PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti's voodoo leaders have trained priests of the Afro Caribbean religion to concoct a secret remedy for the novel coronavirus and to prepare the sacred initiation chambers of their temples to receive patients.
In Haiti, where Western healthcare services are scarce and too expensive for many, inhabitants often rely on the herbal remedies and ritual practices of their voodoo “houngan” priest or “mambo” priestess.
Draped in necklaces of colorful beads, Haitian Voodoo "Ati" or supreme leader Carl Henri Desmornes said in an interview at his "gingerbread house" in Port-au-Prince he knew there would be a deluge of patients at their temples.
While the virus took root slowly in the poorest country in the Americas, in the last 2 weeks the number of confirmed cases has nearly quintupled to 865 while reports of a mysterious "fever" are spreading.
"Voodoo practitioners - the Houngans and Mambos in particular - have the responsibility to look after the wellbeing of the population," said Desmornes, 60, who was a music promoter before becoming the Ati. "They have received the powers and the knowledge to put in practice."
More than half of Haiti’s 11 million people are believed to practice voodoo, a religion brought from West Africa centuries ago by enslaved men and women and practiced clandestinely under French colonial rule.
Ever since the first cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in Haiti in mid-March, Voodoo priests have been serving up teas with ingredients including moringa, eucalyptus, ginger and honey to strengthen the immune system.
"We live in a country where the health system is not able to respond to the challenge of the pandemic, so we rely on natural remedies instead," said Mambo Lamercie Charles as she ladled out potion. "I consider my temple a clinic".
Voodoo deputy leader Euvonie Georges Auguste said the community, inspired by the "Loas" (spirits), has also come up with a potion for COVID-19 symptoms that they had taught priests virtually to prepare and administer.
The community had identified 1,000 voodoo temples that had a "Djèvo" - a sacred chamber used for initiation rituals - that was separate to the worship chambers and could be used to isolate up to 15 patients each, she said.
CORONAVIRUS MESSAGE
Auguste said it was a shame President Jovenel Moise had highlighted Madagascar's self-proclaimed, plant-based “cure” for COVID-19 rather than Haitian voodoo treatments.
"This attitude shows he is a victim of the system that still bears the scars of slavery," she said.
Voodoo is closely identified with Haiti's struggle for independence but has worked hard for legitimacy. It only won recognition as an official religion in 2003 under President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Haiti's voodoo practitioners in the past have criticized Moise for appealing publicly to Christianity's god rather than to Voodoo's spirits.
Sometimes misrepresented in Hollywood and pulp fiction as a black magic cult, it suffers from stigma. Some evangelical preachers blamed the 2010 earthquake on voodoo while mobs lynched at least 45 houngans and mambos they blamed for bringing about the subsequent cholera outbreak with their spells.
Voodoo priests have appeared on television and radio shows to make clear they are not responsible for coronavirus and are ready to fight it.
Still, Desmornes said maybe the pandemic carried a message for the world - one difference between voodoo and Western medicine is that it seeks meaning in illness. Perhaps it was a warning sign, Desmornes said, that humans were like a virus to other beings on earth.
"My hope is that after corona ... instead of transforming all we touch, transforming nature, we look instead to live in harmony with it," he said.
-reuters-
RIYADH -- Muslims around the world began marking a sombre Eid al-Fitr Sunday, many under coronavirus lockdown, but lax restrictions offered respite to worshipers in some countries despite fears of skyrocketing infections.
The 3-day festival, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, is traditionally celebrated with mosque prayers, family feasts and shopping for new clothes, gifts and sweet treats.
But this year, the celebration is overshadowed by the fast-spreading coronavirus, with many countries tightening lockdown restrictions after a partial easing during Ramadan led to a sharp spike in infections.
Further dampening the festive spirit, many countries -- from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Turkey and Syria -- have banned mass prayer gatherings to limit the spread of the disease.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites, began a five-day round-the-clock curfew from Saturday after infections more than quadrupled since the start of Ramadan to over 72,000 -- the highest in the Gulf.
Mecca's Grand Mosque has been almost devoid of worshipers since March, with a stunning emptiness enveloping the sacred Kaaba -- the large cube-shaped structure towards which Muslims around the world pray.
But on Sunday, an imam stood on a podium while Saudi security forces, some wearing masks, positioned themselves between rows of worshipers who gathered before the Kaaba for Eid prayers.
SCUFFLES IN JERUSALEM
At Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest site after Mecca and Medina, prayers were not permitted inside, although the site is expected to reopen after the Eid holiday.
Small scuffles broke out between Israeli security forces and worshipers gathering around the mosque at dawn, although prayers eventually went ahead outside, an AFP photographer said.
In Gaza, Hamas authorities allowed prayers in mosques despite the enclave's first coronavirus death on Saturday, but worshipers mostly wore masks and placed their prayer mats far apart.
"Eid is not Eid with the atmosphere of coronavirus -- people feel a sense of fear," worshipper Akram Taher said.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban announced a 3-day ceasefire to mark Eid al-Fitr in a surprise move following months of bloody fighting with Afghan forces after the signing of a landmark agreement with the United States.
