Asian

Sri Lanka dragged into global conflict with Islamic extremism

The sudden deterioration of the security situation in Sri Lanka has come as a shock to its people. Five days after a series of suicide bombings on Easter Sunday killed more than 250 people, injured over 500, wrecked three Christian churches and caused substantial damage to three five-star hotels, Sri Lanka continues to be in […]

Funding restrictions cripple Church agencies in Pakistan

Christian groups in Pakistan are trying to stop the government closing their bank accounts as part of a process it says is in-tended to throttle foreign funding to terrorist organizations. The government has revoked the licenses of thousands of non-governmental agencies and thus prevented them receiving foreign funding, including from Christian non-governmental agencies. “The future […]

The secret lives of Vietnam’s Catholic mothers

Mary Nguyen closes the door carefully and says evening prayers with her two children in her room whenever her husband comes home late from work. And Nguyen, who lives in the house of her Buddhist parents-in-law, quietly takes them to weekend Masses once or twice a month at a church near her own parents’ home […]

Thai police round up dozens of Christian Pakistani refugees

A group of Pakistani Christian asylum seekers were arrested Dec. 19 by Thai immigration authorities in an early morning raid on a low-rise condominium in eastern Bangkok. An estimated 36 people, including around 12 women and an equal number of children, were detained after immigration officials showed up at the doors of several low-rent units […]

The Filipino fighting for a Japanese samurai’s sainthood

Historian Ernesto De Pedro with statues of Dom Justo UkonTakayama who was beatified in early 2017. As Pope Francis visits Japan, an 83-year-old Filipino historian is hoping the pontiff will recognize a Japanese samurai who once offered his life for the faith. Dom Justo UkonTakayama, or “Justus Ucondono” as missionaries fondly called him, was a […]

Tamil remember their civil war dead despite government opposition

Thousands of Tamil in northern and eastern Sri Lanka have commemorated their relatives who died during and after the country’s civil war, which lasted more than a quarter century. The main ceremonies were held last Wednesday, Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes’ Day), as Tamils remembered those who died or went in missing in battle. The Sri […]

Mindanao rights group welcomes lifting of martial law

A human rights group in the southern Philippines has welcomed a government statement announcing the imminent lifting of martial law across Mindanao, but it called for an international probe into alleged atrocities committed by the military while it has been in force. The group BarugKatungod (Stand for Rights) said two and a half years of […]

Islamabad, 629 child brides sold to China

At least 629 Pakistani girls sold as enslaved brides to Chinese husbands. This is the official number of the recent phenomenon of trafficking in women from the South Asian country to the Chinese giant. This was revealed by an investigation by the Associated Press, which managed to have the original reports of the complaints filed […]

Pope Leo XIV shares vision for papacy in age of artificial intelligence

Pope Leo XIV’s coat of arms and motto: Here’s what they stand for