News Briefing: Church in the World

India’s Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of a Christian army officer who refused to enter the sanctuary of a regimental temple for worship. Lt Samuel Kamalesan was dismissed in 2021 for refusing to join weekly regimental religious parades, citing his Christian faith which he said forbade his taking part. 

In a judgment on 25 November, the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said Kamalesan’s “private understanding” of his religion cannot allow him to breach military discipline.  

In defence of Kamalesan, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan argued that the fundamental right to practise a religion under Article 25 of the Constitution cannot be taken away just because he joined the armed forces, but Justice Bagchi replied that “Article 25 protects essential religious features, not every sentiment”. 

Marking Constitution Day the following day, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India issued a statement urging the federal government to safeguard the rights and dignity of minorities and marginalised communities.

The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong organised prayers and mobilised aid after a fire on 26 November at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po left at least 146 people dead and nearly 80 injured, with around 150 still missing last weekend.  

More than 4,000 residents from seven of the complex’s eight tower blocks were left homeless. The diocese shared a prayer for residents affected by the blaze on its website, saying that “we pray for one another, for we are one family with our brothers and sisters”. Last weekend, Masses at all Catholic churches offered prayers for the victims and included special collections Caritas Hong Kong’s response. 

Pope Leo sent a telegram to the Bishop of Hong Kong Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-Yan SJ, praying for victims and offering “the assurance of his spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve”. He prayed for emergency personnel “who continue to provide medical assistance and search for those still missing”. 

Initial investigations reported that alarm systems failed while fire spread through flammable construction materials used for renovations.

Churches across Asia joined the response to severe flooding affecting millions across Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Tropical cyclones have worsened seasonal monsoons in much of the region. 

More than 500 people died in Indonesia and around 300,000 people were displaced, particularly in Sumatra, Indonesia’s westernmost region. Flooding killed at least 355 people were killed in Sri Lanka, while 366 were still missing last weekend while low-lying areas of Colombo remained flooded. In Vietnam, deluges in the South-Central region caused at least 91 deaths, with 11 people missing.

Caritas Danang workers distributed clothes, blankets, mattresses, essential groceries and food to flood victims, and offered cash assistance to especially vulnerable families. They provided generators and solar-powered water filtration devices to support communities without clean water and electricity.  

Fr Joseph Nguyen of the Diocese of Qui Nhon said churches and convents have opened their doors to provide shelter for flood victims, though some church facilities are also affected. “We are cooking and providing food for hundreds of people every day because they lost all their possessions,” Fr Nguyen said. 

The Catholic Church in Thailand coordinated relief efforts after days of historic rainfall inundated Hat Yai and nearby districts, triggering a state of emergency across the south and at least 13 deaths. Bishop Paul Trairong Multree of Surat Thani helped mobilise Church operations across the region, and called for support from other dioceses.

The Bishop of Kalookan Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David urged Filipinos to attend rallies in Manila last weekend to protest against government corruption. The demonstrations followed rising public anger over scandals and abuses of government funds.  

The cardinal said the Philippines needs a moral and spiritual reset as he led Mass during a 30 November rally against corruption at the People Power Monument in Quezon City, Metro Manila. He prayed for transparency and accountability. Standing alongside other bishops and priests, Cardinal David called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to “do your job”. 

Around 5,000 people attended this rally along the historic EDSA Avenue, while tens of thousands more marched in central Manila in protest at the “Trillion-Peso” corruption scandal linked to government spending on flood-control infrastructure. Officials profited from contracts for flood defences that were never built, and are blamed for hundreds of deaths during recent typhoons.

Catholic leaders in Texas prepared to respond to a district court ruling on whether individuals brought to the United States as children – the so-called “dreamers” – can have their work permits revoked. 

A statement from the Texas Catholic Conference said the state’s bishops “firmly resolve to respond with compassion and a call for justice for those who, through no fault of their own, are now being forced to abandon their homes, their livelihood and their communities”.

It warned that if the judge strips these people of any chance of earning a livelihood legally, the repercussions will be felt in almost every town in Texas. The other 49 states would not be affected by the ruling and immigration experts warned Texas would suffer an exodus of young talent. 

