World

While the country is looking for a "common ground" on which to rebuild the fabric of a split society, and seeks paths for "national reconciliation" after the general elections won by the young leader Yingluck Shinawatra, the Muslim onset in the south of the country strongly returns.

Violence and bloodshed are carried out against defenseless families: the victims are mostly Buddhists in the extreme south of Thailand, in the three provinces where most of the people are Muslims (Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat) on the border with Malaysia, and this is where the victims, a small minority live and are targeted by rebel groups who use terrorist methods. Read more »

Hong Kong’s Catholic leaders have issued an urgent appeal to Chinese Catholics to pray for unity in the Church, as officials of the Catholic Patriotic Association prepare to ordain a bishop in defiance of the Vatican.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former Bishop of Hong Kong; and his successor, Bishop John Tong, joined in the plea to stop the illicit ordination, scheduled to take place in the Shantou diocese on July 14. They blamed “rogue officials” for creating divisions within the Chinese Catholic community, and urged loyal Catholics to remain united to the Holy See. Read more »

Fides reports that the case of Farah Hatim, the Catholic girl kidnapped and forced into conversion to marry a Muslim man in the city of Rahim Yar Khan in southern Punjab, Pakistan is now scheduled before the High Court in Multan.

Fides also reports that Paul Bhatti, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Religious Minorities Affairs in Pakistan and leader of APMA (All Pakistan Minorities Alliance) had attempted mediation with the Muslim family who has been keeping Farah. Read more »

A group of people led by a man claiming to be a leader of a national party stormed inside a Catholic school in Belgaum, Karnataka, demanding admission for two of his friend’s children.

About 50 people entered the St Joseph’s Canosian Convent School and abused the teachers and management of the institution on Monday (4/7/2011). Read more »

Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) has always been "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (Isaiah 53:3) The only son of a Chicago funeral director, Itsvan Kovak (Rutger Haer) Michael lived literally down the hall from death his entire life.

Unlike most young men who never experience death close hand, Michael is steeped in it, preparing bodies for burial with his father. As a young boy, Michael is coaxed by his father into helping prepare the corpse of his mother, by gently blowing on the red fingernail polish his father applies as he lovingly prepared her body, while whispering endearments into her ear. The image is forever seared into his memory, tainting his adulthood with a lack of faith and a sense of detachment. Read more »

William Shakespeare was probably a Catholic, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury in an exploration of spirituality and secularism in the Bard's plays.

Dr Rowan Williams discussed the themes with Simon Russell Beale, the great Shakespearean actor, in one of the most eagerly-anticipated talks of the festival. Read more »

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that an Algerian Christian was sentenced to five years imprisonment for blasphemy in Oran on Wednesday after sharing his Christian faith with a neighbor.

The verdict came days after authorities forced the permanent closure of seven Protestant churches in Algeria's Béjaia province. Read more »

Australia Tuesday blocked a call from a leading Muslim group for the introduction of a non-extremist version of sharia law, saying local legislation would always win in any clash of cultural values.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils had urged the government to consider “legal pluralism” for Muslims in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into a new policy on multiculturalism. Read more »

Two Catholic priests in northern Uganda have defied orders requiring them to appear before the police over alleged criticism of the government in their preaching.

Father Nakary Adiga and Father Caesar Dralenga, who serve at Christ the King Church in the Arua diocese, have been accused of “hiding behind the altar” to attack the government. The orders were issued last week, requiring the priests to answer charges of incitement against the government, especially during their Sunday sermons. Read more »

On May 13, 1917, on a hillside outside Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children saw a lady "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun."

For the next six months, on the 13th day of the month, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Read more »