Failed terrorist attempt on Indonesian Catholic Church
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A would-be suicide bomber's explosives failed to detonate in a packed Catholic church in western Indonesia during Sunday Mass, and he injured a priest with an axe before being restrained, police said. During Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, 17-year-old Ivan Armadi Hasugian left his bench and ran toward the priest at the altar, but a bomb in his backpack only burned without exploding, said national police spokesman Maj. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar. Before he was restrained by members of the congregation, the man managed to take an axe from the backpack and attacked the celebrant Fr. Albert Pandiangan, causing a slight injury to the 60-year-old priest's hand, Amar said. "From the cellphone that was seized by security forces, this youth was obsessed with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," Chief Security Minister Wiranto told reporters, referring to the leader of the Islamic State (IS), the Middle Eastern militant group....
A would-be suicide bomber's explosives failed to detonate in a packed Catholic church in western Indonesia during Sunday Mass, and he injured a priest with an axe before being restrained, police said. During Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, 17-year-old Ivan Armadi Hasugian left his bench and ran toward the priest at the altar, but a bomb in his backpack only burned without exploding, said national police spokesman Maj. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar. Before he was restrained by members of the congregation, the man managed to take an axe from the backpack and attacked the celebrant Fr. Albert Pandiangan, causing a slight injury to the 60-year-old priest's hand, Amar said.
"From the cellphone that was seized by security forces, this youth was obsessed with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," Chief Security Minister Wiranto told reporters, referring to the leader of the Islamic State (IS), the Middle Eastern militant group. Police were interrogating the man, who told them he was not working alone, Amar said, without providing details.
Indonesian authorities are increasingly worried about a resurgence in radicalism in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, driven in part by a new generation of jihadis inspired by Islamic State (IS). They say vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of the religion. The country suffered its first IS-linked attack in January, when four people died in a gun and bomb assault.
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Asian elephant. / Credit: Filiz Elaerts / Unsplash (CC0)CNA Newsroom, Mar 27, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).Despite repeated protests from Catholic bishops, wildlife attacks continue to pose a severe threat to the lives and properties of both Catholics and other residents in the Southern Indian state of Kerala. On Wednesday, local media reported significant damage from two elephants in Kerala's Idukki district, alongside a tiger's attack on livestock. This year alone, elephant attacks have resulted in 27 fatalities in the region. Video footage of a Catholic man trampled to death on Feb. 10 made headlines and sparked protests, only to be followed by news of a potential mauling by a tiger of a Catholic woman on her way to Mass four days after the fatal attack. Further fatal elephant tramplings followed the incident.The Catholic Church in Kerala has been leading the charge in urging the government to take decisive action to protect human lives. "The series of shocking ...
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Catholic faithful offer prayers during an Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Mary's Basilica in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad in India on Feb. 14, 2024. / Credit: NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty ImagesBangalore, India, Mar 27, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).A watchdog group that monitors violence committed against Christians in India has released a study documenting 161 such crimes in the first 75 days of 2024.These numbers may underestimate the number of crimes and acts of persecution committed against Christians in India, according to A.C. Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of the United Christian Forum (UCF), which released the report. "These figures are based only on the complaints registered on our toll-free helpline number (1-800-208-4545) to report incidents of anti-Christian violence. The actual numbers will be certainly much more," Michael told CNA on March 27."We feel frustrated that despite documenting and making public the shocking data regularly, there has been no re...
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On Holy Wednesday, the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land venerated the column to which, according to tradition, Jesus was bound to be scourged. They prayed the station dedicated to the column during the daily procession that the Franciscans perform inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. At the end, they intoned the hymn "Columna Nobilis" and then, one by one, they performed an act of veneration. March 27, 2024. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 27, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).In Jerusalem on Holy Wednesday, the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land venerate the two stones that, according to the Gospel of Luke, were stained with the blood of Jesus during his passion.The first stone is venerated at the Basilica of the Agony, which stands at the place where Jesus withdrew to pray after the Last Supper in an orchard known as Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives.Father Alessandro Coniglio, who presided over the Holy Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of the Agony (G...