Tag: Catholics

DR Congo: Priest shot dead amid militia chaos

April 11, 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo Catholics, Democratic Republic of the Congo, North Kivu

Gunmen have killed another Catholic priest in DRC’s eastern province of North Kivu. Fr. Etienne Sengiyumva, 38, was killed on 8 April. “An assailant entered the house where he was having dinner, aimed his gun at the priest and killed him,” said Fr Emmanuel Kapitual, a curate in the parish . . . Read More

Museum recalls tenacity of Japan’s hidden Christians

April 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Catholics, Japan, Nagasaki

A monument in Nagasaki for the twenty-six Catholics who were executed here for their faith in 1597. (Photo: Thaths via Flickr; CC 2.0)

A museum telling the story of Christian persecution in Japan has opened within the premises of Japan’s oldest standing church, in Nagasaki. The facility in a former seminary and bishop’s residence, forms part of the Catholic Oura Church, and has been renovated. It recounts the introduction of Catholicism, its violent . . . Read More

China pledges to protect religious freedom, days after Bible ban

April 6, 2018 China Bibles, Catholics, China, Protestants, Religious freedom, Sinicisation, Xi Jinping

Women, married to pastors who work in rural areas in China, meet in a church. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China presented an official ‘white paper’ on religion on Wednesday, 4 April, guaranteeing “protection” for religious freedom, just four days after banning the online sale of Bibles. The policy paper, titled ‘China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief’, was presented by the State Council Information Office at . . . Read More

Persecuted Christians celebrate Easter with mixed emotions

April 3, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Aleppo, Bashar Warda, Catholics, Easter, Erbil, Gaza, Hanoi, Hmong, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jakarta, Jerusalem, Ludhiana, Maluku, Marawi, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Philippines, Pope Francis, Prince Charles, Southeast Asia, Syria, Vietnam

Flag of Syria is waving as sign of victory over the destroyed heavily damaged city of Aleppo. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Easter this year was a time of mixed emotions for the Christians who live under pressure for their faith. While political and religious leaders called for peace, reconciliation and brotherhood, Christians in countries like Syria and the Philippines continued to face violence and its consequences. Below, World Watch Monitor gives . . . Read More

Turkey’s Churches publish landmark book of common Christian doctrine

March 28, 2018 Turkey Armenians, Catholics, Haghia Sophia, Istanbul, Orthodox, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Protestants, Turkey

A joint commission of Turkey’s major Christian denominations has published an historic book of concise Christian doctrine, receiving the unprecedented endorsement of all the nation’s Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Syriac and Protestant Churches. According to Armenian Bishop Sahak Masalyan, keynote speaker at the formal book launch in Istanbul of the English . . . Read More

Dozens killed in CAR, including priest who planned to move

March 28, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Antonio Guterres, Bambari, Bangassou, Bangui, Catholics, Central African Republic, Gambo, Seleka, UN, UPC

Dozens, including a Catholic priest, were killed last week as fighting erupted between armed groups in several villages in southern Central African Republic. Father Joseph Désiré Angbabata, 49, the parish priest of Séko village, near Bambari, lost his life when armed men stormed his village parish of Saint Charles LWANGA . . . Read More

India: police leave Catholic hospital separated from power supply after attack

March 23, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Police, Ujjain

Police guarding a Catholic hospital in central India that was attacked by a Hindu nationalist mob are restricting staff access to its emergency generator. The last members of the 100-strong mob that attacked Pushpa Mission Hospital in Ujjain city, Madhya Pradesh, left the site following a 16 March court order . . . Read More

Pro-Hindu BJP wins over Christian voters in northeast India

March 16, 2018 India Beef, Bihar, BJP, Catholics, Elections, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh

Christians gather for the general assembly of the National Council of Churches in India in Shillong, capital of the Christian-majority state of Meghalaya in the north-east. (May 2008)

India’s pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now the governing party in two Christian-dominated states in the northeast, following recent election successes in Nagaland and Meghalaya. But to do so, it had to betray its core values of Hindutva, according to John Dayal, former National President of the All India . . . Read More

Hmong Christians hospitalised after mob attack in Vietnam’s northwest

March 15, 2018 Vietnam Catholics, Central Highlands, Hmong, Human rights, Vietnam

Four Vietnamese Christian families – 24 people in all – have been attacked by a mob led by the village chief, local sources have revealed to World Watch Monitor. Four people were hospitalised for eight days after the 1 March attack, with injuries to their heads and arms. All four families are . . . Read More

India: Church leaders deplore bulldozing of hospital premises in BJP-ruled state

March 14, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Ujjain

Church leaders in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have deplored an attack on a Catholic hospital, the premises of which was vandalised and bulldozed by a mob led by the personal assistant of a Member of Parliament, representing the ruling BJP. “Police have filed a case today [14 . . . Read More

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