Tag: Catholics

Iraqi Erbil priest: “We aim to treat our refugees as guests”

September 15, 2014 Iraq Ankawa, Catholics, Chaldeans, Erbil, Nineveh Plains

The so-far ‘safe’ city of Erbil in Kurdish-governed north-eastern Iraq has seen thousands of Christian refugees arrive over the last few months with many relying on the church for sanctuary. But how are local churches bearing up to the influx? In the Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic church in the suburb . . . Read More

Kenyan coast Christians fear for lives as local politicians appear to be linked to Al-Shabaab

July 17, 2014 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Catholics, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Lamu, Mandera, Mombasa, Mpeketoni, Nairobi, Somalia, Tana River, Uhuru Kenyatta, Wajir, Westgate

After at least 65 people were killed a month ago on June 15 in the predominantly Christian town of Mpeketoni, 40km inland from Kenya’s mainly Muslim coastal strip, attacks in the area have continued. Now residents are sleeping in a nearby prison because they are scared to stay at home. . . . Read More

Mosul’s two kidnapped Chaldean nuns released

July 15, 2014 Iraq Catholics, Chaldeans, Churches, Dohuk, Europe, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Louis Raphael I Sako, Mosul, NATO, Nineveh Plains

Update (15 July) Two kidnapped nuns who managed an orphanage for girls in Mosul, and two women and a boy, who were kidnapped on 28 June have been released. According to ankawa.com no ransom was paid for the release of the five Assyrian victims who are in good health and . . . Read More

BJP win elicits mixed reaction from India’s Christians

June 19, 2014 India Assam, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Narendra Modi, Pune

From left to right. Indian President Mahinda Rajapaksa and new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting for bilateral talks in New Delhi, India. May 27, 2014 Mahinda Rajapaksa / Flickr/ Creative Commons India’s Christian leaders aren’t quite unanimous, yet, on the meaning of the May election landslide that swept . . . Read More

Anti-Christian slogans in Jerusalem alarm Church

May 12, 2014 Israel Arabs, Catholics, Israel, Jerusalem, Jews, Palestinian Territories

Jerusalem’s Roman Catholic Church has expressed alarm over threats to Christians scrawled by suspected Jewish extremists on church property in the Holy Land. In an incident, known as ‘price-tagging’, “Death to Arabs and Christians and all those who hate Israel” was written in Hebrew on an outer column of the . . . Read More

Sudan bombs Catholic hospital

May 6, 2014 Sudan Catholics, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, Sudan

A Sudanese military aircraft dropped bombs near a Catholic hospital May 1, sending patients, some of them still connected to IV bags, fleeing into foxholes in the bush. Nuba Reports has dramatic video here. Two bombing passes by the jet fighter caused only a few minor injuries and rattled the . . . Read More

Exile

April 18, 2014 Mexico Catholics, Chiapas, Converts, Exile, Mexico, Protestants

The document is signed. All parties have agreed that Fidencio Jiménez, his wife, Petrona Díaz, and their children can return to their home. The couple expects a cool welcome. Just the same, they said they will return to Santa Rosalía, and resume living the way that provoked neighbours to chase . . . Read More

Canadian nun and two priests abducted in Cameroon

April 10, 2014 Cameroon Boko Haram, Catholics, Far North, Georges Vandenbeusch, Maroua, Nigeria

The two priests Giampaolo Marta, 47, and Gianantonio Allegri, 57, in a classroom.Courtesy of Vicenza Diocese, Italy A Canadian nun and two Italian priests have been kidnapped by armed men in northern Cameroon, a region which serves as a base for Nigeria’s radical Islamist group Boko Haram. The Canadian . . . Read More

Indian elections: what could they mean for minority Christians?

April 4, 2014 India Catholics, Goa, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi

India is gearing up for the largest show of democracy on earth. Ahead of national elections, the silent Christian community in India -reportedly 2.3 percent of its 1.2 billion people in 2001, though experts say this was an underestimate – has become restive and alert. An electorate of 814 million – much . . . Read More

Vietnamese Catholics jailed despite protests

November 1, 2013 Vietnam Catholics, Hanoi

Two Vietnamese Catholics whose arrest led to protests last month have been handed jail terms. Nguyen Van Hai, 43, and Ngo Van Khoi, 53, were ordered on Oct. 23 to serve six and seven months, respectively, for “disturbing public order”. The charges relate to an incident on May 22, when . . . Read More

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