Hong Kong media tycoon and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai. / Napa Institute. Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA). A congressional commission is urging the United States government to sanction Hong Kong prosecutors and judges if they fail to release Catholic pro-democracy activist and journalist Jimmy Lai, who is on trial for allegedly violating a controversial Chinese national security law.The 76-year-old activist, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party and an advocate for democracy and greater freedom in Hong Kong, has garnered support from American and European officials since his arrest on Aug. 10, 2020. Lai has been imprisoned for three years in a maximum security prison, charged with a variety of crimes, including collusion with foreign forces under the 2020 national security law. Chinese officials claimed that the law bolstered national security protections, but critics argue that it gives officials broad authority to label political opponents as national security threats. Lai’s trial began this week and he could face life in prison if convicted.Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, who serve as the chair and co-chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC), called on the Biden administration to “sanction the judges and prosecutors involved in this case and other National Security Law-related cases” if officials refuse to release Lai and others imprisoned for political speech.“His trial … is a political prosecution plain and simple and another sad example of the Hong Kong government’s increasingly repressive policies,” the Dec. 17 statement read. “Over the past four years, only authoritarian regimes like Burma and Belarus detained political prisoners at a rate higher than Hong Kong. Charges against Jimmy Lai should be dropped and he should be released with over 1,000 other political prisoners.”The Department of State issued a statement on Sunday that called on Hong Kong authorities to “immediately release Jimmy Lai and all others imprisoned for defending their rights” but stopped short of threatening sanctions. “We urge Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to respect press freedom in Hong Kong,” said Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the department. “Actions that stifle press freedom and restrict the free flow of information — as well as Beijing and local authorities’ changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that reduce direct voting and preclude independent and pro-democracy party candidates from participating — have undermined Hong Kong’s democratic institutions and harmed Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business and financial hub.”The trial has received significant attention from leaders internationally, with other Western nations signaling their support for Lai. A spokesperson for the European Union’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said the charges were brought because of Lai’s “support for free expression and democracy in Hong Kong.” “The European Union deplores the charges brought against him and [other] journalists … and is monitoring the trial closely,” the Dec. 18 statement read. “The trial brought against him undermines confidence in the rule of law in Hong Kong and is detrimental to the city’s attractiveness and its position as an international business

Oura Church in Nagasaki, Japan. / Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA). Catholics in Japan have endured centuries of persecution. The currently small — but devout — presence of the Church in Japan is built upon the witness of untold numbers of martyrs, many of whom died en masse. Earlier this month, the Catholic Church in Japan marked 400 years since Japanese authorities committed a massacre of a group of at least 50 Christians. The Christians were burned on Dec. 4, 1623, on a bridge in the center of Edo — the city later renamed Tokyo, which was to become one of the largest and most influential cities in the entire world. According to the Philippines-based Catholic news website Radio Veritas Asia, Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo celebrated Mass in honor of the Edo martyrs on Nov. 19 at Takanawa Catholic Church and later held a prayer service at the Fuda-no-Tsuji, a former execution ground. “Quite a few members” of Takanawa walked nearly two miles from the parish to the site of the prayer service. The Mass and prayer service were the culmination of 15 months of commemorations of the country’s martyrs announced by the Japanese bishops in October 2022. The bishops called the time of commemoration “an opportunity to learn the spirituality of the martyrs that is a common heritage of the Church in Japan, to pray together, to increase our momentum to emulate the lives of the martyrs, and to draw from them strength for evangelization.”The Gospel first arrived on Japanese shores in 1549 