ICC Note: 

For the first time in history, Malaysia receives their first cardinal. Anthony Soter Fernandez, Archbishop Emeritus of Kuala Lumpur was appointed by Pope Francis. The cardinal is described as holy and a blessing to the Malaysian people. Malaysian Catholics are delighted about the new appointment since it is a signal to them of the local Church growing despite being in a mostly Muslim country. Earlier this year, Malaysian authorities altered Ben-Hur the movie cutting all scenes with Jesus in them, which caused an uproar among disappointed movie-goers. This is just one occurrence out of the many occurrences in which the message of the Gospel is greatly restricted in Malaysia. 

10/10/2016 Malaysia (Asia News) – Malaysian Catholics “are happy and satisfied with the appointment of the first cardinal in the history of Malaysia. This makes us aware that our country is finally on the map, and that the local Church has reached a certain level of maturity” Father Lawrence Andrew, Jesuit priest and director of the Catholic weekly The Herald tells AsiaNews, commenting on the appointment of Cardinal-designate Anthony Soter Fernandez, Archbishop Emeritus of Kuala Lumpur. The prelate was appointed yesterday by Pope Francis along with 16 other cardinals.

Card. Fernandez, 84, was first Bishop of Penang (1978-1983) and later archbishop of Kuala Lumpur from 1983 to 2003. Fr. Andrew describes him as “a man with a clear vision of what the Church in Malaysia needs. As archbishop he led the community in the process of understanding the importance of being a Church. He promoted the growth of the basic ecclesiastical communities”.

When he was Archbishop, continues the priest, “he fought for justice and peace. He spoke out against injustice, even against the Internal Security Act (ISA), which he called immoral”. Isa, now abolished, was an emergency law passed in 1960, criticized by many internationally. It permitted unlimited detention for criminal suspects, they could be beaten, even tortured and arrested after the court had ordered the release.

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