Asia – Pacific

Hong Kong, China, Jan 4, 2019 / 02:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung of Hong Kong died in hospital Thursday at the age of 73, after suffering liver failure due to cirrhosis.

He had been admitted to Canossa (Caritas) Hospital Dec. 27, and died the afternoon of Jan. 3.

A board of eight senior members of Hong Kong’s Church administration met Jan. 4 to discuss the diocese’ future leadership, and decided to hold off on choosing an acting bishop as interim leader of the diocese until after Yeung’s funeral, the South China Morning News reports.

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing of Hong Kong reportedly told the media that the diocese was particularly saddened by Bishop Yeung’s death, because his condition had been described as stable only a few hours before his death, though he had evidently been facing health problems for several years.

The bishop’s funeral Mass will be said Jan. 11.

Bishop Yeung was born Dec. 1, 1945 in Shanghai, and ordained a priest of the Hong Kong diocese in 1978 after studying at a pontifical Roman university.

He then earned a master’s degree in communications from Syracuse University in 1982, and later a master’s degree in education from Harvard University in 1990.

Since August 2003 he had served as the head of Caritas Hong Kong, and was vicar general from 2009.

He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong in 2014, and coadjutor bishop in 2016. He succeeded  Cardinal John Tong Hon Aug. 1, 2017.

From the very first homily after his installation, Bishop Yeung talked about serving the poor, the sick, and the needy, because, in his words, “the well-being of society requires the fostering of genuine ecology and unceasing efforts to bring about integral human development,” and said that “the Chinese government has generally encouraged the religious sector to participate more in social and charitable services.”

The Caritas Institute of Higher Education, of which Yeung was chair, held a Requiem Mass for the bishop’s soul Jan. 4. The school is seeking to be recognized as a university and change its name to “St. Francis University,” the organization announced in 2014.

As a special administrative region, Hong Kong has a large degree of autonomy from mainland China, with its own political and economic system. The territory was a British colony from 1842 until 1997.

There are some 581,000 Catholics in Hong Kong, or about eight percent of the population.

Bishop Yeung previously told CNA in an interview that the Catholic Church “mustn’t compete with the communist party for power and authority in this world. The Lord Jesus never told the disciples to compete with the Roman empire…the Church has, however, her role to play. She is called to have a good attitude to dialogue, and at the same time she is called to tell the truth, and to speak out against social injustice, when the latter happens.”

Yeung’s death comes at a time of rapprochement between the Vatican and the Chinese government. Last month, two bishops of the Vatican-approved underground Catholic Church in China agreed to step aside in favor of bishops of the communist-supported Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, in the wake of a September 2018 deal signed between the Holy See and the Chinese government.

[…]

Beijing, China, Dec 14, 2018 / 05:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two underground bishops in China have agreed to step aside in favor of bishops of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, in the wake of a deal signed between the Holy See and the Chinese government.

AsiaNews reported Dec. 13 that Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin of Mindong (Ningde) has agreed to become auxiliary bishop and that Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu will become Bishop of Mindong.

The agreement was made at a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, in the presence of Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

At the same meeting, Archbishop Celli announced that Bishop Peter Zhuang Jianjian of Shantou will give way to Bishop Joseph Huang Bingzhang.

Both Bishop Zhan and Bishop Huang had been excommunicated, and were reconciled to the Holy See as part of a September agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.

According to AsiaNews, at the meeting Archbishop Celli gave Bishop Guo a letter from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, and from Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, asking that he give up his role as Bishop of Mindong in favor of Bishop Zhan.

“Also according to the report of the priests of Mindong, Msgr. Celli would have told Msgr. Guo that Pope Francis himself asks for this gesture of obedience ‘and of sacrifice for the general situation of the Chinese Church’,” the news outlet reported.

AsiaNews also noted that in previous cases in which a bishop of the CPCA was reconciled to the Holy See, he would become auxiliary bishop to an existing bishop of the underground Church.

Bishop Guo, 59, was detained by the Chinese authorities overnight in March. While he was released after only a short detention, he was ordered not to officiate as a bishop while saying Mass because he is not recognized by the government.

