(RNS) Pope Francis departs next week (Aug. 14) on a five-day trip to South Korea, his first to Asia and the start of an important new papal focus on the region. In January, Francis will return to visit Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and a trip to Japan — where the pope wanted to go Read more
Perhaps because of my visits to Tokyo I’ve been haunted by images from a film I saw some time ago. The multi-award winning Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson, displays a relationship that unfolds between two Americans – a middle-aged man and a younger woman – when they meet in Japan. Portrayed Read more
These are the very early days of a phenomenon that will reshape Christianity forever, the coming of what theologians call the “Third Church.” The “First Church” was that of the original disciples and the generations that followed them, centred on the Mediterranean and making the first missionary advances into lands and cultures outside of Israel. Read more
Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, has awarded a scholarship to New Zealand-born Pacific Islander, Rachel Yates, to investigate the migration of young Pacific Islanders to Asia. Yates says she expects her PhD to take three year to complete but hopes it will motivate other New Zealand Pacific Islanders to study and travel abroad. Read More
Pope Francis this week revealed his plan to travel to Italy, Jerusalem, and Asia in the coming months. “I think papal trips are always good,” the pope was quoted as saying during the flight back to Rome after a week in Brazil. Pope Francis, however, said there is still “nothing definite-definite,” but added that he Read more
Persecution of Christians belonging to evangelical denominations in Asia has increased by three or four times in the last 10 years, according to the Gospel for Asia ministry. Its president says people who have not experienced persecution firsthand “cannot fully understand what it means to receive threats against your life, to have your house destroyed, Read more
Anybody who’s seen the movie “Pulp Fiction” probably recalls the scene where John Travolta explains to Samuel L. Jackson that in France, McDonald’s calls the quarter-pounder a “Royale with cheese” because, in light of the metric system, the French wouldn’t know what a quarter-pounder is. (It turns out that the movie got the French slightly Read more
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences last week concluded a meeting to address growing concerns in Asia over sexual abuse within the Church. Conference organizers barred access and refused comment to journalists attempting to cover the event. A letter posted by the Federation’s Office of the Clergy in January invited “cardinals, archbishops, bishops and formators” Read more
