Hundreds of students in the province of Aceh, western Indonesia, invaded a shelter on December 27 that temporarily housed more than a hundred Rohingya refugees, driving them out in what is but the latest incident due to local hostility towards the refugees, who belong to a persecuted stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar.
Since mid-November, more than 1,500 Rohingya fled refugee camps in Bangladesh to reach Aceh province by sea in makeshift crafts. According to the United Nations, this is the largest migration of Rohingya to Indonesia since 2015.
Under the slogan “Aceh’s Students Denied Access to the Rohingyas”, hundreds of people demanded that these asylum seekers leave from their temporary shelter in the Balee Meuseuraya building and be relocated elsewhere.
Even though most of vulnerable refugees are families, especially women and children, the students dragged them into vans and pickups and drove them to another place not far away, about a kilometre from the previous location.
About 135 Rohingya, who landed on an Aceh beach on 10 December, were subjected of this action, after.
“We were able to move these Rohingya as most of our compatriots in Aceh have already expressed concern and were against their presence here,” said one of the coordinators of Wednesday’s action.

A Kerala parish council’s “barbaric” punishment to a youth during Christmas midnight Mass has triggered condemnation in the southern Indian state.
“Today I heard the news that the young man was brought to his knees to apologize. The sting of the action still hasn’t gone away, and the shame of it coming from a religious group that I belong to is overwhelming me,” laments Father Aji Puthiyaparambil, who left active priestly ministry a few months ago to fight corruption in the Church.
The 46-year-old priest says the “barbaric punishment” took place on Christmas, the “birthday of the one who forgave those who insulted him even in his last breath.”
Earlier, marunandanmala-yalee.com, a YouTube channel, reported the incident with the headline, “A parish gives barbaric punishment to a youth. Kerala is shocked.”
According to the December 27 report, the parish committee of St Andrews Church, Karumkulam, had asked a young parishioner named Minroose to walk on his knees from the church’s main door to the altar before apologizing.
The YouTube channel shows the man walking on his knees before apologizing from the pulpit. The man, who claimed he was an illiterate fisherman, said the committee had asked him to apologize in the church for questioning its decision on a church property.

Thousands of Christians paid their last respects to 87 indigenous Christians during a mass funeral on Dec. 20, eight months after sectarian violence rocked India’s hilly state of Manipur.
The victims from the Kuki and Zomi communities were buried in separate places in Churachandpur district, where the strife started on May 3, claiming 200 lives.
“We buried 87 people in two different places in two sessions,” Barnabas Simte, district president of the All-Manipur Catholic Union, told UCA News on Dec. 20.

“The bodies included those airlifted from capital Imphal and those kept in the district hospital,” Simte added.
The government airlifted 60 bodies of indigenous Kukis from Imphal on Dec. 14 as the authorities feared transporting them by road could fuel fresh tension.
Their burial was sanctioned on Nov. 28 by the Supreme Court, India’s top court.
According to government records, 175 bodies mostly of indigenous people were preserved in mortuaries.
The top court ordered the government to hand over the bodies to their relatives and dispose of the unidentified bodies.

Christmas was marked by interfaith harmony and sharing with members of different religions united to celebrate the joy of the birth of Jesus in Natore, a district in Rajshahi Division, experiencing moments of intense participation in the name of rebirth, new beginnings, forgiveness, and peace in a country that once experienced sectarian tensions.
Trees adorned with lights and decorations illuminated the surroundings, accompanied by special prayers in churches and Christmas carols and hymns of joy in Christian homes.
The celebration crossed religious boundaries with members of the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist communities united in stressing that “Christmas is a universal celebration.”
Robiul Islam, a young Muslim from Natore, spoke to AsiaNews about his experience.  ”I joined the Christmas party with my friend Jonathan Gomes. We sang Christmas carols, enjoyed delicious food, including the Christmas cake,” he said. Stressing the strong bond between faiths, he said that Jonathan had previously participated in Eid (Islamic) celebrations with his family.
On Christmas Day, the parish of Bonpara, Natore, organised a convivial moment after the Mass with local Christians sharing Christmas cake and songs with people of different faiths.
Siddiqur Rahman Patwari, a Muslim leader and member of Parliament, as well as other political leaders, attended the event, bringing greetings to the Catholic community.
Patwari expressed gratitude to the missionaries from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) for their major role in local development. He also highlighted local religious harmony, expressing hope that it would continue in the future.

