Pope Francis has addressed a wide variety of topics – from the death of Benedict XVI, criticism of Fracncis’ papacy, homosexuality, relations with China, the case of Father Rupnik, and even his “good” health despite his age – in an interview released today by the Associated Press, an American news agency. It is the pontiff’s first interview since the death, on 31 December 2022, of his predecessor Joseph Ratzinger, whose character Pope Francis outlines in his interview with correspondent Nicole Winfield, which took place on Tuesday at Casa Santa Marta.
The Pope described Benedict XVI as “a gentleman” and said that with his death “I lost a father”: “For me, he was a security. When faced with doubt, I would call for the car, go to the monastery and ask [him about it].” Asked once again asked about the possibility of resignation, the Pope said that if he ever renounced the Petrine ministry, he would use the title “bishop emeritus of Rome” and live in the Casa del Clero (a residence for clergy) in Rome.” “Benedict’s experience,” he added, already gives future popes greater freedom to choose to resign.
Over 360 million Christians suffering persecution in the world
Although numbers haven’t changed sub-stantially from the previous year, 2022 was the worst year for Christians worldwide, due to an intensifying level of violence discrimi-nation and exclusion, according to the late-st World Watch List released by Open Doors, a watchdog group that advocates for Christians.
The report, which was presented on Wednesday at the Italian Parliament in Rome, ranks the fifty countries where Christians face the worst persecution.
According to the data reported, more than 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith. Similar numbers were recorded last year. However, the score of the indicators in the fifty countries at risk is growing.
In the previous report, the Pyongyang had been replaced by Afghanistan, following the Talebani takeover in August 2021. The latter’s ranking has dropped to the ninth place, not because of any improvement, but for the simple reason that most Christians present there have fled the country. Conversion from Islam to another faith is punished with death in Afghanistan. The tiny local Christian community is, therefore, forced to live in clandestinity.
North Korea is followed by Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Lybia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Iran, all of which are facing either war or internal strife, or are under authoritarian regimes, as in the case of Eritrea and Iran..
In terms of absolute numbers Christians killed in 2022 have slightly decreased from 5,621 to 5,898. Also, the number of churches attacked or closed decreased by more than half from over five thousand in 2021 to just over two thousand last year. China has played major role in this cutback, with one thousand incidents against three thousand in the previous year.
On the other hand, however, 2022 has seen a drastic increase in abductions of Christians, from 3,829 to 5,259. Almost five thousand are concentrated in three countries: Nigeria, Mo-zambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where in recent days Islamists have claimed a bomb attack against a Pentecostal church in the eastern Congolese town of Ka-sindi, which killed 14 people and injured 39.
India arrests alleged illegal immigration agents over family who froze to death on US border
Three alleged black-market immigration agents have been arrested in western India in connection with the case of an Indian family who froze to death on the United States’ border with Canada last year, police said Wednesday.
Deputy Commissioner Chaitanya Mandlik with Ahmedabad Police’s crime branch named the suspects as Yogesh Patel, Bhavesh Patel, and Dashrath Chaudhary.
Priests, activists welcome justice for long-suffering Papuans
Rights activists in Indonesia’s restive, Christian-majority Papua province have hailed life-term imprisonment for an ex-soldier accused of killing four Papuans. The sentence is the toughest against a member of the security forces long accused of gross human rights violations in the conflict-torn region.
Catholic priest and rights campaigner Father John Djonga said the verdict “signals that there are efforts to take firm action against state apparatus who are perpetrators of crimes in Papua.”
Syro-Malabar Melbourne diocese gets a new bishop
Pope Francis has appointed Father John Panamthottathil of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) congregation as the new bishop of St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese of Melbourne, Australia.
The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne, Australia, presented by Bishop Bosco Puthur, who completed 75 years of age.
Priest, nun die in separate accidents
A 73-year-old Dominican nun and a 36-year-old diocesan priest have died in tragic accidents at two different pa-rts of India.
Father Melvin Abraham Pallithazhathu of Bijnor diocese died January 19 when his vehicle fell into a gorge of 500 feet deep at Joshimath in the Chamoli district of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. He had gone there with relief materials from the diocesan headquarters of Kotdwar, some 275 km southwest.
Sister Jussina Pulikkottle, OPSister Jussina Pulikkottle died January 16 when she fell on railway tracks near Bengaluru, southern India. Her funeral took place at 11 am on January 19.