He was taken away because he refused to concelebrate with Bishop Zhan at a Chrism Mass.

Bishop Guo was also detained ahead of Holy Week in 2017.

In January, Asia News reported that a Vatican delegation asked Bishop Guo voluntarily to accept a position as coadjutor bishop under Bishop Zhan. This was also among the conditions Chinese officials had proposed to Bishop Guo during his 2017 detention.

Bishop Guo told the New York Times in February that “we must obey Rome’s decision,” and that “our principle is that the Chinese Catholic Church must have a connection with the Vatican; the connection cannot be severed.”

But he also indicated that while “the Chinese government doesn’t say explicitly that we need to disconnect” from Rome, “in some circumstances it has such an implication.”

In March, at the Chinese Communist Party’s annual meeting, Bishop Zhan told China’s Sing Tao Daily: “There are no obstacles [to a China-Vatican deal] if everyone just thinks of the benefit of the church for the sake of peace.”

Bishop Zhuang, 88, was asked to retire in late 2017 by the Holy See, but he reportedly refused the request at that time. He was consecrated a bishop in 2006, with the approval of the Holy See.

In December 2017 Bishop Zhuang was reportedly escorted to Beijing, where he met separately with leaders of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, officials from China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs, and the Vatican delegation.

If Bishop Zhuang resigned, the Holy See delegation reportedly said at that time, he could nominate three priests, one of whom Bishop Huang would choose as his vicar general. “Bishop Zhuang could not help his tears on hearing the demand,” Asia News’ source said, explaining “it was meaningless to appoint a vicar general, who is still a priest that Bishop Huang could remove him anytime.”

[…]

Washington D.C., Dec 14, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- After reports of a guilty verdict emerged in the trial of Australian Cardinal George Pell, some in Australia have questioned the integrity of a process undertaken under the veil of a media blackout.

The… […]

Canberra, Australia, Dec 13, 2018 / 03:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid competing claims of religious freedom rights and LBGT rights, the Australian prime minister said Thursday the government will next year introduce a bill to protect against discrimination based on religious belief or activity.

“Australia is a place where discrimination on the basis of a person’s identity – including their religious identity – is unacceptable,” the office of Scott Morrison said Dec. 13.

“It is also a place where we respect the right of religious institutions to maintain their distinctive religious ethos. Our laws should reflect these values.”

Morrison also plans to appoint a freedom of religion commissioner at the Australin Human Rights Commission.

The government wants to make religious belief and activity a protected class, like race or sex. It also hopes to ensure that groups rejecting same-sex marriage are not stripped of their charitable status.

The proposals are among the government’s response to a review on religious freedom in Australia, which was finished in May.

Australia has seen debate over religious freedom in recent years with respect to the seal of the confessional, hiring decisions, and same-sex marriage.

The religious freedom review made 20 recommendations, of which the government will implement 14 as soon as practicable.

One recommendation, a Religious Discrimination Bill, will be “implemented following consultation to seek bipartisan support.”

Five more recommendations “require further consideration,” the government said. These include provisions relating to employment and enrolment in religious schools.

The head of the religious freedom review panel, Phillip Ruddock, told the Guardian Australia that it had “looked for examples of questionable conduct” against LGBT employees and students, but such examples were “few and far apart and ill-defined”.

Morrison’s governing Coalition alliance has been at odds with the opposition Australian Labor Party over efforts to legislate regarding religious schools’ ability to discriminate against LGBT students and staff.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney noted earlier this year that “we cannot take the freedom to hold and practice our beliefs for granted, even here in Australia,” and that “powerful interests now seek to marginalize religious believers and beliefs, especially Christian ones, and exclude them from public life. They would end funding to faith-based schools, hospitals and welfare agencies, strip us of charitable status and protections.”

For example, in July, a group of trade unions in the country passed a motion saying that they will lobby to restrict the right of religious organizations to make hiring decisions based on adherence to Church teaching on sexuality.

