Asia - Pacific News

Cardinal Joseph Zen (right)  arrives at a court for his trial in Hong Kong on Sept. 26, 2022.

Cardinal Zen trial update: Defense calls for charges to be dismissed

Oct 31, 2022

By Courtney Mares

Lawyers defending Cardinal Joseph Zen and five other Hong Kong democracy activists took the floor Monday in the West Kowloon... Read more

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South Korea’s Catholic bishops pray for Halloween crowd surge victims

Oct 31, 2022

By Courtney Mares

Catholic bishops in South Korea offered condolences to the bereaved families of the more than 150 people killed in a... Read more

Cardinal Joseph Zen arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on May 24, 2022, in Hong Kong, China.

Cardinal Zen’s trial reopens in Hong Kong days after Vatican-China deal renewal

Oct 27, 2022

By Courtney Mares

The trial of Cardinal Joseph Zen resumed in Hong Kong on Wednesday, days after the Vatican announced the renewal of... Read more

Pope Francis on Oct. 12, 2022

Amid claim of coming ‘Asian millennium,’ Pope Francis tells bishops to discern Holy Spirit

Oct 12, 2022

By AC Wimmer

Pope Francis on Wednesday called on Asia’s Catholic bishops, currently gathered in Thailand, to discern what the Holy Spirit is... Read more

Andrew Thorburn (seen here in a 2015 photo), a former Australian banking executive and current chairman of church affiliated with the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, stepped down Oct. 4, 2022, one day after being appointed chief executive of an Australian rules football club due to public backlash.

Christians excluded from Australian sports? Bishops raise alarm after exec resigns

Oct 7, 2022

By AC Wimmer

One day after being appointed chief executive of an Australian rules football club, Andrew Thorburn stepped down from the role... Read more

Pope Francis prays on St. Peter's Square, Oct. 5, 2022

Pope Francis mourns 23 children and several adults killed in Thailand day care attack

Oct 7, 2022

By AC Wimmer

Pope Francis has expressed deep sorrow at the news of a deadly rampage at a day care center in Thailand... Read more

Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts related to East Timor, speaks during an Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) public hearing in Jakarta, March 26 March.

Vatican confirms East Timor bishop under ‘restrictions’ related to sexual abuse of minors

Sep 29, 2022

By Jonah McKeown

Two alleged victims, now in their 40s, say the bishop abused his position of power over boys in the area... Read more

Cardinal Joseph Zen.

Cardinal Zen’s second day in court: Magistrate rules there is sufficient evidence

Sep 28, 2022

By Courtney Mares

On Tuesday, Cardinal Joseph Zen’s second day in court in Hong Kong, the magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence... Read more

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A handful of Catholic leaders and others voice support for Cardinal Zen as his trial begins

Sep 26, 2022

By Zelda Caldwell, Courtney Mares

These are Catholic leaders, scholars, and human rights activists who have publicly shown their support for Zen as his trial... Read more

Our Lady Queen of Peace Cathedral in Broome, Australia.

Vatican opens canonical investigation into Australian bishop

Sep 26, 2022

By AC Wimmer

The Vatican has appointed Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane to oversee an investigation into former Bishop of Broome Christopher Saunders. Read more

Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia's highest-ranking Catholic clerics, arrives at a court for his trial in Hong Kong on Sept. 26, 2022.

Cardinal Zen stands trial in Hong Kong

Sep 26, 2022

By Courtney Mares

Cardinal Joseph Zen and five others stood trial in Hong Kong on Monday for failing to properly register a fund... Read more

President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.

Report: Pope Francis sought to meet with Xi Jinping, but China declined

Sep 16, 2022

By Jonah McKeown

Pope Francis expressed his “availability” to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping while both men were in Kazakhstan this week,... Read more

Pope Francis speaking at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan, Sept. 13–15, 2022.

A ‘supermarket of religions,’ God’s will, and the wisdom of a tweaked declaration

Sep 16, 2022

By AC Wimmer

A sensitive passage in the final declaration of the congress that brought Pope Francis to Kazakhstan Sept. 13–15 appears to... Read more

Pope Francis speaking at the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Sept. 15, 2022.

Interreligious dialogue an urgent need, Pope Francis says at close of Kazakhstan congress

Sep 15, 2022

By Hannah Brockhaus

In his final remarks in Kazakhstan on Thursday, Pope Francis said interreligious dialogue is an urgently needed path to peace. Read more

Pope Francis speaking at the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Sept. 15, 2022.

Kazakhstan interreligious congress adopts declaration calling religious pluralism ‘God’s will’

Sep 15, 2022

By Hannah Brockhaus

The congress Pope Francis participated in this week adopted a declaration calling religious pluralism an expression “of the wisdom of... Read more

Pope Francis speaking in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral on Sept. 15, 2022

Pope Francis tells Kazakhstan’s small Catholic community ‘being little’ is a blessing

Sep 15, 2022

By Courtney Mares

Pope Francis told Kazakhstan’s small Catholic community on Thursday that “being little” is a blessing from God. Read more

“The Mother of the Great Steppe" by Dosbol Kasymov.

Pope Francis blesses icon depicting Mary and Jesus as native Kazakhs

Sep 15, 2022

By Jonah McKeown

Pope Francis on Thursday blessed an icon depicting Mary and the Child Jesus as native Kazakhs, entrusting the Church in... Read more

A young girl at a large outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Kazakhstan’s capital of Nur-Sultan on Sept. 14, 2022.

Kazakhstan interreligious summit a chance ‘to find common paths for humanity’

Sep 14, 2022

By Carl Bunderson

Participants have called the event an opportunity for encounter and finding common ground. Read more

Image of the Our Lady of Peace in Ozernoye, Kazakhstan

The story behind the miracle of the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Kazakhstan

Sep 14, 2022

By CNA Staff

Ozernoye is the name of a village located in northern Kazakhstan where the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace is... Read more

Pope Francis speaking at the Expo center in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, where he celebrated an outdoor Mass on Sept. 14, 2022.

Pope Francis says his thoughts are with war-torn Ukraine on feast of the Holy Cross

Sep 14, 2022

By Courtney Mares

Speaking at an outdoor Mass in Kazakhstan’s capital on Sept. 14, the pope said he was thinking of “all the... Read more