The debate on whether to renounce fireworks and crackers for festivals has been raging in Kerala since the Puttingal temple tragedy a year ago killing 111 people and injuring over 350 others. Many churches and temples are setting an example by shunning opulent festivities and spending the money saved on charitable causes. The Edathua Perunnal, one of Kerala’s most popular Christian festivals, toned down the festivities this year and raised 8 lakh rupees to help six homeless families construct houses.
Gunmen take Catholic hostages; Philippines’ Duterte imposes martial law
Gunmen claiming to have links with the Islamic State group threatened to kill hostages, including a Catholic priest, who were taken from the southern Philippine city of Marawi May 23. President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the entire Muslim-majority region of Mindanao late May 23, but ucanews.com reported that many, including church leaders, characterized the imposition of martial law as an overreaction.
Initial reports received by ucanews.com said Father Teresito Suganob, vicar general of the Prelature of Marawi, and several staff of St Mary’s Cathedral, which was set on fire, were taken hostage. The gunmen also forced their way into the residence of Bishop Edwin de la Pena of Marawi.
Duterte placed all of Mindanao’s 27 provinces and 33 cities, roughly a third of the country, under martial law for a period of 60 days. Mindanao is home to an estimated 20 million people. “I’ll be harsh,” said Duterte. “I have to do it to preserve the Republic of the Philippines,” he said, even as he assured Filipinos “not to be too scared.” Redemptorist Father Amado Picardal, who works with basic ecclesial communities and the bishops’ conference, said, declaring martial law across Mindanao while only Marawi was attacked “is either idiotic or an excuse to expand dictatorial control.”
A Catholic archbishop has given his blessing to President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in a region of the Philippines as long as human rights are protected.
Archbishop Martin Jumoad of Ozamiz said that the government needs to step up its efforts to restore peace and order to the besieged city of Marawi where Islamic State-linked militant groups have torched buildings, hoisted Islamic State flags, seized 14 Catholic hostages and beheaded a member of the police.
The archbishop warned Marawi’s residents to be careful and to “cooperate” with the military, the news service of the Philippine Catholic Bishops Conference (CBCP), reports.
Five soldiers, two policemen and 13 militants have died in the three days of fighting, according to authorities.
Abu Sayyaf and Maute have been blamed for bombings, attacks against government forces and kidnappings in the Philippines. They have also beheaded hostages.
Photos posted on social media by Marawi residents showed armed men roaming the city with the black flags of ISIL.
CSI concerned over govt backing for GM food product
The Church of South India (CSI) expressed significant concern over a government recommendation that genetically modified mustard be made commercially available. The Department of Ecological Concerns of the CSI Synod said it was “anguished” to learn from the media that the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (through its Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committ-ee) had recommended the commercial release of genetically modified mustard. In a statement, the CSI cited an extensive list of objections, including fears that the proposed GM mustard would be resistant to herbicide: “Herbicide tolerance trait has been problematic the world over due to its negative impact on ecology, creation of unmanageable super weeds and deleterious impact on rural health. In the Indian context this will also affect rural livelihoods.”
Pakistani official: ‘We have failed minorities’
An official from Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province has admitted that authorities have failed to protect religious minori-ties from hard-line Islamists.
“The intolerance, anger on religious matters and culture of lynching disturbs us,” said Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan chief spokesman of the Punjab government speaking at the May 12 event titled “Securing Punjab’s Diversity” in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province where majority of Christians in the country reside. Punjab also has 60 percent of the country’s population.
As an example, Khan said four people from the Ahmadiyya sect were killed by hardliners during April. “The religious cleansing must stop,” said Khan who is also special assistant to the Punjab chief minister.
Ahmadis, who believe Prophet Mohammed was not the last prophet, have suffered harsh persecution since they were declared non-Muslims by Pakistan in 1974. “We have failed in protecting minorities from forced conversion,” Khan said at the event attended by more than 30 activists, journalists and edu-cationists. “Everybody knows it, why should we hide it?” he asked.
Out of 1,000 Christian and Hindu women forcibly converted to Islam and forcibly married each year in Pakistan, 700 of them are Punjabi Christians, according to the National Commission of Justice and Peace and the Pakistan Hindu Council. Rights group say many of these are under the age of 18 and are married off to Muslims, or forced into bonded labour.
Four religions in Korea unite for migrants
An inter-religious group in Korea has asked the new government to ensure the protection of migrants and ban racial discrimination.
Solidarity of Four Religions for the Human Rights of Migrants held a press conference on May 17 in front of Jogye-sa Buddhist temple in Seoul. Composed of Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants and Won Buddhists, they have been campaigning against racial discrimination.
“Even during the presidential election campaign, the candidates did give any attention to the two million migrants in Korea. Given that even the basic human rights of migrants are not guaranteed, we should take care of them by establishing concrete policies,” they said in a statement.
The group called on people to raise awareness of the problem, report cases of rights infringe-ment and to pray for an improve-ment in the situation. “Any action based on racial discrimination should be banned and punished,” they added.
