social media accounts or messaging apps to send out information, religious clergy must provide “certificate of membership as registered religious clergy” to their internet service providers. Clergy are banned under the code from both the evangelization and education of minors on the internet, and from organizing educational opportunities, such as seasonal camps for minors on the internet. They are also banned from making money online and from raising money to build religious places or for holding religious activities. 

“If a religious clergy violates this standard, the religious affairs department shall order them to make corrections within a time limit,” the code of conduct states, adding: “If they refuse to make corrections, the religious affairs department shall … punish them in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations.” For “serious” offenders, the code recommends religious institutions suspend their teaching activities or revoke their religious status. “Religious teachers and officials who carry out online activities through overseas websites and platforms shall abide by this standard,” the code states.

Men on motorcycles murdered a father and injured a 16-year-old boy while they were taking part in a pilgrimage to the national Marian shrine of the Virgin Mary in Mariamabad in Pakistan, an incident that has shocked Christians in the Muslim-majority country. According to the Vatican news agency Fides on Sept. 12, Afzal Masih, a married father of four, was murdered on Sept. 7 while he was on a pilgrimage to the shrine located in the Archdiocese of Lahore.

“We are deeply saddened by the murder of Afzal Masih. He was a devout Catholic who was participating in a Marian pilgrimage to venerate and pray to the Virgin Mary. Today, we express our deepest condolences to his family,” Father Tariq George, rector of the shrine, told Fides. The murder occurred while Afzal Masih was traveling with 15 other members of the faithful and several young men on motorcycles approached the minibus and began to provoke the group.  When the pilgrims stopped at a gas station 19 miles from the shrine, a man identified as Muhammad Waqas opened fire with a rifle, killing Afzal Masih with a shot to the neck and wounding his 16-year-old cousin, Harris Masih, in the arm. Afzal Masih was taken to the hospital but died. After his arrest, Waqas told police that he “had no intention of killing.” Christians in Pakistan are calling for an investigation into the case and for justice to be done.