From today until Sunday, bishops, priests, religious and laypeople from all nine dioceses are gathered for the first time in Sibu to listen to one another and discern their common path in a country of a thousand faces. The Archbishop of Kuching, Msgr Simon Poh: “We are not looking for who has the best approach, but how to read the signs of the times”:
The law is unclear and not really applied. Concepts like multiparty democracy cannot be mentioned. Media censorship is tight.
A recent UN report reveals that despite female emancipation in the political sphere and improved health care, in the Asia – Pacific region sexual discrimination persists to the detriment of the economy with losses between 42 and 50 million dollars per annum.
China will build a gas pipeline of 2,380 kilometres from the Myanmar coast to Yunnan. Meanwhile it exploits the rich Burmese reserves to the detriment of the population. India too plans a gas pipeline from Myanmar. Fears rise that the gas will aid the military junta in its oppression of the ethnic minorities.
On Press Freedom Day journalists remember the censorship, attacks, prison and murder they frequently face in many Asian countries. The ‘democratic’ West is indifferent. China represses its cyber-dissident. The bishop of Lahore speaks out on the issue.
An Oblate priest thanks his “Muslim brothers” for their help and support of the Catholics currently building their parish Church in Kualabaru. In Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands where the majority is Muslim, since 1980 the Christian community is becoming ever more present.
Rogelio Illustrisimo, candidate for the post of Santa Fè mayor, was killed this morning by two Hired guns. Pre-electoral violence continues to claim lives, as the toll of dead and wounded reaches 26.
They are charged with making a videotape in which the Qur’an is treated as the cause of all of Indonesia’s ills. Another 60 people are wanted. Christian group confirms the tape’s existence but does not endorse it. Muslim leaders try to appease emotions to avoid violent reactions.
At a ceremony commissioning East Timor’s first ambassador to the Holy See, President Gusmao invites Benedict XVI and remembers John Paul II. Dili bishop adds his voice to invitation, saying the Holy Father can help “restore peace and unity in our country."
The president of the Bishops Commission has addressed an appeal to all of the faithful in which he asks them to pray from May 5th through 14th resident for free and fair elections. But political violence continues in the country: this morning the mayor of San Carlos died, after being attacked.
The candidates hail from all over the world. Benedict XVI asked them to spend their lives following the footsteps of Christ’s mission. He also asked friends, family and the entire community to pray and accompany their vocations which are born in the Church.
Fr. Maximilian N. Ranatunga tells AsiaNews the story of his conversion from Buddhism: from his initial condemnation of Christianity, through the newfound “wonder” of praying to the Virgin, to his search for God and the priestly vocation to “place himself at the service of the sick”.
Monks hold protests, urging the Constitutional Assembly to recognise Buddhism as the national religion, “to preserve and improve the profession the faith”. The population, politicians and religious, maintain that the proposal is both useless and dangerous and warn: “it could aggravate tensions in the South”.
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