NIGERIA - Sectarian violence threatens to tear the country apart Nigeria is a ticking time bomb. Extreme violence and religious discrimination is threatening to tear the country apart along religious fault lines and spread its existing refugee crisis throughout the region.Elijah Brown, executive vice president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, [...]
ZIMBABWE - Christian leaders join together to speak out against injustice and harassment of clergy The Zimbabwe Catholic bishops’ conference joined the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and other groups in issuing a statement calling for an end to harassment of clergy and for a just response to [...]
VIETNAM - Over 100 pastors imprisoned for preaching the Gospel In what appears to be an attempt to control the growth of Christianity in the region, government authorities in the Central Highlands of Vietnam have arrested another 66 pastors for preaching the gospel and for refusing to consolidate their churches into a [...]
EGYPT - Christians hope new law will allow them to build churches Despite being the Middle East's largest Christian minority, Egypt's Copts have struggled for a long time to obtain official permission to build churches. Egyptian authorities often refuse to give Christians permits to build churches on the grounds that this would [...]
SYRIA - Christians fear persecution by ISIS in the Beqaa Valley as well The long arm of the jihadistsLet us call them Samir and Sabine. Let us say they are in their early 50s, Christians who have fled from Al-Raqqah, the stronghold of the terrorist militia Islamic State. They call them [...]
ITALY - Assisi Imam thanks Pope Francis for his comments on Islam Abdel Qader Mohammed, the imam of Perugia, thanked Pope Francis for his recent statement that true Islam is not a religion of violence, but of peace. The Pope had a brief unscheduled meeting with Mohammed during his recent visit to [...]
BRAZIL - Pope sends message to Brazil and Cardinal of Rio de Janeiro blesses Olympic torch Cardinal Orani Joao Tempesta,the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, blessed the Olympic torch as he stood below the emblematic statue of Christ the Redeemer. The torch was carried there by former Olympic Brazilian volleyball player Maria [...]
CHINA - Christian church leader jailed in human rights crackdown Hu Shigen, a prominent Christian leader of an underground church, was sentenced to seven years in jail and derived of political rights for five years by a court in Tianjin in a crackdown on human rights activists. Hu was charged with subversion, [...]
“Lebanon cannot cope with this big tragedy alone.... without you we can’t continue” – Interview with Sr. Hanan Youssef Sister Hanan Youssef, who is well known for her humanitarian work in Lebanon and has spoken about the refugee situation in her country at international conferences, visited Malta recently. Sr Hanan currently [...]
FRANCE - Muslims attend Mass in solidarity after priest’s murder As shockwaves continue to be felt over the horrific murder of a defenceless 84-year-old priest in a Normandy church last week, the Catholic church in Paris called for peace. All Muslims in the city were invited to embrace a "fraternal" greeting [...]