19 ciw briefing
Blasphemy case threats
Hardline Muslim groups in Pakistan called last week for mass protests – and threatened the judges of the country’s Supreme Court in Islamabad – ahead of a ruling on the fate of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi (above), who has been on death row since 2010.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court heard the long-delayed appeal of Ms Bibi, who is accused of blasphemy, on 8 October. It did not announce its decision, saying it would “reserve judgment” for days or possibly weeks.
A militant Islamic party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), has threatened the judges via YouTube. It says that if Ms Bibi is freed, the justices will meet a “horrible” end, AFP reported.
Venezuela’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference said it was “concerned” by reports that a Catholic politician accused of implication in an alleged assassination attempt against President Nicolás Maduro killed himself while being detained by the state.
The country’s chief prosecutor announced that city councillor Fernando Albán jumped to his death from the tenth floor of a police building on 8 October, three days after he was arrested at Caracas international airport. Mr Alban’s lawyer, Joel Garcia, told Associated Press: “Albán is a very Christian person, with deep spiritual convictions that go contrary to a decision to take one’s life.” Opposition leader Julian Borges said he was in “no doubt” that the death was an assassination.
There have been 50 attacks by supporters of the far-right presidential candidate in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, since the end of September, a survey has found, illustrating the tensions surrounding the presidential elections. The victims were either wearing symbols of left-wing parties or anti-Bolsonaro “Not him” stickers, or were assumed to be gay, lesbian or trans-sexual. After he won the first round of the election with 49 per cent of the vote, Mr Bolsonaro starts the run-up to the second round of the election on 28 October as the favourite.
People’s forum launched
Jesuits in South Asia have launched a “Lok Manch”, or People’s Forum, as a platform giving voice to leaders of civil society organisations protecting and promoting the rights of marginalised communities.
The Society of Jesus in South Asia has a network in 12 Indian states, with outreach to about 300,000 needy families in urban and rural areas. At a recent seminar at the Indian Social Institute in Bangalore, called “Together we make the difference”, Lok Manch said it would work to implement India’s National Food Security Act and highlight the vulnerable situation of Dalits, tribals, Christian and Muslim religious minorities, women, poor urban people and migrants.
The bishops of the Democratic Republic of Congo have told a UN Security Council delegation visiting the country that they fear that presidential elections due on 23 December could be delayed. Even if they go ahead, they are concerned about inadequate preparations and the silencing of opposition parties. The bishops asked the UN to put pressure on President Joseph Kabila to ensure that opposition parties have access to the media and the right to hold demonstrations. Other issues include the adoption of electronic voting machines, which could be rigged, and the likely disruption of voting in the east of the country by armed groups. President Kabila refused to relinquish power when his term expired in December 2016. Elections have been delayed twice.
Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, said that during his 17 and 18 October visit to the Vatican, the South Korean President President, Moon Jae-in, will convey a message from the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, inviting the Pope to Pyongyang. The cardinal said that, as Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, “I sincerely pray for the days to come when we can send priests and religious to the North and celebrate the sacraments together”.
The new premier of Quebec says a crucifix hanging in the Canadian province’s assembly is not a religious symbol but represents Christian values.
François Legault defended his decision to keep the crucifix in the legislature while proceeding with plans to ban some civil servants from wearing religious symbols. In his view, the crucifix recalls French Catholic and British Protestant heritage in Quebec. “In our past we had Protestants and Catholics, they built the values we have in Quebec,” he said. “We have to recognise that”.
Christians in Myanmar near the border with China have been detained by Myanmar’s largest ethnic armed group and ordered to pledge that they will pray only privately in their homes and not in churches.
The Revd Lazarus, general secretary of the Lahu Baptist Convention in Kyaing Tong, reported that about 100 Wa Christians were released after signing statements containing this guarantee.
However, the rebel United Wa State Army. the de facto ruler of the northern state, was still holding 92 ethnic Lahu Christians. Christians make up some 30 per cent of the 450,000 Wa. The militant group has been destroying churches since September, when it announced that churches built after 1992 were illegal. Besides banning new churches it has also banned religious teaching in schools.
Franco reburial row
Spain’s socialist government is opposing plans to rebury General Francisco Franco, who died in 1975, in the crypt of Madrid’s La Almudena cathedral following his projected exhumation from the Valley of the Fallen outside the capital. The liberal daily El Pais said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had “sought at all costs” to avoid the “symbolic impact” of having the former dictator interred in the centre of Madrid, but had “found no legal way” to prevent it.