with St. Francis Xavier, a prolific missionary and contemporary of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order. Francis’ efforts led to an initial flourishing of the faith in Japan, as he gained fluency in Japanese and converted tens of thousands of people, instructing the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts in the faith. Other missionaries from the Jesuit, Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian orders would later follow. Within two generations, according to 1614 statistics cited by the Japanese bishops, there were 150 Christian clergymen and over 650,000 believers in Japan, including two nobles. But even at that time, persecution for the faith was already in full swing following a ban on Christianity first imposed in 1587 during the era of samurai ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi.The ban led to the first major martyrdom of Christians in Japan the following year. On Feb. 5, 1597, a group of 26 Christians — three native Jesuits, six foreign Franciscans, and several lay Catholics, including some children — were crucified in Nagasaki after first being death-marched for 600 miles. All 26 Christians reportedly held out courageously, even singing the hymn of praise “Te Deum” when they arrived at the hill where they would be crucified. The group is widely known collectively as the 26 Martyrs of Japan — also as St. Paul Miki and Companions, named after a Japanese leader of the group who was training for the Jesuit priesthood and who publicly forgave his persecutors.The example

Catholics celebrate Christmas Mass at the Nativity of Our Lady Church on Dec. 24, 2019, in Macau, China. / Credit: Kit Leong/Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2023 / 16:45 pm (CNA). The size of the Christian population in China has leveled off after the dramatic increases of the 1980s and 1990s, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released this week.This finding, human rights activists and scholars told CNA, is not surprising given the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts in recent years to suppress the practice of Christianity.China had witnessed a dramatic growth in Christianity in the 1980s and 1990s when restrictions on the practice of religion that were imposed during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s were relaxed.Between 1982 and 1997, the number of Christians worshipping in registered churches more than doubled, from 6 million to 14 million, according to the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). In comparison, the general population saw 22% growth during the same time period.This week’s survey, conducted by academic organizations in China, found that growth come to a virtual standstill in recent years. Between 2010 and 2018 the number of adults identifying as Christian held steady at about 2% and in 2021 fell to 1%.Pew notes, however, that because of the difficulty in conducting surveys during COVID, the 2021 numbers are not comparable with those of previous years.Nina Shea, senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, told CNA that the declining numbers of China’s Christians are “no surprise.”“They correlate with Xi’s [Jiping’s] crackdown on Christianity, his so-called 'Sinicization' campaign,” she said. For the past five years, “the state has strictly banned all children from any exposure to religion, churches have been blanketed with facial recognition surveillance and linked to social credit scores.”During that time, Bibles have been restricted and censored, Beijing has detained Christian bishops and pastors, and their sermons have been censored to “be on Xi’s ‘thought,’” Shea said.Steven Mosher, a scholar with the Population Research Institute, told CNA that he questions the reliability of the data in the new survey since Christians in China, fearing for their safety, might refuse to respond to polls.Nevertheless, he said, the effect of the Chinese government’s efforts to suppress the growth of Christianity cannot be underestimated.“Communist Party leader Xi Jinping made clear in a December 2021 speech that he intends to bring every religion in China — Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Taoist, and Buddhist — under the direct control of the CCP and make them serve its purposes,” Mosher told CNA.“Any religion that does not teach its members to love the party and socialism is a ‘backward’ religion engaged in ‘illegal religious activities,’ Xi said, and will be stamped out. Religions should only conduct their activities in approved places of worship and must not interfere with social life or the education of the young,” he said.He added that Catholics in particular have faced widespread persecution.“Being a Catholic, especially, makes one suspect in the eyes of the present-day

