King of Bahrain Audience with Pope Francis

Rarely, an Arab Muslim King visits the world's 1.2 billion leader at the Eternal City of Rome, but yes, the generous and tolerant Muslim King of Bahrain, who donated a land for the Catholic community in Bahrain paid a visit to His Holiness Pope Francis in May 19, 2014. Here the story from Catholic News Agency:

Pope Francis received King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain in audience on May 19.

An estimated 10% of the people in the Persian Gulf island nation are Christians; most Christians there are Asian guest workers. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is forbidden, but the nation is permitting the construction of a cathedral for the apostolic vicar who ministers to Catholics there.

The Pope and the king, who has ruled Bahrain since 1999, discussed Middle East peace and stability. “Mention was then made of the Christian community’s positive contribution to the country, and appreciation was expressed for His Majesty’s personal interest in the needs of the local Catholic community,” according to the Holy See Press Office.

Following their discussion, the King met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States.

Vatican sends Official delegates to Independence Celebration of Majority Catholic South Sudan

Photo Source: Wikipedia

VATICAN CITY, NEWS.va - Holy See press office director Fr. Federico Lombardi issued the following statement Friday: Tomorrow 9 July, the new Republic of South Sudan will be proclaimed in the city of Juba. For this solemn occasion, the Holy Father has sent an official delegation headed by Cardinal John Njue, archbishop of Nairobi and president of the Kenya Episcopal Conference. The delegation, which will also include Archbishop Leo Boccardi, apostolic nuncio to Sudan, and Msgr. Javier Herrera Corona, secretary of the apostolic nunciature to Kenya, will bring the authorities of the new State, and all its citizens many of whom are Catholic, best wishes for peace and prosperity.

As Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States, said yesterday when receiving a Sudanese parliamentary delegation led by Ahmed Ibrahim Elthair, president of the Sudanese National Assembly, peace, reconciliation and respect for universal rights (especially religious liberty) are the fundamental pillars upon which to construct the new socio-political circumstances of the region, and vital conditions in order to be able to look to a future of hope.

The Holy See, which has had stable diplomatic relations with the authorities of Khartoum since 1972 and will give due consideration to any request from the government of Southern Sudan, invites the international community to support Sudan and the new independent State so that, through frank, peaceful and constructive dialogue, they may find just and equitable solutions to outstanding questions; at the same time she expresses the hope that those peoples will enjoy a journey of peace, freedom and development.

Muslims should learn to reciprocate

Archbishop Hashem discussed the
Saudi talks whilst visiting Qatar
(Source: BBC News)

BBC, -The Vatican is holding talks with Saudi Arabia on building the first church in the kingdom, where some 1.5m Christians are not allowed to worship publicly.

Archbishop Paul-Mounged el-Hachem, one of Pope Benedict XVI's most senior Middle East representatives, said the discussions had begun a few weeks ago.

But the archbishop cautioned that the Vatican could not predict the outcome.

The discussions come in the wake of King Abdullah's historic meeting with the Pope at the Vatican last November.

Egypt to lift restrictions on building churches

An Egyptian soldier guards the Virgin Mary church in the Imbaba district of Cairo on May 10. Egypt's caretaker government said on Wednesday it will prepare a law within a month to ease restrictions on building churches while banning protests in front of places of worship, after attacks on Cairo churches.(AFP/File/Khaled Desouki)

By Samer al-Atrush, AFP

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's caretaker government said on Wednesday it will prepare a law within a month to ease restrictions on building churches while banning protests in front of places of worship, after attacks on Cairo churches.

Formed after 15 people died when a Muslim mob attacked two Cairo churches on Saturday, the cabinet's justice committee said in a statement that it would "decisively stand against incitement to hatred and sectarianism."

The committee was tasked with "studying the project of unifying laws for the construction of places of worship, to be completed within 30 days."

Moscow will have 60 new churches and still no new mosque

"How can you fight radicalism if the young people are forced to meet in houses, basements and sheds with a suspicious imam?" says chief mufti of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin. But how about Christians who were not permitted to build their churches in the Middle East? Demanding such houses for worship for Muslims should be reciprocated with the same in Muslim countries.  Having no mosque should not be equated with "islamophobia' or having "SUSPICIOUS IMAMS". Muslims have the responsibility to check who are these "suspicious imams" and terrorists in their midst and stop blaming our governments when Muslims are radicalized by your own people, NOT us. NOTE: Even held underground, Christians and other religions in Saudi Arabia NEVER had any threat to Saudi Arabia's peaceful existence. And they are NOT Saudis either. But you guys are Russians, Americans, Polish, Swiss, French Muslims, how could you do that to your own people just because you are Muslims and we are Christians? We Christians do not behave like that in your countries! How come Muslims are threatening us in our cities if we don't give them their demands! - CD2000

Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) – It is more difficult to build a single mosque than 60 churches in Moscow. Muslims, who are well aware of this given that Russia for years has denied them permission to build a new place of worship, look helplessly at the decision of the mayor of the capital Sergei Sobianin, to give the green light to 60 new Russian Orthodox churches. "We welcome the unprecedented decision," said the spokesman of the Russian Orthodox Church Vladimir Viguilianski. In the Russian capital there is an Orthodox church for every 25 thousand inhabitants, compared with the ratio of 1:10,000, which is found in the rest of the country, says Viguilianski. After 70 years of state atheism, "Moscow now has 350 Orthodox churches, five times less than before the October revolution of 1917," said the spokesman. 

Egypt church shooting attacker gets death sentence

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press

CAIRO – A court in southern Egypt on Sunday convicted and sentenced to death a Muslim man for his part in last year's Christmas drive-by shooting outside a church that left six Christians and a Muslim guard dead, judicial officials said.

The court will announce its verdict next month for the other two defendants accused in the Jan. 6, 2010 attack, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media.

Sunday's verdict, which cannot be appealed, comes two weeks after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a church in the port city of Alexandria, killing 21 and wounding nearly a 100 in the deadliest violence against Christians in more than a decade. A local, al-Qaida-inspired group is thought to be behind the attack.

The January 2010 attack in the southern town of Nag Hamadi also took place outside a church as worshippers were leaving after the Coptic Christmas Mass, and is believed to have been in retaliation for accusations of rape against a local Christian man.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS

Regia Hall

Monday, 10 January 2011

Source : Vatican.va

(Video)

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome you, the distinguished representatives of so many countries, to this meeting which each year assembles you around the Successor of Peter. It is a deeply significant meeting, since it is a sign and illustration of the place of the Church and of the Holy See in the international community. I offer my greetings and cordial good wishes to each of you, and particularly to those who have come for the first time. I am grateful to you for the commitment and interest with which, in the exercise of your demanding responsibilities, you follow my activities, those of the Roman Curia and thus, in some sense, the life of the Catholic Church throughout the world. Your Dean, Ambassador Alejandro Valladares Lanza, has interpreted your sentiments and I thank him for the good wishes which he has expressed to me in the name of all. Knowing how close-knit your community is, I am certain that today you are also thinking of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Baroness van Lynden-Leijten, who several weeks ago returned to the house of the Father. I prayerfully share your sentiments.

Egypt Copts to mark Christmas under security

By AFP

CAIRO - Egyptian security forces began throwing up a cordon of steel on Thursday as Coptic Christians prepared to mark Christmas after a New Year's Day church bombing killed 21 people in Alexandria.

As police released a sketch of the suspected bomber, security officials said at least 70,000 officers and conscripts would fan out across the country to secure churches as Copts attend Christmas Eve mass.

Drivers would be banned from parking their cars in front of churches, which would be tightly monitored by explosive detection teams and police officers, the official said.

Armoured cars would also be stationed next to churches.

A Christian Hater in Facebook sent a nasty message

Below is a message I've got from a Facebook User name Zeko Al Farasi who added me and then sent me nasty words (IM) after learning that I am a Christian. I wonder if being a Christian is a crime that this Facebook user has to hate me for what I believe?

Name: Zeko Al Farasi
Email: zekoooooy_4u@hotmail.com, zekooo_4u_4ever@hotmail.com
Mobile No.: +966 542271022

West Java: Catholics celebrate Christmas Mass in a parking lot

by Mathias Hariyadi
An order by Bogor Regency prohibits members of the Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church from engaging in any public activity, ostensibly because they lack a proper place of worship. Muslim extremist groups increasingly threaten Indonesia’s Christians.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Hundreds of members of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Parung (West Java) celebrated Mass under the sun and in a tent set up in the parking lot of the Marsudirini Elementary School. Bogor Regency chief’s prohibition of Christmas celebration was thus not repealed despite repeated attempts by Tulang Kuning Church leaders to negotiate with local authorities.

The latter justified their decision citing the lack of a permit to build a church. Without it, the local parish is not allowed to perform any public functions even on its own land.

