tagged articles with: violence

Middle Eastern intolerance means Filipinos have to be careful about their faith

An estimated 12 million Filipinos are working abroad in over 200 countries. Celeste Macaldo says she’s a “devout” Catholic who attended Mass every week until she landed a job as a caregiver in Lebanon five years ago. “For five years, I remember going to church to attend Mass only five times, and only on Christmas Eve,” she told ucanews.com.

Man Dies Making Documentary About Homeless

Police are investigating the death of a young documentary maker who was sleeping rough in freezing temperatures to highlight the plight of the homeless. Lee Halpin, 26, had planned to spend a week living on the streets in his home city of Newcastle. 

Un Dios Prohibido - A Forbidden God

Summer 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War. The film tells us about the martyrdom of 51 members of the Claretian Community of Barbastro (Huesca, Spain). Excellent portrait of the human and religious dimension of each person involved in such a real tragedy of our history. The sacrifies of young Claretians proclaim that "Love overcomes death." 

Christians' rights: Martyred on a cross of secular liberalism

The battle has been almost universally one way as the rights of Christians, in terms of the ability to practise their faith in the public sphere, have been eroded to the point where they have virtually no protection. The cases that I have been instructed in are alarming- and it’s not just the “little people”: health workers or junior civil servants.

'God, I am not a criminal. I cry out every day.'

After 46 years on death row, DNA evidence could prove Iwao Hakamada's innocence. On Christmas Eve 28 years ago, the Catholic Church welcomed a new member in unusual circumstances. Iwao Hakamada, now 76, was in prison for a capital offense when he was baptized.

Global security must not rely on nuclear weapons

"Global security must not rely on nuclear weapons", the archbishop said in his English-language remarks. "The Holy See considers the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) an important tool to achieve this aim, without mentioning its potential civil and scientific application through its International Monitoring System

The Dreyfus Affair by Piers Paul Read: review

This is the book I was telling you about; It is necessary to really understand the French Revolution in order to understand all the wars and religious hatred that have happened since.  The Dreyfus Affair brought down one government, caused the resignation of three Ministers of War, led to France’s most famous novelist being sentenced to a year in prison and almost precipitated the country’s second civil war in little more than 100 years. 

Story of sisters who help victims of family violence becomes a documentary

The congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have launched an initiative to support women and children experiencing domestic abuse. The numbers are shocking. In Taiwan in 2008 alone there were 75,438 cases known to the government, in 2009, the number rose to 83,728, in 2010 98,720

The Nun Who Broke Into the Nuclear Sanctum

Sister Megan Rice, 82, a Roman Catholic nun of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and two male accomplices have carried out what nuclear experts call the biggest security breach in the history of the nation’s atomic complex, making their way to the inner sanctum of the site where the United States keeps crucial nuclear bomb parts and fuel.

Syria’s unpredictable future

The innocent victims are at present the citizens of Aleppo, Syria’s second city. The rebels held important districts until the Syrian army launched overwhelming force against them. As ever, women and children are particularly at risk.Aleppo has a significant Christian population, and no doubt Pope Benedict had them in mind when he called for an end to the bloodshed. 

Philippines: Claretian Missionaries seek answers on Basilan violence

  Missionaries working in rural Basilan province challenged the government and the Catholic Church Friday to do something about the spate of violence in the province, after another bloody incident this week.  “We question those in authority, what have you done to protect and grant justice to the lives of the people?” the Claretian Missionaries said in a statement

Middle Class Family Struggles in Spain's Crisis

Before the Spanish economic crisis hit, Mercedes Gonzalez and her family lived comfortably, she working in a shoe shop and her husband and second son in construction. But one by one, over five years each of them lost their jobs. 

Women’s rights champion featured in film

“Angela Gomes is a living example in the field of women’s rights and empowerment. She has continued changing lives of tens of thousands of poor and neglected women. With this film we want to spread her life and ideals across the country and also in the world,” said Noor-E-Alam, the director.

Catholics in Inner Mongolia appeal for prayers amid repression

 “It is very likely that the faithful have to quietly pass Pentecost this Sunday, one of the four major church feasts widely celebrated in China, as they did so at Easter,” a source told UCA News. To avoid arrest, underground priests remain in hiding and cannot carry out normal pastoral work because they have refused to support the patriotic association, the source said.

Mob attacks priests at school in Pakistan

Father Pervez Khalid, one other senior priest and six Church workers were assaulted by a group 70 people on April 16 after entering the playground of Cardinal Cordeiro High School which has been seized by land grabbers. One parishioner in his forties was taken to hospital after receiving several heavy blows

The Observatory's Report on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians

This report portrays the most important developments with regard to freedom of religion, the most striking cases of intolerance and discrimination throughout Europe – and what individuals and institutions say about it. The report includes several statistics as well as analysis of the meaning of freedom of religion in the European context.

