Asia

• 28 June 2025
  ASIA/INDIA - Appointment of coadjutor archbishop of Calcutta Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Elias Frank of Asansol as coadjutor archbishop of the metropolitan archdiocese of Calcutta, India. (Agenzia Fides, 28/6/2025) ...
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  27 June 2025
  ASIA/TURKEY - The Archbishop of Smyrna: "We are awaiting Pope Leo XIV's visit to Nicaea Smyrna (Agenzia Fides) - "Pilgrimages to Nicaea are being organized from Smyrna, Istanbul, and other Turkish dioceses. And from abroad, representatives of parishes from all over the world are coming to what is now Iznik, ...
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  27 June 2025
  ASIA - Central Asian countries seek to preserve water resources by Cosimo Graziani Tashkent (Agenzia Fides) - At the end of May, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan signed a trilateral agreement regarding the allocation of water from the Bahri Tochik reservoir in Tajikistan duri ...
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  26 June 2025
  VATICAN - Pope Leo embraces Eastern Christians, struck by violence “with a diabolical intensity previously unknown” Vatican City – (Agenzia Fides) – Today, violent conflict seems to be raging in the Christian East "with a diabolical intensity previously unknown". And precisely in those lands, now covered “by a cloud of hatred t ...
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  26 June 2025
  ASIA/VIETNAM - Capital punishment abolished for eight crimes: for Catholics it is "a step that gives hope" Ho Chi Minh City (Agenzia Fides) - Vietnam has abolished the death penalty for eight crimes, including bribery, embezzlement, and activities to overthrow the government. As reported by the official Vietnam News Agency, t ...
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  25 June 2025
  ASIA/IRAQ - Patriarch Sako on the so-called "12-Day War": "Regime change strategies can only worsen the situation" by Gianni Valente Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) – The so-called "12-Day War" has also caused concern and fear in Iraq. This was confirmed by the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, in a brief i ...
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  25 June 2025
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Day of Prayer for peace in Korea: "Everyone must strive for reconciliation and unity" Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - The plea for "authentic peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula" is at the heart of the initiative of the Korean Catholic Church, which annually celebrates June 25, the anniversary of the ...
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  24 June 2025
  ASIA/CAMBODIA - Apostolic Prefect of Battambang on the closure of the border with Thailand: "The crisis affects ordinary people above all" Battambang (Agenzia Fides) - The government of Cambodia has confirmed that the Thai army unilaterally closed all border crossings with Cambodia on the night of June 23. According to the Thai army, border crossings in six ...
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  24 June 2025
  ASIA/CHINA - End of the academic year at the Sheshan Seminary. Bishop Shen Bin encourages students to read "the signs of the times" Shanghai (Agenzia Fides) - This year's study courses at the Sheshan Seminary, in the Diocese of Shanghai concluded with the awarding of six degrees to six seminarians from the 2019 class and diplomas to the religious sis ...
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  24 June 2025
  ASIA/KAZAKHSTAN - Bishops of Central Asia in a letter to the Pope: "We want to fish with Peter!" Astana (Agenzia Fides) - "Although we are only a small flock, we feel like living members of the Body of Christ and are ready to participate with zeal in the mission of evangelization entrusted to us by the Lord: We want ...
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  23 June 2025
  ASIA/CHINA - A valuable study on health care for Chinese Bishops, nuns and priests by Marta Zhao Rome (Agenzia Fides) - On June 10, 2025, Father Peter Li Yu of the Diocese of Qiqihar, in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang, died at the age of 56. On May 3, 2025, Father Joseph Xu Cheng of the Dioce ...
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  23 June 2025
  ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Prayer for peace and reconciliation in Korea in the face of an “emotional civil war” Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – “Let us walk together on the pilgrimage toward peace with eternal hope,” said Bishop Simon Kim Joo-young, Bishop of Chuncheon and president of the Reconciliation Committee of the South Korea ...
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  23 June 2025
  ASIA/SYRIA - Massacre of Christians in Damascus. Greek Orthodox Patriarchate: "they are our new martyrs" by Pascale Rizk Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - "On the day our Church of Antioch commemorates all the Antiochian saints, the treacherous hand of injustice has risen this evening and reaped our souls along with the souls ...
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  21 June 2025
  ASIA/VIETNAM - An association for the promotion of faith in Vietnam is born in the parish of Trang Quan Hai Phong (Agenzia Fides) – To accompany adults who have recently received baptism on their journey of faith: with this objective, the Association for the Promotion of Faith was born in the parish of Trang Quan, in the ...
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  19 June 2025
  ASIA/MYANMAR - With the onset of the rainy season, the situation of earthquake victims in Mandalay is becoming increasingly critical Mandalay (Agenzia Fides) - Three months after the devastating earthquake of March 28, 2025, the area around Mandalay in north-central Myanmar has been hit by heavy rains and thunderstorms for more than three weeks. Due t ...