World in Brief

Archaeologists restoring the historic Syriac Orthodox Mar Thomas Church in Mosul, Iraq, which was badly damaged by Islamic State fighters, have discovered about a dozen ancient relics and parchments.

The relics include six stone containers with Aramaic inscriptions, some relating to important figures in the early church. One refers to Simon ‘The Zealot’, one of Christ’s disciples; another mentions Saint Theodore, a Roman soldier born in Corum, Turkey, in the third century, who was beheaded for having converted to Christianity.

A Cuban court has upheld the sentence against imprisoned Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo and 14 others, who appealed their convictions for participating in nationwide protests against the government in 2021.

During the trial only the prosecutor’s side was permitted to give evidence, which included the testimonies of 12 policemen. Fajardo has been imprisoned in Boniato Maximum Security Prison, having been convicted of ‘disrespect’, ‘assault’, ‘criminal incitement’ and ‘public disorder’.

More than ten Christians were killed when an Islamist extremist group ambushed their three vehicles near Makisabo, Beni, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Extremist group The Allied Democratic Forces blocked the road, shot all the passengers, and set the vehicles on fire. Since the attack all traffic along the road has ceased. The attack came a day after the East African Community heads of state convened in Nairobi, Kenya, under President Uhuru Kenyatta, to discuss the security situation in eastern DRC.

Islamist militants have raided a Christian village in Memba, Nampula province, northern Mozambique, beheading one resident. The raid – by terrorists linked to Islamic State (IS) – is the first in recent years in Nampula province.

IS has also claimed responsibility for the ‘beheading of several Christians’ in raids across Cabo Delgado province, to the north of Nampula. The province has been termed ‘the Land of Fear’ owing to brutal violence meted out against both Christians and moderate Muslims.

Police in Sudan walked into a church Bible class and arrested two Christian leaders for ‘violating public order’.

Officers in Omdurman took Pastor Kabashi Idris of the African Inland Church and evangelist Yacoub Ishakh of the Independent Baptist Church into custody as others at the Bible study looked on. They were accused by a radical Muslim neighbour, who told police his children were singing the songs of the Christians and feared they might convert to Christianity. This prompted the police to arrest the two church leaders.

Nearly two months after police arrested a pastor in India at his grandmother’s home, tied him to a tree and beat him, threats from officers have kept him from filing a complaint about the brutality.

Pastor Pravesh Kumar, of Uttar Pradesh state, was visiting a sick uncle when police arrested him after a Hindu neighbour videotaped them singing during a family devotional on the roof. When Kumar explained that they were singing hymns, he was arrested on suspicion of forcible conversion because hymns, he was told, were part of converting people.

CCTV footage has emerged showing 50 Muslims attacking the Yilmaz family of Assyrian Christians in Mardin village, Turkey. After they beat the family with sticks, they set their wheat fields on fire. The family are the only remaining Christians living in the area.

The incident took place on the same day that the Mor Gevargis Church was reopened after restoration work that began in 2015. The church had been closed for 100 years, meaning that its members suffered the genocide against Armenian Christians in Turkey during the early 20th century.

Almost 360,000 people left the German Roman Catholic Church in 2021, a record number and which reflects ‘a profound crisis’, Georg Bätzing, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference, admitted.

He was ‘deeply shocked by the extremely high number of people leaving the church’. These latest figures are worse than in previous years: over 221,000 left the Church in 2020 and almost 273,000 in 2019. Over one million have left the Roman Catholic Church since 2018. The number of official adherents is over 21million, but most do not attend church services regularly.

Many evangelicals consider themselves at risk in those parts of Ukraine now under Russian control, Some have been forced out; others who left are not permitted to return.

Church buildings have been confiscated, and evangelical Christians forbidden from gathering. Armed men have conducted searches, confiscated equipment, demanded registration documents, and forced church members to leave their buildings. In Manhush, 30 kilometres from Mariupol, Russian soldiers drove Christians out of their prayer house and rehabilitation centre. A church minister in Vasylivka said Russian officers came and registered everyone before closing the church and forbidding further meetings.

Italy has carried out its first-ever assisted suicide, following a lengthy legal battle.

Federico Carbon, a 44-year-old quadriplegic from the eastern Marche region, died by lethal injection. The former truck driver had been paralysed in a road accident in 2010. He had previously described his life as ‘torture’ and tried to live as best he could but was ‘both mentally and physically exhausted’.

Riaan Swiegelaar, former ‘pastor’ at the South African Satanic Church, has shared on social media that the overwhelming love of Jesus recently inspired him to step away from Satanism.

‘I’m doing this live video because many, more than 100 people on WhatsApp and almost 200 on Facebook, are sending me messages wanting to know why I left the South African Satanic Church and turned my back on Satanism,’ Swiegelaar shared in a video he uploaded to Facebook, which now has almost 200,000 views.

In an attempt to lessen the effects of climate change, 35 faith institutions have announced their divestment from fossil fuels, 19 of which are from the UK.

The institutions dropping the investment of fossil fuels include five Church of England dioceses, two Catholic dioceses and two United Reformed Church synods, together with churches from several other denominations. The move comes after campaigning from the World Council of Churches, Operation Noah, Laudato Si’ Movement, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith.