The first mass funeral was held in Sri Lanka on 23rd April as the country marks a day of mourning for the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 350 people.

The mass funeral was held at the St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, north of Colombo, which was one of the places targeted in Sunday’s blasts, reports the BBC.

Earlier, a moment of silence was observed at 8.30 a.m., reflecting the time the first of six bombs detonated.

Flags were lowered to half-mast and people bowed their heads in silence in respect to the victims as well as the 500 people injured in the attacks, BBC said.

The funeral comes amid a state of emergency which was imposed on Monday 22nd April.

The police have so far detained 40 suspects in connection with the attacks, a spokesman said.

In Bangladesh, where Sunday is not a holiday, Easter was celebrated as a holiday for the first time in 30 years.

This was largely the effort of Gloria Jharna Sarker, the first Catholic woman parliamentarian chosen in the last elections who fought to have the rights of the Christian Community recognized at the national level, reports.

On Easter Sunday, April 21, all schools in the country remain-ed closed. Welcoming the good news, local Christians said it was a positive sign of good relations between religions.

A Dhaka merchant explained to AsiaNews that since independence gained in 1971, Sunday was a holiday, including Easter Sunday.  However, Sunday ceased to be a holiday since the mid 1980s, when former president Hussain Muhammad Ershad introduced the Islamic tradition making Friday the weekly holiday.

“In this way, the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ was excluded from the nationally recognized festivities.”

Pope Francis and religious leaders across Asia have expressed their Christian unity and condolences after the terror attacks in Sri Lanka that killed above 350 people on Easter Sunday. The Pope used his Easter Sunday address to the faithful in St Peter’s Square in Rome to speak about the bombings of churches and hotels that devastated the island nation.

“I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence,” he said.

“I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event. “I wish to express my heartfelt closeness to the Christian community [of Sri Lanka], wounded as it was gathered in prayer, and to all the victims of such cruel violence.”

In Pakistan, which has suffered many similar attacks on Christians, the Centre for Legal Aid and Assistance (CLAAS), a non-profit law firm which takes up cases of persecuted Christians, is holding a protest on April 22 against terrorism.

“Humanity died on this Sun-day. Satan is using religion in terrorism,” said CLAAS national director Joseph Francis.

“We offer every possible co-operation to the Sri Lankan government. This incident is a danger for world peace. Leaders of all nations should forget their differences and join hands in making a doable policy.” Imple-mentation Minority Rights Fo-rum, a Catholic NGO, is holding a candlelight vigil for the victims of church attacks on April 22 in front of Lahore Press Club.

Noman is a 20 year-old Catholic living in Karachi, Pakistan. In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need he talks about the discrimination and mistreatment he experienced at school because of his Christian faith. Here is Noman’s story:

“I am a first-year student of business. My hobbies include cricket and soccer. I am a Christian. No one in my family has been kidnapped or victimized by violence, but I have faced discrimination from classmates and teachers because of my religion.

“When I reported a Muslim classmate for cheating, the teacher said: ‘He doesn’t cheat. You did it.’ The classmate called me bhangie, which means street sweeper or gutter cleaner; he made fun of me and used words that were disrespectful of my faith. But I could not respond in kind. If I had done so, I could’ve been charged with blasphemy, and my family would have suffered. So I stayed silent.”

“Both my teacher and my principal were well aware of the situation. My mother was called in to speak with my teacher, but they were not ready to listen to my version of what happened. They even refused to give me a form that the school required for exams—so one year of my studies was wasted.”

“But I am thankful to God, who has not abandoned my family. He was there when a friend of my mother’s offered to pay for my education, which my parents could not afford at the time. The happiest moment of my life was when I completed High School; I was the first person to do so in my family.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Asia Bibi remains in the country, negating speculation that she had already joined her family in Canada. Khan told the BBC in an interview published online on April 10 that Bibi was still in Pakistan because there was “a little bit of a complication” which he declined to explain.

“But I can assure you she is safe, and she will be leaving in weeks,” Khan said during the interview conducted in London.

The Catholic mother of five had been on death row for blasphemy since 2010 and was held in solitary confinement for eight years.

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court of Pakistan quashed her death sentence in November last year and ordered her immediate release from prison.

The ruling, however, sparked violent nationwide protests that came to an end only after the government agreed to stop Bibi from leaving Pakistan until a challenge to her acquittal was heard by the top court.

