Ali Khidri, executive secretary of the Bible Society in Algeria, told the Catholic weekly The Tablet that “hundreds” of people every month were turning up at his office requesting a Bible, and that “thousands” were going to churches to enquire about the Christian faith. According to Khidri, these Algerian Muslims are disillusioned by the extreme tendencies shown by several Muslims.

The society said that 2,000 were baptised in 2013. It calculates that there are between 100,000 and 200,000 Christians in the coun­try. Thirty years ago there were only about 2,000 Christians in Algeria.

Since 2006, Christians in Algeria have been facing a particularly difficult time as evangelisation had been criminalised. Non-Muslim worship is restricted to approved premises, and handing out a Bible can lead to a five-year jail sentence or lead to the deportation for foreign priests.

Archbishop on mercy, God’s commandments

Preaching to an LGBT community, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols said: “Those who counterpose the mercy of God and the commandments of God misunderstand both mercy and commandment.

“The commandments of God are given to us precisely as a mercy. They are not, in some strange way, more important than mercy. They are not rules imposed from the outside that above all else have to be obeyed. They are given to help us live the pathway of our true dignity and highest calling.

“As Pope Francis says, commandments are not restrictions on freedoms but indicators of our freedom. Understanding the true purpose of commandments is to help us see how much we need God’s mercy.”

Positive aspects of the family should be heard

In a message to the bishops of Togo, Pope Francis said: “It is important that the positive aspects of the family experienced in Africa express themselves and be heard” at the October session of synod of bishops in October. Two positive examples mentioned by the Pope were African families’ openness to life and respect for the elderly.

“I encourage you to persevere in your efforts to support families in their difficulties” and to prepare couples for the “commitments, de­manding but beautiful, of Christian marriage,” he added. “Togo is not spared from the ideological and media attacks today, offering models of union and of family incompatible with the Christian faith.”

Bishop supports UK priests’ statement

In a strongly worded homily, Bishop of Shrewsbury Mark Davies praised and supported those English priests who recently released a public statement defending Church teaching on marriage ahead of October’s synod on the family. About 460 priests had signed the statement.

In his speech, Mgr Davies said that in the West there is an “insidious” attack on Christian marriage. “It can seem that the Christian vision of marriage marked by lifelong commitment, chaste love and openness to the gift of children is rapidly becoming a counter-cultural lifestyle in societies such as our own,” he argued.

But he went on: “If some had hoped to see the witness of the Catholic Church crumble under the pressure of these destructive trends then I would suggest we are seeing a great renewal of our witness.”

The bishop’s position is different from that of Cardinal Nichols who criticised these priests. Nichols said “this dialogue, between a priest and his bishop, is not best conducted through the press”.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.