And when same-sex marriage was legalized in Australia in 2017, efforts to include amendments that would protect religious freedom failed during parliamentary debate.

[…]

Tehran, Iran, Dec 11, 2018 / 02:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While religious leaders marked the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this week by saying that more should be done to preserve human rights, both Iran and China detained upwards of 100 Christians.

The United Nations declaration, which was proclaimed Dec. 10, 1948, affirms that “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom … to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Pope Francis told a conference meeting on human rights Monday that everyone is “called to contribute with courage and determination, in the specificity of their role, to the respect of the fundamental rights of every person.”

And ahead of the declaration’s anniversary, the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations said the occasion presented an opportunity to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,” while also warning that parts of the world are experiencing the consequences of failing to uphold those rights.

Thus, according to Open Doors UK, 114 Christians were arrested last week in Iran. And the New York Times reports that in China’s Sichuan province, a Protestant pastor and more than 100 members of his congregation were detained Dec. 9.

In China, the Sunday raid was conducted at Early Rain Covenant Church, an underground community in Chengdu, which is led by Wang Yi. Some members of the ecclesial community were released Dec. 10, but were then put under house arrest.

Wang is a prominent human rights activist; he met with US president George W. Bush in 2006 to discuss religious freedom in China.

Sam Brownback, the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, tweeted about the raid, saying, “we’re deeply concerned” about the government “crackdown on house churches.”

“We call on China to release leaders/congregants & allow members of unregistered churches to exercise their #ReligiousFreedom rights,” Brownback wrote.

Religious freedom is officially guaranteed by the Chinese constitution, but religious groups must register with the government, and are overseen by the Chinese Communist Party. President Xi Jinping has in recent years pushed for the Sinicization of religion and strengthened government oversight.

China has practiced greater repressions of Muslims in recent years; it is believed that as many as 1 million Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnoreligious group in China’s far west, are being held in extra-legal detention.

The Telegraph reported Dec. 10 that many of the Christians detained in Iran last week were converts from Islam. They were instructed to cut off ties with Christian groups and to relate the story of their Christian activities.

Shia Islam is the state religion of Iran, though several religious minorities are recognized and granted freedom of worship. However, conversion from Islam is strictly prohibited.

Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, told the Telegraph that the reinstatement of sanctions on Iran by the US “has contributed to the government’s ever-increasing dependence on hardline Islamic ayatollahs, who naturally see Christianity as a threat to their power. For this reason, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing an increase in Christian persecution.”

An Open Doors spokesperson, Zoe Smith, commented that the increase in arrests of Christians “follows an established trend of the Iranian government – as the number of converts to Christianity increase, so the authorities place greater restrictions on churches,” adding that “the restrictions are worse for churches seen to be attended by Christians who have converted from Islam.”

[…]

Kadapa, India, Dec 10, 2018 / 11:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis accepted Monday the resignation of Bishop Prasad Gallela from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Cuddapah, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Gallala was in August the obj… […]

Newcastle, Australia, Dec 6, 2018 / 12:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A district judge overturned Thursday the conviction of Archbishop Philip Wilson for failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse disclosed to him in the 1970s, saying there was reasonable doubt a crime had been committed.

Newcastle District Court Judge Roy Ellis said Dec. 6 that the Crown had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Archbishop Wilson did not report abuse committed by Fr. James Fletcher, when Fletcher was charged in 2004 with child abuse which occurred between 1989 and 1991.

Peter Creigh, and another altar boy who is unnamed for legal reasons, said they both had told Wilson in 1976 of their abusive experience with Fr. Fletcher.

Archbishop Wilson, 68, resigned as Archbishop of Adelaide July 30.

Ellis said that “there were very honest features” of Archbishop Wilson’s evidence which “provide a strong platform for him to be an honest witness,” and that “there is no proper basis on which I can rely to reject” the prelate’s evidence, according to the ABC.

The judge also noted that the archbishop “did not attempt to blacken the name of Peter Creigh and allege he was a liar,” calling it an indication of the prelate’s “overall honesty.”

