Pope Francis has praised Thailand for promoting harmony and peace in a video message ahead of his visit to the kingdom that begined on Nov. 20.

“In this world that too frequently experiences discord, division and exclusion,” Thailand has shown commitment to work hard “to promote harmony and a peaceful coexistence,” he says.

This commitment, he says, “can serve as an inspiration” for all the people around the world who are working to “promote a great, true development of our human family in solidarity, in justice and in living in peace,” Vatican News reported.

Pope Francis visited Thailand on his 32nd Apostolic Journey from Nov. 20-23 before heading to Japan.

In his message, he said he will have the opportunity to meet and “encourage” the Catholic community of Thailand “in their faith and in the contribution they make to the whole of society.”

He is hoping to “strengthen the bonds of friendship that we share with many Buddhist brothers and sisters.”

“I trust that my visit will help to highlight the importance of interreligious dialogue, mutual understanding and fraternal coope-ration,” says the Pope.

He thanked the people of Thailand “from the bottom of” his heart for all the preparation that is being made for his visit.

This is the first papal visit to Thailand in nearly four decades following the journey made by Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Pope Francis’ visits to Thai-land and Japan show his love for marginalized communities, says Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. In his fourth visit to Asia, Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in Bangkok on Nov. 20. Three days later, he leaves for Tokyo and nuclear-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki before returning to Rome on Nov. 26.

Pope Francis has “chosen countries where the Catholic community is a minority. His concern for communities on the margins has amplified their presence,” Cardinal Bo said in a statement.

Two years ago, “he chose to visit two countries where the Christian presence is so small. Christianity was in Myanmar for 500 years. His visit made this small flock to be known to the world,” said the cardinal.

In his 2017 Asia visit, Pope Francis covered Muslim-dominated Bangladesh and Buddhist-majority Myanmar, the base of 71-year-old Cardinal Bo.

Pope Francis became the first Pope to visit Myanmar, where Christians form just 6 percent of a population of some 54 million people. Catholics make up about one percent or some 750,000.

In yet another incident of religious intolerance in Pakistan, a Christian journalist quit Dunya News after she was allegedly persecuted for her faith by co-workers and insulted for not converting to Islam after marrying a Muslim, media reports said.

Gonila Gill (38), married to Husnain Jamil, was the only Christian journalist registered with the Lahore Press Club, reported AsiaNews.

“People talk rubbish about my faith. But I will not lose hope and remain steadfast in my religion,” Gill was quoted as saying by the news website.

In Pakistan, several incidents of violation of religious freedom have come to fore recently.

According to a recent US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report, “Extremist groups and societal actors in Pakistan continued to discriminate against and attack religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadis and Shia Muslims.”

Pakistan had failed to “adequately protect these groups and it perpetrated systematic, egregious religious freedom violations,” it said.

Priests and parishioners have barricaded themselves in a Catholic church in the Chinese province of Hebei. According to reports, the Catholics are attempting to prevent the Chinese government from tearing down the Church.

The protest began at 6am on Oct 31 morning at the church in Wu Gao Zhang, part of the Guantao district of Hebei, on the coast of northern China. Officials have ordered that the church be destroyed even though it is fully recognized and approved by the government. According to the website AsiaNews, local authorities have said the building lacks appropriate permits.

In September 2017, China enacted strict new regulations concerning religion. Since then, authorities have been vigilant in enforcing permitting requirements. Churches that are not found to be in compliance are destroyed.

According to AsiaNews, many Chinese Catholics say that last September’s Sino-Vatican Agreement has served to embolden the government to take punitive action against Catholics who did not belong to state-approved churches.

Officials have reportedly claimed that “the Vatican supports us” and have ordered an additional 40 churches be destroyed.

For decades, the Church in China was split between the “Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association,” a state-run Church under the control of Chinese Communist Party, and the underground Church that was in full communion with the Holy See. The 2018 agreement, the details of which have not been released, was intended to unify the two ecclesiastical communities, although multiple reports out of China have indicated that priests and laity who refuse to worship at government-run churches are have faced increased persecution.

