Father Bernard Baru, chairman of the Augustinian Order of the Justice and Peace Commission in Papua, called on police to reveal the mastermind and motive for the attacks.
The gutted office of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) in Dogiyai district, Papua province, on May 23. (Photo supplied)
Local people said the arson attacks began on May 3 and several attacks took place on the nights of May 22 and May 23.
A source confirmed gunshots were heard and members of the security forces were embroiled in clashes with youths, leaving a 23-year-old shot and wounded. The violence is the latest in the long-running conflict in Christian-majority Papua that has endured a bloody insurgency for independence from Indonesia for decades.
Vietnamese Catholics in the century-old Sapa Parish of Lao Cai province paid tribute to a French missionary who sacrificed his life for ethnic Hmong villagers.
Seven priests and hundreds of Catholics celebrated a Mass last Wednesday to mark the 74th death anniversary of Father Jean Pierre Idiart Alhor Thinh, a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society commonly known as MEP.
Priests and Catholics offer incense and flowers on the graves of Father Jean Pierre Idiart Alhor Thinh and Bishop Paul Ramond in cold weather at Sapa church on May 18. (Photo supplied)
The missionary was devoted to serving and evangelizing among ethnic communities northern Vietnam since 1933. He worked among local communities and learned the Hmong language to be close with them. The 44-year-old priest was beheaded on the morning of May 18, 1948, while he was kneeling to pray and preparing to celebrate Mass.
The killing occurred during a period of fighting between the French and communist forces. However, the identities of those who killed him have not been found. He was buried next to the grave of French MEP Bishop Paul Ramond Loc, the first prelate of Hung Hoa Diocese.
Rights activists have slammed Myanmar’s military junta for the ongoing persecution of Rohingya Muslims following a deadly boat tragedy. At least 17 Rohingya including children died after a boat carrying some 90 people capsized in the Bay of Bengal on the way to Malayasia.
The boat reportedly left Rakhine state capital Sittwe on May 19 and sank off the coast of Pathein township two days later due to bad weather. More than 50 people were missing while 20 swam to safety. The passengers were from camps for internally displaced people in in Sittwe, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in Rakhine.
This photo taken on May 22 by an anonymous source shows officials looking at bodies washed up on a beach after a boat carrying at least 90 people capsized near the coast of Pathein township on May 21. (Photo: AFP)
An official from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the tragedy highlighted the sense of desperation of Rohingya in Myanmar due to ill-treatment of the minority group. Stateless Rohingya have faced abuses and persecution in the Buddhist-majority country for decades.
A brutal military crackdown in 2017 forced more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
A photo exhibition in South Korean capital Seoul has provided a rare glimpse of the life and works of the nation’s first cardinal, Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, and the history of the Catholic Church in Korea.
The exhibition of 50 black and white photos by photographer Michael Seo Yeon-jun was part of the 100th birth anniversary celebrations of the former archbishop of Seoul. The photos were captured between 1984 and 1888 and highlight the socioeconomic situation of the period.
Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan is seen during Christmas Eve Mass in South Korean capital Seoul in 1986. (Photo: Michael Seo Yeon-jun)
Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan is regarded as an iconic figure in the Korean and global church. He is hailed for his seminal efforts in evangelization and strengthening the Korean church amid various trials and tribulations.
He was lauded for his brave stance for democracy and human rights amid oppressive military rule during the nation’s bloody transition to democracy. Born in 1922, Stephen Kim was ordained a priest in 1951. He served as bishop of Masan from 1966 to 1968 and as archbishop of Seoul from 1968 to 1998. He died in 2009.
Thousands of inmates in Thailand’s notorious and overcrowded prisons are suffering from mental health problems including depression and anxiety amid an acute shortage of mental healthcare services.
An official from the Corrections Department said some 5,000 inmates out of the country’s 300,000 prisoners, who have been jailed for drug-related offenses and other crimes, have mental health issues.
Gross overcrowding at Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Center allows at most a space of one meter by 40 centimeters per person to stretch out and sleep. A facility designed to hold no more than 500 detainees often accommodates up to 1,200.
Rights groups said the actual number should be higher as a lack of adequate healthcare facilities is common in Thai prisons.
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