Communist authorities in territory covered by the Anhui Diocese removed crosses from the top of two church buildings, sources told ucanews.com April 27. The sources said they fear more such actions.

Authorities removed the cross of Our Lady of the Rosary Church April 18, said a man ucanews.com identified only as “John, a source in the diocese.”

He said the parish was registered with the government, but had no priests or nuns to lead its religious activities. Lay parishioners managed parish religious programs.

Five days before the incident, John told ucanews.com, parish leaders approached local authorities about repairing the building, but officials said the plan was to remove the crosses of both Catholic and Protestant churches in the area.

On April 16, a local government official asked parishioners for the keys to the church. “They wanted to enter the church and remove the cross,” John said.

The local official told the parishioners that officials were acting on the “directions from superiors.” However, no documents were produced to prove the claim.

The parishioners reported the developments to Bishop Liu Xinhong of Anhui. He directed them to go to the local office of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and ask for details, but local officials of the association denied having information on the matter.

In another incident in Anhui Diocese April 19, a cross was removed from a church in Suzhou City around 4 a.m., said a parishioner identified only as Paul. The cross was originally scheduled to be removed in the afternoon.

Catholic churches in South Korea have resumed community prayers, maintaining strict precautions of social distancing as they gathered for worship after a gap of two months.

With Cheongju and Jeonju dioceses resuming public services on April 28, at least 12 of the 16 dioceses in the country have resumed public worship, which was stopped around Ash Wednesday on Feb. 26 as a way to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Religious activities resumed as social and economic life gathered steam after authorities lifted restrictions on public meetings on April 26 following a drop in virus infections.

Seoul Archdiocese was among the first to resume Masses on April 23 and conducted Sun-day Mass on April 26, but it insisted on registration of worshipers to restrict their numbers.

Church and civil authorities have asked people to wear masks and keep social distancing norms within churches as a precaution.

“I’m very happy to celebrate Mass with you beloved people after missing Masses for two months, including Easter Mass,” said Auxiliary Bishop Benedict Son Heesong, the vicar general of Seoul. “We cannot sing hymns [for fear of spreading the virus through droplets] and we have to restrict numbers.”

President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar has joined the call of the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres and Pope Francis, for a global cease-fire to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement released in Yangon on 22 April 2020 Cardinal Bo addressed the situation in his own country, Myanmar, and called for an end to hostilities worldwide.

“Without cessation of fighting everywhere,” he says, “the suffering of many will be prolonged the world over and healing delayed indefinitely.”

“The whole planet is in crisis. Every initiative now taken by our leaders will shape our nation and our world for years to come. The pandemic’s consequences are catastrophic for public health and for social and economic life,” the cardinal warned.

Making a passionate appeal to the nation’s leaders the cardinal said, “If we truly wish Myanmar to emerge a united, peaceful, prosperous people, now is the time for speedy, aggressive, respectful decision. Now is the time for wise, coherent, future oriented action. This is no time to escalate conflict.”

“I am convinced that continued military operations, precisely when the whole nation is suffering a crisis, will have catastrophic consequences for our nation,” the cardinal mourned.

The cardinal who is also archbishop of Yangon exhorted Myanmar leaders, “Now is the time for decisions that will build Myanmar as a united, peaceful, prosperous nation and member of the family of nations. Conflict makes Myanmar especially vulnerable.”

For nearly a decade now, Sumon Gomes has seen how his family’s peaceful coexistence with paternal uncles and cousins has come to an end over a land dispute.

Gomes, 35, is a Catholic father and private jobholder in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka. He hails from Nawabganj, about 40 kilometers from Dhaka, where his grandfather owned 20 bighas (6.66 acres) of ancestral land.

Trouble brewed between his father and three uncles as they sought to divide the land after their father’s death.

“My father wanted an equal share of land for each brother, but he found one of my uncles was occupying more land than he was entitled to. When he objected, my uncle filed a case against him. It soured our relationship,” Gomes told UCA News.

While the court case is ongoing, Gomes’ family has stopped talking to his uncle’s family.

“I feel sad when I see joint families living happily and peacefully, but our relationship has worsened over a land dispute. I am not sure we will ever have a better relationship,” he lamented.

Catholic couple Mintu N. Rozario and Ruby T. Rozario migrated to Libya in 2008 as expatriate workers. They are now based in Tajura near Libyan capital Tripoli with their four children.

Mintu is employed at the International Committee of the Red Cross and Ruby is a staff nurse in a hospital.

A US government watchdog has recommended the State Department designate Pakistan as a “country of particular concern” for engaging in systematic, on-going and egregious violations of religious freedom.

After documenting developments during 2019, the commission pinpointed 14 countries. These include nine that the State Department designated as of particular concern in December 2019 — Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — as well as India, Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.

“In 2019, religious freedom conditions across Pakistan continued to trend negatively,” it said, noting there were some high-profile acquittals including that of Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman who spent eight years on death row after being wrongly accused of blasphemy.

“The systematic enforcement of blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws, and authorities’ failure to address forced conversions of religious minorities — including Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs — to Islam, severely restricted freedom of religion or belief.” The USCIRF sad it is aware of nearly 80 individuals who remain imprisoned for blasphemy in Pakistan, with at least half facing a life sentence or death.

A mob also attacked a Christian community in Punjab after a mosque claimed over its loudspeaker that the community had insulted Islam. In another incident, nearly 200 Christian families in Karachi were forced to flee their homes due to mob attacks after false blasphemy accusations against four Christian women, according to the report.