Chiapas Bishop Backs Mexico's President

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 15 –– Mexican Bishop Felipe Arizmendi, whose diocese lies in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, has teamed up with Mexican President Vicente Fox in an effort to stop rebel violence in that area of the country, the news service reported.

Zapatista rebels responsible for the violence have accused the Mexican army of abusing Indians and supporting paramilitary gangs. The rebel group has given only faint praise to Fox's closing of three army bases, and is now demanding the closing of four more bases and the release of about a hundred imprisoned rebels as a precondition to peace talks.

Speaking in the Chiapas city of San Cristobal, Bishop Arizmendi said “they [the rebels] would get more sympathy and support from Mexicans” if they disarmed.

The bishop, considered progressive and a supporter of the rebels’ demands for Indian rights, praised Fox's initiatives.

The Church in Mexico has long expressed sympathy with the demands raised by the Zapatistas, but has said it disagrees with their use of violence.

British and Irish Officials Condemn Bombing

REUTERS, Jan. 12 –– Britain and Ireland have condemned the recent bombing of a Catholic political party's offices that has disrupted the Northern Irish peace process, the news service reported.

The Jan. 11 blast was the latest in a spate of violent incidents blamed on Protestant militants. Police confirmed that a homemade pipe bomb was used. It has been a favorite device of pro-British “loyalist” militias during 30 years of conflict.

The attack damaged offices of the Social Democratic and Labor Party.

Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern branded the nighttime bombing as “an attack on democracy in Northern Ireland.”

Said Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson, “All violence is to be deplored but particularly an attack on an elected representative.”

Koreans to Commemorate Catholic Martyrs

THE KOREA HERALD, Jan. 15 –– Korean Catholics will commemorate the persecution of their ancestors in a series of events scheduled for early February, the Seoul daily reported.

In remembrance of the 200th anniversary of Korea's first attack against native Catholics, the local Catholic community will review its own significance in Korean history as well as in the evangelistic history of world religions.

At the center of the Catholic efforts, the paper reported, is a drive to beatify and canonize the martyrs sacrificed 200 years ago in Korea.

As the number of Catholics in the Asian country increased in the late 18th century, Korea's ruling class felt threatened by the Church's power, the Herald said, noting that the equality championed by the faith clashed with the patriarchal feudal ethics of Choson, the ruling dynasty from 1392 to 1910.

The government of Choson declared the establishment of the Church traitorous and began using physical force to oppress it, leading to the first persecution of the Catholics in 1801.

In the Shinyu Persecution that lasted throughout the year, the number of people who died as martyrs is estimated at between 100 and 300.