Syrian Orthodox Church has told that 90 per cent of Christians have been expelled from Homs

Almost the entire Christian population of the Syrian city of Homs has fled violence and persecution, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. The mass exodus of 50,000 or more people to villages and towns around the city comes amid reports that the homes of Christians in Homs have been attacked and seized by militants.

Ireland visitation report: full text

The Apostolic Visitation should now be considered completed. The Holy See entrusts its conclusions to the responsibility of the Bishops, clergy, Religious and lay faithful of Ireland, in the hope that they will bear fruit worthy of that process of healing, reparation and renewal which Pope Benedict XVI so eagerly desires for the beloved Church in Ireland.

Seventy per cent of World Population Live in Countries with High Restrictions on Religious Beliefs

"Terrorist attacks on Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia increased 309 per cent between 2003 and 2010. Approximately 70 per cent of the world’s population lives in countries with high restrictions on religious beliefs and practices, and religious minorities pay the highest price". 

Blood Cries Out: Shocking Tribute to Pakistan Martyr

The 2nd March 2012 is the 1st anniversary of Pakistan’s Minister For Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti’s, brutal and cold-blooded assassination at the hands of militant Islamists. To mark the solemn occasion ooberfuse, in association with the British Pakistani Christian Alliance (BPCA), have filmed a chilling and shocking music video to accompany their song Blood Cries Out.

Catholics seen as threat: say Alencherry, the new Indian cardinal.

Extremist groups in India see the growth of the Catholic Church as a “threat” and have successfully lobbied the government against Christians’ rights, the newly elevated Cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Church George Alencherry warned in an interview with ucanews.com in Rome. New Indian cardinal adds that radicals are a minority and that most Hindus 'live in harmony' with Christians.

£255,000 drive to reduce divisions in Northern Ireland town.

Protestant and Catholic youngsters from Lurgan will be invited to take part in film making and amateur dramatics as part of the £255,000 initiative to build better cross community relations.  A team of young ambassadors aged 15-19 have also been recruited from both sides of the religious divide to promote community relations in the town.

Major victory for life in Europe: ‘Euthanasia must always be prohibited’

Yesterday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a non-binding resolution stating: “Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited.”

Bishops’ Australia Day call for time limit on detention

To mark Australia Day, the Catholic Bishops Commission for Justice, Ecology and Development calls upon political parties to work towards a common approach to asylum seekers, so that human beings do not become pawns in a political argument.

Korea: Rights group also slams naval base arrests as 'serious failure of governance'

Some 35 sisters and priests from the Association of Major Superiors of Religious Women in Korea and the Catholic Solidarity to Realize Peace in Jeju held a press conference  to protest against the arrest of 29 people including 19 Religious on January 10. They had been praying in front of a naval base construction site on the resort island and urging a halt to the project. All were released within two days.

Working with the Muslims at the UN.

 On the negotiating floor, I approached a Muslim ambassador and said, “This session is going all night long and its going to be very tough going. And when it gets really hard, I want you to know that right over there,” and I pointed to a section of raised seats off to the side, “twenty Christians will be praying for you.” That night this man was a tiger in defense of unborn children.

The Greek parents too poor to care for their children

One morning a few weeks before Christmas a kindergarten teacher in Athens found a note about one of her four-year-old pupils. "I will not be coming to pick up Anna today because I cannot afford to look after her," it read. "Please take good care of her. Sorry. Her mother."

January 11, 2012 — Human Trafficking Awareness Day

 Wednesday, January 11, 2012 is Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the U.S., thanks to passage of a resolution by the Senate on June 22, 2007 making January 11th a day of awareness and vigilance for the countless victims of Human Trafficking around the world.

Vietnam: Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan’s beatification process.

 Cardinal Thuan was named coadjutor archbishop of Saigon archdiocese seven days before South Vietnam fell to the communist North on April 30, 1975. The communist authorities rejected his appointment and imprisoned him for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement in the north.

The Agency FIDES publishes list of Church people killed in 2011

The FIDES news service noted the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who said on December 26 of that year, “As in ancient times, today the sincere adherence to the Gospel may require the sacrifice of life, and many Christians in various parts of the world are sometimes exposed to persecution and martyrdom”.  Fides’ list  includes not only missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral care workers who died violent deaths.

New Year Message from the Archbishop of Canterbury

Speaking in his annual BBC New Year message, the Archbishop of Canterbury reflects on the importance that Christianity bestows on young people and challenges us to actively support our local youth facilities and opportunities which, he argues, play a crucial part in a healthy society.

Poverty and ignorance favour religious intolerance

  “If we don't succeed in eradicating poverty and ignorance in our Country, then we will not be able to combat the the phenomenon of religious intolerance”. This was a comment made to L'Osservatore Romano by Paul Bhatti, Adviser to the Prime Minister for National Harmony in Pakistan.