According to Indonesia’s constitution however, no one has the right to prohibit any religious community from practicing its faith and celebrating its rites and services. Yet with the rising influence of Islamic radicals, the constitution has been repeatedly violated as local authorities kowtow to Muslim extremists and show greater hostilities towards Christians.

The Parish of Saint John the Baptist has at least 3,000 members. In April of this year, dozens of Muslim extremists threatened those from the community in Tulang Kuning, preventing them from celebrating Easter Mass.

At Christmas, Pope urges end to Mideast Christians' pain

File Photo: New York Times

By AFP

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI urged an end Saturday to conflict in the Middle East and support for the region's Christians, saying those living in Iraq needed comfort from their pain after deadly attacks.

In his traditional Christmas Day address delivered at the Vatican, the pope also called for human rights to be respected in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as for an end to the turmoil in African troublespots.

And there was a plea for reconciliation on the Korean peninsula along with a rebuke for the Communist rulers in Beijing over what he said were the limitations placed on Christians living on the Chinese mainland.

Fears for the safety of the Middle East's dwindling numbers of Christians were heightened in late October when Islamist militants laid siege to a church in Baghdad, leaving 44 worshippers and two priests dead.

An Al-Qaeda affiliate group has also issued death threats to Iraqi Christians in recent days, warning them against celebrating Christmas.

Biggest mosque in Europe opens in Netherlands finance by the ruling family of the UAE

While Muslims always boast of their gradual domination in the Western hemisphere, Muslims in the Middle East and other Muslim dominated states PROHIBITS Christians from building their own church without their approval. If Christian churches were ever built, they are NOT ALLOWED to have a bell or a cross built on top of those churches?!.They even persecute its own people just because they are Arab Christians!

Here is an example of Islam's failure to reciprocate.

Western Europe's biggest mosque opens in Netherlands
By AFP

THE HAGUE - Western Europe's biggest mosque opened on Friday in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, five years behind schedule with organisers blaming obstruction from far-right politicians for the delay.

The mosque, which is built with two 50-metre (164-feet) high minarets, can accommodate 3,000 worshippers and will be a centre for charity, mutual understanding and forgiveness, said its chief adminstrator Abdelrazak Boutaher.

Pope : an appeal against intolerance, violence and suffering in the world

Benedict XVI recalls the "continuous attacks" against Christians and Muslims in Iraq, clashes in Egypt with "casualties" and victims of traffickers and criminals, like the Eritreans seized in the Sinai desert. He asks us to hear God's voice that resonates today "in the desert of the world."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Benedict XVI at the Angelus today called on the faithful "to hear God's voice, echoing in the wilderness of the world through the Holy Scriptures, especially when preached with the power of the Holy Spirit." And speaking after the Angelus he recalled the dramatic situations of violence, intolerance and suffering in Iraq, in Egypt and the victims of traffickers and criminals in the Sinai Desert.

The Pope recalled the figure of St. John the Baptist, " who, according to a famous prophecy of Isaiah (cf. 40.3), withdrew into the wilderness of Judea and through his preaching, called the people to repent in order to be ready for the imminent coming of the Messiah. St. Gregory the Great says that the Baptist preaches the true faith and good works ... so that the penetrating power of grace, the light of truth shine, the pathways to God straightened and honest thoughts are born in souls after listening to the Word that leads to all good".

Thug Hardline Clerics in Pakistan offer reward to kill Asia Bibi

Thugs in Pakistan respect no laws. Asia Bibi has been found to be wrongly accused by some women of her town and used the infamous "Anti-Blasphemy Law" to silence her. Disgusting! (Read comments from JihadWatch.org). Can anyone double the prize to save Asia Bibi's life?

Asia Bibi Condemned to  Death by Islamic State of Pakistan proved by its court to be innocent
(Photo Source: beaconoftruth.com)

Hardline Pakistan cleric offers reward to kill Christian woman

By Faris Ali

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A hardline, pro-Taliban Pakistani Muslim cleric Friday offered a reward for anyone who kills a Christian woman sentenced to death by a court on charges of insulting Islam.

The sentence against Asia Bibi has renewed debate about Pakistan's blasphemy law which critics say is used to persecute religious minorities, fan religious extremism and settle personal scores. Non-Muslim minorities account roughly 4 percent of Pakistan's about 170 million population.

Maulana Yousef Qureshi, the imam of a major mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, offered a $5,800 (3,700 pounds) reward and warned the government against any move to abolish or change the blasphemy law.