The streets of Kabul were mostly empty as part of a strict lockdown, but some people did venture out and greet each other -- some from a distance and others hugging and shaking hands despite calls for social distancing.
In Somalia, at least five people were killed and more than 20 wounded in a blast during Eid festivities, police said.
The blast occurred as a crowd of people were dancing and singing, a witness said, but the cause of the explosion was unclear.
In Indian-administered Kashmir, another troublespot, Eid celebrations were muted under the coronavirus restrictions and as authorities tightened the screws after a spate of clashes between government forces and rebels.
FEARS OF 'NEW PEAK'
Ahead of the holiday, Muslims across Asia -- from Indonesia to Pakistan, Malaysia and Afghanistan -- had thronged markets to shop, flouting coronavirus guidelines and sometimes even police attempts to disperse large crowds.
"For over two months my children were homebound," said mother of four Ishrat Jahan at a bustling market in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.
"This feast is for the kids, and if they can't celebrate it with new garments, there is no point in us working so hard throughout the year."
The holiday began on a somber note after a Pakistan International Airline flight crashed Friday in the southern city of Karachi, killing 97 people including many who were travelling to see family for the holiday.
The English daily Dawn said the crash, along with the pandemic, had robbed Pakistan of "whatever little joy had been left at the prospect of Eid festivities".
In Indonesia -- the world's most populous Muslim nation -- people turned to smugglers and fake travel documents to get around bans on the annual end-of-Ramadan travel that could send infections soaring.
In the conservative province of Aceh, large groups prayed together with few masks and little social distancing as Eid began, and the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the provincial capital was packed.
"I did feel worried but as a Muslim, I still had to perform mass Eid prayers as a form of gratitude to Allah," one worshiper, Arsi, said.
COVID-19 death tolls across the Middle East and Asia have been lower than in Europe and the United States, but numbers are rising steadily, sparking fears the virus may overwhelm often underfunded healthcare systems.
FRUGAL CELEBRATIONS
Iran, which has experienced the Middle East's deadliest outbreak, called on its citizens to avoid travel during Eid as it battles to control the virus.
Health Minister Saeed Namaki said Iran was focusing hard on avoiding "new peaks of the disease" caused by people "not respecting health regulations".
The United Arab Emirates has tightened its lockdown which had been relaxed during Ramadan, but that did not stop some families from planning getaways to luxury beachfront hotels.
But in many countries, Muslims steeled themselves for frugal celebrations amid growing financial distress, including falling oil prices that plunged the Gulf region into its worst economic crisis in decades.
In the Syrian capital Damascus, Eid shoppers rummaged through flea markets for clothes at bargain prices as the war-ravaged and sanctions-hit country grappled with a much more entrenched economic crisis.
"The flea market is the only place I can buy something new to wear for the Eid holidays," 28-year-old Sham Alloush said.
"Had it not been for this place, I wouldn't have been able to buy new clothes at all."
Agence France-Presse
SEOUL, South Korea - Seoul's city government has asked prosecutors to press charges, including murder, against the founder of a secretive religious sect for failing to cooperate in containing the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
South Korea has seen a surge in the number of infections -- adding more than 4,000 cases in less than two weeks -- with around 60 percent of the national total linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
As officials try to track down and test more than 266,000 people associated with Shincheonji, the entity has been accused of submitting false lists of its members to authorities.
The Seoul City government said it had filed a legal complaint to prosecutors against 12 leaders of the sect -- including its founder, Lee Man-hee -- accusing them of homicide, causing harm and violating the Infectious Disease and Control Act.
"They did not take any action to encourage its members to actively cooperate with the health authorities to prevent further spread of the COVID-19," the city authorities said in a statement.
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon added on his Facebook page: "If they had actively taken early measures, we could have prevented the explosive rise of COVID-19 cases in Daegu and North Gyeongbuk province and the deaths of several people."
Under South Korean law prosecutors can make their own decision on whether to act on complaints filed to them, and Yonhap news agency reported that the Seoul City request had been assigned for investigation.
Shincheonji declined to comment, saying: "The most important thing for us now is disinfecting and our highest priority is to end the COVID-19 outbreak soon."
The outbreak among Shincheonji members began with a 61-year-old woman, who developed a fever on February 10 but attended at least four church services in Daegu -- the country's fourth-largest city and epicentre of its outbreak -- before being diagnosed.
The organisation has apologised on behalf of its members who have not answered survey calls but has insisted that it has been fully cooperating with the government to contain the virus.
Shincheonji, founded in 1984, proclaims Lee has donned the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the day of judgement.
But with more church members than available places in heaven, they are said to have to compete for slots and pursue converts.
sh/slb/ind
Agence France-Presse
NEW DELHI - At least 32 people have been killed in the deadliest violence to engulf India's capital New Delhi for decades as heavy deployment of security forces brought an uneasy calm on Thursday, a police official said.
The violence began over a disputed new citizenship law on Monday but led to clashes between Muslims and Hindus in which hundreds were injured. Many suffered gunshot wounds, while arson, looting and stone-throwing have also taken place.
