Pope Francis prayed for the victims of Nepal’s deadly plane crash and their bereaved family members. In a telegram message to Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari last Sunday, the pope commended “the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty,” and invoked upon those who mourn their loss “the divine blessings of healing and peace.”
The pope also prayed “for those involved in the recovery efforts.” The plane crashed on Jan. 15, en route from Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu to Pokhara, the second most populous city and a favorite tourist spot.
Family members and relatives of victims who died in a Yeti Airlines plane crash, weep outside a hospital in Pokhara. (Photo: AFP)
At least 69 of the 72 people aboard including crew members have been confirmed dead, and the remaining three passengers were reported missing.
Among the passengers were 15 foreign nationals including five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina, and France. Since 2000, nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal.
India’s Supreme Court has asked an activist of the pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party to remove derogatory remarks he made against Christians and Muslims in his petition that sought a national law to curb religious conversions.
In the public interest litigation filed last December, the Delhi-based lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay termed Christians and Muslims rapists and accused them of indulging in illegal religious conversions. He has urged the federal government, headed by his pro-Hindu party, to frame laws to stop religious conversion.
A general view of the Supreme court of India pictured in New Delhi on Sept. 27, 2018. (Photo: AFP)
Some 11 out of a total 28 states in India have enacted laws that criminalize religious conversions including marrying for the sake of conversion.
Christian leaders say these laws have become a tool in the hands of pro-Hindu right-wing groups to persecute Christians and Muslims, who together make up 17.3 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people. About 80 percent of Indians are Hindus.
Religious minorities and rights groups have expressed concerns as Pakistan’s parliament amended its draconian blasphemy law to make it more stringent. Christian leaders fear sharpening the blasphemy law could stoke rights abuses and can be used to target religious minorities.
The National Assembly passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday, increasing punishment for insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s companions, wives, and family members to 10 years in jail along with a fine of 1 million rupees which is around 4,400 US dollars.
In this file photo, demonstrators gather at a police station that was set on fire after thousands of people mobbed it demanding that officers hand over a man accused of blasphemy for burning a Quran, in Charsadda, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Nov. 29, 2021. (Photo:AFP)
Peter Jacob, executive director of the Lahore-based Centre for Social Justice, called the amendment an “unfortunate development” that was unnecessary. Pakistan already has a blasphemy law, which stipulates death for convicts. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are sensitive as mere allegations have led to extrajudicial killings and mob violence that have caused deaths.
Punjab Governor Salman Taseer — a prominent critic who tried to reform the law — was assassinated by his bodyguard in 2011. Christian groups lament that Muslims misuse the law by making false allegations to win even petty quarrels and have long demanded the repeal of the law.
A movie on Korean Catholic patriot Ahn Jung-geun has become a big hit in South Korea. The on-screen adaption of the musical play “Hero” which documents the final year of Ahn’s life was released last December. Box office data shows the movie occupied the second spot after James Cameron’s “Avatar 2: The Way of Water.”
The musical play first premiered in 2009 and garnered widespread attention among Koreans. Born on Sept. 2, 1879, Ahn Jung-geun was the eldest of four children of his Buddhist parents. Ahn and his family members converted to Catholicism in 1897.
A scene from the movie ‘Hero’ on life of Korean Catholic patriot Ahn Jung-geun. (Photo: CJENM/Catholic Times)
Ahn became a pro-independence revolutionary against Japan’s occupation of Korea. He shot dead Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor of Korea on Oct. 26, 1909, at Harbin train station in China.
He was detained, imprisoned, and executed by hanging on March 26, 1910, in Lushun prison in China. Ahn is regarded as a hero in Korea, and is a popular subject in drama, art, literature, and music.
A legal team representing Hong Kong’s jailed Catholic media mogul Jimmy Lai has denied any professional association with an international group of lawyers who met with the United Kingdom’s junior foreign minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, for the case.
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