“When I meet the leaders of the world, they always ask me questions about the persecution that is affecting us in Egypt, and I answer that there is no persecution, clearly rejecting this expression to qualify our condition in our country.” This is how Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II described his reaction to foreign representatives – including political leaders and Heads of State – who, when they meet him, evoke in their conversation formulas and schemes with which the Coptic Christians of Egypt in the “mainstream” media representation, and in general the Christian communities in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, are systematically labelled as “persecuted minorities.”
This representation – explained Pope Tawadros in an interview broadcast by the satellite television channel Nile TV on the occasion of the Coptic Christmas – provides “a distorted image of the situation in Egypt,” where Copts are called to face difficulties and problems also linked to sectarian violence and discrimination, which however do not constitute a condition of systematic religious persecution.
“If there is a problem between the different communities in a village,” the Patriarch explained, referring to recent cases of sectarian conflicts that have exploded in certain regions of Upper Egypt, “it is necessary to take into account that in Egypt there are 5000 villages. It happens that in some of them people act recklessly, but for this they are arrested and judged. I categorically reject the definition of “persecution” that some leaders put before me when they talk about Copts.”
During the interview, the Patriarch also dwelt on the new law on the construction of new churches, which since September 2016 has removed the limitations and conditions that previously made it also impossible to build new Christian places of worship in Egypt. Within the framework of this new legislative provision, promoted by President Adel Fattah al Sisi – commented the Patriarch – we can also perceive “the shrewdness of the political leader” who, through laws and choices, aims to preserve stability and social peace.
Surgical abortion clinics on the decline in US; abortion pill providers on the rise: report
An exam room at the Planned Parenthood South Austin Health Centre is shown following the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas law imposing strict regulations on abortion doctors and facilities in Austin, Texas, U.S. on June 27, 2016. The number of clinics that provide surgical abortion procedures has declined over the past several years while the number of clinics that provide only abortion pills is increasing, according to an annual report by a leading pro-life activist group.
The Kansas-based Operation Rescue released the report examining trends among abortion clinics across the country. The report finds that the number of surgical abortion clinics in the United States has dropped by over 35% from 713 facilities in 2009 to 458 facilities in 2020.
Meanwhile, clinics that provide non-surgical abortion methods, such as abortion-inducing drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol, have been on the rise in the U.S. — going from 131 facilities in 2009 to 248 facilities in 2020.
Overall, there were 706 clinics offering abortions of some kind in 2020, slightly down from the 710 facilities reported to be operating in 2019, and well below the 856 that were open in 2012.
In a statement included in the report, Operation Rescue President Troy Newman considered the latest numbers to be promising news for the pro-life movement.
Babachir to ex-Emir Sanusi: Borrow Bible read Psalm 37, for strength
Babachir said he had been in the shoes of the deposed ruler and the monarch’s stance for the poor and the downtrodden especially in the North, will eventually lead to his emergence as a stronger and better person. Babachir made the remarks in a statement issued to newsmen, in Yola, Adamawa State. Addre-ssing the embattled Emir of Kano, Babachir said: “Good morning your Royal Highness. Please, note that wherever and however you may be now, God is with you; good Nigerians are with you and we the lovers of the North stand with you.” Given the way God does His things, this is only the beginning of good things and His showers of ble-ssings upon you. “We, lovers of Nigeria particularly the northern Nigerian ones, have listened to you and are in total agreement with what you say and the way you say it and we shall yet cele-brate with you.” He explained that “I have gone through this type of experience and I have come out the better and stronger for it. You are a hero of all the poor, the uneducated and the oppressed northerners in parti-cular and indeed Nigerians. “But you are also hated by the corrupt rich, the educated illiterates, the tribalists, some hard-lined fue-dalists and religious bigots and they are more powerful, more united and can muster more recourses than us.” “But God is God. No man is God. Man can only be a tin god for a brief period, wither like the flower, and thereafter be accountable for all his actions on the day of judge-ment before our Lord, Jesus Christ. “Your Highness, I reco-mmend Psalm 37 to you; borrow a Bible and read it, that is if you do not already have one.” Ma-king reference to the situation of some Nigerian leaders he admo-nished the monarch saying, “God is God. No man is God.”
VATICAN – MISSIONARIES KILLED IN 2020
According to informa-tion gathered by Agenzia Fides, in 2020 20 missionaries were killed in the world: 8 priests, 1 religious man, 3 religious women, 2 semina-rians, 6 lay people. This 2020 year the highest number of missionaries killed returns to be registered in America, where 5 priests and 3 lay people were killed (8). Followed by Africa, where 1 priest, 3 religious women, 1 seminarian, 2 lay people were killed (7). In Asia 1 priest, 1 seminarian and 1 lay man. In Europe 1 priest and 1 religious man. In the last 20 years, from 2000 to 2020, 535 pastoral workers have been killed in the world, 5 of whom are Bishops.
Agenzia Fides continues its service to collect information regarding the missionaries killed during the year. We use the term “missionary” for all the baptized, aware that “in virtue of their Baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization” (EG 120). As it has been for some time, the annual list of Fides does not look only to Missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but tries to record all the baptized engaged in the life of the Church who died in a violent way, not only “in hatred of the faith.” –Agenzia Fides
Former Vatican security chief praises pope’s financial reforms
Just over a year after this exit, Domenico Giani, formerly believed to be one of the most powerful people in the Vatican, has given an interview offering details as to his current career path and his thoughts on papal reform.
In the interview, published in Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian bishops, on Jan. 6, the former head of the Vatican police said that when he was first asked to enter service to the Holy See, he was told that “it was not my personal service by a vocation, a call,” which also extended to his family. Speaking of his unexpected resignation last fall, Giani said the move “caused pain” for him and his family but insisted that it did not alter his experience working in the Vatican Gendarme Corps, and nor did it take away “the gratitude for the Popes we have served: St John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.”