The Obama administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme to regularise the status of those young people who entered the US without proper documents when they were children. Daca awarded them work permits. Texas began a suit to have Daca declared unconstitutional in 2018 and the current litigation is a result.

Terrorists in northern Nigeria murdered an abducted Anglican priest after his family and Church could not raise the ransom they demanded. 

Venerable Edwin Achi was seized with his wife and daughter early on the morning of 28 October at their home in Kaduna State. On 26 November, the kidnappers reportedly released a picture of the priest and his wife, as well other abductees, and threatened to kill them if the family did not meet their ₦200 million (£100,000) ransom demand. 

The Anglican Church of Nigeria condemned the killing and demanded that the Federal Government expose and punish the sponsors of violent attacks across the country. A statement signed by Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, said the murder “wounds” the conscience of the nation. 

In Kogi State, further south, bandits attacked the newly established Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Ejiba on Sunday, kidnapping its pastor, his wife and several worshippers. The community is about 30 km from Eruku, where 38 worshippers were abducted weeks earlier.

The Archbishop of Nampula Inácio Saúre issued a plea for immediate humanitarian support to aid over 30,000 displaced people in Memba. Archbishop Saúre, president of the Mozambique bishops’ conference, reported a critical need to help families fleeing violence inflicted by jihadist militias operating in north-eastern Nampula Province. 

“More than 30,000 people are currently sheltering in the administrative post of Alua,” he said. “The situation is particularly dire for children, with reports of deaths from hunger and thirst as families escaped the gunmen.” 

Nampula’s diocesan Caritas services are supporting them, but the archbishop urged all Mozambicans and the global community to assist the displaced who “require money, clothes, medicines, tents for shelter, and above all, food”. The start of the rainy season in southern Africa worsened conditions for those living in makeshift shelters.

Catholic bishops in the Great Lakes region urged Catholics to turn to Christ as the “Prince of Peace” to end crises. The bishops of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC), representing Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, issued a statement in response to the cycle of conflict centred in eastern DR Congo.

The Congolese army has struggled to contain scores of rebel groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23 Movement and the Islamist-aligned Allied Democratic Forces.

Competition for mineral wealth and the legacy of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide have undermined repeated peace efforts, while millions of civilians suffer displacement and mass human rights abuses. In a message for the start of Advent, ACEAC said the region must welcome Christ as “the One who can quench our thirst for peace”.

Sudan faces the fastest growing humanitarian crisis in the world, a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) official warned, with 12 million people displaced since its civil war began in April 2023. 

Paul Emes, Sudan Country Director for CRS, told The Tablet that the scale of the displacement has created unprecedented challenges with 30.4 million people – over half the country’s population – now in need of humanitarian assistance. “More than 16 million children are affected, making Sudan one of the world’s most severe child protection emergencies,” he said. 

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed at least 150,000 people since tensions between their respective leaders General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo turned violent during an RSF redeployment on 15 April 2023.

The Catholic bishops of Ukraine made “a pilgrimage to the suffering” from their annual retreat to the site of a Russian strike in the city of Ternopil.

A Russian missile and drone attack hit two apartment blocks in the city on 19 November, killing 33 people including six children, with six others including a child still missing. Nearly 100 people were injured.

Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the country’s small Latin-rite Church began their joint retreat on 25 November in Zarvanytsia, about 50 miles from Ternopil, in western Ukraine.  

The apostolic nuncio to Ukraine Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas said the bishops went to Ternopil to pray and “hug the family members of the deceased”.

He told The Tablet that on their return to Zarvanytsia the bishops discussed the Church’s humanitarian work. “One aspect is clear: the most important thing is to be together with those who suffer the most,” he said.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and president of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, was appointed president of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).  

“We very much look forward to having Cardinal Koch as our president, and to the guidance he can bring to our mission to persecuted and suffering Christians all over the world,” said ACN’s executive president Regina Lynch. “We are grateful to Pope Leo for this appointment and interest in our work,” she added. 

The Swiss-born cardinal has collaborated with the Catholic charity over the years, in particular with the Swiss and German national offices, and has extensive experience in the field of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue – an essential part of ACN’s mission in countries where Christians, or Catholics, are a minority.

Pope Leo appointed Fr Joshy George Pottackal O.Carm an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Mainz. Born in 1977 in Meenkunam in Kerala, Pottackal was ordained a priest in 2003 and went to Germany shortly after ordination, eventually becoming a naturalised citizen. 

He is the first non-European appointed as bishop in Germany, and one of relatively few Religious among its bishops’ conference. “It is high time that someone with a migration background is appointed to an office like this,” he said. 

Introducing his new auxiliary, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz acknowledged there will be comments on Pottackal’s origins but insisted: “There are no strangers in this Church.”

Three Austrian nuns in their eighties who ran away from their care home have been told by Church authorities they can stay in their former convent only if they stop “social media activities” and “dismiss lawyers and legal experts working for them”.  

Church officials said they would provide medical care and nursing help for the nuns as well as spiritual support from a priest, but if their health deteriorates there is a possibility they will still have to move to a nearby care home. 

The story of runaway Sisters Rita, 82, Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, defying the Church hierarchy – they were accused of breaking their vows of obedience – drew worldwide attention. The trio broke back into their abandoned convent at Goldenstein Castle in Elsbethen near the city of Salzburg in September, with the help of supporters.

The head of a schismatic community of former Poor Clares was arrested in northern Spain last week.

Laura García de Viedma, formerly known as Sr Isabel of the Trinity, was arrested by the Guardia Civil last week during an investigation into the internet sale of art from the convent of Belorado, alongside another member of the community. After a night in police cells, both were released.  

Spanish judges – in a separate inquiry – are investigating García de Viedma over the sale of 1.7 kg of gold earlier this year and possible fraud for renting out another convent to a German entrepreneur. The community faces judicial eviction orders from Belorado and a second property in Vizcaya. 

In May 2024, the Poor Clares of Belorado, near Burgos, announced on social media that they were leaving the Catholic Church and recognised no Pope after Pius XII as legitimate. The Archbishop of Burgos Mario Iceta excommunicated 10 nuns, and the Vatican subsequently asked him to head a committee to administer the convent.  

The community’s attempts to find alternative finances have included opening the world’s first “cloistered” restaurant in Asturias in northern Spain. The nuns cook out of sight and lay staff serve the food.

St Polycarp Church in central Lyon allowed about 80 young migrants to sleep inside because cold, rain and rats had made a nearby park unbearable. The migrants arrived after Sunday Mass on 23 November, asking to be taken in.  

Parishioners supported them and Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon agreed after visiting that evening. Newly-arrived migrants in France often live on the streets while their applications are processed. “Last week, it was -3°C at night,” said a volunteer at a nearby park where many sleep. “We were afraid we would find someone dead.” 

The archbishop announced: “I have decided not to request police intervention.” He asked the youths not sleep in the nave of the seventeenth-century building, a classified monument, and leave during the day “so that the church can remain a place of prayer”. He continued: “This support is not intended to replace the decisions that our country’s political leaders must make, nor the appropriate laws that must be enacted to address the current migration crisis.” 

Without showers, a dining area or enough toilets, the parish can only do so much to help. “Accommodation can only be emergency and temporary,” parish priest Fr Éric Mouterde said.

Brussels officials upset many Belgians by unveiling a Nativity Scene on its opulent Grand Place that houses the faceless figures in an open tent and clothed in recycled garments. 

Critics find the figures too “folksy” and the faces too confusing because they are covered with a slightly dark multicoloured cloth meant to be inclusive. Instead of the traditional wooden stable, the scene is surrounded by a tent made of gauzy white fabric. Following a local protest tradition, the pale blank head of the Baby Jesus doll has already been stolen.  Officials have promised to replace it. 

City officials said the old stable and statues had become dilapidated and hard to transport. The new scene, titled “Fabrics of the Nativity”, has the approval of the nearby Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula. 

“It’s Christmas without Christmas,” said one social media response. “Sharia-compliant Christmas on the Grand Place,” another commented. “We’ve hit rock bottom… and we’re still digging,” said Belgian international footballer Thomas Meunier. Brussels Mayor Philippe Close stood by the scene, part of a Grand Place end-of-year ensemble no longer called the “Christmas Market” but the “Pleasures of Winter”. The city will use the scene for the next five years.

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