Global Church Crime News 08/27/2023

(August 25) Jaranwala Pastor Arrested In Connection With Blasphemy Incident That Sparked Violence | PAKISTAN

The police in Punjab’s Jaranwala have arrested a pastor, Amjad Alam, in connection with the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran that sparked the violence in the city last week.

At least 19 churches and 86 houses of the Christian community were burnt down during the riots on August 16.

A mob went on a rampage after rumours spread that the police were not arresting two men named in an FIR and accused of desecrating the Holy Quran.

Both men were arrested on August 17 a day after they fled Jaranwala for their lives, Punjab’s caretaker chief minister announced on X, formerly Twitter. Police later confirmed to the news agency Reuters that they were brothers.

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(August 25) Russian Occupiers Seize Catholic Church In Eastern Ukraine | UKRAINE

Russian occupiers launched an attack Aug. 22 on St. Teresa of the Child of Jesus Roman Catholic Church in the town of Skadovsk, located in the Kherson region in eastern Ukraine, Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk of Odessa-Simferopol confirmed on Facebook.

"A group of armed special forces, cloaked in masks and wielding weapons, encircled the Roman Catholic chapel," the bishop said, describing the dramatic event.

With determined force, they "broke down the door and broke into the chapel and began a search," Bishop Szyrokoradiuk said.

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(August 25) Civil Case Over Cardinal Pell Abuse Allegations Allowed To Proceed Against Church In Australia | AUSTRALIA

An Australian court on Friday allowed a civil case to proceed against a Catholic archdiocese involving child sex abuse allegations against late Cardinal George Pell.

The Victoria state Court of Appeal in Melbourne refused to hear the church’s challenge to a judge’s ruling that a father, identified in court documents as RWQ, was entitled to sue for damages for the nervous shock he suffered when he learned of allegations his son had been abused.

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(August 23) Mob Vandalizes Delhi Church During Sunday Mass And Beats Churchgoers, Including Women | INDIA

As the world focuses on Delhi due to the forthcoming G20 summit in the city, a church in the national capital was attacked and vandalized by a Hindu nationalist mob during Sunday service, leading to several Christians sustaining injuries, according to media reports.

The attack occurred in Delhi’s Tahirpur area, where the mob disrupted prayers and later gathered outside a police station to prevent the filing of a complaint, Indian media outlet The Wire reported.

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(August 23) Terrorists Kill Two, Burn Down Church And Ten Homes In Kenya | KENYA

Suspected al-Shabaab terrorists killed two people in Kenya on Tuesday and burned down ten homes and a church. In a separate incident, the terrorists killed two motorists in an ambush on a local road.

At 2:00 a.m., an International Christian Concern (ICC) staffer received a distress call from the pastor of the Redeemed Gospel church in Salama village. The pastor said, “We are under attack from terrorists. They have set our church on fire, and they are going about torching other houses.”

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