Church leaders call for peace in Bangladesh

CHURCH leaders have called for a “peaceful transition” of power in Bangladesh. The former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday amid a mass uprising in which hundreds have died. On Tuesday evening, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, urged the Bangladeshi military forces to prioritise a swift return to civilian rule. “The establishment of a stable, democratic government is crucial for the nation’s long-term peace and prosperity. We encourage all parties to engage in dialogue and work collaboratively towards a peaceful transition.” On Wednesday, Muhammad Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, was appointed interim Prime Minister. The deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, the Rt Revd Dr Jo Bailey Wells, said: “Given the uncertainty as to the future, we pray for wisdom and generosity among those working together and making decisions during this transition-period in government. And for healing for those who have been traumatised by recent troubles.”

Rwandan regulations close 4000 places of worship

MORE than 4000 places of worship in Rwanda — mostly small Pentecostal churches and some mosques — are said to have been closed by the authorities over the past month for failures to comply with state regulations, such as not being properly soundproofed, the BBC reported this week. The Minister of Local Government, Jean Claude Musabyimana, told state media: “This is not being done to prevent people from praying but to ensure the safety and tranquillity of worshippers.” A law to regulate the proliferation of places of worship came into force in 2018, when 700 churches were closed. It requires them to operate in a safe environment, prohibits the use of loud public-address systems, and legislates that preachers must have theological training before opening a church.

Roman Catholic clergy and laity arrested in Nicaragua

AT LEAST 11 Roman Catholic priests, deacons, and churchgoers have been detained by the Nicaraguan government since 1 August, Crux Now reports. It cites a statement from Nicaragua Nunca Más (Nicaragua Never More), a group founded by seven Nicaraguan human-rights activists exiled in Costa Rica in 2019, which says that “many parishes have been harassed,” and that there is no information concerning the current location of some of those detained.

Greek Police request back-up to evict monks

GREEK police have asked for extra resources to evict a group of Orthodox monks, who have, they say, been living without authorisation on Mount Athos, the National Catholic Reporter reports. In a letter sent to the Holy Community of Mount Athos, which administers the peninsula, the police request “support for the entry, accommodation, and movement throughout the Athonian peninsula for a long period of time of a sufficient number of police officers and heavy vehicles, in order for our service to respond immediately and with operational precision to a request submitted by bailiffs for the execution of evictions in areas of the Athonian State”. The evictions are reported to refer to the 118 monks of the Esphigmenou Monastery, who are in conflict with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, under whose authority Mount Athos and its monasteries fall, and, according to the Greek courts, have occupied the monastery illegally since 2002. They have accrued multiple criminal convictions after past attempts to evict them. “Greek police should have acted long ago. It’s their constitutional duty to protect Mount Athos, which is part of Greece,” said Fr Bartolomeos, Abbot of the New Esphigmenou Brotherhood, which the Patriarch set up in 2005.