Indian Dalit Catholics celebrate first cardinal

Indian Dalit Catholics celebrate first cardinal

Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals including six from Asia last Sunday. The new cardinals will receive their coveted red hats during a consistory in the Vatican on August 27.

Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad in India is the first cardinal from the marginalized Dalit community while Archbishop Felipe Nerri of Goa and Daman comes from a Catholic stronghold. Archbishop William Goh of Singapore and Archbishop Dom Vigilio da Silva of Dili of Timor-Leste are the first cardinals from their nations.

Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, is the fourth cardinal from South Korea. Italian Consolata missionary Bishop Giorgio Marengo, who leads one of the world’s smallest Catholic communities of about 1,400 Catholics in Mongolia, will be the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.

The pope’s latest move of bypassing traditional cardinal seats once again reaffirms his pastoral vision of going to the “peripheries” – or putting spotlights on small but emerging churches in the world.

For the first time in 33 years, there will be no church services in Hong Kong on June 4 to commemorate communist China’s brutal crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing administration banned once-packed candlelit vigils in 2020 following the imposition of a draconian national security law and numerous pro-democracy activists and supporters have been arrested and jailed. Authorities have also forcibly closed the Tiananmen Museum and pulled down memorial statues.

The vigils and Masses in Hong Kong were among the last reminders of the deadly suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square of Beijing. Church officials said the events have been cancelled out of fear of falling foul of Hong Kong authorities and breaching of the law.

The suppression of a public commemoration of the massacre is another sign of the massive erosion of democracy and freedom in the former British colony once known as one of the world’s freest cities. 

Rights watchdog Amnesty International has accused Myanmar’s military junta of committing war crimes including unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests and forcible displacement of civilians in two Christian-majority regions.

Amnesty released a new report on Wednesday titled “Bullets rained from the sky: War crimes and displacement in eastern Myanmar.” It found Myanmar’s military had subjected Karen and Kayah civilians to collective punishment via widespread aerial and ground attacks, arbitrary detentions that often resulted in torture or extrajudicial executions, and the systematic looting and burning of villages.

The report said an eruption of violence in Kayin and Kayah states from December 2021 to March 2022 left hundreds of civilians dead and more than 150,000 displaced.

During this period scores of civilian homes, schools, health facilities, churches and monasteries were destroyed in 24 artillery and mortar attacks. At least 10 churches including eight Catholic ones have also been destroyed.

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