Asian Catholic responses to an evangelical presence
In this week of prayer for Christian unity, we are called to pay attention to the diversity of Christians as well as to their mutual relations. We explore here some of the ways through which Asian Catholics respond to the presence of evangelical Christians.
Evangelical churches, which stress that one has to be “born again” to follow Christ, have been the trendy Christianity of the past 40 years in Asia. Evangelicals are seen as having strong feelings against ecumenical relations compared to Anglicans and Methodists, who are more supportive.
The evangelical branch of Christianity has grown significantly across Asia. The Evangelical growth was second only to Pentecostalism, which we consider an intrinsically different tradition. It would be interesting to focus on Evangelical-Catholic relations since Evangelicals are a relatively newer Christian force to consider in Asia.
But before focusing on the Catholic-Evangelical encounter, we must first consider the immense diversity of ecclesial, political, and socio-economic situations that Asia represents. Depending on whether we look at Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, or Bhutan, the socio-economic context, the local history, the vitality of local Churches, and their mutual relations vary tremendously.
Syro-Malabar synod fails to resolve violent row over the Mass
In what amounts to the latest failure to resolve an almost 25 year-old liturgical feud, a six-day meeting of bishops of the Syro-Malabar church concluded Saturday without any new consensus on how Mass ought to be celebrated.
Centered in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the Syro-Malabar Church has more than four million followers worldwide, making it the second-largest \of the Eastern churches in communion with Rome after the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine.
Since at least the 1990s, members of the church have been divided over the proper way to celebrate their version of the Mass, known as the “Holy Qurbana.” Historically, some branches of the church celebrated ad populum, meaning facing the people, for virtually the entire liturgy, while others did so ad orientem, meaning facing the East.
In 1999, the church’s bishops agreed on a compromise formula: The Mass would be facing the people during the Liturgy of the Word, and facing East during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. That agreement broke down in practice, however, when some elements of the church refused to accept it, especially the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the largest diocese in the church with around a half-million followers,
Pope Francis intervened last July, insisting on a unfirm liturgy based on the 1999 formula, which was supposed to be adopted in August. Efforts to enforce it, however, have been met with resistance including street fights, hunger strikes, the burning of pastoral letters and the burning in effigy of Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church.
Meanwhile, representing the priests of Ernakulam-Angamaly, Father Jose Vailikodath said they would continue to say Mass facing the people, claiming that Alencherry’s statement creates more problems than it solves.
Father Paul Thelakat, a former spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar synod, told Crux the dissenters would not object if uniformity were being imposed “on a matter of faith or morals.”
“All we are asking is something we were already doing, [which is] to have the complete Mass facing the people,” Thelakat said. “It is only a question of orientation, where there is nothing wrong at all.”
Hindu mob attacks Catholic NGO staff on Indian train
A Catholic priest sought police protection for his non-governmental organization (NGO) in western India a few days after his staff members were attacked by Hindu nationalists on a running train alleging they were missionaries involved in conversion activities.
Seven teachers of a Catholic NGO working in Dhule district in the western state of Maharashtra were assaulted by a mob of around 15 Hindu youth while traveling by an express train.
The team was out on an education tour when the attack took place at Sangli railway station on the night of Jan. 16.
“I was pulled down from the berth and hit on my head with a steel object until blood began to ooze out from a wound,” says Gunilal Pawara, supervisor of a team of 42 teachers including 14 females who work for the NGO named Shirpur Vishwa Mandal Sevashram.
The mob accused the team of trying to convert indigenous tribal people and kept asking for Father Constancio Rodrigues, the director of the NGO, Pawara said.
Father Rodrigues told UCA News on Jan. 20 that he was to accompany his team but could not join them at the last minute.
Tribal factor at play ahead of crucial elections in India
For the first time, tribal people in India are a much sought-after community as nine Indian states face elections this year, ahead of the crucial general election next year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a third term.
Tribal people can tilt the balance in seven of the nine states going to the polls this year, including Christian-majority tribal states of Meghalaya and Nagaland.
The other tribal heartland states that go to polls this year are Tripura and Mizoram along with Karnataka and Telangana. The term of legislatures in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan—the three other tribal stronghold states—are ending early next January and so elections are expected by the end of this year.
Never in the poll history of India have tribal people enjoyed such limelight. Of the 543 seats in the national parliament, 131 seats or close to 25 percent seats have been reserved for tribal and Dalit people since 2008. Tribal people alone get 84 seats.
Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated Droupadi Murmu — a woman from eastern India’s Santal tribe — as president last year, making her India’s first tribal president.