The offertory at the installation Mass for the new Archbishop of Imphal Archdiocese, Linus Neli, on Dec. 8, 2023.. / Credit: Anto Akkara Senapati, India, Dec 11, 2023 / 16:22 pm (CNA). More than 10,000 Catholics from across the state of Manipur, which in recent months has witnessed a surge in ethnic violence between Hindus and Christians, attended the Dec. 8 installation of the new archbishop of the Imphal Archdiocese, Linus Neli.The Imphal Archdiocese, comprising the entire state of Manipur, held a solemn service led by outgoing Archbishop Dominic Lumon with Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli delivering a special message to the assembled, calling for unity in this time of conflict and hardship.Outgoing Archbishop Dominic Lumon ordains the new archbishop of Imphal Archdiocese, Linus Neli, as apostolic nuncio to India as Nepal Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli looks on. Credit: Anto AkkaraEighteen bishops from northeast India, more than 200 priests, and 500 nuns were also in attendance at St. John Bosco Parish in Senapati, a two-hour drive over mountainous terrain from the capital of Manipur. “The Church needs a good relationship among clergy, religious, and faithful. Everyone should work together for the goodness of the Church and peace,” exhorted Lumon, who is retiring after taking care of over 100,000 Catholics in the state for 17 years.Beginning in May, Manipur witnessed a protracted violent clash between the majority Meiteis, most of whom are Hindus, and the minority Kukis, who are Christian, that left nearly 200 dead. More than 50,000 Kuki refugees along with over 10,000 Meiteis were driven out from Kuki strongholds in the simmering violence.Manipur, located east of Bangladesh and at the border with Myanmar, is home to 3.3 million people. For decades, members of the Meitei, Kuki, and Naga tribes have fought over land and religious differences. Urging the Catholic community “to work and pray for peace,” Girelli in his concluding message at the end of the service expressed “concern over the unprecedented violence with dozens killed, houses destroyed, and people banished.”Calling for efforts “to redeem peace in society,” the nuncio reminded the faithful that “peace comes with justice. Unitedly let us work together and pray for peace.”Since the church could accommodate only over 1,000 people, the enthusiastic laypeople in their diverse, colorful tribal attire watched the two-hour-long installation service on a large screen on the adjacent grounds of St. Xavier’s College. Despite intermittent rain turning the ground on the hill's slope into slushy mud, the faithful stayed through five hours, enjoying a “celebration” at the conclusion with bishops, Church officials, and local legislators seated on the stage.Dozens of animated youth performed ethnic dances in tribal attire — even the nuncio was dressed in local tribal attire amid loud applause from an excited crowd seated on graded slopes.Tribal dancers waiting their turn at the celebration following the installation Mass of the new archbishop of Imphal Archdiocese, Linus Neli. Credit: Anto Akkara “We shall not go away from here without invoking God’s blessings upon the people of Manipur

Cardinal George Alencherry preaches at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam, India, on Palm Sunday 2021. / Credit: Esthappanos Bar Geevarghese via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2023 / 14:35 pm (CNA). Pope Francis on Thursday accepted the resignation of Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, based in India, commending the prelate’s faithfulness after decades of leadership in that Church.At the same time, the Holy Father addressed an ongoing bitter dispute in the archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, directing the faithful there to accept the decision of Church leaders to institute a uniform liturgy. Canon law dictates that bishops must submit their resignations to the pope at age 75. Alencherry turned 78 this year. In his letter on Thursday, Francis told Alencherry he “decided to accept your resignation as a sign of your openness and docility to the Holy Spirit.”Last year, Francis noted, was Alencherry’s “50th anniversary of priestly ordination and 25th anniversary as a bishop.”“Now that you have reached two significant jubilees and accomplished the pastoral objectives set for the flock entrusted to your care, I consider your resignation not as the conclusion but the fulfillment of your service,” the Holy Father told the prelate. The Vatican said Curia Bishop H.E. Sebastian Vaniyapurackal, titular bishop of Troina, would serve as the interim administrator of the Syro-Malabar Church until the election of the new major archbishop. The Vatican on Thursday said Francis had also accepted the resignation of Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, apostolic administrator of the archeparchy since July of last year. Archbishop Thazhath remains metropolitan archbishop of Trichur of the Syro-Malabars.Bosco Puthur, bishop emeritus