Gotabaya Rajapaksa is gone, but the 22 million people of the island nation are in no mood to trust his successor to lead them out of the terrible mess he left behind. The country’s worst-ever economic crisis has reduced Sri Lankans to buy less, eat less and work less.
Christians and civil society members across India paid rich tributes to Jesuit Father Stan Swamy on July 7, his first death anniversary. The 84-year Jesuit, who died a prisoner, is seen as a victim of India’s discriminatory socio-political system as he was detained for nine months without trial.
Hong Kong marks the 25th anniversary of the British handover to China as pro-democracy campaigners lament the erosion of the once-vibrant city’s freedom and rights.
Catholics in Asia cheered as Pope Francis named six new cardinals from the continent including the first cardinal from the marginalized Dalit community.
Attack on Marian shrines in India and Myanmar shocked Catholics, while grief continued over the results of the Philippine elections amid the joy of sainthood for India’s first lay Catholic.
The arrest of Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen has sparked global outrage about communist China’s iron-fisted grip on freedoms and rights in the former British colony.
Thousands of mainly Christian ethnic Karen have fled their homes as Myanmar’s military junta intensifies air strikes and mortar shelling in Karen and Mon states.