Terrible plight of Yemen’s last Christians

Bishop Paul Hinder, the Apostolic Vicar for Southern Arabia, has described the plight of the few remaining Christians in Yemen as “truly terrible”.

Asked what he thought the reasons were behind the massacre of 16 people, including four Missionaries of Charity nuns, at an old people’s home in Aden last month, Hinder replied that while the people being cared for in the home were all Muslims, the fact that it was run by Christian nuns was what motivated the terrorists. “It was an attack on Christians but also on those who want to steer Yemen back into normal channels”, he told journalists in west Austria. “The situation for Christians in Yemen is truly terrible. We only have one priest left to look after the two remaining communities of sisters. The whereabouts of the other priest, who was kidnapped during the massacre, are unknown. Some reports said Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian from India, was to be crucified on Good Friday, but Bishop Hinder on Monday said reports that the priest had been crucified were incorrect.

Beside the few non-native Christians living in Yemen, there are still a small number of indigenous Christians but one will soon be able to count those on one hand, Hinder said. In 2013 there were thought to be around 2,500 indigenous and between 15,000 and 25,000 non-native Christians in Yemen. “I know almost all [those remaining] personally. Most Yemenite Christians have emigrated but the Christian population has also declined because Christians who marry Muslims have to promise to bring up their children as Muslims,” Hinder said.

The situation for Christians in the countries on the Arabian peninsula differs widely, he went on. In Saudi Arabia, Christianity was only tolerated as long as it remained a strictly private practice. “We have a rule. No singing and no microphones. This is, of course, an intolerable restriction of freedom of worship,” he said.

The situation in the Emirates, is quite different, Hinder went on. Authorities there had helped him get the nun who had survived the massacre in Yemen out of the country and sheiks would often invite him to lunch. In Abu Dhabi, where he is based, 20 Masses in different languages were celebrated in the cathedral on Easter Sunday for thousands of Catholics, mostly immigrant workers.