of the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne of the Syro-Malabars (Australia), will serve in that role “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis,” the Holy See said. In addition to the letter, on Thursday the Holy Father sent a video message addressed to “brothers and sisters of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly” in which the pope confronted a long-standing liturgical dispute in the Syro-Malabar Church in India. The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the 23 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. The Eucharistic liturgy of the Syro-Malabar Church, known as the Holy Qurbana, has been the subject of a long, complex dispute over which direction the priest should face when celebrating the liturgy. Protests against the adoption of a uniform liturgy have included a hunger strike by priests and the burning of effigies of cardinals.Francis has intervened in the dispute several times, including last year when he asked opponents of the uniform liturgy to take the “difficult and painful step” of accepting the change. In August he appointed Slovak Archbishop-Bishop Cyril Vasil’ to help resolve the ongoing disagreement. In his message on Thursday, he urged the faithful of the archeparchy to “recompose this rupture.” “It is your Church, it is our Church,” Francis wrote. “Restore communion, remain in the Catholic Church!”Francis said in the message that Vasil’ had asked the people of the archeparchy to “put an end to the struggle, put an end to the opposition and sometimes

Father Caleb Laldawngsanga leads refugees from violence-torn Manipur in the praying of a rosary. / Credit: Anto Akkara Aizawl, India, Dec 6, 2023 / 17:05 pm (CNA). Thousands of ethnic Kuki Christians are still struggling to restart life after being displaced following the bloody ethnic conflict in Manipur state in northeast India that took place in early May.However, those who fled to neighboring Mizoram are grateful for the welcome they have received in the majority-Christian state.“Unlike thousands of others [refugees from Manipur], we are lucky. We have got government accommodation, the Church is helping us, and our children have been admitted in [the] government school,” said John Thangvanglian, a catechist at St. Joseph’s Parish of Sugnu in Manipur.“On hearing about the comfortable situation, seven more families have contacted me and [will be] reaching here soon,” Thangvanglian told CNA Nov. 25 from Aizawl.Manipur, located east of Bangladesh and at the border with Myanmar, is home to 3.3 million people. For decades, members of Meitei, Kuki, and Naga tribes have fought over land and religious differences. Beginning in May, a protracted violent clash between the majority Meiteis, most of whom are Hindus, and the minority Kukis left nearly 200 dead. Over 60,000 Kuki refugees along with 10,000 Meiteis were driven out from Kuki strongholds.The government of the Christian majority state of Mizoram extended a helping hand to more than 12,000 Christian refugees from Manipur, housing scattered families in cities such as Aizawl in newly built apartments.“We are happy and relaxed here. There is a lot of public support and concern for us,” pointed out Thangvanglian, who had led dozens of Kuki Catholics to reach Aizawl over three days of arduous mountain travel from Sugnu when their township came under attack from Meitei militants in May.This correspondent in mid-September visited Kuki Catholic refugees from Sugnu sheltered at the newly built apartments that the Mizoram government had constructed for housing the poor.“When armed forces were unable to keep the Meitei militants away, many of us took shelter in army camps and moved out of Sungu with their escort. Not a single Christian is left there. The church, convent, school, and all our properties have been looted and torched. We are lucky to get away alive,” Thangvanglian said.“At least 6,000 Kukis [all Christians], including over 1,000 Catholics, have been driven out of Sugnu. We don’t know if or when we can return,” James Thangboi, another Catholic from Sugnu, told CNA.The plundering of once bustling Sugnu township — which now looks like a war zone — has been brought to light in the documentary “Manipur: Cry of the Oppressed.” The film highlights the devastation, marked by arson and anarchy, suffered by Catholic targets across Manipur.“We are grateful to God [that] we are safe here,” Mercy Tungdian, who now lives with her three small children in a government apartment shared with her family members, told CNA.“They have become a new vibrant community for us,” said Father Caleb Laldawngsanga, who led this correspondent to the refugee center and says