"The death count is now at 32," Delhi police spokesman Anil Mittal said, adding the "entire area is peaceful now."
At the heart of the unrest is a citizenship law that makes it easier for non-Muslims from some neighboring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the new law adopted last December is of "great concern" and she was worried by reports of police inaction in the face of assaults against Muslims by other groups.
"I appeal to all political leaders to prevent violence," Bachelet said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Critics say the law is biased against Muslims and undermines India's secular constitution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has denied having any prejudice against India's 180 million Muslims, saying that law is required to help persecuted minorities.
New Delhi has been the epicenter for protests against the new law, with students and large sections of the Muslim community leading the protests.
As the wounded were brought to hospitals on Thursday, the focus shifted on the overnight transfer of Justice S. Muralidhar, a Delhi High Court judge who was hearing a petition into the riots and had criticized government and police inaction on Wednesday.
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the transfer was routine and had been recommended by the Supreme Court collegium earlier this month.
Opposition Congress party leader Manish Tiwari said every lawyer and judge in India should strongly protest what he called a crude attempt to intimidate the judiciary.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said inflammatory speeches at the protests over the new citizenship law in the last few months and the tacit support of some opposition leaders was behind the violence.
"The investigation is on," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who romped to re-election last May, also withdrew Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy in August with the objective of tightening New Delhi's grip on the restive region, which is also claimed by full by Pakistan.
For months the government imposed severe restrictions in Kashmir including cutting telephone and internet lines, while keeping hundreds of people, including mainstream political leaders, in custody for fear that they could whip up mass protests. Some restrictions have since been eased.
Bachelet said the Indian government continued to impose excessive restrictions on the use of social media in the region, even though some political leaders have been released, and ordinary life may be returning to normal in some respects.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW DELHI - At least 7 people were killed and around 150 were injured in clashes between opposing groups in the Indian capital, a police official told Reuters on Tuesday, the deadliest riots in the city since protests against a new citizenship law began over 2 months ago.
"Seven persons, including one head constable of Delhi police, have died," said Anil Mittal, a police officer, adding around 150 persons were injured in the violence on Monday.
The clashes erupted in a northeastern district of the city between thousands of people demonstrating for and against the new citizenship law. Police used tear gas and smoke grenades, but struggled to disperse the stone-throwing crowds that tore down metal barricades and set vehicles and a petrol pump alight.
"Some of the people brought in had gunshot wounds," said Dr Rajesh Kalra, additional medical superintendent at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in New Delhi.
Tensions in parts of the city remained high on Tuesday with schools remaining shut in some areas amid news reports of fresh clashes. At least 5 metro stations in the city were closed.
A fire department official told Reuters that its teams were responding to reports of at least 8 separate cases of arson on Tuesday, linked to fresh protests in the city. One department vehicle was also torched by protesters on Monday, and a small number of firemen were injured in the violence, he added.
The violence on Monday began just as US President Donald Trump began his maiden visit to India. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to meet for talks on Tuesday at a venue located a few miles away from where the clashes occurred.
At a press conference early on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed for people to maintain peace. "Whatever problems people have can be resolved peacefully," he said. "Violence will not help find a solution."
India's Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to meet Kejriwal and police officials on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation.
India's capital has been a hotbed of protests against the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path of non-Muslims from 3 neighboring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.
This has led to accusations that Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are undermining India's secular traditions. The BJP denies any bias against India's more than 180 million-strong Muslim minority, but objectors have been holding protests and camping out in parts of New Delhi for 2 months.
The violence erupted even as Trump was praising India as being a tolerant country.
"India is a country that proudly embraces freedom, liberty, individual rights, the rule of law, and the dignity of every human being," Trump said while addressing a rally of more than 100,000 people in Modi's home state of Gujarat. "Your unity is an inspiration to the world."
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SEOUL - South Korea's government reported 31 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, after a new outbreak traced to church services in the southwestern city of Daegu, bringing the number of people infected in the country to 82.
The spike in new cases prompted authorities to warn of possible further cases and asked Daegu citizens to stay indoors.
Of the new cases 23 were traced to church services in Daegu attended by an infected person, which Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) described as a "super-spreading event".
The services took place at a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, a religious movement founded in 1984 by South Korean Lee Man-hee, who is revered as a messiah by followers.
Shincheonji said in a statement on Wednesday it has shut down the Daegu branch and instructed services in other regions to be held online or individually at home.
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BRASILIA/SAO PAULO - Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an injunction against Netflix Inc that had prevented the video streaming service from showing a domestically-made controversial Christmas special that depicts Jesus as gay.
The Supreme Court president, Justice Dias Toffoli, said that the U.S. streaming platform should be allowed to continue showing the program, saying that freedom of speech was fundamental in a democracy.
"The satire will not affect the Christian faith of Brazilians," he said.
On Wednesday, a court in Rio de Janeiro had ordered Netflix to stop showing the content in Brazil. In its Thursday filing, Netflix criticized that decision for censoring the comedy group Porta dos Fundos, which produced the show.
On Christmas Eve, a group of hooded men attacked the headquarters of Porta dos Fundos with Molotov cocktails. No one was hurt, but police said they were investigating the incident as an attempted homicide after a group claimed responsibility in a video including a far-right religious statement.
The Rio state judge said in his decision that showing the special "would harm a society that is mostly Christian."
Lawyers for Netflix contended in their appeal that "the court decision aims to silence the group through fear and intimidation."
In a statement before the Supreme Court decision, Porta dos Fundos said the group values freedom of speech and "trusts the courts to defend the Brazilian constitution." (Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Gabriela Mello in Sao Paulo; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Rosalba O'Brien)
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NEW DELHI—At least 2 people are dead after police opened fire at a demonstration, an official said Thursday, as fresh protests erupted across India against a contentious citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.
The men -- Abdul Jalil, 49, and Samshir Kudroli, 23 -- "died in police firing during the protests," Qadir Shah, a spokesman for the deputy commissioner of the southern city of Mangalore, told AFP, adding that a curfew had been imposed in the city with schools, restaurants and bars shut.
Another man taken to the King George's Medical University Trauma Centetr in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with a gunshot injury died soon after, a hospital source told AFP.
His death has not been confirmed by local police, but his father told the Times of India newspaper his son was shot after getting caught in a crowd of protesters while he was out to buy groceries.
Four others were being treated at a hospital in Mangalore "with bullet injuries following the clashes," a district medical officer told AFP.
Shah said police fired their weapons after some 200 demonstrators refused to stop their march.
"They marched towards the busiest area of Mangalaru. This led to lathi (big, wooden sticks) charge. Then the tear gas was fired. When the protestors still didn't stop, the police had to open fire after that," he said, using an alternate name for the city.
Security forces and protesters had clashed in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka states, while elsewhere police bundled demonstrators onto buses, shuttered Delhi metro stations and cut cellphone access in some areas.
The protests were sparked by a new law easing citizenship rules for people fleeing persecution from 3 neighboring countries but not Muslims, stoking accusations at home and abroad that Modi wants to reshape India as a Hindu nation, which he denies.
Seven months after Modi swept to a second term, the past week has seen 6 other people killed in the northeastern state of Assam and dozens injured, while on Thursday, authorities banned gatherings across swathes of the world's biggest democracy that together are home to hundreds of millions of people.
DEMONSTRATORS DRAGGED
Fresh violence erupted in Samhbal, Uttar Pradesh, where hundreds of protesters set fire to vehicles and threw stones at security forces who responded with tear gas, local police chief Yamuna Prasad told AFP.
In Modi's home state of Gujarat, police said they baton-charged demonstrators and arrested 50 people.
As others ignored the assembly bans in Delhi and elsewhere, authorities ordered telecom firms to cut calls, text messages and data in parts of the city.
India is already the world leader in cutting the internet, activists say, and access was also restricted in parts of the northeast and in Uttar Pradesh, home to a large Muslim minority.
In Delhi, prominent rights activist Harsh Mander was detained, while in Bangalore globally renowned historian Ramachandra Guha was among those dragged onto a police bus.
Around 20,000 people took to the streets in the northeast, where the protests began last week—albeit for different reasons.
The day's biggest demonstration took place in Malegaon district of Maharashtra state with as many as 60,000 people, police said.
'SOMETHING HAS CHANGED'
In Mumbai, a crowd of thousands including tattooed students and older Muslim men wearing skullcaps brandished Indian flags, posters of Mahatma Gandhi and handed out copies of the constitution.
"Something has changed. This is the first time in a long time that people in Mumbai have come out in such large numbers to register dissent," said consultant Karishma V.
A crowd of around 40,000 people in eastern West Bengal's Kolkata city was led by the state's chief minister Mamata Banerjee, a strong Modi critic.
The protests have been fuelled by anger about alleged police brutality including at a university in Delhi on Sunday night.
Security forces in the capital have fired some 450 tear gas shells in the past 5 days, the Hindustan Times daily reported. One student reportedly lost an eye.
The demonstrations in the city have at times turned violent with vehicles set on fire and protestors hurling stones at police in heavily Muslim areas on Wednesday.
"If they show us the lathi (police baton), we will show them roses," a student in Delhi, Shivanji, told AFP as she handed flowers to police on Thursday.
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MALMÖ, SWEDEN - Two Eves on one side of the tree, two Adams on the other, each couple openly flirting: a Swedish diocese said Wednesday it would remove a gay depiction of original sin that hung briefly as an altarpiece.
Created by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, the photo illustration was offered to the Saint Paul Church in Malmo where it was placed to the right of the main altarpiece on the first Sunday of Advent, December 1.
On Wednesday the diocese said it would remove it from the altar -- but not because the Lutheran Church of Sweden had a problem with the gay couples.
Perched in the tree, a transsexual woman is dressed as a serpent, dangling a snake from her hand.
"The fact that there are two homosexual couples in the artwork is completely uncontroversial," the diocese wrote in a statement.