Archbishop Wilson did not say he disbelieved Creigh, which Ellis said “is once again supportive of his honesty as a witness,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Ellis questioned his memory of the conversation Creigh says he had with Wilson 42 years ago, and said there were inconsistencies in Creigh’s evidence, asking: “Was the duration of the abuse, six or nine months?”

While calling Creigh “an honest witness doing his best to recall events in 1976,” Ellis said that “acceptance of Mr Peter Creigh as an honest witness does not automatically mean I would be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he complained to Philip Wilson in 1976 that James Fletcher had indecently assaulted him.”

“It is not inconceivable that in looking back Mr Creigh convinced himself that he had complained rather than asking himself why he didn’t complain, which might especially be so if he had wanted to complain but never actually did.”

Creigh made “no complaint to anyone until he told his family 33 years later in 2009,” Ellis said, adding that he “made no notes of the conversation with Philip Wilson either at the time or shortly after the alleged conversation, nor at any time during the ensuing 39 years.”

The judge also noted the possibility of undue media influence on the case.

“This is not a criticism of media, but intended or not, the mere presence of large amounts of media from all around Australia and the world carries with it a certain amount of pressure on the court,” Ellis stated.

The heavy media presence “may amount to perceived pressure for a court to reach a conclusion which seems to be consistent with the direction of public opinion, rather than being consistent with the rule of law that requires a court to hand down individual justice in its decision-making processes.”

“The potential for media pressure to impact judicial independence may be subtle or indeed subversive in the sense that it is the elephant in the room that no one sees or acknowledges or wants to see or acknowledge,” Ellis said.

He added that Archbishop Wilson could not be convited merely because the “Catholic Church has a lot to answer for in terms of its historical self-protective approach” to clerical sex abuse. “Philip Wilson when he appears before this court is simply an individual who has the same legal rights as every other person in our community.”

“It is not for me to punish the Catholic Church for its institutional moral deficits, or to punish Philip Wilson for the sins of the now deceased James Fletcher by finding Philip Wilson guilty, simply on the basis that he is a Catholic priest.”

Archbishop Wilson did not attend the court in person, but watched the decision via media link.

The Crown has said it will appeal Ellis’ decision.

The archbishop has maintained his innocence throughout the process, saying he had no recollection of the accusations, and insisting that if he had been notified of the scandal, he would have offered pastoral care to the victims and their families, and reported the event to his superiors.

Fr. Philip Marshall, administrator delegate of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, said we “welcome the conclusion of a process that has been long and painful for all concerned. We now need to consider the ramifications of this outcome.”

“The survivors of child sexual abuse and their families are in our thoughts and prayers, and the Archdiocese remains committed to providing the safest possible environments for children and vulnerable people in our care,” Fr. Marshall added.

Archbishop Wilson had been convicted May 22, and was sentenced to 12 months of home detention in July. He had been serving the sentence at the home of a relative in New South Wales, wearing a tracking device.

Archbishop Wilson resigned as Archbishop of Adelaide in July, after having said initially he would only do so if his appeal failed.

He said he changed his mind because “there is just too much pain and distress being caused by my maintaining the office of Archbishop of Adelaide, especially to the victims of Fr. Fletcher,” and he had become “increasingly worried at the growing level of hurt” his conviction had caused.

Wilson was ordained a priest in 1975, and consecrated a bishop in 1996.

[…]

Chittagong, Bangladesh, Dec 6, 2018 / 10:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As new evidence emerges of atrocities committed in Burma’s Rakhine state, the president of Caritas International visited Monday a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.

In 2017 the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group,  faced a sharp increase in state-sponsored violence in Burma, also known as Myanmar. The violence reached levels that led the United Nations to declare the crisis “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh, and are living in refugee camps, many of which are located in a swampy sort of “buffer zone” along the border between the two countries.

Researchers with the Public International Law and Policy Group, contracted by the U.S. State Department to investigate Burma’s treatment of the Rohingya, found “reasonable grounds to believe that genocide was committed against the Rohingya,” in a report published Dec. 3.

