After four years “there is still a climate of uncertainty” among the refugees from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, because the reconstruction work “continues but slowly.” In addition to the houses “we must guarantee a future through work,” said Fr Paul Thabit Mekko who spoke to AsiaNews about the slow rebirth of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain a year after the military victory against the Islamic State (IS) group that had turned Iraq’s northern metropolis into one of its stronghold.

“The general situation of uncertainty in the country has been made worse by the stalemate over the formation of Iraq’s new government and the accusations of electoral fraud,” said the clergyman, “and this has further complicated the situation and generated fear.”

After years of violence and terror by the Islamic State, life is getting back to normal in East Mosul, and it is easier now to move inside the city’s western neighbourhoods.

The rebirth of the northern metropolis is taking place thanks to the reopening of schools, factories and small businesses, as well as the opening of new commercial spaces, unthinkable under the “caliphate.” This renaissance includes a literary café as a place of reading and exchanges.

In recent weeks, said Fr Paul, “at least 100 Christian families” have returned to the eastern sector of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris River, which suffered less from the Islamic State.

Over 200 priests and preach-ers from other religious denomi-nations want to carry firearms, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said.

The PNP received requests for the permit to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) from 188 Catholic priests and 58 ministers, preachers and pastors from June 2017 to June 2018, he said. “As a policy and by the power vested in me as the approving authority for PTCFOR, we may accommodate requests for PTCFOR by duly qualified gun holders among members of the clergy and leaders of religious congregations, subject to their compliance with the minimum requirements,” Albayalde said.

The PNP chief did not say if any of the applications have been approved.

Albayalde, however, added there were some requests following the barangay (village) elections last month.

He made the announcement a week after Fr Richmond Nilo was shot dead while about to hold mass in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija, Northern Philippines.

The Chinese government placed strict controls on the funeral of a bishop in Shandong province.  Restrictions were placed on photography and the number of mourners at the service for Bishop Joseph Li Mingshu of Qingdao, who died of lung cancer at 93 on June 15. Even the bishop’s 92-year-old sister had to rush to the funeral after receiving a late message from other Catholics. She had not received any official notice of his death. The funeral for the bishop, recognized by the Vatican and China, was held on June 18 at St Michael’s Cathedral in Qingdao.

Church leaders in the Philippines have criticized proposal to arms priests as a protection measure in the wake of recent attacks on members of the clergy.

Calls have come from several quarters for priests to take advantage of a 2014 law allowing journalists, priests, lawyers, doctors, nurses, accountants, and engineers to carry firearms outside their homes.

The calls come after three recent shooting incidents involving priests.

On June 6, Father Rey Urmeneta, a 64-year-old Catholic priest in Laguna province, survived a gun attack by two assailants.

He was the third priest to have been shot in the past six months.

In April, Father Mark Ventura from Gattaran town in the northern Philippines died after being shot by a lone gunman shortly after celebrating Sunday Mass.

On Dec. 4, 2017, Father Marcelito Paez was also shot dead in the town of Jaen, Nueva Ecija province. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, however, expressed strong opposition to the idea of arming priests.

“Arming priests is not a solution to crimes against them,” said Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Public Affairs Committee of the bishops’ conference.

He said there is no need for priests to arm themselves because, like any ordinary citizen, they are also entitled to protection from the government. “If [priests] antagonize other people, killing them is unnecessarily excessive and brutal,” said Father Secillano, adding that priests should never be considered as “enemies.”

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon said priests get their protection from “angels, not weapons.”

“I am for a gun-less society. We priests are not afraid of dangers. If the public, especially the poor, are exposed to dangers, we cannot be less,” said Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa.

Another name was added to a growing Philippine Church casualty list on June 10 when a priest was shot dead as he was about to celebrate Mass in the northern province of Nueva Ecija. Father Richmond Villaflor Nilo of Cabanatuan Diocese was gunned down inside the Nuestra Senora dela Nieve chapel in Zara-goza town. Police said the priest was shot while he was putting on his alb to start the Mass. At least three shots were fired through the chapel’s window.

China has launched a five year plan for the “development” of the Catholic Church, aimed at altering religious principles and practices to coincide with Chinese communist ideals. This plan was approved by the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics and the Council of Chinese Bishops, neither of whom is recognised by the Holy See. The goal of this plan is to eliminate “foreign influence” and to ensure governmental control of all religious activities, including a submission of religious leaders to the Communist Party. The groups have not released any specific details, but the five year plan will include “understanding the history of the church” in China, driving theological research, and emphasising evangelism.