"But the fact that there is a snake, which traditionally symbolizes evil, and that it turns into a transperson could lead to the interpretation that a transperson is evil or the devil."
"The Swedish Church can absolutely not stand for that."
The pastor of Saint Paul, Sofia Tunebro, regretted the decision.
"We've been marrying gay couples for 10 years, and with this artwork, it was a bit like hanging up a wedding photo in the church," she told AFP.
"Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin has done so much for the integration and representation of (LGBTQ people) in the Christian world," said Tunebro, who was ordained 12 years ago.
The 58-year-old artist -- who made headlines 20 years ago with her controversial Ecce Homo exhibit, featuring among other things Jesus in stilettos surrounded by 12 transvestite apostles -- said she too was disappointed.
"My calling has been to create Christian works which LGBTQ people can identify with," she told AFP.
The Church of Sweden, headed by a female archbishop since 2014, was among the first in the world to ordain female priests in 1958, and to marry homosexuals, in 2009.
Also in 2009, Eva Brunne was elected the first openly lesbian bishop in the world, according to Swedish media.
"The Church of Sweden wants to be a modern church and follow changes in society," Magdalena Nordin, a professor of religion at the University of Gothenburg, told AFP.
cbw/po/har
Agence France-Presse
BANGKOK, Thailand - Pope Francis warned against the potential pitfalls of technology and the competition for young people's "attention" on Friday, dedicating the final full day of his Bangkok trip to engaging the next generation of Catholics.
The Pontiff is on his first visit to Buddhist-majority Thailand, where just a sliver of the population is Catholic despite the religion's long history in the country.
He has called for religious harmony and peace throughout his four-day tour, a message he will likely carry on Saturday to Japan where he will visit the sites of the world's only nuclear attacks.
But on Friday, he shifted his focus toward Thailand's youth, warning the next generation of the downsides of fast-encroaching technology.
"Rapid technological advancements can open up immense possibilities that make life easier, but can also result in the growth of consumerism and materialism," the Pope cautioned.
Later in the day, he led a mass for Thailand's young adherents, urging them to remain steadfast in the face of rival influences.
"We can be swayed by the voices of this world that compete for our attention," he said, speaking at Bangkok's 109-year-old Cathedral of the Assumption.
"At first they seem appealing and exciting, but in the long run they will leave you only empty, weary, alone and disenchanted," he said.
The message was a clarion call to the young worshipers in Thailand, where fewer than 400,000 Catholics make up just over 0.5 percent of the population.
The faith arrived in the country via European missionaries in the 16th century, and the community has since remained small but spirited -- coexisting peacefully with Buddhist neighbors.
But Thai Bishop Joseph Pradhan Sridarunsil said they were facing a crisis as interest in the religion dwindled among the youth.
"The Thai Church nowadays is facing the same situation as other countries in the world, namely a crisis of decreasing vocation," he said.
Young Christian adults are much less likely than older Christians to say religion is very important to them, and fewer than half those surveyed pray daily, according to a global Pew Research Center report from last year.
Tech addicted teens
Fading interest was far from evident on Friday, however, as scores of faithful gathered outside the cathedral -- many jostling for mobile phone photos -- for Francis's second mass of the trip.
For some, the Pope's warning words for Thailand's youth were welcome.
"There are other things attracting (teenagers)... like interesting content available on YouTube and it is easy for teenagers to be addicted or targeted by these things to become more materialistic," said Siriyaphorn Phongburut, 40, standing outside the mass.
She urged the Church to use social media to attract young adherents, in a country where mobile phone use is rampant.
On a busy Friday Francis also visited a shrine for Catholic martyr Nicholas Boonkerd Kitbamrung and attended an interfaith meeting, where a mixed Muslim and Christian choir sang for him in a symbolic performance.
His final official duty was his youth mass at the ornate Cathedral, packed with bishops wearing brilliant red and gold robes custom-made for the occasion -- the Pope's included.
His pointed message was not a huge departure for the Pope, who has long sought to engage the next generation of Catholics.
"The Pope always gives importance to youth which he believes is the foundation of society, country and religion," said Puttipong Puttansri, a Thai historian of the Catholic Church.
Francis touched down in Bangkok on Wednesday and was met by adoring worshipers eager to catch a glimpse of the 82-year-old Argentine.
His first mass on Thursday night -- replete with hymns, prayers and traditional Thai performances -- drew an estimated 60,000 people, some crying as the Pontiff passed in his Popemobile.
There he urged respect for the downtrodden, including prostitutes and trafficking victims.
He heads to Japan on Saturday for the second and final leg of his Asia tour, which will include visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, both devastated by atomic bombs by the US during World War II.
The Pope, who years ago had hoped to be a missionary in Japan, is expected to chastise the use of "immoral" nuclear weapons.
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BANGKOK -- Pope Francis arrived in Thailand on Wednesday to meet with its small but devoted Catholic minority on a seven-day Asian trip that will include a family reunion in Bangkok and take his anti-nuclear message to Japan.
