persecution

Violations of religious liberty are increasing around the world, and U.S. citizens have a special responsibility to stand up for the religious freedom of all believers in all nations.

Rev. Aitken, 79, ordained an Anglican priest in 2019, warned “there are increasingly ominous signs” that religious freedom in Hong Kong is “next on the hit list by the destructive forces” of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime.

Christianity and Judaism, the pope told the group, both “bid us address disagreements, differences and conflicts, not in a confrontational way, but without prejudice, with peaceful intentions and with the aim of finding areas of agreement acceptable to all.”

The documentation, titled “Ebrei” (“Jews”), aims “to preserve the petitions for help from Jewish people all over Europe, received by (Pope Pius XII) during the Nazi-Fascist persecutions,” the Vatican said.

A priest involved with social and environmental causes in southern Mexico was threatened by gangs, the latest in a wave of increasing violence gripping the communities served by the Diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas.

On Dec. 22, the Chinese government issued a new norm that proscribes all foreign institutions and individuals from spreading religious content online.

Afghans, U.S. citizens and others eager to leave the country had been flocking to Kabul’s international airport after a Taliban takeover in the capital in mid-August when the Afghan military collapsed following withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors.

European bishops called on the European Union to do more to protect religious freedom in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of efforts to strengthen the bloc’s role as a “global humanitarian, development, economic and peace actor.”