Tag: Catholics

Kenya to force religious groups to register

January 14, 2016 Kenya Catholics, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta

The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya has condemned government plans to make it tougher for religious bodies and clerics from all faiths to operate, going so far as to claim the move was aimed at stopping the growth of evangelical churches. However, it’s locally reported that a leading (unnamed) Anglican cleric . . . Read More

Global Church meets to seek unity in face of persecution

November 6, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Albania, Aleppo, Algeria, Catholics, Churches, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Kenya, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Orthodox, Pakistan, Pentecostals, Protestants, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Yohanna Ibrahim

Twenty-five years ago, on 4 Nov. 1990, a priest risked his life to hold a mass in a cemetery in Albania. In 1967 his president, Enver Hoxha, had declared that he had “abolished” the Christian faith, and that his country was henceforth the world’s first atheist state. On 4 Nov. . . . Read More

Catholic priest released in Syria

October 12, 2015 Syria Catholics, Homs, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Syria

Fr. Jacques Mourad was set free on Saturday, 10 Oct, nearly five months after masked Islamic State (IS) gunmen kidnapped the Syriac Catholic priest in Syria’s central Homs province. Church sources told Agence France Presse that Fr. Mourad celebrated Sunday mass the following day in Zaydal village, five kilometers from . . . Read More

Another Mexican Protestant suffers

September 16, 2015 Mexico Catholics, Chiapas, Exile, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Human rights, Lauro Pérez Núñez, Mexico, Oaxaca, Protestants, Puebla

A Mexican Protestant recently detained for the third time by local authorities has now seen his three children banned from attending the local school and his home cut off from the village’s water and electricity services. His crime? Attending an Evangelical church. The state Ombudsman in Oaxaca has publicly condemned . . . Read More

Jihadists release Syrian priest, 22 elderly Assyrians

August 19, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Boulos Yazigi, Catholics, Hasakah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qaryatain, Sadad, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Five weeks after Fr. Antoine Boutros and his driver were kidnapped on their way to Sunday mass in southern Syria’s Suweida province on July 12, the Catholic parish priest has been released. Disclosure of the 50-year-old priest’s release on Aug. 15 came from the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, . . . Read More

Dubai: free to worship, but not convert

July 14, 2015 United Arab Emirates Catholics, Censorship, Converts, Dubai, Islamic extremism, United Arab Emirates

In Dubai Christians are free to worship but must not try to convert anyone, reports the BBC. Churches cannot display crosses, and those who preach publicly or try to persuade Muslims to convert can expect jail and deportation. The UAE, of which Dubai is a part, has crippling restrictions on . . . Read More

Kidnapped Syrian priest released unharmed

July 13, 2015 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, Catholics, Kidnapping, Syria

Rev. Dhiya Aziz, a Catholic priest kidnapped July 4 in northwest Syria, was released unharmed July 9, to which he belongs. Aziz was abducted from the town of Yacoubieh, where he serves as a parish priest. Initial reports were that he was en route to a meeting with the Emir . . . Read More

Nuns beaten in fresh attacks on Mexico’s Catholics

July 8, 2015 Mexico Catholics, Corruption, Mexico, Organised crime, Tehuantepec

A violent attack on three nuns, who were tied up, gagged and assaulted, has led to renewed criticism that Mexican authorities aren’t taking crimes against Catholics seriously, reports CSW. Nine months earlier there was a similarly brutal attack on a parish priest in the same village. In a statement issued . . . Read More

Pakistan pressure on foreign nationals continues

June 25, 2015 Pakistan Catholics, Islamabad, Pakistan

It closed down Save the Children, one of the most recognized charities in the world, then asked thousands of other aid organisations to submit to strict new licensing procedures. Now Pakistan has cancelled the visas of three nuns prompting a lawsuit from the Catholic Church, says the Washington Post. The . . . Read More

Case of the disappearing Christian CDs: 7 years on, Malaysian court orders their return

June 24, 2015 Malaysia 'Allah', Borneo, Catholics, Hudud, Jill Ireland, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Lawrence Andrew, Malaysia, Petaling Jaya, Sabah, Sarawak

After a seven-year battle through the courts, yesterday (23 June) Jill Ireland, a Malaysian Christian finally won the right to re-gain her CDs of worship songs which include the word ‘Allah’. The Malaysian Court of Appeal ordered its Government to return the spiritual material to Ms Ireland. Her appeal had . . . Read More

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