practice 50 or more, and is often of indefinite length. The Catholic bishops issued on 25 May 2014, the 23rd anniversary of the independence of the state, a pastoral letter that some saw as critical of the Government. An English translation of the document, the original of which is in the Tigrinya language, extends to 17 pages. The bishops spoke of the emigration of the many young Eritreans who risk their lives in the hope of emigrating to other countries. They repeated what they had written in 2001: "No-one leaves a land of milk and honey to seek another country offering the same opportunities. If one's homeland is a place of peace, jobs and freedom of expression there is no reason to leave it to suffer hardship, loneliness and exile in an effort to look for opportunity elsewhere." They spoke also of "the delusion engendered as result of the non-achievement of the ends proposed, the uselessness of one’s own aspirations, looking to distant lands as the only alternative for self-fulfilment, are bringing a growing number of people to frustration and desperation. They find themselves looking at a horizon that grows always darker and heavier. Alongside this, the breakup of the family unit inside the country – through military service unlimited in terms of time and monetary reward and through the imprisonment of many young people in actual prison or in punishment camps – is exposing to misery not only elderly parents with no visible means of support, but also entire families and it is having serious consequences at the economic level as well as at the psychological and mental levels." The Eritrean agency TesfaNews questioned the bishops' sincerity and interpreted information provided by WikiLeaks as evidence that the Archeparch of Asmara "is a certified, anti-government and National service religious leader residing at the helm the capital Asmara". See also Christianity in Eritrea Religion in Eritrea List of saints from Africa Notes External links Eparchy of Keren Asmara Cathedral Recent Eritrean Bishops' events Eastern Catholic Churchs: Statistics 2014 Christian organizations established in 2015 Christian denominations established in the 21st century 2015 establishments in Eritrea