The Polish Church has held a nationwide collection for migrants and refugees stranded on the country’s eastern border, as its bishops accused the Belarus regime of “exploiting human tragedies” and joined in calls for a humanitarian solution. “We firmly condemn the exploitation of human dramas for actions against the sovereignty of Poland,” the Bishops’ Conference said. “We ask our rulers to defend the security of our borders, families and homes effectively, while also taking trouble to recognise strangers in real need and provide them with necessary support in the Gospel spirit. We request access to those in need, both now and after the emergency ends.” The communique was published at the close of the Conference’s plenary at the Jasna Gora national sanctuary, as the Church’s Caritas organisation said Sunday collections across Poland’s 20,000 Catholic parishes would be used to fund assistance for migrants in border areas and the long-term integration of those wishing to stay in Poland. The bishops said they were also grateful to Polish troops and police who were “devoutly fulfilling their obligations” by securing the borders, as well as to inhabitants of border towns and parishes who had helped with medical and humanitarian aid. The spokesman for Poland’s Foreign Ministry, Lukasz Jasina, told the Catholic Information Agency, KAI, that Belarus’s discredited President, Alexander Lukashenko, was using a “satanic plan” to pressure the EU over sanctions using migrants. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna at the weekend said he understood the EU could not “give in to the disgusting power game”. At least 10 migrants were reported to have died of hypothermia in the border zone by Monday, as Belarus officials encouraged around 7,000 homeless and hungry people of all ages to force their way into Poland.
The spiralling violence in Ethiopia has caused deep divisions among the country’s Christian populations. Among Ethiopia’s more than 53 million Christians – almost two-thirds of the population – the same ethnic faultlines are opening up that have appeared since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed scaled up his military engagement with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the northern Tigrayan region. Professor Getachew Assefa, a prominent member of the diaspora Orthodox Church, told The Tablet the conflict has caused a breaking away from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) in the diaspora by members from Tigray. The Canada-based academic told The Tablet: “The Tigray diaspora has decided to have its own association of clergy; local parishes have been changing their names from Ethiopian Orthodox Church to Tigrayan Orthodox Church.” This had happened in the US, Canada and Australia. Professor Assefa, a Tigrayan, said Orthodox laity and clergy from Tigray “feel that we don’t belong” in the EOC. Meanwhile, in an open letter to Ahmed published on the website Ethiopia Insight last month, an Evangelical Ethiopian theologian, Naol Befkadu, claimed that some Evangelical church leaders had been drawn into supporting “Ahmed’s war”. However, Illia Djadi, senior Africa analyst for the Christian charity Open Doors, said that it was a “dangerous mis - representation” to assume that all Ethiopian Evangelicals supported Ahmed, a Pentecostal, as this could place them in danger in the event of a Tigrayan victory. Evangelicals count for around 23 per cent of Ethiopians, while 43 per cent are Orthodox, 1 per cent are Catholic and 32 per cent are Muslim.
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki prayed for peace after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges resulting from his admitted killing of two men, and injuring a third, last summer during anti-racism protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse, 18, said he was acting in self-defence. “As Americans, we rely upon the rule of law and our justice system, which ensures the rights of all our citizens,” Listecki said. Meanwhile at 4:39 local time on Sunday in Waukesha Wisconsin, just 20 miles west of Milwaukee, a red SUV ploughed into a Christmas parade killing at least five people and injuring more than 40. Police said there was “a person of interest in custody”. No early link was reported with terrorism or the Rittenhouse case.
Catholics praised the last-minute clemency for death row inmate Julius Jones by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, hours before Jones was scheduled to be executed. “It took tremendous courage in the face of intense pressure for [Republican] Governor [Kevin] Stitt to grant clemency in this case,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City. “To oppose the death penalty is not to be soft on crime. Rather, it is to be strong on the dignity of life.”
Following 21 November regional elections Venezuela’s National Electoral Council awarded victory to the ruling Socialist party in 20 governorships and three to opposition politicians in an initial announcement on Monday. President Nicolas Maduro said: “The victory is impressive.” In advance of the elections the Catholic Bishops published a statement entitled “Beyond the regional elections”. The goal of the election, they said, “is not just to elect a group of authorities, but to send an unequivocal signal of determination and commitment to rebuilding life, freedom, justice and peace”. Opposition parties participated for the first time in elections in four years.
