Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of India has admitted an appeal by Cardinal George Alencherry to discharge him from criminal cases related to the sale of church land in Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese in Kerala.

Cardinal Alencherry, the head of the Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church, is seeking to quash the order of Kerala High Court delivered in August 2021. The court ordered him to face trial on seven criminal charges in connection with controversial land deals that incurred a loss of 10 million US dollars for the church. 

Police in Bangladesh arrested a Muslim man who vandalized statues of Jesus, Mother Mary and Saint Teresa at a Catholic church in Joypurhat district in Rajshahi Diocese.

The 22-year-old man also wrecked a copy of the Bible during the attack on Sunday. Local Catholics confronted the man and handed him over to police. Muslim villagers claimed the youth is mentally challenged.

The damaged interior of Mother Teresa Church after it was vandalized by a Muslim youth on April 3. (Photo: Facebook)

Police said an investigation is underway to find the truth and initiate legal action. Church leaders have strongly condemned the attack and called for justice. Christians said the attack has spread fear in the local community.

Bangladesh was long known as a moderate Muslim country. However, since 2013 it has seen an upsurge in Islamic militancy that has claimed about 50 lives including atheist bloggers, writers, foreigners and religious minorities. 

A Christian organization in Pakistan has organized the first national Christian Business Expo to support Christian companies and entrepreneurs against the backdrop of rising religious discrimination in the Islamic republic.

More than 70 Christian companies and entrepreneurs displayed their products at the event held at United Christian Hospital in Lahore last Saturday and Sunday. It was organized by the Pak Mission Society. Nursing staff sang psalms on the colorful stage as visitors posed for photos.

Pak Mission Society chairman Samson Griffin (right) speaks at the first national Christian Business Expo in Lahore on April 2. (Photo: Pak Christian Entrepreneurs Network)

The stalls offered a variety of products from fashion, food and makeup to tattoos, tourism services, pet stores, clothes banks, crockery, beauty salons and bookshops.

Church leaders and the participants highly appreciated the initiative for promoting Christian companies and encouraging innovative business ideas. Christians face routine discrimination in Pakistan including in education and employment. In government services only menial work such as sanitation jobs is reserved for Christians. 

Two watchdogs have highlighted an intensified crackdown against members of both authorized and unauthorized religions in communist China under President Xi Jinping.

The bipartisan and bicameral US Congressional-Executive Commission on China released its annual report documenting what it calls “the horrors the Chinese government and Communist Party perpetrate against the Chinese people.”

Chinese authorities have intensified a crackdown on religions, especially on banned cult movements, rights watchdogs say. (Photo: Bitter Winter)

It pointed out that suffering of all religious groups has gone from “bad to worse” in China, adding that the Chinese regime has used the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic to introduce more surveillance targeting all forms of dissent including “illegal” religions.

Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Chinese rights group Dui Hua Foundation has also reported a marked increase in repression against some 41 banned religious cult movements in China. The group reported that thousands of cult members have been arrested, jailed and tortured in recent years.

South Korean Christians have joined in prayer, fasting and voluntary activism to raise awareness about the protection of life and to oppose abortion.

Christians are observing a global 40-day Prayer for Life campaign from March 2 to April 10. They took to the streets holding placards with pro-life slogans. The participants also distributed a booklet containing texts and pictures with anti-abortion messages and prayer intentions for the end of abortion.

A Christian holds a pro-life sign at a street in South Korean capital Seoul during the 40-day Prayer for Life campaign. (Photo: Catholic Times of Korea) 

The campaign bears significance for South Korea, which had a high rate of abortion despite a legal ban until 2019. That year the Constitutional Court ruled the criminalization of abortion was illegal.

An upcoming bill seeks to decriminalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

A Catholic bishop in the Philippines has challenged presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to pay a huge tax bill that his family owed to the government. 

Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, head of Catholic charity Caritas, made the call on Tuesday. The prelate said Marcos must clear the tax bill to prove that he walks his talk of respecting court orders.

Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. greets supporters during a rally in Laoag city, Ilocos norte province, north of Manila, on March 25. (Photo: AFP)

In 1999, a court ordered the Marcos family to pay 23 billion pesos or 460 million US dollars in taxes on the estate left by dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The total amount has now risen to 203 billion pesos due to interest and penalties. Marcos Jr.’s spokesman Vic Rodriguez brushed the issue aside, saying the case was still pending in court.

The heir of the infamous political clan has emerged as the presidential frontrunner in various opinion polls ahead of the presidential election on May 9. 

An Indonesian court has sentenced a Christian YouTuber to 10 years in jail for blasphemy and hate speech for insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

Ciamis District Court in West Java province convicted 56-year-old Muhammad Kace, a former Muslim cleric who converted to Christianity, on Wednesday. Before his conversion in 2014, Kace taught in an Islamic seminary and performed the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia three times. Police said he posted at least 400 videos on YouTube insulting Islam.

An Indonesian court has sentenced Muhammad Kace to 10 years in prison for blasphemy. (Photo: YouTube)

His derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad in a video posted in August last year went viral and sparked a slew of complaints from Muslims. He was arrested and remained in jail until the court verdict.

Jesuit priest Johannes Hariyanto said the sentence was harsh and discriminatory. He pointed out that a day earlier a court in East Jakarta had sentenced hardline Muslim leader Munarman to only three years on grave charges of terrorism.

The Omicron variant is wreaking havoc in Laos with the nation recording a record number of Covid-19 cases recently. The government’s health department reported that about 50 percent of people tested were returning positive results.

Last Friday, Laos registered 2,404 cases and four deaths from 5,670 people tested. Another 2,665 cases and four deaths were recorded the previous day. Some three weeks ago, Laos was reporting fewer than 250 cases a day. The sharp rise in cases amid the third wave is blamed on the communist-ruled Southeast Asian nation’s slow vaccination program.

Buddhist monks pray at a temple in Lao capital Vientiane. The tiny communist country has seen a sudden upsurge in Covid-19 cases. (Photo: AFP)

About 61 percent citizens have been fully vaccinated while the government is struggling with a vaccine shortage. In contrast, cases have fallen to fewer 50 a day in neighboring Cambodia, where the government claimed 90 percent of people have been fully vaccinated.

Amid vaccine shortages, Laos authorities have recommended herbal and traditional medicines including plant extracts to combat the disease. 

Myanmar diaspora groups have appealed to the US Congress to pass a law to pressurize the military junta to end violence. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability Act of 2021, or Burma Act, this week.

It seeks to authorize the Department of State to designate a coordinator to promote democracy and human rights, ensure humanitarian assistance and to impose targeted sanctions for human rights violations. The bill was introduced last October.

Rohingya children play in Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh, on March 27. (Photo: AFP)

The US Advocacy Coalition for Myanmar and other diaspora groups issued a letter insisting that the Burma Act must be passed to ensure humanitarian aid and democracy in Myanmar, and to hold the military accountable for war crimes against civilians including religious and ethnic minority groups such as Rohingya Muslims.

Violence since the military coup in February 2021 has displaced more than 500,000 people in Myanmar including 31,000 who fled to India.