Military personnel stand guard at the entrance of a gymnasium while police investigators (background) look for evidence after a bomb attack at Mindanao State University in Marawi in the southern Philippines on Dec. 3, 2023. / Credit: Merlyn Manos/AFP via Getty Images Rome Newsroom, Dec 4, 2023 / 11:24 am (CNA). Pope Francis offered his condolences after at least four people were killed and 54 injured in a bombing at a Catholic Mass on Sunday in the Philippines.The pope sent a condolence telegram on Dec. 3 expressing his spiritual closeness to all affected by the bombing of the 7 a.m. Mass held in a gymnasium on the campus of Mindanao State University in the southern Philippines.Police in the Philippines said Monday that they had identified at least two suspects in the terrorist attack. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing in a telegram message on Dec. 3, a claim that the country’s military has said it is working to verify.The attack took place in the city of Marawi, which, unlike the rest of the predominantly Catholic Philippines, has a significant Muslim majority. Marawi is located on the island of Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines, and is home to several Islamist militant groups fighting against the Philippine government.Bishop Edwin Angot de la Peña, the head of the territorial prelature of Marawi, has said that the victims were four Catholic students who were leaders and volunteers in the university’s Catholic community. The bishop added on Dec. 4 that out of the 54 people injured in the bombing, seven were still in the hospital in critical condition. “They hit us in the heart, that is, during the Eucharist, the highest moment of our faith. There is so much fear now, but faith accompanies us and supports us. Even in this moment of tribulation, we feel the presence of the Lord,” de la Peña told Agenzia Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies.The bishop also commented on the prompt and widespread solidarity and closeness expressed by local Muslim communities in the wake of the attack.“Even the first responders, who transported the injured to the hospital, and the doctors themselves, all people of the Muslim faith, gave us concrete help and have been spent on the injured. Others are supporting the families of the victims,” he said. “These gestures give us hope and tell us that this brutal and senseless violence will not have the last word, it will not succeed in demolishing the good works built over many years.”The head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Romeo Brawner, has said that he suspects the bombing could have been a retaliatory attack for recent military operations against the local extremist groups, Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute and Abu Sayyaf, both of which have links to the Islamic State.As a precaution after the bombing, de la Peña has asked local Catholics to stay home on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary will still be carried through the streets

Military personnel stand guard at the entrance of a gymnasium while police investigators look for evidence after a bomb attack at a Catholic Mass at Mindanao State University in Marawi, Lanao del sur province in the southern Philippines on Dec. 3, 2023. At least three people were killed and seven wounded, officials said. / Credit: MERLYN MANOS/AFP via Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2023 / 00:03 am (CNA). At least three people were killed and others injured Sunday morning in an explosion during a Mass held in a university gymnasium in the southern Philippines.Authorities are investigating whether pro-Islamic State militants were responsible for the blast, which set off a panic on the campus of Mindanao State University in Marawi on the island of Mindanao. The province, located on the borders of Malaysia and Indonesia, is home to several Islamist militant groups fighting against the Philippine government.“This is clearly an act of terrorism. It’s not a simple feud between two people. A bomb will kill everybody around,” Taha Mandangan, the university’s security chief, told the Associated Press. The explosion left the victims bloodied and sprawled on the ground, he said.Reuters and other media outlets reported that three were killed and nine wounded. A government official later said four had died and scores were injured.The official, Carlito G. Galvez Jr., a retired Philippine Army general serving as a presidential adviser to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on the peace process, issued a statement condemning the violence.“This horrendous attack, which happened during a Mass and the Mindinao Week of Peace, shows the ruthless methods these lawless elements will utilize to sow fear, anger, and animosity among our people. We will not allow this to happen,” Galvez said. “Such a barbaric act has no room in a human civilized and peaceful society.”Mindanao State University issued a statement on Facebook saying it is “deeply saddened and appalled by the act of violence that occurred during a religious gathering.” The university said it was suspending classes until further notice.

