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Vietnam: Church told to take down Christmas nativity scene

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St Joseph's Cathedral in Vietnam's capital Hanoi also faced challenges over ownership of the land next to the church which led to protests in 2008. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
One of the highlights at this time of year for the citizens of Communist Vietnam is to go to see often highly elaborate temporary ‘constructions’ showing the Nativity scene of Christ’s birth which local Christians build onto their churches or homes. There are, for instance, whole streets of such scenes . . . Read More

Pope meets evangelical leaders to strengthen religious freedom

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A burned church in a village in Southern Kaduna, northern Nigeria. Violence attributed to militant Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria reached a record high last year.(Photo: World Watch Monitor)
Pope Francis and leaders from the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) met last Thursday (14 December) in Rome to discuss further collaboration in promoting religious freedom in a world where persecution of Christians is on the rise. The church leaders also talked about strengthening their partnership in Bible distribution and confronting . . . Read More

Sweden opens church for 5,000 Christians who fled Middle East

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Evening mass at Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church in the Iraqi city of Erbil, attended by many refugees from Mosul and Nineveh Plains who fled IS. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2014)
A new church opened last week in the Swedish town of Södertalje, 30km south of Stockholm, for the estimated 5,000-6,000 Chaldean Catholics who have resettled there after fleeing their homes in the Middle East. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, Germany, who participated in the inaugural service, explained to German . . . Read More

‘Crimes against humanity’ in North Korea’s prison camps

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An icy Tumen river forms the border between China and North Korea, 2009. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
North Korea’s president, Kim Jong-un, and top officials should be held accountable for committing “crimes against humanity” in prison camps in the country, three international jurists said earlier this week. They called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to establish a special tribunal to prosecute the country’s leaders. The jurists’ . . . Read More

India carol singers arrested for ‘trying to convert people to Christianity’

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India carol singers arrested for ‘trying to convert people to Christianity’
Six carol singers have been arrested in India after they were accused of trying to convert people to Christianity. The carol singers, one of whom is a professor at a Catholic theological college, insisted they were only singing songs, but a Hindu man alleged he had been told to “worship . . . Read More

‘Discreet and systematic persecution of Christians’ in Sudan

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Sudanese government started demolishing this Sudan Church of Christ (SCOC) building in the Suba region, 20 km south of the capital, Khartoum, early May 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
A new report on Sudan, published earlier this week by the Enough Project, says the US must consider Sudan’s persecution of Christians and other minority groups before it lifts the remaining sanctions against the country. The report, ‘Radical Intolerance: Sudan’s Religious Oppression and Embrace of Extremist Groups’, says Sudan is . . . Read More

Indonesia church leader charged with blasphemy

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Inside a church in Indonesia. Villagers in Central Java requested the top of a burial cross to be cut before a Catholic was to be buried in what is a public cemetery but is regarded by Muslim groups as 'their' graveyard. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
An Indonesian church leader has been charged with blasphemy – the first case of its kind in the country – and could face five years in prison. Rev. Abraham Ben Moses, 52, was arrested and detained last week in his home town of Tangerang, Java, 25 km west of the capital, . . . Read More