In a letter to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Christian associations on December 18 expressed their “deep concern” over new measures introduced by the minister of the interior to control immigration and access to the right of asylum.

“The minister of the interior is seeking to excessively accelerate asylum procedures and make access to procedures on French territory nearly impossible by placing all bodies dealing with migrants under his control,” states the letter signed by Secours catholique president, Véronique Fayet, and Jean-Michel Hitter, president of the Fédération de l’Entraide protestante.

An Afghan refugee woman begs for coins near St Christopher Catholic Church in early September in Berlin. The church has continuously provided sanctuary to refugees fearing deportation while their asylum claims are considered by German authorities. Sitting on the bare pavement outside a Catholic Church, an Afghan refugee woman, dressed in a bright floral headscarf, calls out plaintively to passersby, begging for coins.

It’s a scene repeatedly played out in the German capital overwhelmed by refugees fleeing war, persecution and economic deprivation in the Middle East and Africa.

But at Christmas time and beyond, Catholic and Protestant churches are doing what they can to help those struggling and in need. Such sanctuary, known as church asylum in Germany, is providing temporary protection for some 600 refugees currently who do not have a legal residence, in effect placing the church between the refugees and the public authorities and safeguarding them until their legal cases can be heard and considered. While most German church members say they support providing sanctuary to refugees, Michael Haas, coordinator of refugee work in the Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin, told that some parishes are fearful of the practice because it falls into a kind of grey area of the law. It also requires financial resources and manpower to provide the care. Still, he said, the “church, bishops, congregations and the government in Germany have agreed that there might be a mutual trust and that the church will not abuse the system of church asylum.” Churches, he said, have agreed to use sanctuary in “very few and particular cases after a thorough legal check,” while there appears to be a tacit agreement that the government “would not deport such cases without first having a second look at the application.”

When no priests were available, the bishop of the Que-bec Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda sought and received Vatican permission for a local nun to officiate at a recent wedding.

While the story has been portrayed around the world as a sign that Pope Francis is changing the role of women in the church, Bishop Dorylas Moreau said the wedding was carried out according to a long-established provision of canon law.

It allows an exception for a layperson to be permitted to officiate at a wedding when a bishop, priest or deacon is unavailable. That layperson can be a man or a woman.
“It was also an experiment for the Catholic Church.”

“It is an exceptional situation, not something habitual,” Bishop Moreau said in French.

The bishop said he has only 16 priests for 35 parishes in a diocese that covers nearly 9,300 square miles of rugged territory. The diocese has more than 75 nuns, but no deacons, although three are currently in formation.

German church leaders warned that religious free-dom is under threat across the world, and that a Christian presence in areas of the Middle East is at risk of disappearing entirely. The German Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches (EKD) published a report focusing on religious conversion to Christianity as a “litmus test for religious freedom.” The 70 page report, entitled “Ecumenical Report on the Religious Freedom of Christians Worldwide,” was released during the German Bishops’ Conference. While the Berlin conference is organized by bishops of Germany’s Catholic dioceses, the report was published jointly by the country’s Catholic and Evangelical church organizations. The EKD shared the report on Twitter. Representatives from both churches said that Christians are especially at risk of having their religious rights infringed upon.

Petra Bosse-Huber, the EKD’s bishop responsible for foreign ministries, said: “In our secularized Western society, we can often barely imagine what it means when people are hindered from visiting a mass or reading and studying the Bible with others.”

The report said Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, along with other religious minorities, face the greatest threats. Long-term trends and the effects of the “Islamic State’s” (IS) terror “threatened the end of a Christian presence in some countries.”

The report also highlighted sub-Saharan Africa, including Northern Nigeria, as a region where Christians are victims of Islamist terror, as well as China, Vietnam and countries of the former Soviet Union, where they face repressive authoritarian regimes.

The news that the buyer of Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold, is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. The painting is destined to hang in the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

But Salvator Mundi is also an interesting painting for Prince to buy for several reasons. Firstly, Saudi Arabia is not as rich as it was, thanks to low oil prices, so it represents a considerable outlay even for the Prince. Secondly, the Leonardo is not just a portrait (something that the strictly aniconic Muslims have never historically appreciated, given the Koran’s condemnation of images), it is a portrait of Christ the Saviour of the World. To import such a picture into Saudi Arabia, where rosary beads are banned, along with any other Christian paraphernalia, would presumably be illegal. That the Prince has bought the picture may be a tangible sign of his moving towards a more moderate form of Islam, as he has spoken of doing. This could mean that the buying of the painting is a sign of hope for many Christians who live and work in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps they are going to be granted some form of religious toleration.