At his installation on 20 November Archbishop Philip Anyolo of Nairobi, declared that it was a scandal for citizens to die of poverty and famine. The Archbishop said the current drought needed urgent and decisive action and appealed for civility during ongoing campaigns to allow peaceful, free, and fair elections scheduled for August next year. “We will not shy away from being the conscience of our nation,” he said
Pakistan’s National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has finally accepted the resignation of Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore amid concerns about the commission’s inability to address the persecution of religious minorities such as Christians and Hindus. Archbishop Shaw tendered his resignation in July 2020. Formed two decades ago, the NCM has no budget and powers to act. In 2019, human rights and religious organisations launched the People’s Commission for Minorities' Rights. Its Catholic chair, Peter Jacob, has described the NCM as “a toothless body.”
Catholic priests Fr Robert McCulloch SSC and Fr Gulshan Barkat OMI, recently visited the archaeological site of Skardu-Baltistan in Northern Pakistan and are preparing new studies on the Cross of Kovardo. The 900- 1000-year-old carved limestone marble cross was discovered in June 2020 and links the area with Christian beliefs. The cross is 6.7 feet high and 6.4 feet wide. Columban missionary Fr McCulloch, the Australian Rector of Collegio San Colombano in Rome, who served for 34 years in Pakistan, said, "we look forward to the possibility of a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Baltistan and the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in Rome, to arrange for further studies in relation to this discovery.”
Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin has called for the “total elimination of nuclear weapons”, which he described as “a moral and humanitarian imperative”. He was speaking by video on 17 November to a conference on nuclear weapons in Assisi, Italy, organised by the lay Committee for a Civilisation of Love.
French traditionalist Catholics plan a march from Paris to Rome to urge Pope Francis to loosen his recent restrictions on the use of the Latin Mass. The demonstration next March and April will be led by mothers of priests who celebrate Mass in the traditional form. The Pope restricted use of that Mass in his July motu proprio Traditionis custodes. The march has been planned by a new association called La Voie romaine (The Roman Way).
Tanzania’s Episcopal Conference has launched a programme of environmental education, inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. The programme will be rolled out across East Africa when the regional episcopal conferences meet in Tanzania next July. Bishops from nine Eastern African countries will study the theme, “Environmental Impact on Sustainable Human Development”.
A Nepalese court granted bail to two South Korean nuns on 18 November, more than two months after they were arrested for allegedly converting Hindus to Christianity by coercion. The higher court in Pokhara district ordered the release of Sr Gemma Lucia Kim and Sr Martha Park Byongsuk of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres congregation. The elderly nuns are among 13 Christians accused of proselytisation. The nuns have been running St Paul's Happy Home, that provides services and skills training for 120 slum children.
Nearly 200 Catholic priests in Papua have called on the international community, including the United Nations, to play a more active role in bringing peace to Indonesia’s turbulent easternmost province, where government troops are engaged in a long-running conflict with local rebels.
Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi in a television interview broadcast on 14 November. The Primate of the Coptic Orthodox Church reiterated that Christians in Egypt are not treated as “second class citizens” compared to their Muslim compatriots. Pope Tawadros also reported that he is a football fan and follows the sporting performances of Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, captains the Egypt national team. "I listened to him even when he talked about climate change in a meeting with Prince William", said the Patriarch. He added, “may God bless him in his legs, both right and left, which he uses in an impressive way”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision on 19 November to withdraw controversial agricultural laws has been welcomed by the Indian Catholic Church. Three proposed farm laws prompted thousands of farmers to camp in Delhi since last November, complaining that the laws would allow the entry of wealthy private businesses into farming and damage their income.
The last survivor of the 1996 Tibhirine massacre, Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher died on Sunday at the monastery of Midelt in Morocco, aged 97. Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher was one of the two survivors of the attack on the Trappist Tibhirine monastery on March 26-27. He and Brother Amédée (who died in 2008), slept in a more remote part of the monastery, and were overlooked. Their seven companions were kidnapped and tortured – their heads were found in a nearby ditch. These seven martyrs have since been beatified, as well as 12 other religious killed during the Islamist uprising.
Father Julian Carron, the president of the Communion and Liberation movement, has announced his resignation. Father Carron, who has led the movement since the death in 2005 of its founder, Fr Luigi Giussani, said that he was stepping down in obedience to the directives of Pope Francis calling for changes in leadership of religious orders and movements.
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