Tag: Catholics

Egypt’s elections and the man dividing the country’s Copts

March 14, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Arab Spring, Aswan, Asyut, Bahrain, Cairo, Catholics, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, El-Ghad Party, Elections, Faiyum, Hosni Mubarak, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Protestants, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Tanta, Terrorism, Upper Egypt

Walking around Cairo you would be forgiven for thinking that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the only candidate running in the elections later this month. His is the only grandiose face bearing down on passers-by, while billboards of his rival, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, are nowhere to be seen. Egypt’s 26-28 March presidential elections have . . . Read More

Pre-election ‘warning’ attack on Indonesian church

March 13, 2018 Indonesia Catholics, Indonesia, Sumatra

An attack on a church in Indonesia by vandals has been described as a “political warning” ahead of upcoming regional elections in June, reports Asia News. Vandals destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary and set fire to benches when they broke into St. Zechariah church just after midnight on . . . Read More

53 churches legalised in Egypt, 1000s more still waiting

March 5, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Catholics, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Protestants

Coptic Church in central Egypt. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2004)

Fifty-three Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches were recently granted licenses by the Egyptian government, as Catholic news agency Fides reported last week. These churches and annexed buildings already existed before the new law on the construction of Christian buildings of worship was passed by the Egyptian Parliament on 30 August . . . Read More

Somalia Christians ‘killed by their children’s children’

March 2, 2018 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Catholics, Islamic State, Mogadishu, Somalia, Somaliland

In Somalia elderly Christians not only fear militant Islamists but also their family "who have become intolerant and do not understand". (Photo: Open Doors International)

A small community of 30 elderly Christians live in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in constant fear of militant Islamists and even their relatives, according to Catholic news agency Fides. “Violence is in [our] homes and we, who are few, we risk our lives every day,” one man, speaking under the pseudonym . . . Read More

50,000 Catholics baptised in China in 2017

February 28, 2018 China Baptism, Beijing, Catholics, China, Hainan, Hebei, Minorities, Tibet, Xinjiang

Almost 50,000 Catholic baptisms were recorded in mainland China last year, reports Catholic news agency Fides. The 48,556 recorded baptisms “reflect the vitality and the missionary dynamism of a community that fully lives faith”, Fides said, adding that the actual number of people baptised may be even higher, because of . . . Read More

Islamic State regroups in Somalia, ‘without many obstacles’

February 22, 2018 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Catholics, Islamic State, Kenya, Mogadishu, Somalia, Somaliland, Wajir

A bishop responsible for the minimal Catholic presence in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, says the Islamic State group is gaining ground in the country. Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who serves the Diocese of Mogadishu from outside the country, says the extremist group known for its brutality in Iraq . . . Read More

Kenya: engaged couple killed, together with fellow primary school teacher, by suspected Al-Shabaab attackers

February 21, 2018 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Boni, Catholics, East Africa, Education, Garissa, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Lamu, Mandera, Nairobi, Somalia, Wajir

After the coldblooded murder of three Christian teachers – including a couple soon to be married – in north-eastern Kenya by suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen, fear is growing that the Islamist militant group is targeting education, and its proponents, in the predominantly Muslim region. Seth Oluoch Odada and Kevin Shari were . . . Read More

India: Catholic bishops warn against Hindu nationalism as religious hate crimes rise

February 15, 2018 India Bangalore, Baptists, BJP, Catholics, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh

An acknowledgement by India’s BJP-led government that there has been a rise in religion-based hate crime has coincided with a warning from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) about the dangers to the country of a Hindu-nationalist agenda. Statistics revealed in India’s parliament on 6 February confirmed a long-standing . . . Read More

Vietnam: Catholic activist’s harsh sentence condemned by US

February 13, 2018 Vietnam Catholics, Nguyen Van Oai, Vietnam

Two Catholic environmental activists have been jailed in Vietnam for helping hundreds of fishermen to sue a Taiwanese steel plant for polluting coastal waters, reports UCA News. The US State Department has condemned the sentences of 14 years for Hoang Duc Binh, 35, and two years for fellow activist Nguyen . . . Read More

Father Tom releases book about 18 months’ captivity in Yemen

February 7, 2018 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Catholics, Hodeidah, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

The Indian priest who spent 18 months in captivity in Yemen has released an autobiography. Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, who was freed in September 2017, has titled the book ‘By the Grace of God’. The priest, who is 58, presented his book during a meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of . . . Read More

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