Waiting for a glimpse of the pontiff, excited Catholics thronged around the Vatican's Bangkok embassy and St. Louis Hospital to take selfies.
"Once in a lifetime, I want to see him and be able receive prayer from him," said 60-year-old Orawan Thongjamroon outside the Vatican embassy, where she had been waiting since early morning for the papal motorcade.
Catholics are a tiny minority in mostly Buddhist Thailand, accounting for less than 2 percent of the population.
The pope's plane touched down outside Bangkok around midday and he descended to a red-carpet airport welcome from church leaders for a visit that coincides with the 350th anniversary of the first papal mission in Siam, the former name of Thailand.
Among those welcoming him was his cousin and childhood friend from Argentina, 77-year-old nun Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, who has worked in Thai schools for more than 50 years and will be the pope's personal translator in Thailand.
The pair, whose grandfathers were brothers, beamed as they made their way over the tarmac through crowds of clergy, children and government officials to a waiting motorcade.
"Dear friends in Thailand and Japan, before we meet, let us pray together that these days may be rich in grace and joy," read a message on the pontiff's official Twitter account before he left the Vatican.
At Bangkok's St. Louis Church, a Thai Catholic woman proudly showed photographs of her and Pope Francis from a visit she made to the Vatican with her husband.
"I never thought that I would have another chance to see him again," said Nuchnaree Praresri, 49.
But when she was invited to be a cleaner at St. Louis Church for the papal visit, she seized the opportunity.
"This might not be an important role for others, but I'm very proud," she said.
Catholicism first arrived in Thailand in the mid-1500s with Portuguese missionaries and traders, and Catholics have over the years built respected schools and hospitals.
Pope Francis begins his official program on Thursday when he is scheduled to meet King Maha Vajiralongkorn as well as the supreme Buddhist patriarch before offering mass at the National Stadium.
He will hold another mass at Bangkok's Assumption Cathedral before leaving on Saturday for Japan, where he will visit the nuclear ground zeros of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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BANGKOK - The last time Vararunee Khonchanath was in the presence of a Pope was before she was born just over 35 years ago, but when Pope Francis visits Bangkok later this week to bless Thailand's tiny Catholic minority, she will be singing in the choir.
A sixth-generation Catholic of Portuguese-Thai ancestry, Vararunee lives in a 250-year-old community that is as old as the Thai capital itself. During the previous papal visit, back in 1984, Vararunee's pregnant mother was among the congregation.
"I was in my mum's tummy as she attended the mass when His Holiness John Paul II visited Thailand the last time," Vararunee said, adding how honored she felt to be in the choir this time, when Pope Francis offers mass at the National Stadium.
During his visit from Nov. 20 to 23, Pope Francis will also celebrate mass at Assumption Cathedral in central Bangkok.
In overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand, Catholics number just a little more than 380,000 in a country of more than 65 million.
MISSIONARIES, TRADERS
Historians say more than 70 percent of Catholics in Thailand, like Vararunee, have foreign ancestry.
Catholicism first arrived in Siam, the old name for Thailand, in the mid-1500s with Portuguese missionaries and traders.
The Vatican formally established its "Mission de Siam" 350 years ago during the reign of King Narai, an anniversary that coincides with the visit of Pope Francis that begins on Wednesday.
While missionaries failed to achieve mass conversions, they were largely tolerated by the Buddhist majority and particularly the royal court.
"In the past, many Catholics from places like Japan and Vietnam, migrated to this land to escape religious persecution," said Puttipong Puttansri, a historian at the Archdiocese of Bangkok Historical Archive.
Catholics have over the years built schools and hospitals, some of which are still well known and respected today.
"For many Thais, Catholicism is synonymous with schools," Puttipong said.
MARTYRDOM
There were also spells of religious persecutions. In the late 1600s, Catholic priests were arrested and some killed out of suspicion they were working with France to colonize the country.
Similar hostility stirred in the 1940s when a nationalistic Thai government was at war with France in Indochina.
The tension resulted in the closing down of schools, confiscation of properties and the arrest of some clergy.
In 1940, seven Catholics, including three teenage girls, were killed by Thai police in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom. Pope John Paul II later declared them martyrs.
PEACE AND PASTRIES
In the modern era, Thailand remains largely tolerant to Catholics.
Catholics in Bangkok's historic Kudi Chin community along the Chao Praya River have mostly lived peacefully while maintaining their unique traditions and beliefs.
The district is known locally not only for Santa Cruz Church, which is the focal point for its Catholic community, but for the traditional Portuguese-influenced cupcake that is still baked there.
For the faithful such as Vararunee, the papal visit casts a light on their community and faith.
"I am very proud that we manage to hold on to our roots," Vararunee said.
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Saudi Arabia said Monday that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had distorted the image of Islam, and hailed his killing by US special forces in northwestern Syria.
"The kingdom appreciates the US administration's efforts to pursue members of this terrorist organisation that distorted the real image of Islam... and committed atrocities and crimes," said a Saudi foreign ministry source, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
"Saudi Arabia continues its efforts with its allies, especially the United States, in fighting terrorism," the source added.