Catholic students press for radical cleric’s prosecution
The Indonesian Catholic Students Association has called on police to process their blasphemy complaint against prominent Islamic cleric Muhammad Rizieq Syihab after Christian governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was jailed for the same crime. Angelo Wake Kako, the student’s chairman, said the government must ensure that the law is equally implemented. “Ahok has been imprisoned so Rizieq Syihab’s case should also be processed,” Kako said.
Catholics in Laos welcome first cardinal appointment
Catholics in Laos have welcomed their first cardinal appointment in anticipation of improved religious activities within the communist-run country. “We are extremely happy to hear that our Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun has been named as the first ever cardinal in Laos,” Martha Le Thi Thuy Hanh from Sacred Heart Parish, in the southern province of Champasak, told ucanews.com.
The consistory is scheduled for June 28, the vigil of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The church is treated very poorly in Laos — probably the worst in ASEAN save for Brunei,” a well-placed diplomatic source noted. “One reason is that most of the Catholics are of Vietnamese heritage or hill-tribes — not Lao Llum — the lowland Lao who rule the country. Catholics number some 45,000, about 1 percent of an estimated 7 million population, mostly Buddhist. There are only 4 bishops, 2 of them retired. The faithful are served by 21 Lao priests and deacons and a few dozen nuns.
Pope, President Trump speak of hopes for peace
Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump spent 30 minutes speaking privately in the library of the Apostolic Palace on May 24, and as the president left, he told the Pope, “I won’t forget what you said.”
The atmosphere at the beginning was formal and a bit stiff. However, the mood lightened when Pope Francis met the first lady, Melania Trump, and asked if she fed her husband “potica,” a traditional cake in Slovenia, her homeland. There were smiles all around. Pope Francis gave Trump a split medallion held together by an olive tree, which his interpreter told Trump is “a symbol of peace.” Speaking in Spanish, the Pope told Trump, “I am giving you this because I hope you may be this olive tree to make peace.”
The president responded, “We can use peace.”
Pope Francis also gave the president a copy of his message for World Peace Day 2017 and told him, “I signed it personally for you.” In addition, he gave Trump copies of three of his documents: “The Joy of the Gospel”; “Amoris Laetitia,” on the family; and “Laudato Si,’” on the environment.
Knowing that Pope Francis frequently has quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Trump presented Pope Francis with a large gift box containing five of the slain civil rights leader’s books, including a signed copy of “The Strength to Love.”
“I think you will enjoy them,” Trump told the Pope. “I hope you do.”
After meeting the Pope, Trump went downstairs to meet Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister. He was accompanied by Rex Tillerson, U.S. secretary of state, and H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser. The meeting lasted 50 minutes.
“It is hoped that there may be serene collaboration between the state and the Catholic Church in the United States, engaged in service to the people in the fields of health care, education and assistance to immigrants,” the Vatican said.
The discussions also included “an exchange of views” on international affairs and on “the promotion of peace in the world through political negotiation and interreligious dialogue, with particular reference to the situation in the Middle East and the protection of Christian communities.”
US First Lady Melania Trump is Catholic, spokeswoman confirms
United States First Lady Melania Trump is a practising Catholic, her spokeswoman has confirmed.
Following speculation over Mrs Trump’s faith during her visit to the Vatican on May 24th, her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham confirmed to Daily Mail.com that the First Lady is indeed Catholic.
Mrs Trump placed flowers at the feet of a statue of the Virgin Mary and spent time praying at the Bambino Gesù Hospital during her visit. She also presented Pope Francis with rosary beads for the Pontiff to bless.
It is unclear when Melania Trump became Catholic. She was raised in a Communist-supporting family in Slovenia and was not baptised as a child. She married Donald Trump, a life-long Pres-byterian, in 2005 at an Episcopal church in Palm Beach, Florida.
Despite her husband being inaugurated US president in January, she is not due to move into the White House until the summer. When she does, she will be the first Catholic to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since President John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie in the early 1960s.
Masked gunmen kill 28 in attack on Christians in Egypt
Gunmen attacked a group of Coptic Christians travelling to a monastery in central Egypt, killing 28 people and wounding 24, with many children among the victims, Health Ministry officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. It followed a series of church bombings claimed by Islamic State in a campaign of violence against the Copts.
Islamic State supporters reposted videos from earlier this year urging violence against the Copts in Egypt. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack on a bus carrying Coptic Christians that killed 29.
Eyewitnesses said masked men opened fire after stopping the Christians, who were in a bus and other vehicles. Local TV channels showed a bus apparently raked by gunfire and smeared with blood.
Clothes and shoes could be seen lying in and around the bus, while the bodies of some of the victims lay in the sand nearby, covered with black sheets.
The attack, which Egypt’s Muslim leaders condemned, happened 15 km (10 miles) from the monastery, a security official on the scene told Reuters. Ambulance workers, monks and Muslim clerics were also present but declined to speak.
Police armed with assault rifles formed a security perimeter and officials from the public prosecutor’s office were gathering evidence and fingerprints. Heavily armed special forces arrived later wearing face masks and body armour.