Keeping with the UAE’s vision for 2019 to be the ‘Year of Tolerance’, a group of expats took the opportunity to celebrate Ramadan and partake in a special Iftar inside a church in Ras Al Khaimah.

In what could be a first, the expats, mainly from Kerala, spent the evening celebrating Ramadan and partaking in the Iftar inside St Luke Anglican Church in the Northern Emirate.

St Luke Anglican Church is part of the Chaplaincy of Dubai and Sharjah with the Northern Emirates, within the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf; one of four Dioceses which make up the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, which is also a Province within the world-wide Anglican Communion. There are five churches within the chaplaincy: St Luke Anglican Church, Ras Al Khaimah; St Nicholas Anglican Church, Fujairah; St Martin Anglican Church, Sharjah; Christ Church (Anglican), Jebel Ali; and the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Dubai. Chief priests from three religious groups –Hindus, Christians and Muslims–came together to spread the message of peace, love and harmony among the expatriate community in the UAE.

The event titled “Vishu Easter and Iftar meet”, was organised by the RAK Knowledge Theatre in conjunction with other community groups, including the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre based in the UAE.

Pakistani authorities freed Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman acquitted of blasphemy, and she has flown to Canada to join her family at a secret address. Her release was confirmed on May 8 by Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association, who has been in almost daily contact with Ashiq Masih, Bibi’s husband.

In a statement sent by email to Catholic News Service, Chowdhry, who is based in London, said a British diplomat confirmed early on May 8 that Bibi had left her country.

“Ashiq has always remained hopeful of an imminent release from Pakistan, and we have both been shocked at how long it has taken,” he said. “Asia Bibi and Ashiq have remained resolute in their faith and have prayed daily for their release, and today God has answered their prayers,” he added.

Chowdhry said Bibi was “unwell” after being held in isolation for nearly a decade.

“She must be treated with utmost care and receive appropriate medical care, now she is free,” he said.

“The Pakistani government must ensure Asia and her family are compensated for the loss to their freedom and the fragile safety they have had to suffer under their auspices,” he continued. “Moreover, moves must be made to reform or abrogate the infamous blasphemy laws of Pakistan.”

Bibi’s release was subsequently confirmed by Saiful Malook, the lawyer who represented her in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

“She was reunited with her family in Canada more than five hours ago,” he told ucanews.com on May 8.

Bibi, a mother of five, was sentenced to hang for allegedly insulting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, under Section 295C of the Penal Code.

The effects of Sri Lanka’s Easter suicide bombings reverberated across two faiths. Catholics shut out of their churches for fear of new attacks, left with only a televised Mass, and Muslim women ordered to stop wearing veils in public.

Many across the nation knelt before their televisions as Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, delivered a homily before members of the clergy and the country’s leaders in a small chapel at his residence in the capital. Meanwhile the tension remains high for the Christian community. Card. Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, after refusing the armoured car made available by the government, announced the reopening of the churches from May 5, with the celebration of Mass.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith, condemned the deadly attacks on churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday (April 21) in a series of bomb blasts that claimed at least 290 lives and leaving more than 500 people injured.

The police said that it was the worst violence to hit the island since its devastating civil war ended a decade ago in 2009.

Cardinal Ranjit urged Sri Lankans not to “take the law into their own hands” after a series of explosions targeting churches and people hotels.

“I condemn, to the utmost of my capacity, this act which has caused so much death and suffering,” he told Fides.

He also urged people to donate blood to help the injured and pray for their speedy recovery. It is so sad, so tragic and shocking. The dastardly attack was mainly on Christians in churches and others in hotels.

“We are saddened for all those who loved lives in this violence. Our prayers are for each of them,” the Cardinal said. One of the explosions was at St Anthony’s Shrine, a Catholic Church in Kochcikade, Colombo, a tourist landmark.

A second blast hit at St Sebastian’s Church during Easter Mass, killing dozens. Pictures from the site showed bodies on the ground, blood on the church pews and a destroyed roof. Soon after the first two church blasts, police confirmed that the Zion Church in the east coast town of Batticaloa had been hit, along with three high-end hotels in the capital the Cinnamon Grand, the Shangri-La and the Kingsbury.

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.”