India’s Latin rite Church is pre-paring its people to face modern challenges. For this, it has launched a training program on strategic planning training for the 14 regions of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. A training program was held December 6-7 at Navinta Retreat Centre in New Delhi’s Okhala.

In the wake of a mass indictment of 42 people in India over charges of fraudulent conversion of members of poor and tribal communities to Christianity, a Catholic expert is warning that recent elections in several Indian states, which saw strong gains for the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, may make the situation worse.

In the latest escalation in a long-running dispute within India’s Syro-Malabar Church, the administrator of its largest diocese has required all candidates for the priesthood to take a loyalty oath swearing to celebrate the Mass only in the manner prescribed by Church authorities.
Archbishop Andrews Thazhath issued the new oath in a Nov. 23 letter, indicating that all deacons in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Anga-maly must sign it prior to being ordai-ned to the priesthood.

Ranchi is one of the oldest cities of Jharkhand and ranks among the best-known hill stations in the state. Popularly known as the City of Waterfalls, Ranchi is famous for its picturesque Hudru Falls, Dassam Falls, Johna Falls and several other tourist attractions like water sports at Patratu Lake.

Papal delegate Jesuit Archbishop Cyril Vasil arrived in Kochi on December 13, a week after Pope Francis personally intervened in the vexing liturgical dispute in the Syro-Malabar Church’s Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
Archbishop Vasil was received at 8 am in the Kochi International Airport by a team led by Bishop Emeritus Bosco Puthur of Melbourne, the temporary apostolic administrator of the troubled archdiocese.
This is the second time Archbishop Vasil is visiting the southern Indian state of Kerala to resolve the decades-old liturgical dispute. His earlier two-week visit that ended August 21 had left the fate of more than 400 priests uncertain for defying his ultimatum to offer Masses on August 20 in the synod-approved mode in all parishes and institutions in the archdiocese.
He had apparently alienated the majority of the priests and lay people in the archdiocese by his insistence on implementing the uniform method of celebrating Mass.
Archbishop Vasil’s latest visit takes place after Pope Francis on December 7 accepted the resignations Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur from the post of apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, a demand made by the dissidents.
However, the Pope, through a video message, asked the priests of the arch-diocese to celebrate the uniform mode of Mass from Christ-mas eve. The Pope also pleaded with them not to divide the ancient Church or create another sect.
He then appoint-ed Bishop Sebastian Vaniyapurackal to function as the administrator of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Bishop Puthur the temporary administrator of the arch-diocese.
The major archbishop is to be elected at the bishops’ synod in January.
Archbishop Vasil’s engagements in Kochi are kept under wraps, although he was expected to meet groups of priests on the day of his arrival.

As many as 52 young women from various parts of India recently took first vows in the first religious congregation for women founded in northeastern India.
They vowed to be poor, chaste and obedient in the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians on December 8 in the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya state.
Sister Philomena Mathew, the congregation’s superior general received their vows during a solemn Mass officiated by Archbishop Emeritus Leo Cornelio of Bhopal.
“It’s a joyful and exalting moment for the congregation. These young women are assets to the congregation, the Church and society as they are highly motivated to live a life of service and dedication,” said the superior general.
She said the entry of the vibrant new members would make the congregation more powerful in changing society through various apostolic and charitable services. “In this digital, highly advanced and globalized world, the ultimate need of people is God. So, true to our motto – ‘Go proclaim the Goodnews’, we hope to become Good News to the poor and needy and proclaim the Goodnews to all people.”