Religious Freedom

Venezuela’s bishops called for the country’s electoral decision to be respected on the eve of the Jan. 10 inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro, whose victory in the July 28 election is disputed by the opposition and not recognized by the United States.

Christians and Indigenous minorities protested publicly against the beating of a minority woman and the burning of her house in Gobindganj, in the northern Gaibandha district of Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Father Henrykh Akalatovich, pastor of the Catholic parish in Valožyn, was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony in Belarus Dec. 30 in a move that highlights the growing persecution of Catholics in the Russia-aligned country.

An Indigenous Christian village was burnt to the ground on Christmas Eve in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

For Latin American Catholics, December is an important month, not just in anticipation of the Christmas celebrations, but also for important Marian feast days, such as Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Immaculate Conception, that remain linked to their cultural history.