Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon has appealed to Myanmar’s government to scrap the constitutional provision which prohibits members of religious orders from voting in elections.

He is concerned that Article 392 (a) of the constitution bars Buddhist monks and nuns, Catholic priests, nuns and religious, other Christian clergy, Muslim clerics and others from the right to vote.

“As cardinal I can make statements and speeches and encourage citizens to vote, but I am myself barred from voting. This is an extremely unusual arrangement. I am not aware of any other democracy in which this is a requirement,” he said.

In a written appeal released on Feb. 6, Cardinal Bo said it was not his duty as a religious leader to identify parties or leaders to support. “But as a country soaked in a great religious tradition and where religious leaders serve as moral guides, it is the duty of every religious leader to encourage all citizens to vote for the leader and party of their choice based on values,” he asserted.

Christians across Pakistan are rejoicing after a court on 29th January acquitted 40 men jailed for alleged involvement in the lynching of two people in a district outside Lahore.

The 40 individuals, almost all of them Christians, shouted “Alleluia, Praise God” as the anti-terrorism court in Lahore ordered their release after nearly five years in custody.

More than 40 others, on bail after being accused of lesser offenses that took place at about the same time in Youhanabad district, were also acquitted.

They had all been arrested as police responded to riots in Youhanabad sparked by suicide bomb attacks on two churches one Sunday morning in March 2015, in which at least 15 people were killed and more than 70 were injured.

Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) just hours after the acquittal verdict, Fr Emmanuel ‘Mani’ Yousaf described how emotion swept through the court as the accused began to absorb the court’s decision, citing insufficient evidence to prove the men’s guilt.

Reporting that the accused were now back home with their families, Father Yousaf said: “What we have seen is wonderful news for Pakistan. “Throughout Pakistan, people had been praying, every day praying that the court would rule in their favour. It is a big day for us all.

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, has published a book about her experiences and her new life. Ms Bibi released a memoir, Enfin Libre or Finally Free, written with French journalist Anne – Isabelle Tollet.

She was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by a Pakistani court in 2010 but acquitted in 2018. She currently lives in an undisclosed location in Canada. Ms Bibi, 47, has always maintained her innocence in a highly sensitive case that polarised her home country of Pakistan and was closely followed around the world.

The Pakistan Supreme Court’s quashing of her sentence in October 2018 led to violent protests by religious hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws, while more liberal sections of society urged her release.

In the new book, she recounts her arrest, the conditions of her prison detention, and her eventual release. She also discusses the challenges of adjusting to her new life in Canada.

“You may know my story through the media, you may have tried to put yourself in my place in order to understand my suffering,” she writes in the book’s publicity materials. “But you are far from understanding my daily life in prison or my new life and that’s why, in this book, I will explain it all.”

In an excerpt released by the publishing house, she writes: “How could I ever imagine in 50 years that I would become a global symbol of the fight against religious extremism when I am but a simple, illiterate peasant?

“From my small windowless cell, I often wondered why Pakistan was targeting me.”

In the eastern province of Zhejiang, the government has put in force a set of regulations on centralized funeral arrangements, which bans priests from attending funeral prayers out-side a religious place, reported ucanews.com. The government claims the new rules aim to “get rid of bad funeral customs and establish a scientific, civilized and economical way of funerals.”

“Clerical personnel are not allowed to participate in funerals” at homes and “no more than 10 family members of the deceased are allowed to read Scriptures or sing hymns,” the rules state.

The new rules began to take effect recently, although enacted on Dec. 1, said a Catholic in Wenzhou Diocese in Zhejiang. The regulations strictly ban “religious activities outside religious places, so the priest will not be able to hold funeral prayers outside the church,” he told ucanews.com.

Huang Jian, also of Wenzhou, told ucanews.com priests could visit parishioners’ homes but could not conduct any religious ceremonies or prayers.

A priest identified only as Father Guo of Henan province said government officials have asked priests to strictly follow the new regulations on religious affairs. “Otherwise there would be penalties. The punishment could even be closing the church and canceling the priest’s priesthood certificate, letting the priest go home,” he said. But Father Peter Lee, a priest in eastern Shandong, told ucanews.com that government instructions had not come to him so far. “I still hold sacraments at the homes of dead parishioners. I sent a greeting to a church member from home to the cemetery. No one blocked it,” he said on Jan.30. “As a priest, we need to accompany church members to make them feel like everyone is a family. Particularly, baptisms and funerals are very important for families.”

Philippine prosecutors have exonerated four Catholic bishops charged with plotting to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.

The Justice Department dropped the charges, saying there was no evidence supporting police claims that the bishops intended to commit seditious acts.

The accused bishops were Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco and Bishop Teodoro Bacani, retired prelate of Novaliches. Charges against Father Robert Reyes and La Salle Brother Armin Luistro were also dismissed.

Charges were, however, filed against Jesuit priest Albert Alejo and Divine Word priest Flaviano Villanueva and nine others for their involvement in the alleged plot to oust the president.

Bishop David of Kalookan said he was “both happy and sad” about the decision.

He said that while he welcomed the dropping of charges against him and the other church leaders, he was sad that prosecutors “found probable cause to indict the two priests.”

“I still hope and pray that the charges against them will also be dismissed soon by the courts,” he said in a post on social media.

The bishops’ conference earlier described the charges against the four Catholic bishops the priests, and several government critics as “beyond belief.”

Father Reyes said the charges were “a desperate move to suppress dissent.”

“The move is obviously meant to scare the hell out of these churchmen and eventually silence them,” said Father Jerome Secillano, chairman of the public affairs office of the bishops’ conference.

The charges stem from the release of a video that went viral on several social media last year that linked Duterte and his family to the illegal drug trade.