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.

Malaysia’s human rights commission, Suhakam, has ruled that Pastor Raymond Koh and a Muslim social activist, Amri Che Mat, were the victims of state sponsored “enforced disappearances.” After a year-long inquiry, Suhakam reported on 3rd April that the two were taken by Special Branch – the police’s intelligence unit. Church leaders in Malaysia are now calling on the government to “Immediately take steps to clarify and separate the jurisdictions of the religious authorities and the Royal Malaysia Police.”

The Catholic Church in China is a fundamental part of Chinese history and can play a leading role in promoting the common good of all its citizens, says Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

“The Catholic Church in China is not a ‘foreigner’ but an integral and active part of Chinese history and can contribute to the edification of a society that is more harmonious and respectful of all,” the cardinal wrote in the preface of the soon to be launched “The Church in China: A New Departure.”

The book edited by Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, editor of La Civiltà Cattolica comes at a particular moment in the history of relations between the Apostolic See and China, following the signing of the provisional agreement on the nomination of bishops that took place in Beijing last September.

The volume emerges from the “China Forum for Civilizational Dialogue,” a collaboration bet-ween the journal, La Civiltà Cattolica, and Georgetown University. It gathers various studies that have appeared over the last two years in La Civilità Cattolica.

Chinese and Myanmar authorities are failing to stop the brutal trafficking of young women, often teenagers, for sexual slavery from conflict-ridden Kachin, a state in northern Myanmar, this according to a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Released on March 22, the report notes that women are often tricked into travelling to China in search of work or kidnapped and held against their will to be sold as “brides” to Chinese men. Most of those taken hostage by Chinese families are locked up and raped, it says. Those who do escape are often obliged to leave children fathered by their tor-mentors.

As a direct result of its one-child policy, China finds itself with 34 million more men than women. This fuels women-trafficking from neighbouring countries, where poverty and social discrimination make women more vulnerable. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are especially affected by the problem.

More than 120,000 people have been displaced by armed clashes between government forces and rebel groups in Kachin and in the northern part of Shan State – conflicts that started up again in 2011. In Kachin alone there are more than 100 refugee camps.

A leading Asian cardinal says the world’s resources are at the mercy of a minuscule minority, and the “poor are doubly-conde-mned by an economy that favours the powerful and a carbon hegemony that destroys their liveli-hood.”

Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo, the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, was speaking at a March 19 event on the Amazon at Georgetown University.

The Amazon will be the topic of the Oct. 6-27 meeting of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

During his lecture, the cardinal noted that Myanmar, also called Burma, is one of the poorest countries in the world.

“I have always worked with simple ethnic and indigenous communities. I come from a country where the Church is an ethnic, indigenous church,” Bo said. “We have watched in pain the destruction of the ethnic and indigenous way of life by the onslaught of market economy-oriented colonization. This is the norm elsewhere,” he said.

Despite her advancing years and having to walk with the aid of a stick, she continues to help dozens of lonely elderly people from various religious backgrounds at a home she runs in Purwokerto, in Central Java.

Sister Indrawati of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph established the Panti Wreda Catur Nugraha home more than a decade ago to create some love and help elderly people abandoned by their families.

From just a few people, it now cares for 52 senior citizens from across Indonesia. Most were hardly able to look after themselves.

“The trauma of being rejected by their relatives is a heavy burden to carry through the last stages of their life,” Sister Indrawati said.

“All they need is love.”

She says it’s her mission to make them as happy as they can, even though to fulfill their daily needs, she has to knock on people’s doors for support.

“Other people have to help,” she said, saying she actively seeks donations and volunteers to come to the home to provide some of the residents some much-needed company.

Caring for people like them was a goal even before she became a nun, Sister Indrawati says. “Since joining my congregation in 1971, I have cared for marginalized people, particularly the elderly,” she said.

Prior to setting up the home, Sister Indrawati worked at several care homes run by the Soegijapranata Social Foundation, which was named after the first native-born Indonesian prelate, Jesuit Bishop Albert Soegijapranata.

This gave her invaluable experience in taking care of the elderly and knowing what makes them happy.