Nigeria ‘under siege’
Catholic bishops in Nigeria have told President Muhammadu Buhari that the country is “under siege.” In an address delivered to Mr Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, president of the bishops’ conference, told Mr Buhari of “poverty, hunger, insecurity, violence, fear… the list is endless.” He went on to describe a near civil war in the north where Fulani cattle herders, “many of whom are terrorists masquerading as herdsman”, continue to attack “innocent citizens” – most of whom are Christians. “The silence of the Federal Government in the wake of these horrifying attacks is shocking,” Kaigama said.
In December 2017, dozens of Christians in northern Nigeria were killed by government air attacks, Amnesty International reported. Witnesses said the air raids took place as villagers were being attacked by herdsmen.
Pollution campaigners jailed
Two Catholic environmental activists have received lengthy prison terms in Vietnam after helping hundreds of fishermen to sue a Taiwanese-owned steel plant for polluting coastal waters. On 6 February, Hoang Duc Binh, 35, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe the interests of the state”.
A fellow activist, Nguyen Nam Phong, 38, was jailed for two years. Both men had campaigned for compensation for fishermen who lost their livelihoods after a Formosa Plastics Group steel plant’s toxic spill in 2016. The incident poisoned 200 kilometres of coastline. In February 2017, they led a delegation from Song Ngoc Catholic parish to file a lawsuit against the Formosa plant in neighbouring Ha Tinh province, but were intercepted by police. Fr John Baptist Nguyen Dinh Thuc of the parish said he twice appealed to the court to serve as a witness at the trial but never received an answer. Formosa Plastics Group, one of Vietnam’s biggest foreign investors, has voluntarily paid US$500m in compensation. However, the slow and uneven payout by the Vietnamese government has prompted protests.
Mexico City’s new archbishop, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes (pictured with Pope Francis in 2016), was installed on Monday 5 February, replacing Archbishop Norberto Rivera, who had served in the post since 1995. Aguiar Retes assumes his post at the head of one of the largest archdioceses in the world at a key political moment, as a presidential election is due in July and relations with the US are at a low point. Some 10,000 people attended the Mass in Mexico City, with 100 archbishops from Latin America and Europe. Cardinal Aguiar Retes stated his intention to address violence in Mexico and restore the traditional lifestyle of families.
A church in Egypt dedicated to the “Coptic Martyrs of Libya”, the 21 Copts beheaded on a Libyan beach in 2015 by Islamic State, was to be inaugurated on 15 February in Minya province. The day was chosen because that is the date when they are commemorated in the registry of Coptic saints. It is also the date in 2015 when a video of their decapitation was shown on jihadist sites, a month after their kidnapping. The church is located in Al-Our, near Samalut, in the province of Minya, where 13 of the 21 martyrs came from. Many relatives were present at the ceremony. The mass grave of the martyrs was found last September on the Libyan coast, near Sirte. As they were about to be executed, the martyrs are believed to have spoken the words: “Lord Jesus Christ.”
Abortion row
A Canadian bishop has challenged a new funding stipulation in a summer scheme for young people that requires applicants to support reproductive rights, including the right to access abortion.
Bishop Ronald Fabbro of the Diocese of London in Ontario says the diocese will not apply for the grant money from the Canada Summer Jobs Grants programme, which has been an important source of funding in the past.
“I believe we need to take a stand against the position of the Government of Canada and say that we will not be bullied into even the appearance of collusion on this issue,” Bishop Fabbro wrote in a 5 February letter to 118 parishes in his diocese.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has defended the new requirements, asserting that opposition to abortion is “not in line with where we are as a government and, quite frankly, where we are at as a society”.
A South Korean Catholic figure-skater lit the torch at the Opening Ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in South Korea on 9 February. Olympic gold-medallist Yuna Kim (pictured) who converted to Catholicism in 2008, teamed up with the Korean bishops’ National Rosary Campaign in 2014 and wore a rosary ring during her silver-medal performance at the Sochi Games in the same year. She acts as a spokesperson for Catholic charities in Seoul.
Following North Korea’s announcement that it would participate in the games, Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon, president of the Korean bishops’ Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People, released a statement saying he hoped the event would be a “turning point” and a stepping-stone to peace.
Zuma urged to step down
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on Tuesday formally asked President Jacob Zuma (above) to resign after he refused to do so earlier. Catholic bishops urged him to “act as an elder statesman and put the good of the country first”. Mr Zuma, 75, faced a no-confidence vote in parliament if he still refused to quit.
TV and radio broadcasters in Pakistan were ordered by the country’s media watchdog not to air any show that promoted or celebrated Valentine’s Day on 14 February – which it described as a Christian festival of no cultural relevance. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued a reminder of an Islamabad High Court verdict in February 2017 that directed the authority to ensure nothing about the festival appears on electronic and print media.
The Colosseum in Rome will be lit up in red later this month to draw attention to the persecution of Christians around the world in an event sponsored by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. On 24 February at 6 p.m. the Colosseum will be spotlit to represent the blood of Christian victims of religious persecution.
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