The researchers interviewed more than 1,000 refugees, who shared their experiences of “mass shootings, aerial bombardments, gang rapes and severe beatings, torture and burning” by Burma’s armed forces.

Seventy percent of the Rohingya interviewed had witnessed their homes or villages being destroyed and 80 percent witnessed the killing of a family member, friend, or personal acquaintance.
f
Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila visited Kutupalong refugee camp, more than 100 miles south of Chittagong, Dec. 3, describing it as “a cry to the whole world for a better politics based on compassion and solidarity.”

“When will we learn our lessons and be able to stop a crisis of this magnitude happening again? How as an international community and a human family can we get back to the basics of dignity, care and compassion?” continued Tagle.

The Filipino cardinal is the president of Caritas International, a group that has served the Rohingya refugee population since the crisis began.

Caritas has helped nearly 500,000 refugees by providing shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, and living supplies.

“The situation of refugees from Myanmar was heartbreaking for me when I came first, but I’m seeing things improve,” Tagle said. “We wish for a permanent solution for these people who are stateless and helpless. It is our responsibility to be with them. We want them to have a happy life.”

Tagle found particular hope in seeing the efforts of the Caritas Bangladesh volunteers and staff to help the refugees during the Advent season.

“Here I am this first week of Advent with a people waiting for a future,” Tagle said. “For us Advent is waiting not for something but for someone. Jesus, who was born poor, who became a refugee but who never stops loving. I hope this message coming from this camp will encourage all of us never to get tired of loving.”

Bangladesh and Burma have agreed to a repatriation program which began last month, but few if any Rohingya have chosen to return to their homeland.

The Burmese government refused to use the term Rohingya, and considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. They have been denied citizenship and numerous other rights since a controversial law was enacted in 1982.

[…]

Islamabad, Pakistan, Dec 3, 2018 / 07:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A group of advocates for religious freedom have formed a commission for the protection of minorities’ rights in Pakistan, amid growing fears of intolerance toward religious minorities … […]

Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec 3, 2018 / 02:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Human rights groups are criticizing a smartphone app being rolled out by the Indonesian government which would allow citizens to file heresy reports against groups with unofficial or unorthodox religious practices.

The app, “Smart Pakem,” is available for download in the Google Play store and was launched by Jakarta’s Prosecution Office, which said it aims to streamline the previously-tedious and complicated written heresy reporting system.

Users can report from their phones the practice of any unrecognized religion, or unorthodox interpretations of the country’s six officially recognized religions: Islam, Catholicism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Protestantism.

“The objective…is to provide easier access to information about the spread of beliefs in Indonesia, to educate the public and to prevent them from following doctrines from an individual or a group that are not in line with the regulations,” Nirwan Nawawi, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, told AFP.

While Indonesia has a secular government, about 87 percent of the population is Muslim, making it the largest Muslim nation by population in the world. The remaining population is mostly comprised of Christians (10 percent) and Hindus (2 percent).

The constitution of the country officially invokes “belief in the One and Only God” and guarantees religious freedom, but strict blasphemy laws embedded in its criminal code have been criticized by national and international human rights groups.

Critics worry that the new heresy app could further undermine religious tolerance and freedom in a country where discrimination and attacks against religious minorities, and even among different sects of Islam, are not uncommon.

“This is going from bad to worse – another dangerous step to discriminate religious minorities in Indonesia,” Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono told AFP.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, vice chairman of human rights group Setara Institute, told AFP the app was “dangerous” and will “create problems” if a majority of people decide they don’t like any particular religious minority.

Earlier this year, multiple attacks on Catholic parishes in the country led to Church leaders asking Catholics to be on high alert during Holy Week. On May 13, three bombings at Catholic churches in Indonesia left 11 dead and at least 40 others injured.

Attacks and persecution against adherents to indigenous religions in the country have also increased.

According to AsiaNews, Komnas HAM, an Indonesian human rights group, has called for the removal of the app and requested a meeting with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which told the group that further evaluation of the app was needed before the meeting could take place.

[…]