Thus we should be extremely pleased that a Prince from a country that bans Christianity should have bought a Christian picture: it could be a sign of better things to come.

Meeting with Myanmar’s Buddhist leaders in Yangon, Pope Francis again pleaded for interreligious dialogue. Repeating what he had earlier told 150,000 faithful at a papal mass, he emphasized that religions need to work to “heal the wounds” of a still divided nation.

In a meeting at the Kaba Aye Pagoda in Yangon on November 29, Pope Francis challenged Myanmar’s Buddhist monks by comparing Buddha and St Francis of Assisi.

“Overcome anger with non-anger; overcome wickedness with goodness; overcome the miser with generosity; overcome the liar with truth,” Pope Francis said, quoting the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings of the Buddha.

He illustrated the parallel with the prayer of St Francis of Assisi: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me bring pardon… This witness, Francis said, is particularly needed at a time when, despite technological progress and a rising awareness in society of our common humanity, “the wounds of conflict, poverty and oppression persist, and create new divisions. “In the face of these challenges, we must never grow resigned,” Francis said.

Showing respect to his hosts, upon arriving to the Kaba Aye Centre, Francis took his shoes off but kept on his black socks, in itself an exception, since both monks and visitors always walk barefooted in the Pagodas.

The overwhelming majority of the population in Myanmar is Buddhist, and religious and ethnic minorities often complain of oppression and second-class citizenship. In that context, Francis told the Buddhist monks that the whole of society is called to work to overcome conflict and injustice, adding that civil and religious leaders have a responsibility to ensure that every voice is heard. The official name of the group Francis met with is State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, a government-appointed body of 47 high-ranking Buddhist monks that oversees and regulates the Buddhist clergy in Myanmar.

There are an estimated 500,000 Buddhist monks and 70,000 nuns in Myanmar.

In a telephone survey of 1,503 U.S. adults conducted on Nov. 28 – Dec. 4 for the Pew Research Centre, 55% said they mark Christmas as a religious holiday. The figure in 2013, when Pew last asked this question, was 59%.

“Nine in 10 U.S. adults say they celebrate the holiday, which is nearly identical to the share who said this in 2013,” said the survey, whose results were released on Dec. 12. “About eight in 10 will gather with family and friends. And half say they plan to attend church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day,” it said. Those numbers, Pew added, are roughly the same as those of 2013.

“Most respondents in the new poll say they think religious aspects of Christmas are emphasized less in American society today than in the past. But relatively few Americans both perceive this trend and are bothered by it,” the Pew survey said.

“Overall, 31% of adults say they are bothered at least ‘some’ by the declining emphasis on religion in the way the U.S. commemorates Christmas, including 18% who say they are bothered ‘a lot’ by this. But the remaining two-thirds of the U.S. public either is not bothered by a perceived decline in religion in Christ-mas or does not believe that the emphasis on the religious elements of Christmas is waning,” it added. One flashpoint is how Americans think store clerks should greet customers at this time of the year. “Merry Christmas” is the preferred choice of 32%, down from 43% in 2012, the last time Pew asked the question. The generic “Happy holidays” or “Season’s greetings,” went up from 12% to 15%, while 62% said it doesn’t matter, up from 45% in 2012. “One of the most striking changes in recent years involves the share of Americans who say they believe the birth of Jesus occurred as depicted in the Bible,” the Pew survey said.

As the drumbeats grew louder at the Jerusalem Church, members of the Legio Maria movement bowed in unison before they began speaking in tongues, praying and singing. Their “cardinal,” Raphael Midigo, dressed in a purple gown, appeared from behind a curtain near the pulpit and began to pray for the sick, the blind, deaf, disabled, the mentally ill and couples who could not bear children. Worshippers responded in shouts as others fainted, overcome with emotion.

“I can now hear. I can speak. I thank God,” shouted 30-year-old Jacinta Atieno, who claimed to be deaf in both ears for 10 years. “I came all the way from Nairobi to receive a miracle,” she said. “I have suffered for a long time. I thank the man of God for healing me.”

Such supposed miracles in the Legio Maria sect have raised concerns among Catholic parish leaders in western Kenya. Thousands of Catholics have joined the sect in search of healing. “This is worrying because leaders from this church (Legio Maria) have their own selfish agendas, which they achieve by making people believe that they have power to heal and provide solutions,” said Geofrey Omondi, a catechist of the Nyatike Catholic church in Migori, a nearby town.