From The States

Minorities’ commission awaits

Pakistan’s National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has called on President Arif Alvi to approve a draft bill for empowerment of the commission formed by the federal cabinet last year. The recommendations, shared in a Sept. 7 meeting at the presidential house, include appointing only a non-Muslim as commission chairman and cover the process of appointing […]

Young Christians being targeted through ‘love and narcotics jihad’: Catholic Bishop in Kerala

A prominent Catholic Bishop in Kerala claimed that young men and women, belonging to the Christian community and other non-Muslim faiths, were being lured and targeted through means such as ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’ in the state. Addressing the laity on the occasion of the Eight day of Lent of Mary earlier this week, […]

India’s Eastern Church moves for uniform liturgy ignoring opposition

Synod of the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church has decided to implement a uniform mode of celebrating mass in all its 35 dioceses from Nov. 28, ignoring the opposition from a section of priests and laity. All dioceses will celebrate the liturgy in a uniform way by next April 17, Easter Sunday of 2022, said the […]

India seeks to curtail privileges of minority schools

A Catholic official in India has criticized as “politically motivated” a federal commission’s recommendations to curtail the rights of schools run by religious minorities such as Christians. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), in a study released last week, sought to bring minority schools, most of them run by Christian institutions, under […]

Skewed sex ratio leads to dubious marriages in India

They say marriages are made in heaven but in the western Indian state of Gujarat, a dubious syndicate of paid agents is playing matchmaker for the mostly jobless boys from the prosperous Patel community and young girls from the indigenous Adivasi communities. The consequences are evidently disturbing and causing much pain and loss to the […]

Chinese abp: Three stages to ‘drama’ involving church, communists

The ongoing “drama” between Chinese Catholics and the nation’s communist leaders has three stages, said Chinese Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, the Vatican’s nuncio to Greece. The current stage in the drama, in effect since 2013, is one of “shrinking and getting confused,” Hon said. “As a result of the drama, people feel so disoriented, disconnected,” […]

Roots of Peace founder fears for her nearly 400 employees in Afghanistan

Roots of Peace founder Heidi Kuhn is on a dead-line-driven, life-or-death mission to get her nearly 400 employees out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31. The Taliban took over the organization’s com-pound in Kabul Aug. 15. President Joe Biden vowed Aug. 24 in a statement with G7 leaders to stick to the end-of-the-month deadline he set […]

Priests appeal Pope against uniform mode of Mass celebration

All the 456 priests of the Arch-diocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly have written to Pope Francis saying they want to continue to offer Mass facing people, a practice that the Syro-Malabar eparchy has followed for the past 50 years. The memorandum was sent to the prefect of the Oriental Congregation in Rome and the apostolic nuncio in […]

Eviction-facing Indian Catholics to fight Muslim charity’s claims

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica