Asia

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  19 October 2017
  ASIA/IRAQ - Chaldean Patriarch calls politicians to "national reconciliation": "To protect the people before the oil wells" Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) – The "unprecedented circumstances" that the country is going through are "the result of all that happened in Iraq from the north to the south for years and until now". Therefore, this critical ...
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  19 October 2017
  ASIA/KAZAKHSTAN - The 25-year-old Kazakhstan-Holy See diplomatic relations Astana (Agenzia Fides) - "For a quarter of a century, Kazakhstan and the Vatican have created favorable conditions for a progressive improvement of bilateral dialogue at a political, humanitarian and scientific level. Th ...
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  18 October 2017
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Religious minorities suffer discrimination at work: study to be made Karachi (Agenzia Fides) – “I left my job with a multinational company in Karachi the day my manager told me not to use the same objects and utensils as my Muslim colleagues. I was told to take them home with me and ...
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  18 October 2017
  ASIA/LEBANON - Teachers in Catholic schools ready to strike for higher salaries Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - Teachers at Lebanon’s Catholic schools may go on strike this evening Wednesday 18 October to protest because they risk being excluded from a pay rise connected with new rules regarding “sa ...
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  17 October 2017
  ASIA/TURKEY - Interference and pressure in the election process of the new Armenian Patriarch Istanbul (Agenzia Fides) – In early October Archbishop Karekin Bekdjian, current "locum tenens" of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, sent a letter to possible candidates for the role of new Patriarch, in the ...
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  17 October 2017
  ASIA/IRAQ - New war winds on the Nineveh Plain Telkaif (Agenzia Fides) - The "Babylonian Brigades", formation of popular protection militias who also count Christian militias in their ranks, have told the Kurdish militia Peshmerga to abandon all areas of the Nineveh ...
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  17 October 2017
  ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Marawi is militant-free: now the economic development of Muslim areas is urgent Cotabato (Agenzia Fides) - The town of Marawi, on the Filipino island of Mindanao, in the south of the country, has been liberated: the regular army resumed full control over the entire territory which on May 23 had been ...
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  17 October 2017
  ASIA/INDIA - Prayer for seven innocent Christians of Orissa who are imprisoned Kochi (Agenzia Fides) - The Church in India is in prayer for the release of seven innocent Christians in the Indian state of Orissa, in prison for nine years. Their names are: Bhaskar Sunamajhi, Bijay Sanseth, Buddhadev ...
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  16 October 2017
  ASIA/INDIA - Crimes against the Dalit increase: alarm of the Church New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - "The growing atrocities on the Dalits give the impression that India is returning to the age of Manu Smriti when Dalits were treated worse than slaves": this is what Archbishop Thomas Menampar ...
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  16 October 2017
  ASIA/MYANMAR - Buddhists and Christians in Myanmar await the Pope's visit Yangon (Agenzia Fides) - Buddhists and Christians in Myanmar are waiting for Pope Francis’ visit to Myanmar from 27 to 30 November with enthusiasm. Since October 12, a huge poster has been placed in front of the Cathed ...
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  13 October 2017
  ASIA/LEBANON - Demonstration of Iraqi Christian refugees: We do not want to go back to Iraq, give us permission to emigrate Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - Some dozen Iraqi Christian refugees organized a demonstration in Beirut on Wednesday, 11 October in front of the offices of the High Commissioner for Refugees to ask the competent authorities to ...
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  13 October 2017
  ASIA/JAPAN - Archbishop Takami: "Justo Takayama Ukon, an example for today's Christians" Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "The Samurai of Christ, Justo Takayama Ukon - beatified on February 7, 2017 in Osaka - lived an authentic, honest, sincere, and deep Christian life. He was recognized as a martyr, even though he wa ...
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  13 October 2017
  ASIA/CHINA - Msgr. Mathew Hu Xiande, tireless pastor and passionate promoter of the study of the Bible Ningbo (Agenzia Fides) – In the early hours of 25 September, His Exc. Msgr. Mathew Hu Xiande, Bishop of Ningbo (Ningpo), in Zhejiang Province (Mainland China) died at the age 83. He had been hospitalized for a few days ...
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  12 October 2017
  ASIA/INDIA - Orissa, theater of anti-Christian violence, becomes a place of pilgrimage and inspiration Bhubaneswar (Agenzia Fides) – The victims of anti-Christian violence perpetrated in the Indian state of Orissa in 2007 and 2008 "are testimonies of authentic faith, that overcame difficulties and persecution, and today ...
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  12 October 2017
  ASIA/PAKISTAN - Three members of the Ahmadiyya community killed, three condemned to death for blasphemy Sheikhupura (Agenzia FIdes) - A lawyer, his wife and two-year-old son were killed by unidentified aggressors in their home in Sheikhupura. Another five-year-old son miraculously survived the attack who hid under the bed. ...