The court, however, upheld Bibi’s acquittal on Jan. 29, allowing her to exit Pakistan. Days after the court’s ruling, she was airlifted from a prison in Multan to the capital Islamabad, where she was reportedly kept in a safe house due to death threats. Subsequent media reports stated preparations were being made for Bibi to be relocated with her family who are living in an undisclosed location in Canada.

One German media quoted her lawyer saying that she had already been flown to safety in Canada. Her current situation remains unknown. Catholic activists in Pakistan were dismayed that Bibi had still not been flown out of Pakistan.

Katherine Sapna, the director of Christian True Spirit, said that there was “total confusion” about what Bibi’s real situation was.

My mother does not deserve to be insulted and called a “whore.” Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David said this in his Facebook post on April 3 after President Rodrigo Duterte called him a “son of a whore” during a speech in Malabon.

“[Duterte] called me a son of a whore for allegedly attacking him from the Church pulpit—which I have never ever done,” David said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“Our family does not expect anyone in government to give her a recognition for her immense contribution in nation-building. But we do not expect anyone either, to insult her memory and call her a whore. She does not deserve it,” David added.

The bishop said that his deceased mother, Bienvenida Siongco David, did everything to raise 13 children despite being a widow at the age of 58.

He added that his mother was able to raise one sociologist, one architect/urban planner, two lawyers, one civil engineer, one real estate broker, one banker, one medical technologist, one critical care nurse, one bishop, one nutritionist, one dentist, and one economist.

“Her efforts did not end up in vain; not a single one of her children became a liability to the country,” David said.

The Church of Hong Kong is preparing to welcome more than 2,800 new Christians, who will be baptised for Easter.

Starting on 24 March and in the last three Sundays of Lent, the bishop examined the journey of faith of the catechumens in eight ceremonies of scrutiny held across the diocese.

On the first of the three Sundays, a total of 1,720 catechumens, godparents and catechists took part in two ceremonies of scrutiny at the St Francis of Assisi’s Church, in Shek Kip Mei. The apostolic administrator of Hong Kong, Card John Tong Hon (pictured), led the scrutiny during the service concelebrated by Card Joseph Zen Zekiun, bishop of the diocese until 2009.

The catechumens from the parishes of Hong Kong Island were present at the scrutiny ceremonies in Shek Kip Mei.

The service held at the Church of Saint Benedict, in Sha Tin, on 31st March, was reserved for those from the parishes on the New Territories.

The future Christians from the parishes of Kowloon took part in the services celebrated two days ago in Shek Kip Mei and at St Andrew’s Church (Hang Hau).

At least 600 government officials and policemen arrived this morning in front of the Marian shrine of Mujiaping to destroy it. The shrine is located in the Diocese of Fengxiang (Shaanxi), the same where the authorities destroyed the Qianyang Church on 4 April.

Alerted to the authorities intentions, late night, about 200 faithful from the area gathered on the steps leading to the church to defend the sanctuary. “We are willing to lay down our lives,” one of them said. However, the number of police officers and officials is almost three times as many, so it will be very difficult for them to be stopped.

The Marian shrine of Mujiaping is located on a mountainous area of the district of Taibai, in the midst of very poor populations. The church itself is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but people use it as a place of pilgrimage to a statue of the Virgin housed in the shrine. The police plan to destroy the sanctuary, the historic gate from which one enters the steps that leads to the church, the statue of Our Lady that welcomes pilgrims. The faithful ask all Christians to pray for the preservation of the sanctuary and the salvation of the population.

In the coming days the authorities have planned the destruction of other churches, at least three.

The violence that is sweeping the Fengxiang churches has a specific goal, confirmed by the faithful: the authorities want the places, the people, the priests and the bishop to belong to the Patriotic Association, the control body of the Communist Party, which wants to build a Church that is “independent” of the Holy See. “If you don’t sign up, we will destroy everything,” an official is reported to have said.

The Gulf states – with the complicity of Islamic nations in Africa – stand accused of master-minding a “secret agenda” to invade the Central African Republic (CAR), drive out non-Muslims and divide the country in two. But, making the claim, Bishop Juan José Aguirre Muñoz of Bangassou has vowed that the Church would never leave the country and remains committed to helping the poorest of the poor and building bridges with Muslims.

In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Muñoz condemned what he called a “secret agenda” involving the Gulf states as well as “countries hiding in the shadows” such as Chad, Niger, Sudan, Libya and other Islamic nations in Africa. The bishop said: “Thousands of mercenaries – most of them foreigners – have invaded the country from the north aided by the Gulf states and by Chad and with the complicity of other countries… such as Sudan and Niger.