Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel Lima archbishop proposes replacing priests with laity as pastors
The Archbishop of Lima last month presented his proposal to replace priests with lay people in parishes in the Peruvian capital.
Archbishop Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio said during a July 21 conference that he is asking the Vatican for permission for lay persons to be given the administration of parishes.
The archbishop said that “there is a philosophy of the simple daily life of the people that we have to take up again”.
“I think that, as a Church, we are going to have to work hard to provide a Church closer to the people with greater equality,” he continued.
Prayers asked for nun kidnapped in Mali in 2017
An initiative that works to highlight persecution of Christians released last Friday a video seeking prayers for Sister Gloria Cecilia Nárvaez Argoti, a missionary who was abducted in Mali in February 2017.
“This exemplary religious wasn’t the one chosen to be kidnapped but she saved the life of one of the younger sisters of her community by offering herself in exchange for her,” says the August 6 video from Project Wake Up, an initiative of the EUK Mamie Foundation.
“In the different videos and notes released by her kidnappers, the sister asks for prayers for her release and to remain unshakable in her faith.”
Catholic Church in Thailand converts facilities into field hospitals for Covid-19 patients
Catholic dioceses and parishes in Thailand, which continues to witness a surge in Covid-19 cases, have been converting church facilities into field hospitals and isolation centres.
The Archdiocese of Bangkok in the financial capital of the Southeast Asian country has turned over to the government a Catholic school that has been converted into a 630-bed field hospital on August 6.
“The more humanity suffers, the more we need love, mercy and sharing,” said Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanich, Archbishop of Bangkok, in a report on Catholic news site LiCAS.
Pope calls to end labour exploitation in printing industry
People must have the courage to openly denounce injustice and the “perverse inner workings of exploitation” that harm human dignity, Pope Francis said.
“For a Christian, every form of exploitation is a sin,” the Pope told an Italian author in a letter published August 12. The Pope’s comments came after the author, Maurizio Maggiani, published an open letter addressed to Pope Francis August 1, a few days after Italian authorities arrested 11 people connected with a large printing company on charges of exploitation, extortion, kidnapping and other accusations following a yearlong investigation.
Police found migrant workers were being hired legally through an agency, BM Services, which then subcontracted the workers to Grafica Veneta, the printing house.
Christian couple granted asylum in Europe after years on death row in Pakistan
A Christian couple who spent seven years on death row in Pakistan on false blasphemy charges has been granted asylum in a European country.
According to human rights organisation ADF International, Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel arrived in Europe this week after their death sentence was overturned by the Lahore High Court in early June.
The parents of four children said they are “so relieved to finally be free” and are happy to be reunited with their children after a very difficult eight years.