Asian

Indonesian Catholics not letting garbage go to waste

Since Jakarta Archdiocese introduced an anti-plastic waste campaign back in 2006, many parishes and individuals have taken it seriously. The campaign to “collect waste, and make it a blessing” has inspired many Catholics, including Lucia Mona Hartari Windoe from the Holy Family Parish in Rawamangun, East Jakarta. In February 2016, Mona launched a waste management […]

Catholics told not to touch Cross on Good Friday

Catholics in the Philippines have been asked not to kiss or touch the cross when they venerate it on Good Friday because of concerns about the corona-virus. Instead, they should “genuflect or make a profound bow” before the cross during the veneration of the cross, according to updated liturgical guidelines issued on Feb. 20 by […]

Shot for trying to build a church

Azeem Gulzar has been left half-paralyzed after being shot in the head in a mob attack on a church under construction in Pakistan. Gulzar, 25, was released from the Civil Hospital Sahiwal on Feb. 24, three weeks after his family tried to resist 15 armed men from pulling down the wall of the church. The […]

Pakistan’s Asia Bibi Asks France For Political Asylum

Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after a 2010 conviction of blasphemy, said on February 24 that she was seeking political asylum from the French government. “My great desire is to live in France,” Bibi said in an interview with RTL radio, her first trip to France since fleeing […]

Document confirms brutal treatment of Uyghurs in China

Fresh reports have emerged about the extent of the crackdown by Chinese authorities against Muslim Uyghurs in the central region of Xinjiang after a leaked internal Communist Party document was obtained by German media. And on Feb. 21 Amnesty International released case studies showing how China is systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Chinese Muslim minorities […]

Let religious people vote too, says Myanmar cardinal

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon has appealed to Myanmar’s government to scrap the constitutional provision which prohibits members of religious orders from voting in elections. He is concerned that Article 392 (a) of the constitution bars Buddhist monks and nuns, Catholic priests, nuns and religious, other Christian clergy, Muslim clerics and others from the […]

Christians in Pakistan Celebrate Court Ruling

Christians across Pakistan are rejoicing after a court on 29th January acquitted 40 men jailed for alleged involvement in the lynching of two people in a district outside Lahore. The 40 individuals, almost all of them Christians, shouted “Alleluia, Praise God” as the anti-terrorism court in Lahore ordered their release after nearly five years in […]

Asia Bibi breaks silence in new book

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, has published a book about her experiences and her new life. Ms Bibi released a memoir, Enfin Libre or Finally Free, written with French journalist Anne – Isabelle Tollet. She was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by […]

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

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica