A conference in Lahore brought together the democratic exponents of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Christian mother, in prison since 2009 for blasphemy charges, could be released soon. Judges fear religious extremism: "Only courage and morality can defeat intolerance".
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| TURKEY - S. ARABIA - EUThe Good Shepherd Christian Hospital will be inaugurated early next year. The nearest public hospital is Lahore, 95 km away. The Christian cross is visible on the façade.
They had escaped from a detention center in Thailand after opening a gap in the wall and using blankets to lower themselves to the ground. Malaysia was only a temporary transit point, before clarifying their status as refugees with the UN High Commissioner (UNHRC) and reaching the Uyghur community in Turkey.
Perhaps today he will meet President Donald Trump. The judges sentenced the pastor to three years in prison, in reality already discounted during the trial. In his last defense, Brunson said, "I am an innocent man. I love Jesus, I love Turkey ". A recovery of US-Turkey relations is expected.
Three key prosecution witnesses have retracted their statements a few hours before the start of the fourth hearing in the trial. The prosecution has upheld the charges but has agreed to the accused’s release. Trump might use this in the upcoming mid-term elections.
The Synod of Bishops is underway in the Vatican. For Youth Commission Secretary, the Church has not really committed herself to involving young people. the challenges facing Pakistan and Europe’s secularised societies are not the same, says Card Coutts.
The government plans tighter controls on drug trafficking. New bill seeks to stop the sale of ‘ya ba’, the mad drug. The real goal is to ensure the outgoing government’s victory in next December’s elections. Since mid-May more than 200 people have been killed in “encounter” with the police.
The Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops writes an open letter to the former nuncio to Washington. In it, he describes the former nuncio’s accusations as a baseless “political manoeuvre”. “I cannot understand how you could have allowed yourself to be convinced of this monstrous accusation which has no standing,” he writes.
Chinese faithful, official and underground communities, express their feelings about the present and the future of the Sino-Vatican provisional agreement. Many ask for the publication of the agreement document; others that bishops held in prison are freed and that the unofficial bishops are recognized by the government. The fear that China will belittle the Vatican. Fidelity to the Pope and to the unity of the Church, but concern for the rise in "collaborator" bishops.
For the optimists the provisional agreement is "historic"; for the pessimists it is the beginning of the total sell out of the Church to the Party. The Pope is involved in naming bishops. But we know nothing of a right of veto. The lifting of excommunications is good, but the faithful expect a public request for forgiveness. China has not asked for a break with Taiwan as a prior condition. Praise for Lithuanian martyrs, amid silence on the Chinese ones.
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