US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Baghdadi had died "like a dog" in an overnight raid by US special forces in Syria.
Trump said many IS jihadists had been killed in the raid and that Baghdadi had detonated a suicide vest when he was cornered in a tunnel.
IS had seized swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, imposing a violent form of Islamic rule on some seven million residents of its "caliphate", headed by Baghdadi.
The Iraqi, believed to be 48 years old, was rarely seen during his years as leader of the group, last appearing in a propaganda video in April.
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WASHINGTON - In a move likely to appeal to his Christian supporters, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has permanently spared bibles printed in China from his tariff plans.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Wednesday that bibles were among about 25 product categories that were removed from 10% tariffs due to take effect on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. Other products removed, because of their importance, included child safety seats, cranes used in ports and construction, shipping containers and certain types of fish.
But rosaries and other personal religious items that are imported from China will still be hit by a 10 percent tariff on Sept. 1, according to a USTR tariff list released on Tuesday.
Around 60 percent of these imported religious items come from China - about $11 million worth last year, according to a Reuters analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
In May, bibles and other religious texts printed in China, which totaled $91.7 million or 65 percent of the total 2018 U.S. imports in the category, were placed on a list of items for tariffs of up to 25 percent, as part of a broader, $794 million category of printed books, brochures and leaflets.
The so-called "bible tax" would hinder churches and other religious organizations in their mission to "spread the word of God," said Mark Schoenwald, chief executive of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, at a USTR hearing in June.
Trump said on Tuesday he would delay the 10% tariff on cellphones, laptops and other consumer goods until Dec. 15 "just in case" the duty would have an impact on consumer spending during the Christmas season.
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Catriona Gray knew exactly what to reply to a fan who asked why a religious person like her supports the LGBT community: "Religion is never an excuse to hate," she said.
Under an Instagram photo of her promoting the ongoing Pride Month, one of Gray's followers expressed disappointment and asked the Miss Universe winner to refrain from compromising her faith.
"My belief as a Christian does not limit me from fighting for the rights of others," wrote Gray in reply.
She added: "I love my God and love my fellow brothers and sisters."
"Religion is never an excuse to hate, put down or act indifferent to the suffering of others. I believe God is love, and I will treat everyone — no matter who they are, to best of my ability, with love."
Below are just some of the other comments, a mix of those saying they were inspired by Gray's post and others who criticized her.
Gray has not been shy talking about growing up Christian, as well as opening up about her support for the LGBT community — the beauty queen was among the high-profile guests of a ball held this past week that advocated gender equality.
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NEW YORK - Two dozen U.S. states and municipalities sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to stop it from enforcing a rule that would make it easier for doctors and nurses to avoid performing abortions on religious or moral grounds.
A lawsuit led by New York Attorney General Letitia James said the expanded "conscience" protections could undermine the ability of states and cities to provide effective healthcare without jeopardizing billions of dollars a year in federal aid.
It also said the rule would upset legislative efforts to accommodate workers' beliefs while ensuring that hospitals, other businesses and staff treat patients effectively.
Sterilizations and assisted suicide are other procedures that might be impeded, according to a complaint filed by New York and 22 other states and municipalities in federal court in Manhattan. California filed a similar lawsuit in San Francisco.
"The federal government is giving health care providers free license to openly discriminate and refuse care to patients," James said in a statement.
The rule is scheduled to take effect on July 22. It will be enforced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Roger Severino, director of HHS' Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement: "The rule gives life and enforcement tools to conscience protection laws that have been on the books for decades. HHS finalized the conscience rule after more than a year of careful consideration and after analyzing over 242,000 public comments. We will defend the rule vigorously."
President Donald Trump, a Republican, has made expanding religious liberty a priority, and the proposed rule drew support from anti-abortion activists.
Critics, including some civil rights medical groups, have said the rule could deprive some patients, including gay and transgender people, of needed healthcare because they might be deemed less worthy of treatment.
The Manhattan lawsuit said the rule could even prevent hospitals from asking applicants for nursing jobs whether they opposed giving measles vaccinations, even during an outbreak.
So far in 2019, the worst U.S. measles outbreak in a quarter century has sickened 880 people, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.
The plaintiffs in Tuesday's lawsuits are led by Democrats or often lean Democratic.
They also include New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C.; the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin; and Cook County, Illinois.
Hundreds of lawsuits by Democratic-leaning states and municipalities have targeted White House policies under Trump.
The cases are New York et al v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 19-04676; and California v. Azar et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 19-02769.
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Pope Francis walks along Cardinals holding palm fronds across St. Peter's square as he celebrates the Palm Sunday Mass in the Vatican. The pope marked the moveable feast by blessing the palm fronds of Catholic faithful before celebrating Mass.
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NEW DELHI, India - The Dalai Lama has undergone a check-up at a New Delhi hospital following chest pains, according to an aide who said the octogenarian Tibetan spiritual leader was in stable condition.
Ngodup Tsering, the 83-year-old Buddhist monk's representative in the United States, told AFP the Dalai Lama flew to New Delhi early Tuesday for a doctor's visit at Max hospital after he experienced a "light cough."
