Religious Freedom

The Nicaraguan government has extinguished the legal status of more than 25 Catholic organizations, including religious orders such as the Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians, another diocesan Caritas chapter, and lay Catholic groups, as part of an attack on civil society with the closure of 1,500 nongovernmental organizations.

A Christian convert in Egypt who has been imprisoned for more than two years for publicly speaking about his conversion has declared a hunger strike, prompting religious freedom advocates to increase their calls for his release.

A Catholic bishop in Chicago from an Eastern church whose origins go back to St. Thomas the Apostle has joined some 300 faith leaders in sounding an alarm over religious persecution in India.

As Iraq marked 10th anniversary of Islamic State group-induced terror recognized by the United Nations as genocide, and subsequent tragic Christian exodus, a top Iraq cardinal said that evil will not last and Christians called for more support for Iraq’s ancient Yezidi community still struggling for restitution and justice.

An Aug. 2-4 conference in Chicago on the life of the Catholic Church in China covered both the difficulties and strengths of being a church under a heavily regulatory communist government.

Pope Francis has called for both sides to “seek the truth” in Venezuela’s contested election as the opposition denounces electoral fraud — publishing tally sheets as proof — while the ruling Chavista regime refuses to release the full information on the vote and cracks down on demonstrations.

At least 11 churchmen have been detained by police and paramilitaries over a weeklong assault in northern Nicaragua, depleting the already demoralized Diocese of Matagalpa — whose leader, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, lives in exile.