The Voice of the suffering in Asia

After being accused of blasphemy, a Christian mother of two was cornered in a field in Pakistan and beaten by a mob.  Saima Farhad Gill, who is also a widow and lives in a village near Gojra, was saved by police and taken into custody. She was charged under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws.  Saima’s neighbors claimed that they had found documents bearing the name of her daughter, Emma, age 9; allegedly among the documents were ripped pages of the Qur’an. An ...

On June 4th, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or the Popular Party of India, won its third election, extending Narendra Damodardas Modi’s tenure as leader of the country. What are the consequences of these results for the Christian community? In this interview, Father Pradeep, a Jesuit from the state of Jharkhand, shares his thoughts with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).  Prime Minister Modi recently won the elections. What was the reaction of the Christian ...

A new amendment to the Christian Marriage Act says that girls and boys under the age of 18 cannot marry. Though only a first step, this could curb cases of abduction and forced marriage for Christian girls in the country.   The Catholic Church in Pakistan applauds a new amendment to the Christian Marriage Act, which was recently signed into law and raises the age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls.   Though limited in scope – the law ...

On July 16th, thirty years after returning to Bangladesh, the Jesuits are opening a new novitiate in the South Asian country, where Christians are a small minority. By allowing the novices to have their initial formation in the local languages and culture, the Jesuits hope to promote vocations.  A “Grace of God”: this is how the Jesuit Mission Superior in Bangladesh, Father Ripon Rozario, SJ, describes the support offered by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). ...

The chair of the Catholic Church’s National Commission for Justice and Peace in Pakistan lambasted a court for sentencing a Christian man to death after being found guilty of blasphemy. This happened  in connection with one of the country’s worst-ever atrocities against minorities.   Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, called the judgment handed down in the case of Ehsan Shan “very, very painful.” The Sahiwal Anti-Terrorism Court found Shan guilty of blasphemy by ...

Devotion to the Catholic Church is a distinguishing feature of East Timorese culture. Pope Francis will be the second Pope to visit the country and the first since independence.  East Timor is one of the world’s youngest countries, having obtained independence in 2002. It is also the Asian country with the highest proportion of Catholics, at close to 99 percent of the population, and one of only two majority Catholic countries in Asia, alongside the Philippines.  Speaking to Aid to ...