The Greatest Speech Ever Made

God came to dwell among us. Since then humanity is capable of bringing forth the highest values. But if any of us look away from God's presence what was supposed to be a Kingdom of Justice, Peace and Love, becomes an Empire of evil. Charlie Chaplin final speech in The Great Dictator film reminds us of this truth.

Friars Respond to Occupy Movement in USA

We Have to Work Together - People Before Profit.  “It would be good if we did that as a Church.” So far the closest thing to that is a document on global finance by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. “Catholic social teaching and the Occupy Wall Street movement agree that the economy should be at the service of the human person and that strong action must be taken to reduce the growing gap between rich and poor,”

Pupils join bid to halt knife crime

 Inner-city teenagers are swapping ideas with police as part of a fresh bid to beat the capital's knife crime problems. More than 90 schoolchildren are taking part in the new scheme aimed to shape the way youth violence is tackled. Barry Mizen, whose 16-year-old son Jimmy was murdered in 2008, is among a panel of experts speaking to 14 and 15-year-olds at City Hall.

British Prime Minister praised for recognizing Christian persecution

Prime Minister David Cameron drew praise from a Catholic group after he acknowledged that government funding should be axed to countries that persecute Christians as well as gay communities. “That the Prime Minister should publicly single out treatment of Christians as a factor in decisions on UK aid is an important step forward,” said Neville Kyrke-Smith, director of Aid to the Church in Need's U.K. office.

Is the Church inside or outside the establishment?

 Major national Churches are often the focus of protest. A homeless man, known to the authorities for his radical activism, once slipped into one with his supporters and wrecked it, overturning tables and lashing out with a homemade whip. His point was that what should have been a place of prayer for all people had become an institution fleecing the poor. Those were tougher times than now, and he was executed a week later.

Vatican calls for reflection after Gaddafi death

The news of the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi marks the end of a much too long and tragic phase of a brutal struggle to bring down a harsh and oppressive regime.  This dramatic event obliges us yet again to reflect on the immense toll of human suffering which accompanies the affirmation and collapse of any system which is not based on the respect and dignity of the human person, but rather on the prevailing affirmation of power.

LIBYA 2011 Poem by SHARI EPPEL

Dale Farm eviction starts with violence in the biggest traveller site in Europe

The eviction, which could cost up to £18m, marks the end of a 10-year battle between travellers, who bought a former scrapyard on green belt land in 2001 and established their caravans there, and the council. More travellers joined them and some semi-permanent chalet dwellings were built. Over the past few days, travellers and their supporters have reinforced the perimeter of the 49 illegal plots at the site. 

Church, groups condemn killing of Italian priest in the Philippines

 Lone gunman reportedly kills Fr. Fausto Tentorio, a leading anti-crime campaigner in Kidapawan, Mindanao. The priest was due to attend a regular meeting of Kidapawan diocese clergy at the house of Bishop Romulo de la Cruz in Kidapawan City today. Father Tentorio had been an active law and order campaigner in Arakan town. Only recently, he was appointed as head of a civilian anti-criminal task force in the town.

Where child sacrifice is a business

Protesters bed down at cathedral

 Protesters are preparing to spend their second night camped out in the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral as part of an anti-capitalist demonstration in London. The Reverend Dr Giles Fraser, Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, said: "People have a right to protest and it's been very good natured. Church went down well this morning. There were no problems. We had no problems getting people in. People were very helpful."

Anti-corporate protests to hit London

 "This is a people-powered movement protesting against the increasing social and economic injustice in the UK," OccupyLSX supporter Kai Wargalla explained on Wednesday.  "We want to stand with...the overwhelming majority who value people over profit. We want to make our voices heard against greed, corruption and for a democratic, just society," she added.

London 2012: "100 days of peace" campaign is launched

Explosive new book details war on unborn baby girls

Imagine waking up one day to find that every single woman in the U.S. has disappeared. Picture this, writes author and scientific journalist Mara Hvistendahl, and you will come close to understanding the magnitude of over 160 million baby girls being selectively aborted in Asia and East Europe over the last few decades.

Dead wrong: Catholics must no longer support capital punishment

The Catholic Church's position on capital punishment has evolved considerably over the centuries. And as a result, "it is not a message that is immediately understood -- that there is no room for supporting the death penalty in today's world," said a Vatican's expert on capital punishment and arms control.

UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women Announces USD 17.1 Million in Grants to Groundbreaking Efforts to Protect Women and Girls

“Violence against women is a human rights and public health emergency,” Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, said of the 15th batch of annual grants from the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) which awarded $17.1 million for 22 initiatives.

