Asia News SAUDI ARABIA Catholic priest arrested and expelled from Riyadh SAUDI ARABIA RELIGIOUS freedom islam priest catholics indian expelled pastoral care He was caught unawares while celebrating mass in a private apartment. He was visiting Catholic Indians in the country. Like all other non-Muslims, pastoral care is denied them. There are around one million Catholics in Saudi Arabia.


17 June, 2008 A A A | | |
Help AsiaNews | About us | P.I.M.E. |
go to front page




 China | Islam | Economy | Freedom of religion | Vatican
e-mail this to a friend printable version


» 04/10/2006 12:48
SAUDI ARABIA
Catholic priest arrested and expelled from Riyadh
He was caught unawares while celebrating mass in a private apartment. He was visiting Catholic Indians in the country. Like all other non-Muslims, pastoral care is denied them. There are around one million Catholics in Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh (AsiaNews) – A Catholic Indian priest was yesterday forced to leave Saudi Arabia. He was discovered by the religious police as he organized a prayer meeting in the lead-up to Easter. Arrested on 5 April, he remained in police custody for four days and on Saturday 8th April he left for India. The practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Saudi Arabia. Meetings held privately in people's homes, among friends, are also banned.

The priest, Fr George Joshua, belongs to the Malankara rite of Kerala (India). His visit to Catholic Indians in the Saudi Kingdom was planned with his bishop's permission.

On 5 April, Fr George had just celebrated mass in a private house when seven religious policemen (muttawa) broke into the house together with two ordinary policemen. The police arrested the priest and another person.

The Saudi religious police are well known for their ruthlessness; they often torture believers of other religions who are arrested.

AsiaNews sources said there were around 400,000 Indian Catholics in Saudi Arabia who were denied pastoral care. Catholic foreigners in the country number at least one million: none of them can participate in mass while they are in Saudi Arabia. Catechism for their children – nearly 100,000 – is banned.

Often, for feasts like Easter and Christmas, Catholics plan holidays in the Emirates, Bahrain or Abu Dhabi, where at least for once, they are free to attend mass.


e-mail this to a friend printable version

See also
06/22/2005 SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh: an Indian missionary accused of proselytism is imprisoned
02/09/2005 US - VIETNAM - SAUDI ARABIA
US Commission calls for sanctions against Vietnam and Saudi Arabia for violating religious freedom
07/21/2006 USA - SAUDI ARABIA
US trusts Riyad's new promise to ensure religious freedom
12/17/2004 saudi arabia
Saudi Christian convert arrested and jailed
06/09/2004 SAUDI ARABIA – Italy
Solidarity for poor O'Connor, the Christian tortured by the Saudi police
by Lorenzo Fazzini

Dossier

Editor's choices
MYANMAR
Burmese dioceses setting up camps for people displaced by cyclone Nargis
The Burmese Church continues its post-cyclone rescue work. In Pathein, the local bishop has set up two camps for survivors and organised volunteer medical teams. The military is “stealing” the little foreign assistance allowed to trickle into the country as emergency food aid. Anyone who wants to help the PIME solidarity campaign can do so by following instructions at the bottom of the article.
VATICAN - ISLAM
Magdi Christian Allam, a contested conversion
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj
The Catholic baptism of the well known journalist, Magdi Allam, Egyptian and non practising Muslim, has been criticised and despised by the Islamic world. Added to this, is the embarrassment in Christian quarters, of those fearful of seeing a new crusade being launched by Benedict XVI and the Church. Instead, just as with the Regensburg address, this baptism is a message in defence of religious freedom, of evangelisation and of co-existence between religions.
TIBET - CHINA
Photos of the massacre in Tibet
A series of images that bear witness to the violence of the Chinese regime against the demonstrators who, in recent days, have asked Beijing for greater freedom.

Copyright © 2003 AsiaNews C.F. 00889190153 All rights reserved. Content on this site is made available for personal, non-commercial use only. You may not reproduce, republish, sell or otherwise distribute the content or any modified or altered versions of it without the express written permission of the editor. Photos on AsiaNews.it are largely taken from the internet and thus considered to be in the public domain. Anyone contrary to their publication need only contact the editorial office which will immediately proceed to remove the photos.