On Orthodox Palm Sunday, or Willow Sunday as it is commonly known in Ukraine because congregants bring willow branches to be blessed in church, hostility to Moscow was an overriding emotion. Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the branch of the schismatic Ukrainian Orthodox Church that broke from Moscow in 2018, declared to the congregation in St Michaels’ Golden Domed Monastery in the capital Kiev: “God is with Ukraine, so it is clear [in the war with Russia] we will win”. At the Mother of God of the Sign – a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kiev that did not break with Moscow in 2018, Fr Hrihorii Foia announced “[Russian Orthodox Patriarch] Kirill crossed the Rubicon, Moscow crossed the Rubicon. What can you do in the face of this evil?” Fr Hrihorii had been drafted in to replace Fr Yuriy, who had refused to break with Moscow.
More than 150 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem last weekend as scores of worshippers gathered for Friday prayers in the month of Ramadan. This year the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Christian Holy Week culminating in Easter Sunday and the week-long Jewish Passover all occurred at the same time and visitor numbers rose. The first two weeks of April saw 20 deaths, three Israelis and 17 Palestinians across the West Bank and in Ashkelon. Two weeks ago Palestinian rioters vandalised the Tomb of the biblical patriarch Joseph in the West Bank city of Nablus, a Jewish holy site. Following an 11 April statement of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressing grave concerns over announced police restrictions on Holy Fire Saturday on 23 April, the day preceding Orthodox Easter, when Orthodox Christians believe miraculous Holy Fire occurs annually at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The World Council of Churches strongly condemned measures restricting access to places of worship as violations of religious freedom in the Holy Land. On Palm Sunday Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, emphasised the universality of the city of Jerusalem.
Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, president of the German bishops’ conference, responded on Thursday to a letter warning that the country’s synodal path could lead to schism. He defended the German process as a response to abuses in the Church. “The Synodal Path is our attempt in Germany to confront the systemic causes of the abuse and its cover-up that has caused untold suffering to so many people in and through the Church,” Bishop Bätzing wrote on 14 April to Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver. More than 80 bishops from around the world signed an 11 April open letter sent by Archbishop Aquila that warned sweeping changes to Church teaching advocated by the synodal path may lead to schism. The synodal assembly has voted in favour of documents calling for the priestly ordination of women, same-sex blessings, and changes to teaching on homosexual acts. Bishop Bätzing rejected the observation that the synodal path is guided by “sociological analysis and contemporary political, including gender, ideologies,” asserting that it is guided rather by Scripture, Tradition, the Magisterium, theology, the sense of the faithful, and “the signs of the times interpreted in the light of the Gospel.”
A Nigerian archbishop has said, “no clerics should ever support or encourage any woman or even a man to continue to stay in an abusive relationship or marriage.” He felt it would be, “tantamount to connivance for any clergyman to support domestic violence.” Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos was speaking following the murder of a celebrity Gospel singer in Abuja. Osinachi Nwachukwu, 42, died after suffering beatings and abusive treatment from her husband. She believed that divorce was unacceptable in church circles. The Archbishop said, “I believe strongly that any woman who feels her life is truly and sincerely threatened by her spouse should get out of such marriage immediately.”
A bus carrying worshippers traveling to an Easter pilgrimage in mountainous eastern Zimbabwe plunged into a gorge, killing 35 people and injuring all other passengers on Maundy Thursday. More than 100 members of the Zion Christian Church on the overloaded vehicle crashed near the town of Chimanimani.
The killing of more than 100 people by Fulani herdsmen on 10 April in Nigeria’s Plateau State shows how exposed and “helpless” the Christian community is, according to a Catholic priest. Fr Justine John Dyikuk confirmed that armed gunmen on motorbikes had raided at least four remote villages – mostly Christian - in the Kanam area. Many people are severely injured and others are missing. “We feel very sad and helpless,” Fr Dyikuk added as mass burials took place on 12 April. “We are also helpless in the face of a government that seems to sympathise with these armed bandits,” Fr Dyikuk, a lecturer of Mass Communication at the University of Jos, continued. “The attacks we are seeing in Nigeria are orchestrated by Islamists who are Fulani herdsmen wreaking havoc in our communities without being punished,” he said.
Pope Francis has prayed for victims of a typhoon in the Philippines, which caused landslides that killed more than 100 people, with scores missing. "He offers the assurance of prayers for the dead, injured and displaced as well as those engaged in recovery efforts," said a Vatican statement. Most of the deaths from Tropical Storm Megi – which struck on 10 April - were in the central province of Leyte. Megi forced dozens of ports to temporarily suspend operations, stranding thousands of people at the start of Holy Week. The disaster-prone region is regularly ravaged by storms with scientists warning they are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer because of climate change.
Holy Week celebrations in the Philippines this year included a limited resumption of crucifixion re-enactments and floggings, frowned upon by the Church and halted during the pandemic.
In the latest crackdown on religious freedom in China, the authorities picked up on the use of the word “Christ” in a WeChat post published by the Early Rain Covenant Church, a regular target for the Chinese authorities. The church’s WeChat account ran a book review group where members recommended book titles and the latest posting included The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis.
Sri Lankans abandoned holiday celebrations last weekend for protests about the worst economic crisis in living memory and the lack of justice for victims of the Easter attacks three years ago. The Young Catholic Association of the Archdiocese of Colombo held a march to St Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade, one of three churches attacked in 2019 during an atrocity that killed 269 people. Fr Cyril Gamini of the archdiocese said, “we as the Catholic Church stand with the public and support the expectations of the people.”
In Colombo's city centre crowds gathered around makeshift bonfires to highlight the plight of households now forced to cook with firewood.
At least 18 people, many of them Catholics, were killed when a truck carrying more than two dozen people crashed on a steep mountain road near an illegal gold mine in Indonesia’s West Papua province. The overcrowded truck, which was taking miners and their families to Easter celebrations in the West Papua capital of Manokwari, hit a hillside and overturned on 13 April.
Maryland passed the most sweeping environmental protection law in the United States with strong support from the state’s Catholic bishops. The law aims to reduce greenhouse gases by 60 per cent below 2006 levels by 2031. Among other measures, the law requires all state-owned vehicles to be electric by 2031, stipulates that certain companies generate electricity from low- and no-carbon sources and establishes a “green bank” to fund public-private projects. Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said, “Caring for the environment is as much about caring for our common home as it is about protecting the dignity of every human person.”
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the US came to the rescue of a nearby church after thieves stole a tabernacle from the sanctuary. The sisters donated a tabernacle from a facility they had closed to St John the Evangelist Church in Hydes, a suburb of Baltimore. The church’s pastor said the tabernacle was full, with two ciboria, a luna, and a small ciborium with gluten-free hosts, when it was stolen. “The most devastating part is that the tabernacle had the Eucharist in it, and we don't know where it is,” said Fr Pete Literal. The tabernacle from the sisters is now bolted to the altar.
Pakistan’s new prime minster, Shehbaz Sharif, has used his official twitter account to wish a happy Easter to the Christians in Pakistan and around the world. “We greatly value and laud the services that our Christian Pakistanis have rendered in all walks of life since the creation of Pakistan,” he said last weekend, “and let us all spread the shared message of peace, inclusivity and love.” Sharif thanked the Supreme Court for its ruling, which established the supremacy of the constitution and parliament and saw former PM Imran Khan ousted.
The Dominican priest responsible for Lahore’s Peace Centre, Fr James Channan OP, said this week that, "we hope that the tense political situation in the country is over … we wish the new Prime Minister and the political parties united in supporting him the best.” Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi said that special prayer ceremonies for peace and tolerance were held in churches across Pakistan.
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