Afghanistan: Christian converts face Islamic death penalty

Speroforum.com - Two Afghans have been arrested and may face death penalty for allegedly converting to Christianity. “They are accused of conversion to another religion, which is considered a crime under Islamic law. If proved, they face the death penalty or life imprisonment,” said Din Mohammad Quraishi, prosecutor in charge of western Kabul.

Quraishi said Sayed (45), who works for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) had already confessed and there was “proof” against Shah (50).

The two were arrested in late May and early June after local television broadcast footage of men reciting Christian prayers in Farsi and being baptized, apparently in a house in Kabul. Meanwhile, ICRC’s spokesman in Kabul Bijan Frederic Farnoudi has confirmed Sayed’s arrest.

Violence Against Egyptian Christians Raises Concerns

By Judith Sudilovsky
Source: Catholic News Service
Published: Monday, November 29, 2010

Coptic Patriarch Antonios Naguib of Alexandria,

Egypt, center, arrives for the opening Mass

of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East.

JERUSALEM (CNS) — Episodes of violence in Egypt that left Christian houses and businesses burned and ransacked have raised concerns among Egypt's Christian community, said a Christian worker.

The Nov. 28 elections have been seen as a possible reason for the increased violence, said the Christian, who asked that his name not be used for his safety.

"The situation is confusing. At the same time, we will (soon) have elections, and many harmful activities are taking place. The government wants to reduce the impact of the Muslim Brotherhood, and that is provoking some people to attack Christians," he told Catholic News Service.

Christians "have started to be worried. People feel something wrong in the air. They are taking more care, being more reserved, and avoiding contacts with Muslims," he said.

FREE ASIA BIBI RALLY in LONDON, be there!

Let's join them in our prayers! - Catholic Defender

British Pakistani Christians - Hundreds rally for Asia Bibi in Karachi (Nov 25th) despite threats of death - will you join a peace rally in the safety of London?

With the eyes of the world on President Zardari I am bemused and rather disappointed that he has still not taken the sensible and fair option of pardoning Asia Bibi. The word Justice in Pakistan has a skewered definition and this is well illustrated in the regular miscarriage of legal proceedings.

Pakistan Muslims warn of anarchy over Christian

Several hundred demonstrators marched in the eastern city of Lahore

By Waqar Hussain (AFP)
(Read comments from JihadWatch.org)

LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani Muslims threatened protests and anarchy if the government pardons a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy, calling hundreds of demonstrators onto the streets on Friday.

Demonstrators marched in the eastern city of Lahore after the most influential Sunni Muslim alliance in Pakistan urged the government not to grant mother-of-five Aasia Bibi clemency.

A crowd of several hundred called for "Jihad" and pledged to sacrifice their lives to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, an AFP reporter said.

The rally was organised by a subsidiary of banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which the United Nations has blacklisted as a terrorist organisation.

Egypt Christians clash with police, 1 dead

AFP - The clashes come amid mounting religious tension in Egypt

By AFP

CAIRO - One demonstrator was killed and dozens injured on Wednesday as Christian protesters clashed with Egyptian police over the denial of permission for a new church, a security official said.

The clashes came amid mounting sectarian tensions in the Arab world's most populous nation after Muslims set fire to homes owned by the family of a Christian man rumoured to have flirted with a Muslim girl in the south.

A security official told AFP that a young male demonstrator was killed during the protests over the church and that a senior police officer was among the injured.

Hundreds clashed sporadically with police through the morning in separate locations in the Talibiya district of Cairo's Giza governorate, with demonstrators throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, and the police responding with tear gas.

Pope calls for religious freedom in Muslim states

Reuters – Pope Benedict XVI blesses as he leads

the weekly general audience in Paul VI Hall at

the Vatican November 10, 2010

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict Thursday said all states must guarantee the freedom for everyone to practice their faith publicly, a clear criticism of some Muslim countries where religious rights are restricted.

The pope issued the call in a document of nearly 200 pages called an "apostolic exhortation," in which he offered his reflections on a synod of bishops that met in the Vatican in 2008 on the theme the "Word of God."

He said the Catholic Church respected all religions and a separate section of the document was dedicated to relations with Muslims.

"All the same, dialogue would not prove fruitful unless it included authentic respect for each person and the ability of all freely to practice their religion," he said.

"Respect and dialogue require reciprocity in all spheres," he said, adding that this had to include the right to profess religion "privately and publicly and (for) freedom of conscience to be effectively guaranteed to all believers."

"Reciprocity" is the term the Roman Catholic Church uses in demanding full rights for Christians in Islamic states where laws prohibit them from practicing their faith openly. It has often asked for reciprocity with Saudi Arabia.