In the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian in eastern China, priests who refused to sign agreements binding them to regulations government have been forced out of their homes, and their churches have been closed. The Chinese government has forbidden non-compliant priests from traveling, and many have been forced to go into hiding.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Thailand from 20 to 23 November, after which he proceeds to Japan, 23 to 26 November, before returning to Rome.

This will be the second visit of a Pontiff to Thailand in over 35 years, after that of Pope Saint John Paul II in 1984. The motto of the Journey, “Christ’s Disciples, Missionary Disciples,” recalls the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of Siam, created in 1669, that formally marked the beginning of the Church in the country.

Catholics form a tiny minority of some 0.5% of Thailand’s over 68 million population, over 90% of which is Buddhist. Muslims form a little over 4% and Christians together make up only 1%. Through the past 350 years, the Church has grown into 11 dioceses with about 390,000 Catholics.

As demonstrations pitting pro-government groups against pro-democracy protesters continue, a bishop urged Catholics to pray for the realization that all are humans and not “cockroaches or dogs.”

Ucanews.org reported Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chishing of Hong Kong addressed a prayer gathering of some 300 people on Oct. 26 at Chater Garden in the Chinese-administered city where demonstrators continue to demand freedom and democracy.

The bishop prayed that “God can help us realize that everyone is human, not cockroaches, dogs or yellow objects,” reported Radio Television Hong Kong.

The prelate referred to slogans and statements in which pro-government groups often refer-red to protesters as “cockroaches,” while protesters called police officers “dogs.”

A senior police officer was accused of describing a protester as “a yellow object.” His comment came after a video clip that showed several officers kicking and attacking the protester.

Ha explained that the prayer meeting was not held in a church but at a public place to show that the Catholic Church cares about society. He said Hong Kong was now filled with hatred and anger. Violence can only beget more violence, but never justice, he said.

An 81-year-old Catholic nun, who served as a prison counsellor in Singapore for four decades, has been named on this year’s BBC list of 100 influential and inspiring global women.

Good Shepherd Sister Gerard Fernandez, who led the Catholic Church’s prison ministry in the island nation, has been named by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as one of the globally inspiring personalities.

“The Lord has many surprises. This was one of them,” said the nun after hearing of her nomination. At the age of 81, she did not expect any recognition, she said.

“I have not done anything for fame or glory or awards. But I’m happy that a Good Shepherd is selected. Our work is to be with the abandoned,” she told ucanews. Sister Fernandez started visiting prisoners as a young nun. In 1997, when the Singapore Archdiocese began its prison ministry, she was chosen to lead it. The job continued until she relinquished it in 2017.

In her service to prisoners of more than 40 years, she counselled hundreds and “walked with” at least 18 inmates on death row until their execution, the BBC said.

Death row inmates she counselled included two women. Catherine Tan Mui Choo and Hoe Kah Hong, who helped Adrian Lim to murder two children as a sacrifice to the Hindu goddess Kali. Lim claimed to be a medium. All three were hanged in 1988.

The BBC list includes women from more than 50 countries aged from 15 to 98 and selected based on this year’s theme: “The Female Future.”

A Catholic bishop in the Philippines said an increasing number of child workers are exposed to dangerous working conditions.

Ucanews.org reported that Bishop Roberto Mallari of San Jose, chairman of the bishops’ Commission on Catechism and Catholic Education, said the situation was alarming and sad.

“The root of this sad reality is poverty and lack of livelihood options,” he said, adding that children have the right to the basic necessities of life that society has failed to provide.

“The situation of the suffering children and those who are deprived of their rights and dignity leaves a great challenge to us as a church and as a society,” Mallari said.

The Labour Department, in a recent report, said there are more than 7,000 child workers, ranging from ages 4 to 17, in and around the capital, Manila.

The report said most of the children work as street vendors, while others are engaged in waste management, construction, transportation, domestic work and manufacturing.

The report also showed that 24 percent of child labourers are not attending school due to lack of financial support or are not interested in education at all.

Meanwhile, estimates put the number of child labourers across the Philippines at more than 2 million.

A study by the International Labour Organization found that about 95 percent of these child labourers are engaged in hazardous work.

Mallari called for a cooperative effort in solving the problems that lead to child labour.

“God entrusted to us his beloved children,” he said. “Ours is a task of taking care of them and being with them in their values formation.”