Missionaries of the World

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to U.S. agencies in Geneva told the Human Rights Council on May 27, 2013 that "credible research" by Massimo Introvigne, a former representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on combating intolerance and discrimination against Christians, "has reached the shocking conclusion that an estimate of more than 1,00,000 Christians are killed each year because of their faith and millions more face bigotry, intolerance and marginalization"

Faithful Christians will always face difficulties, said Pope Francis warning that a worldly, career-based approach to faith avoids the suffering and persecution inherent in following Christ. “Many Christians, tempted by the spirit of the world, think that following Jesus is good because it can become a career, they can get ahead,” the Pope said. “When a Christian has no difficulties in life – when everything is fine, everything is beautiful – something is wrong.” The Pope suggested this temptation is common for a Christian who is a great friend of the spirit of the world, of worldliness. “You cannot remove the cross from the path of Jesus, it is always there,” he added.

An American citizen Kenneth Bae sentenced for 15 years of hard labor for alleged hostile acts against the state, has started life a "special prison," in North Korea. He entered the prison Tuesday, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch. Two South Korean experts on North Korean law said they didn't know what a "special prison" was. North Korea's official news agency has revealed that Bae, a 44-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen with family living in Washington State, entered prison on Tuesday, May 14, with no other details given on the location, name or specific type of prison, according to The Associated Press.

After seven years of unchallenged rule the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu ultranationalist party loses control of Karnataka. The Congress, first party of India won the election gaining a full majority, with over 116 out of 223 constituencies. 113 are used to form the Government. The second party seems to be the Janata Dal (JD), and left only present in Karnataka and Kerala. The elections were held on May 05. In recent times, the party has tried all possible cards to regain consensus and grab votes, even on the skin of lepers. The BJP’s defeat is good news especially for social and religious minorities of Karnataka, victims in these years of violence and persecution of the Hindu ultranationalist groups, supported openly by the BJP.

“Paul teaches us this journey of evangelization ... because he is sure of Jesus Christ and does not need to justify himself, to seek reasons to justify himself,” the Pope Francis said during Mass at the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican. “When the Church loses this apostolic courage, she becomes a stalled Church, a tidy Church, a Church that is nice to look at, but that is without fertility, because she has lost the courage to go to the outskirts, where there are many people who are victims of idolatry, worldliness of weak thought, (of) so many things.”

The Executive Council of Pakistan's Christian Congress issued a press release Saturday condemning the upcoming national election because 51 percent of Pakistani women and 18 percent of Pakistan's population will not be voting for any candidates. Instead of electing representatives, Pakistan's minorities will only vote for Muslim men on 272 seats, who in turn will nominate 60 women and 10 minorities to reserved seats on the National Assembly of Pakistan.

A British missionary Father Ian Weathrall, who was of Scottish origin, closely associated with India’s premier educational institution, St. Stephen’s College, died in Delhi after a long battle with cancer. He was 91 years when he died on Tuesday. He was the last British member of the Brotherhood, a religious congregation of the Church of North India (CNI). The funeral held on May 04, at the Cathedral of Redemption near the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He joined the Brotherhood of the Ascended Christ, an Anglican community of priests, in 1951 and lived in their Delhi house until his death.

“Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Karnataka, attacks against Christians have multiplied and all religious minorities in the State feel threatened," Dr.Sajan K George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told. On Sunday in fact, voters in Karnataka will choose a new chief minister and the BJP is leading a campaign based on its alleged support for minorities. However, the BJP, which has ruled Karnataka since 2008, is openly in favour of groups that belong to the Hindu Sangh Parivar, an ultranationalist movement that has perpetrated acts of violence and persecution against Christians and other minority communities.

On May 07, the Church celebrates the recently-canonized Italian educator Saint Rosa Venerini, who founded Catholic schools for girls and young women during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Her work is continued today by the “Venerini Sisters.” She was declared a Saint in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke in his canonization homily of her courageous work for “the spiritual elevation and authentic emancipation of the young women of her time.” He noted that St. Venerini “did not content herself with providing the girls an adequate education, but she was concerned with assuring their complete formation, with sound references to the Church's doctrinal teaching.”

The Vatican became home to two Popes today for the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI moved back to the city state in the wake of his resignation. Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, is set return to live in the Vatican on Thursday afternoon, beginning an unprecedented cohabitation: a retired pontiff living alongside a reigning one. After a two-month stay at the summer papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, Benedict is expected to return to Vatican City by helicopter. Pope Francis is scheduled to be waiting to greet him at Benedict's new home, the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery inside the Vatican Gardens. It is the second time the two men have met since Francis was elected: 10 days after his election, Francis travelled to Castel Gandolfo to meet his predecessor.

Darlington Town Mission celebrated its 175th anniversary on Tuesday at St Cuthbert's Church. The celebrations were joined by the Bishop of Jarrow, the Right Reverend Mark Bryant who gave a sermon describing the Mission as a "remarkable" organisation. The service was led by Darlington Town Mission's Chairman, Rev. Brian Holmes. Rev. Robert Williamson, Reverend Ruth Gee, Chair of Darlington Methodist District and President designate of the Methodist Conference also participated as dignitaries.