Asian

Pope Francis entrusts China to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope Francis entrusted China to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and asked people to pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the most populated country in the world. “Dear Catholic brothers and sisters in China, I wish to assure you that the universal Church, of which you are an integral part, shares your […]

A Christian hospital at the crossroads

Plumbing leaks swamp the basement. Red stains reek of dried medicines. Broken furniture lies piled up with burst pipes that once supplied oxygen. A rusty ventilator gathers dust in a corner of the emergency department of United Christian Hospital (UCH), one of the oldest missionary hospitals in Lahore. “Cracks have appeared on the large water […]

Chinese bishop who suffered years of forced labour dies at 98

A Chinese underground bishop who was sentenced to 10 years of forced labour in the 1980s for bringing Catholics on pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan died at the age of 98. Joseph Zhu Baoyu, bishop emeritus of Nanyang, made headlines in February for reportedly being the oldest person to recover […]

China uses Covid-19 to ratchet up religious oppression

There are already clear signs that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is leveraging the Covid-19 crisis to increase repression and cultural destruction in Tibet and Xinjiang. Christianity is also in its sights and it’s highly likely that under-ground/house churches will be the key focus of a fresh round of repression that will take advantage […]

Pakistani Islamic group exploits virus to convert minorities

Human rights activists are condemning an Islamic missionary group for trying to convert non-Muslims while distributing rations amid Pakistan’s corona-virus lockdown. A cleric of Ma-dani Channel broke the news of one conversion at the Faizan-e-Madina head office of Dawat-e-Islami in Karachi. A clip shared on Facebook has been viewed more than 500 times. “Here is good news […]

Christian nurses, doctors on Covid-19 front line in Bangladesh

Christian nurses and doctors in Bangladesh are vowing to continue their battle against the Covid-19 pandemic on the front line as they mark International Nurses Day on May 12. Clara Biswas, 34, is a Catholic and senior nurse who has worked in private and government hospitals for 11 years. She now works at a state-run hospital […]

Bangladesh cardinal appeals for charity during pandemic

Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario of Dhaka has made an appeal to Bangladeshi Catholics to engage more in prayers to seek God’s intervention and to donate charitably to support poor and needy people during the Covid-19 pandemic. He urged all Catholics of Dhaka Archdiocese to observe special “prayers, fasting and acts of mercy” on May 14 in […]

Catholic and Buddhist leaders meet for Vesak in Vietnam

Catholic and Buddhist leaders teamed up in southern Vietnam to promote religious values as they met for Buddhism’s Vesak festival. Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh of Hue, who led a nine-member delegation from Hue Archdiocese, paid an official visit to the Buddhist Sangha Executive Committee based in Thua Thien Hue on May 6. The delegates […]

Indian bishops slam terror attack on tourists in India’s Kashmir

No action taken against police who assaulted Catholic priests in India