Indonesian Priest Killed in Northern Philippines

According to a report from the Associated Press, an Indonesian Roman Catholic priest was fatally shot in a remote northern Philippine village as he was preparing to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.

Father Francis Madhu, 31, had an argument with four men in Lubuagan town in the mountainous Kalinga province before one of the men shot him with an M-16 rifle in full view of parishioners. Kalinga’s provincial capital of Tabuk is about 205 miles north of Manila. The priest was declared dead on arrival at Lubuagan District Hospital.

The suspects were at large, and the reason for the attack was being investigated, said Lt. Col. Francis Lardizabal, a regional military commander.

Building of First Church in Qatar Begins

Construction on Qatar’s first church has begun in the desert outside the country’s capital of Doha, reported the website for Independent Catholic News. The move was necessitated by the heavy influx of Christian laborers to the predominantly Muslim country. Al Jazeera reported that Catholics from all over the Arabian Peninsula — many of them migrant workers — are helping to pay for the $15 million building, which is scheduled to open at the end of the year.

Bishop Paul Hinder of Arabia said, “The more people are satisfied spiritually the more they will continue to help develop the country. It’s obvious. … We have to accept that we are expatriates in every sense of the word. We are a pure pilgrimage church.”

Another Advancement in Adult Stem-Cell Technology

A British research team has grown a human heart valve from adult bone marrow stem cells, the British website Guardian Unlimited reported.

This is yet another instance where stem cells extracted from an umbilical cord, placenta or an adult has produced success. Costly, life-destroying embryonic stem-cell research has yet to produce a cure.

If animal trials scheduled for later this year prove successful, replacement tissue could be used in transplants for the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from heart disease within three years.