Word: priestes
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Even in the most cynical of times, "wicked" and "traitor" are rarely words that come to mind when describing a priest. But then, Father Nguyen Van Ly is no ordinary priest. The 53-year-old Catholic cleric has already spent nine years in prison, and last week he was in trouble again. Vietnamese authorities detained him in the central town of Hue and jailed two of his assistants. State-run newspapers obediently denounced him; one daily ran a photo of the priest holding a crucifix, under the headline: people's traitor unmasked...
...most countries, such vitriol would signal the ugliest of scandals, perhaps involving choirboys. Father Ly's crime? Challenging the government. Last month, the priest sent a letter to U.S.Congressmen urging them to reject ratification of a bilateral trade agreement until Vietnam grants greater freedom of worship. Hanoi's retaliation against Father Ly was swift, but it may be backfiring and could dim chances for the treaty's ratification. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives' powerful International Relations Committee have vowed to bring up the issue in hearings that could start as early as next month. The action against Father...
...dogged Haiti since it won independence from France in 1804. Why does a black republic--whose colonial population was composed almost entirely of plantation slaves--still tolerate child bondage? "There was no value placed on children during the slavery era," says the Rev. Miguel Jean Baptiste, a Roman Catholic priest who runs the Maurice Sixto shelter in Port-au-Prince for restaveks who have run away or whose owners allow them a little schooling each day. "Unfortunately, we've carried that mentality with us today." Indeed, it is not uncommon to hear a Haitian say, "Timoun se ti bet": kids...
Back in Haiti, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former priest who took up his second term of office earlier this month, has promised to address the keeping of restaveks--which is technically illegal there. In an interview with TIME, Aristide called the practice "one of the cancers on our social body in Haiti that keep democracy from growing." He pledged to enforce the law but noted that "this first requires an intense education policy, because it is so ingrained in Haiti that too many people don't even know they are breaking the law." At least now, word is finally...
MEXICO Children in Pachuca gave Pokemon cards and dolls to their parish priest; he feared characters like Pikachu could lead to devil worship or provoke violence in young collectors...