ASIA/INDIA - Catholic Church attacked in Kerala: "We are exposed to different extremism", says the Bishop

  A Catholic church was attacked and devastated by vandals wearing masks in the diocese of Quilon, in South Kerala (Southern india). This is what His Exc. Mgr. Stanley Roman, Bishop of Quilon tells Fides, who is "concerned that, as Christians, we are exposed to the growth of different religious extremism.

Heroic New York priests vividly recall Sept. 11 attacks

 Fr. Rutler, current pastor of Church of our Savior in New York City, was living at St. Agnes Parish near Grand Central Station during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He told CNA that he remembers the details of that day 10 years ago “very well – as though they happened yesterday.” 

Libya: ‘Atrocious’ abuses by Qadhafi forces cause for “extreme alarm”, UN.

 The United Nations voiced “extreme alarm” today at reports of “atrocious human rights violations” in Libya, including mass summary executions apparently carried out by Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi’s forces in the last few days before they lost Tripoli, the capital.

England riots: The world is watching

 Certainly Europe has been watching. Its papers and TV channels have devoted enormous coverage to the riots.  "Disunited Kingdom", said the headline in the French paper Liberation. Le Monde's front page was "England in flames".

Liberation, a left-leaning paper, made a wider point: "The riots in London are a serious alarm call for the UK but also for all mixed and unequal Western societies".

UK riots: What turns people into looters?

 Rioters have set fire to cars and buses. Llooting makes "powerless people suddenly feel powerful" and that is "very intoxicating". "The world has been turned upside down. The youngsters are used to adults in authority telling them they cannot do this or this will happen. Then they do it and nothing happens."

Looting - why not if you are a moral relativist?

 The Youth of the Middle East rise up for basic freedoms.The Youth of London rise up for a HD ready 42" Plasma TV. That seems to be a consensus view and not many people are now trying to blame the rioting on "the cuts". Unless we recover some basic Christian values in our society it will happen again and probably more seriously during some summer soon. 

Ethiopia 'using aid as weapon of oppression'

 A joint undercover investigation by BBC Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that the Ethiopian government is using billions of dollars of development aid as a tool for political oppression. 

Facing down a tyrant, Mugabe and the White African by Ben Freeth

Freeth’s book, which shares the name of a documentary film made about his family, is a personal account of a terrible decade spent working in Zimbabwean agriculture. During the most intense phase of Mugabe’s farm invasions in 2000-2002, Freeth worked for the Farmers’ Union, doing what he could to protect his members – several of whom were killed in their homes.

NIGERIA: Violence threatens Christians

July 15, 2011 (CISA) –Militant Islamist Group bombed a protestant church where members were meeting after service on July 10 in Suleja, in Nigeria’s Niger Estate. According to Vatican Radio, there has been an upsurge of violence this week in Nigeria against Christian churches believed to be perpetrated by a fundamentalist Islamic Group known as Boko Haram.

Vatican goes online in struggle against child abuse

The Vatican is turning to the Internet in its struggle against child abuse with a new website allowing clergy around the world to share information on eradicating the problem. It will be “a step … on a long and painful path,” adding the website would bring together the latest research on child abuse and Church laws, while allowing churches in different countries to have their say.

Evangelization's source: Pope's journey to Croatia highlights family

The focus of Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Zagreb, Croatia, June 4-5 will be on the family and building a community with Christian values.In the 84-year-old pope's 19th trip abroad and his 13th to a European country, he also will continue to underline the importance he places on reviving Europe's Christian roots.

Pope Benedict urges end to fighting in Libya

Pope asked for Europeans to show goodwill to migrants escaping the conflict. The Pope has urged diplomacy and dialogue to end the conflict in Libya, in his blessing at Easter Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.

What to Do About Libya

The Vatican observer at the London conference on Libya said the situation in the North African country is forcing the international community to examine its obligation to intervene when the lives and rights of civilians are being threatened.

Catholic critic of blasphemy law is shot dead in Pakistan

Pakistan’s leading Catholic politician has been murdered in the capital Islamabad. Minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti had received numerous death threats after calling for changes to the country’s controversial blasphemy law. The blasphemy law carries a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam, and critics say it has been used to persecute minority faiths.

Officials: 105 dead in Southern Sudan clashes

More than 100 people were killed and scores of others injured in clashes between the Southern Sudan government and forces loyal to a militia leader last week, a Southern Sudan official said.The clashes took place Wednesday and Thursday.

Latest religiously-motivated attacks in Nigeria

Religious violence has cost the lives of over 50,000 people since 1999, when one-third of Nigeria’s 36 states instituted the Islamic penal code making Shari’ah (Islamic) law the highest legal authority, creating a de facto state religion in violation of the national, secular constitution.

Movie on Mexico's war against Catholics offers timely lessons

Pablo José Barroso, the producer of a new film that brings to life the fight against the Mexican government’s persecution of Catholics in the 1920s says there are clear parallels to today’s situation in the United States and elsewhere.