The Way of the Cross at a pilgrimage site in China’s Henan province has been forcibly demolished by authorities in the latest clampdown on religious freedom. Local government officials removed images of Jesus at the well-known Our Lady of Mount Carmel pilgrimage site in Tianjiajing village of Anyang Diocese at 8 pm on June 5.

A source said authorities sent personnel one month ago to tell Bishop Joseph Zhang Yinlin of Anyang that the Way of the Cross must be dismantled, but no specific reason was given.

Nuns living nearby took photographs and videos of the demolition and sent the evidence to chat groups.

A religious source said the Communist Party’s policy appeared to be to “allow Catholicism to exist but not develop.” In 1987, the local government sent troops and armored vehicles to the site after estimating there would be 50,000 pilgrims, the source said.

In 2009, Henan had about 2.4 million Christians, of whom 300,000 were Catholics. By the end of 2011, there were 2,525 Christian churches and 4,002 Christian premises in the province.

Jakarta Security Forces have arrested 41 suspected terrorists, linked to a series of bomb attacks in Surabaya, the capital of the province of East Java. Four others were killed during counter terrorist operations, reported local police chief Tito Karnavian last night to local media, adding that the victims had resisted arrest. “After the suicide bombings in Surabaya and Sidoarjo on May 13 and 14, we moved quickly and identified the culprits – he said – A suspected terrorist from Probolinggo (East Java) surrendered to the local police because he could not live in peace, as he was always on the run.” Tito Karnavian also revealed the final toll of the victims of the attacks carried out in Surabaya by two militant families of Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (Jad), a local terrorist group linked to the Islamic State (IS). Attacks on three Christian churches and the local police headquarters have killed 14 civilians and 13 terrorists. Over 40 people were injured.

A self-styled religious leader in Nepal linked to hard-line Hindu nationalists has been accused of faking an attempt on his life by instructing a bodyguard to shoot and wound him. Dinesh Pandit, 25, revered as “Acharya Shree Niwas” by Hindu devotees, was shot on April 8 in the country’s east shortly before he was scheduled to address a mass religious gathering.

Some devotees, seeking to fuel street protests, claimed that it was a premeditated attack by Christians.

The government said it would pay for Acharya’s medical treatment while the main opposition political party called for an upgrading of protection for religious leaders.

Acharya was discharged from hospital after 21 days, but on May 8 police detained him before he could board a flight to India. Subsequently, Acharya was charged with staging his own shooting and attempting to incite communal violence.

The initial investigation carried out by police indicated that Acharya had instructed his bodyguard, Madhav Chaudhary, to shoot him in one arm so that it would look like an assassination attempt. Chaudhary, who was arrested 26 days after the attack, reportedly confessed his role.

The administration office in Morang district remanded Acharya in custody. Some Christians suspect that Acharya’s shooting scam was part of a wider conspiracy to suppress religious freedom and spur attacks on non-Hindus.

BP Khanal, Nepal chapter coordinator of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, said that despite Nepal being officially secular, the state still encouraged the notion that Nepalis had to be Hindu.

“Religious minorities are often persecuted and attacked,” he said. And in recent years Christians have been victimized over the alleged killing of cattle as well as the distribution of Bibles and conversion of non-Christians. Reverend Joseph Shrestha, chairperson of the Christian Society in Nepal’s Province 7, said that in December 2016 Hindu extremists organized mass protests following the deaths of cows in the Kailali district.

Priests, nuns, and seminarians staged a candle-lit prayer rally on May 17 to protest against what they called the “tyrannical tendencies” of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

The protest came days after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila released a letter to parishes warning that the Philippines is “facing a crisis of truth.”

The Manila prelate noted that even Philippine legal experts have “given us conflicting interpretations on basic questions of law.” Cardinal Tagle issued the letter to priests and religious in his archdiocese days after the Philippine Supreme Court ousted the country’s chief justice.

The court decision has been widely criticized by various groups, including civil society organizations and Catholic Church leaders.

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon said the removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno could be the start of “another dark period in the country’s history.”

“A real dictatorship of a strong man is emerging,” said the prelate, adding that “more controversial issues are surely coming.” He said the court decision “is the most shameful act in the history of the Philippine judiciary.”

Cardinal Tagle said the “crisis of truth” has already resulted in “suspicion, mistrust, and fragmentation.”

“Partisan politics has turned into political tribalization. The common good is one of the first casualties,” the Manila prelate said.