THE heads of the two largest official Christian bodies in Europe visited the Polish-Ukrainian border last week to meet refugees from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and visit reception facilities for them there. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of the EU Bishops’ Conferences (Comece) and Revd Christian Krieger of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) travelled to the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing point near Chelm to deliver a joint Easter message in a 7-8 April stay. Comece represents all Catholic bishops’ conferences in the EU while CEC has 114 member churches from Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions in Europe. “The story of Christ’s passion and death echoes human suffering and tragedies experienced in many parts of our world, not least by Ukrainians in their own country and wherever the roads of exile have taken them,” the statement said. The two leaders thanked all professionals, volunteers and religious authorities for welcoming and supporting an estimated three million people, mostly women and children, who have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border.
A migrant was beaten and burned to death in the latest incident of anti-immigrant mob violence in South Africa, on the night of 6 April. A Zimbabwean man, Elvis Nyathi, 43, who had been working as a gardener, was accused by a gang who came to his home in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, of not having a passport. When he could not produce one, his wife Nomsa and witnesses said, assailants crushed him with steel rods and stones, poured flammable liquid on him and burned him to death. On 7 April, Cape Town Archbishop Stephen Brislin condemned attacks targeting undocumented foreign nationals. “Mob violence and mob justice, is no justice at all,” he said.
As Congolese Catholic bishops continue to raise their voice against armed violence in the east of the country, a rebel group has launched fresh attacks after a 10-year lull. Recent attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the March 23 Movement (known as M23) come as the Church prepares to welcome Pope Francis in the country in July this year. He will visit the capital Kinshasa and the eastern town of Goma.
Removal of Khan welcomed Pakistan’s parliament is to select a new prime minister after days of brinkmanship in which Imran Khan tried to dissolve parliament to head off a no-confidence vote. The vote proceeded last weekend after Supreme Court intervention. Church leaders welcomed the court ruling declaring Khan’s move to dissolve Pakistan’s parliament as unconstitutional. “The past three years have seen the worst in terms of human development, minority legislation and economic growth,” Kashif Aslam of the Catholic bishops’ Commission for Justice and Peace said.
Amid a worsening economic crisis in Sri Lanka, Catholic bishops, priests, Religious and laity attended street protests in early April, along with thousands of people in the capital Colombo, to call on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, along with two other bishops, said the country needs a fresh start. “Hand over the country to someone who can govern it and … eradicate the corrupt system,” the cardinal said. A decline in foreign reserves has fuelled shortages of essential goods and fuel, with daily power blackouts experienced across Sri Lanka.
Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, has visited 20,000 refugees from Central African Republic (CAR) living in Gado- Badjeri in east Cameroon. “We want to go home but we fear for our safety,” they told him, referring to the prevalence of armed militias. Cardinal Nzapalainga promised to bring their stories back to CAR. “I promise you that when I’m in Bangui people will be informed of your situation,” he said. CAR’s citizens have faced a decade of on-off civil war and more than 200,000 have fled their homes.
Catholic groups advocating for steps to alleviate climate change, and urging the US Congress to enact appropriate legislation, seconded the warnings contained in the 2022 report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “We can look to the themes of Lent to give us courage. Lent is a time of examining our temptations, confessing our sins and being open to change,” said Susan Gunn, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. “All of us, producers of oil and gas and consumers of oil and gas, we have to accept change.”
The Catholic bishops of Michigan have urged that state’s courts to oppose a suit filed by the governor, Gretchen Whitmer, seeking to have abortion declared a constitutional right under the state constitution. Michigan enacted a law barring most abortions in 1931, and in 1972, voters there defeated a proposal to liberalise the state’s abortion law in a referendum. The following year, the US Supreme Court ruled that the federal constitution guaranteed a right to an abortion, and so the Michigan law has not been enforced. Now the Supreme Court may overturn that 1973 decision, and the Michigan statute could be enforced.
Gunmen have abducted an 83- year-old religious sister from the United States who has served as a missionary in Burkina Faso since 2014. Bishop Theophile Nare of Kaya Diocese said Marianite Sr Suellen Tennyson was abducted from her bed on 4 April by men who also vandalised the convent in the northern town of Yalgo. “We are in touch with governmental leaders who have pledged to keep us informed as they learn more,” Marianite congregational leader Sr Ann Lacour said. Sr Suellen previously worked in the New Orleans archdiocese.
Nigeria’s insecurity was denounced last week both by the country’s Catholic bishops and by Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, Sultan of Sokoto and President of Jama’atu Nasril Islam, the union of Nigerian Islamic organisations. It was also announced that the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa, to be held in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in early May and attended by more than 150 bishops, will adopt the theme, “Fratelli Tutti: Path to building human fraternity and sustainable peace in West Africa”. Issues to be discussed include insecurity, land grabbing, child trafficking, migration, terrorism, and climate change.
Criminal gangs are trading babies from poor families in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, according to media reports. Sr Manju Devarapalli, secretary of the National Dalit Christian Watch in the state, has described the latest cases as “the tip of an iceberg”. She said as well as poverty, the government’s campaign against adoption centres and orphanages, especially those run by Christians, is also to blame.
The president of the Peruvian bishops’ conference successfully lobbied the government of President Pedro Castillo to cancel a decree restricting social mobility and imposing a curfew, which he announced on 4 April for Lima and the port city of Callao. The bishops felt the decree was “contrary to the basic rights of the population”. The measure, revoked within days, was taken after civil unrest due to increasing costs of fuel and agricultural products, but the bishops felt it would particularly harm “the poorest, who must look for food for their families every day”.
A Paris parish has ended ties with the group Féminisme en Église (Feminism in the Church) after members held an unapproved “inclusive” Mass with only women reading, including the Gospel. About 40 worshippers attended the 3 April Mass celebrated by a visiting priest in a Paris convent. “I regret that I can no longer receive [them] as a parish group,” said Fr Denis Branchu, parish priest of St Pierre de Montrouge church. The Paris archdiocese stated that it “regretted this initiative, which does a disservice to unity and communion”. The group had been active in the parish since late 2019.
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