“I remain deeply attached to the Church and I am a man of institutions,” he said.
Vatican issues guidance for Ash Wednesday
The Vatican on January 12 gave guidance about how priests can distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a note directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes once to everyone present, rather than to each person.
The priest “addresses all those present and only once says the formula as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,’” the note said.
It continued: “The priest then cleanses his hands, puts on a face mask and distributes the ashes to those who come to him or, if appropriate, he goes to those who are standing in their places. The priest takes the ashes and sprinkles them on the head of each one without saying anything.”
The note was signed by the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and its secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche.
Ash Wednesday falls on February 17 this year.
In 2020, the divine worship congregation put out various instructions for priests on administering the sacraments and offering Mass during the corona-virus pandemic, including for the celebration of Easter, which occurred when many countries were in lockdown and public liturgies were not permitted.
Russian Orthodox Church postpones Christmas Readings to Easter due to Covid-19 pandemic
Moscow, December 30, Interfax – The Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church moved the traditional Christmas readings from January 2021 to May in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “The participants in the meeting decided to postpone the events of the 29th International Christmas Educational Readings for the period from May 16 to 19, 2021, renaming the forum as the 29th International Educational Readings,” the final document of the Synod, which had an online meeting, said.
Thus, the annual Christmas Readings this time will take place during the Easter period.
“It is extremely difficult to hold the plenary session and most of the sectional events of the Christmas Readings in January 2021 in person if the current level of complexity of the epidemic situation remains,” the Synod said on December 8.
The topic of the upcoming Christmas Readings is articulated as “Alexander Nevsky: the West and the East, historical memory of the people,” since the 800th anniversary of the birth of the holy noble prince will be celebrated in 2021.
Leader of Novosibirsk cell of Jehovah’s Witnesses, banned in Russia, jailed for six years
The Leninsky District Court of Novosibirsk has sentenced the leader of the local unit of Jehovah’s Witnesses, banned in Russia, to six years in a standard-security penitentiary, the Russian Investigative Committee’s regional branch said. The 66-year-old man was found guilty of organizing the extremist organization’s activities. “The court sentenced the defendant to six years in a standard-security penal colony,” it said. The court established that, between July 2017 and September 2018, the man used his apartment in the Leninsky District of Novosibirsk to hold religious meetings at which he oversaw the reading and discussion of extremist literature.
India’s minorities ‘face increasing intolerance’
India has become increasingly intolerant towards religious minorities, especially the Muslim community, according to a new report.
The South Asia State of Minorities Report 2020 noted that the general public has come under attack from federal and state governments for criticizing the administration and institutions.
The report looks at the status of access to personal liberties, especially among minorities, in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“It is true that we minorities are facing the onslaught of the Narendra Modi government very systematically. As a matter of fact, they have started framing laws that are against the spirit of secularism, democracy and the republic,” A.C. Michael, national coordinator of the United Christian Forum, told UCA News.
“Have you ever heard of a case anywhere in the world where two adults are stopped from getting married by the police? This is what is happening in Uttar Pradesh these days. The Uttar Pradesh police have filed almost two dozen first instance reports against interfaith marriages specifically targeting Muslims.
“Spreading hatred against minorities has become like a fashion for ruling party politicians to remain in power and acquire more. If they continue to succeed in tricking ordinary citizens and win elections, this trend of violence against minorities is going to continue.”
According to the report, “hate crimes against minorities have seen a spike — taking the form of mob lynching and vigilante violence against Muslims, Christians, and Dalits.”
The report said the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has “unveiled a new and now frontal attack on religious minorities. The persecution towards minorities had a chilling effect on civic space for Muslims and their organizations.”
Fr Laborde: Inspiration behind “City of Joy” dies
Father Francois Laborde, a French Jesuit who spent decades among the poor of Kolkata, was buried on December 28 in a parish in the capital city of West Bengal.
Fr Laborde was considered the inspira-tion behind French author Dominique Lapierre’s “City of Joy,” a novel on the slums of Calcutta (now Kolkata).
He died of old age illness on Christmas Day in a hospital in Midnapore, near Kolkata, He was 93.
Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta led the funeral services on December 28 at Saint John’s Church.
“Father Laborde worked silently and with great humility among the poor for more than 55 years. Religion, caste and creed did not matter to him as he reached the poorest of the society,” said Archbishop D’Souza in his condolence message.
According to the prelate, the Jesuit priest was always just a call away. “And when praised, he would humbly say, he was just doing God’s work,” added Archbishop D Souza.
Born on February 28, 1927, François was educated up to the baccalaureate with the Jesuits. After a year of philosophy at the Sorbonne, he joined the Prado institute in order to become a priest among the excluded and the poorest.
It was in Paris, his hometown, that his proximity to the poorest was awakened. He was then 9 years old. Coming from a petty bourgeois family, he suddenly discovered that his best friend lives in an even less favoured situation.
“When I was invited to his home for the first time, I was amazed. His family lived on the sixth floor and he slept on a folding bed in a loft. A few days earlier, he had left my house crying… Since that day, I understood that it was necessary to go to the poor in order to understand them.“
In one such visit, Father Laborde met Doctor Sen, who later extended a helping hand. “I took a sick child to him and when I offered him money, he got angry. He said it was inhuman to charge money from the child and I knew I got a friend,” Laborde added. Now that Lapierre is unwell, Laborde has a message for his friend. “I have heard that Lapierre is very unwell. All I want for him is a speedy recovery,” he said.
In 1969, Lapierre came to Kolkata to research his book. Father Laborde literally walked Lapierre hand-held through the alleys of poverty and distress in Pilkhana and other slums for his groundwork for ‘City of Joy.’