"The doctor said there's nothing to worry about. It's not that serious," Tsering said, without confirming whether the Dalai Lama had been admitted for hospital treatment. "He's taking a few days' rest."
Kangra police superintendent Santosh Patial told The Indian Express that the Dalai Lama, who is based in Dharamshala and has been in permanent Indian exile for some 60 years, took a regular morning flight Tuesday and was not airlifted.
"There is nothing to panic," he added.
Although the exiled leader remains a hugely popular speaker, he has cut back on his global engagements and has not met a world leader since 2016 -- while governments have been wary of extending invitations to him for fear of angering Beijing.
The Dalai Lama has sought to pre-empt any attempt by Beijing, which has effectively wiped out any organized opposition to its rule in Tibet, to name his reincarnated successor, even announcing in 2011 that he may be the last in the lineage.
Even India, which offered asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 when he made a daring escape across the Himalayas dressed as a soldier, has turned its back, with the government reportedly warning officials against attending events featuring him, citing diplomatic sensitivities.
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LOS ANGELES - The Mormon Church on Thursday announced it would now allow the children of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents to be baptized, regardless of whether the parents are members.
The decision is "effective immediately," said the Church, officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a statement.
The new policy allows a child to be blessed as a baby and baptized at age eight.
"Previously, our handbook characterized same-gender marriage by a member as apostasy," or a denial of faith, the statement said.
"While we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression, it will not be treated as apostasy for purposes of Church discipline. Instead, the immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way."
The Church added it wanted to "reduce the hate and contention so common today" -- but insisted its overall teachings had not changed.
"These changes do not represent a shift in Church doctrine related to marriage or the commandments of God in regard to chastity and morality," it said.
Founded in 1830, the Mormon Church, whose headquarters are located in Salt Lake City, Utah, has 16 million members and says its mission is to restore a true church in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ.
Its informal name refers to the "Book of Mormon" -- named after an old prophet -- which followers believe is a restored version of the true word of Jesus, rather than traditional Christian scripture.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints also advocates for baptizing dead people who were not baptized while alive -- a practice which sees a living person baptized to baptize the dead person by proxy, even if they lived several generations before.
ban/sdu/caw/ska
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LONDON--British pop legend Elton John has joined actor George Clooney in calling for a boycott of nine Brunei-owned hotels over the sultanate's new death-penalty laws for gay sex and adultery.
The call came as a growing list of politicians and celebrities added their names to those condemning the new laws and supporting a boycott.
"I commend my friend, #GeorgeClooney, for taking a stand against the anti-gay discrimination and bigotry taking place in the nation of #Brunei - a place where gay people are brutalized, or worse - by boycotting the Sultan's hotels," the singer wrote on his Twitter page late Saturday.
The 72-year-old, a veteran gay rights campaigner, said his "heart went out" to staff at the hotels, but that "we must send a message, however we can, that such treatment is unacceptable".
The nine hotels mentioned by Clooney are located in Britain, France, Italy and the United States. They include London's exclusive Dorchester and the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.
The Dorchester Collection luxury chain issued a statement saying that its code emphasizes "equality, respect and integrity in all areas" and that "we do not tolerate any form of discrimination", CNN reported.
Clooney called for the boycott earlier this week, saying "every single time we stay at or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels, we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery".
'BARBARIC' DECISION
"No one should face the death penalty because of who they love. Brunei's decision is barbaric," Britain's international development minister Penny Mordaunt wrote on Twitter.
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark called the new penal code "shocking" and "barbaric".
Amnesty International called on Brunei to "immediately halt its plans to implement these vicious punishments".
In the US, Clooney's call drew supportive declarations from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle and a strong statement from the Trump administration.
"We strongly oppose human rights violations and abuses against LGBTI persons, including violence," the State Department said in a statement.
LGBTI stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex. Intersex people are people born with physical features that are neither wholly male nor female.
US CONDEMNATION
Former US vice president Joe Biden, who is expected to seek the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination, tweeted on Friday: "Stoning people to death for homosexuality or adultery is appalling and immoral...
"There is no excuse -- not culture, not tradition -- for this kind of hate and inhumanity."
Another Democrat seeking the party's nomination, Senator Kamala Harris of California, joined the chorus. "These human rights abuses cannot be tolerated," she said.
And Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said on Twitter: "This is wrong. It is barbaric. America should condemn this immoral and inhumane law, and everyone should be united against it."
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis also tweeted in support of her fellow actor's stand. "I stand with George Clooney, a good man doing the right thing, fighting an unjust and barbaric law."
Clooney and his wife, human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney, have been active in humanitarian causes.
Brunei, an absolute monarchy ruled for 51 years by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, is to implement the new penal code starting Wednesday.
Homosexuality is already illegal in the sultanate, but it will now become a capital offence. The law applies only to Muslims.
Brunei first announced the measures in 2013, but implementation has been delayed, in the face of opposition by rights groups, and as officials worked out the practical details.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
