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India’s top Catholic on Hindutva attacks: ‘country being divided on basis of religious belief’

December 22, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Rajasthan, Religious freedom, Tripura, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, has expressed a lack of trust in the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the leader of the ruling BJP – known for pursuing a Hindu nationalistic agenda. “The country is being divided on the . . . Read More

Egypt: After 7 years of delays, new church for Copts, who agree to drop arson claims

December 21, 2017 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Kom El-Loufy, Minya

After 12 years of fierce opposition Coptic Christians in Kom El-Loufy, Minya, will soon again have a church. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Copts in the Egyptian town of Kom El-Loufy, Upper Egypt, 250 km south of Cairo, started the construction of a church today, seven years after their previous building was closed by local authorities because of “security reasons”. They have withdrawn their charges against 23 Muslims who burned down some of their . . . Read More

Egypt: ‘Let them live to tell the story’- boys who saw dad die on the monastery road

December 21, 2017 Egypt Children, Copts, Egypt, Minya

Marco and Mina with their mother and elder sister hold portrait of their father who died in 25 May attack. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Marco and Mina live in a small village in the Minya region of rural southern Egypt. Both look young for their age, 14 and 10 respectively. On 25 May 2017, they joined their father Ayad to go to the monastery of St. Samuel. Ayad worked there and was going to . . . Read More

Indian ‘converted by carol singers’ now claims membership of militant Hindu group

December 19, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh

An Indian man who claimed a group of carol singers illegally converted him has now said he is a member of the militant Hindu group Bajrang Dal and is unwilling to confirm his allegation. The complaint made last Thursday (14 December) to the police by Dharmendra Dohar led to the . . . Read More

Pakistan: mourners bury 11 killed in Quetta church suicide attack, as 50 injured

December 18, 2017 Pakistan Balochistan, Pakistan, Quetta

Mourners attending the funeral of victims of the church bombing, Quetta, Pakistan (World Watch Monitor)

Pakistani Christian mourners today (Monday) are burying their dead only days before they should be celebrating Christ’s birth. Worshippers were lining up to take the Holy Communion when at least two men, armed and wearing suicide vests, attacked Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in western Pakistan’s restive city Quetta on Sunday . . . Read More

Why are Chile’s churches under attack?

December 15, 2017 Araucanía, Catholics, Chile, Churches, Mapuche, Temuco, Weichan Auka Mapu

Seven hours’ drive south of Chile’s capital, Santiago, in the Araucanía region, 27 churches have been burnt down in the past couple of years by a radical indigenous group, Weichan Auka Mapu. The attackers leave behind messages spelling out the demands of the Mapuches, an ancestral tribe who blame the Chilean . . . Read More

Indonesian children still in recovery mode one year after church bombing

December 14, 2017 Indonesia Borneo, Indonesia, Islamic State, Kalimantan, Samarinda, Terrorism, Trauma

Three-year-old Anita Sihotang is still too scared to leave her house. It has been just over a year since a terrorist threw a Molotov cocktail into the grounds of the church yard where she was playing in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province. The explosion killed one of her friends, two-year-old Intan . . . Read More

British PM Theresa May hears about plight of Christians in Middle East

December 14, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Middle East, Mike Pence, New York, Nineveh Plains, Theresa May, UK

The British Prime Minister Theresa May was briefed on the plight of Christians and minorities in the Middle East in a meeting yesterday (13 December) with an Iraqi priest who has been looking after refugees who fled IS violence. Father Daniel Alkory highlighted the plight of Christians and minorities in . . . Read More

Iraq bishop recalls his abduction from Baghdad in new book

December 13, 2017 Iraq Baghdad, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Kurds, Middle East, Saddam Hussein, Sunni, Torture

It was 2001 and Saad Hanna watched in horror as his TV showed the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center smouldering and collapsing. Then a trainee priest studying in Italy, he said to fellow seminarians, “The world is turning upside down. The Americans will not let this be.” . . . Read More

Over 800,000 call on UN to protect Christians in Middle East

December 12, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Bartella, Bashar Warda, Brazil, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Middle East, Mike Pence, New York, Qaraqosh, Syria, UN, USA

Noeh (bottom) with his parents, Hathem and Almas, and siblings Sam (17), Jan Hannah (14), and Salina (7). (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A petition signed by more than 800,000 people will be presented at the United Nations in New York today (12 December), calling for the protection of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, and recognition of the key role faith leaders can play in rebuilding efforts post-Islamic State. The . . . Read More

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