This photo taken on October 12, 2014, shows the exterior of a church in Loikaw, Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. / Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP via Getty Images Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 29, 2023 / 16:30 pm (CNA). The pastoral center of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, was bombed on Nov. 26 and occupied by the Burmese military the next day, according to reporting by Agenzia Fides, the news arm of Pontifical Mission Societies.Though no one was killed in the bombing, the pastoral center’s ceiling collapsed and Bishop Celso Ba Shwe and the 80 refugees taking shelter in the church were forced to flee, per the Hong Kong Catholic news service UCA News.Shwe said in a statement published by Agenzia Fides that “the Burmese army tried to take the Christ the King Cathedral complex three times” before finally occupying it on Nov. 27.“As a local bishop,” Shwe said, “I, together with the priests, tried to convince the military generals of the importance of the religious sites and asked them to leave the place to spare, where displaced people are also welcomed.”Current Situation of Kayah State, Diocese of Loikaw, Myanmar, as of November 27, 2023. pic.twitter.com/gQibCGFyEd— Kadang Dominiko (@KadangDominiko) November 29, 2023 The cathedral complex had been sheltering about 82 refugees from throughout Myanmar’s Kayah state, a region that has become a major battleground between the Burmese military junta and several rebel militias.According to LiCAS news, an Asian Catholic news source, the bishop also reported that “50 soldiers came and occupied [the cathedral] to make use of it as a shield.” Agenzia Fides reported Shwe saying that many elderly, disabled, sick, women, and children were among those taking refuge in the cathedral complex. Ten priests and 16 religious were also among those taking shelter in the cathedral. Now, the refugees and bishop have fled the cathedral to seek refuge in other churches or the nearby wilderness.Myanmar, which is bordered by India to the west and China to the east, is a majority Buddhist country that has large Catholic and Protestant minorities in some states. The country has been caught in a bloody civil war since 2021 after local militias united to oppose the military junta that had seized control of the government earlier that year.This is not the first time that Catholic churches and holy sites have been caught in the crossfire in the ongoing war. Catholic sites in Kayah state and in the Loikaw Diocese have been especially hard hit by military strikes.On Aug. 12 Mary Mother of Mercy Church in the village of Htee Thaw Ku in the Loikaw Diocese was hit by air strikes that destroyed the church’s ceiling and windows, according to UCA News.In March 2022, CNA reported that Myanmar military airstrikes hit Our Lady of Fatima Church in Saun Du La village and the Sisters of Reparation convent, a home for retired nuns in Kayah state.In total, according to Agenzia Fides, 21 of the diocese’s 41 parishes have been affected. The Diocese of Loikaw has about

This work of art was displayed at St. Peter's on the occasion of the Vatican's Celebration of the Canonization of 117 Vietnamese Martyrs on July 19, 1988. / Credit: Public domain CNA Staff, Nov 24, 2023 / 06:00 am (CNA). Today, Nov. 24, is the feast day of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, a group of 117 martyrs, led by Father Andrew, who died for the Catholic faith in Vietnam during a 19th-century persecution. The group was made up of 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spaniards, and 10 French. Roughly half were clergy and half were laypeople, including a 9-year-old child. Some of the priests were Dominicans; others were diocesan priests who belonged to the Paris Mission Society.According to the Vatican, Father Andrew Dung-Lac was born with the name Dung An-Tran to a poor family in northern Vietnam around the year 1795. When his family moved to Hanoi to find work, the 12-year-old Dung met a Christian catechist who shared the faith with him and baptized him with the name “Andrew.” The climate at the time was very dangerous for Christians in Vietnam under the Emperor Minh-Mang, who banned foreign missionaries and commanded Vietnamese Christians to trample on crucifixes in order to publically renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. (Japanese authorities had for years forced Christians to do something similar, a practice that is dramatized in the film “Silence.”) Later, in 1823, Andrew was ordained a priest, and his preaching and simplicity of life led many others to baptism, despite the young priest needing to be hidden by the faithful in order to keep him safe from the emperor. He was imprisoned multiple times and each time was ransomed by the Catholic faithful. Many Christians during this time were suffering brutal martyrdoms — strippings, torture, beheadings — and the priest changed him name to Lac in an attempt to avoid detection. It’s estimated that from 1630 to 1886, between 130,000 and 300,000 Christians were martyred in Vietnam, while others were forced to flee to the mountains and the forests or be exiled to other countries.In 1839, the Vatican recounts, he was arrested again along with another Vietnamese priest, Father Peter Thi, to whom Dung-Lac had visited in order to go to confession. The two were ransomed, then arrested again, tortured, and finally beheaded in Hanoi on Dec. 21, 1839. He is the patron saint of Vietnam. Described as the “Nero of Indochina” for his harsh persecutions, Minh Mang’s reign ended the next year. Pope John Paul II canonized the 117 martyrs together on June 19, 1988. At the time, the Vatican said, the communist government of Vietnam did not permit a single representative from the country to attend the canonization. But 8,000 Vietnamese Catholics from the diaspora were there, “filled with joy to be the children of this suffering Church.”