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THE CONSCIENCE OF LEBANON. Cardinal Mar Bechara Rai delivers a speech to the faithful Feb. 27 at the Maronite Patriarchate in the mountain village of Bkerki, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. Cardinal Rai called for a U.N.-sponsored ‘international conference’ in the face of the country’s economic collapse and political impasse. The country joyously received, later in the year, a tour of Blessed Carlo Acutis’ relics. Answar Amro/AFP via Getty Images
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MODEL OF FORTITUDE; RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK. Top, Daughter of Charity Sister Andre, the oldest French and European citizen at 116, survived COVID-19 in January and is seen praying on the eve of her 117th birthday Feb. 11 in a facility for the elderly in Toulon, France. Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images Above, supporters of Hong Kong Catholic Jimmy Lai take part in a demonstration in support of Taiwan’s Apple Daily, the last media company owned by the media mogul, Dec. 14 in Taipei, Taiwan. Lai was sentenced Dec. 13 to 13 months in prison on charges under China’s National Security Law. Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images
Holy Witnesses Emerge Despite Global Crises y e a r i n r ev i ew BY P E T E R J E S S E R E R S M I T H S TA F F W R I T E R
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As the COVID-19 pandemic and regional crises abounded all over the globe, the Church saw Catholics bring a light in the darkness by their enduring faith and witness to Jesus Christ. In Africa, the Church saw fierce religious persecution continue in Nigeria, where Islamic militants claimed the lives of 4,400 Christians this year alone. Father Bako Francis Awesuh, 37, suffered degrading captivity at the hands of Fulani militants and put his ultimate survival in Christ’s hands. “Whenever I opened my mouth to pray, words failed me. All I could say was ‘Lord have mercy,’” Father Awesuh recounted to Aid to the Church in Need. “To the greater glory of God’s name, we were released and came out alive.” Despite these conditions, the U.S. State Department decided to remove Nigeria from its list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom. Sam Brownback, the former U.S. religious-freedom ambassador, called the decision “a serious blow to religious freedom in both Nigeria and across the region.” Across Europe, the Church grappled with loss of faith, demographic winter, the specter of Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the damage of the sexual-abuse scandals notably in France, where in October a report released by the Church examined abuse cases going back 70 years. But the Gospel did not take a break. In Poland, Church leaders stepped up to care for migrants pushed into the country by neighboring Belarus. “The mission of the Church is first and fore-
CLERGY PERSECUTION. Growing uncertainty in the African nation of Nigeria was highlighted by the kidnapping of Father Bako Francis Awesuh of Kaduna state in May. Father Awesuh was held captive for more than a month by Fulani herdsmen. Aid to the Church in Need most to preach the Gospel. Consequently, when help must be given to strangers, we must not shy away from it,” Archbishop Stanisław Gadecki, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference, said in November. Across Asia, Catholics offered a nonviolent witness to peace and human dignity in the face of oppression. China’s government sentenced Jimmy Lai, a Catholic and prominent figure in the ongoing prodemocracy movement in Hong Kong, to more than a year in jail for joining a 2020 commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. “[L]et me suffer the punishment of this crime, so I may share the burden and glory of those young men and women who shed their blood [at Tiananmen Square] to proclaim truth, justice and goodness,” Lai said.
In Myanmar, where the military has violently repressed pro-democracy protesters after its coup, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng captured the world’s attention by kneeling before police officers, offering them her life in exchange for others. “Prayer in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has given me this strength,” she said afterward. “From there, I drew the strength to help the people and to act like this.” In neighboring India, Catholics, who have endured persecution by Hindu nationalists, celebrated the Vatican green-lighting the canonization of Blessed Devasahayam in 2022. Devasahayam, a layman from a high caste, embraced the Gospel at 33, opposed the caste system, and converted his wife and many others until his martyrdom in 1752. “Devasahayam was a Christian for just seven years. But he gave amazing witness to Christ, and those who pray to him report miracles,” said Father John Kulandai, vice postulator for the canonization process. In the Middle East, the Church saw both desperate situations and new lights of hope. In shattered Syria, the Church was raising funds to help encourage young Christians to marry who could not otherwise afford to wed and start a family. In Lebanon, where Church leaders are gravely concerned the country’s collapse will lead to the extinction of Middle East Christianity, many faithful felt encouraged by the visiting relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis in the lead-up to Christmas. “It means a lot to have someone our age who understands us and can inspire us. It gives us the hope that there is hope, even though we are going through a crisis,” 15-year-old Meryl Karam told the Register (see story on page 13). “He is a light that shines the way in the darkness.”
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PRAYERS FOR MANY INTENTIONS. Clockwise from left: A religious sister prays at a papal Mass for the Catholic community in Myanmar May 16 at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. The military in Myanmar cracked down on pro-democracy protesters, culminating in Sister of St. Francis Xavier Ann Rose Nu Tawng kneeling before police officers, offering them her life in exchange for others. Remo Casilli/pool/AFP via Getty Images To cast light on the continuing rural depopulation in Spain, which is reflective of the entire continent of Europe, family portraits of former villagers are displayed in the abandoned Galician village of Bexan Oct. 27. Miguel Riopa/AFP via Getty Images Lyon French Archbishop Olivier de Germay talks to journalists on Oct. 5, the day a report was published by an independent commission into sexual abuse by Church officials. The 2,500-page report prompted outrage as the Catholic Church in France and around the world faces a growing number of abuse claims and prosecutions. Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images A chef gives finishing touches to scale models wearing traditional attire and face masks at a sweet shop in Kolkata on Dec. 8. Amid another year of pandemic, India’s Catholics welcomed the news that 18th-century martyr Blessed Devasahayam would be canonized in 2022. Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP via Getty Images