PAKISTAN - Christian man charged with blasphemy 'for insulting Muhammad' in Whatsapp poem A Christian man, Nadeem Masihm, is on the run in Pakistan after he was charged with blasphemy for allegedly sending his Muslim friend an offensive poem on WhatsApp. The friend accused Nadeem of insulting Islam, claiming the poem was derogatory [...]
SYRIA - Rebuilding Homs cathedral brings new hope after siege ends The Melkite Catholic Cathedral of Homs is dedicated to Our Lady of Peace. However, in the course of Syria‘s bloody civil war it has suffered the same fate as more than 200 other Christian churches and been extensively damaged, not [...]
SOUTH SUDAN – On the brink of civil war Church leaders appeal for end to violence as thousands take refuge in churchesHeavy fighting has erupted again in Southern Sudan on the five year anniversary of the formation of the world's youngest nation, raising fears of a return to the civil war that [...]
THAILAND - Year of Mercy Jubilee for sick and disabled people The Catholic church in Thailand organised a special Jubilee to mark the Year of Mercy. Hundreds of sick, aged and disabled people from many parishes of the diocese took part in a procession and passed through the Holy Door of the [...]
Archbishop criticises government for blocking Church aid The head of the Venezuelan Conference of Catholic Bishops has criticised president Nicolás Maduro for preventing the Church and other institutions from relieving the country's severe food crisis. Venezuela's socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis. Price controls on 160 essential products [...]
VENEZUELA - ‘The People Are Afraid’ Venezuela was once the country of dreams—but those dreams have turned into nightmares. Such is the verdict of one of the country’s bishops.Case in point, Bishop Jaime Villarroel of the Diocese of Carúpano, told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need: "Most of the [...]
EGYPT - New hope of resuming dialogue between Vatican and Al-Azhar There is renewed hope that dialogue will be relaunched between the Vatican and Egypt’s Al-Azhar University. Relations between them have been strained since 2011 when the Egyptians claimed that Pope Benedict XVI had “interfered” in Egypt’s internal affairs by condemning [...]