Russia wants to integrate the Eurasian Economic Union with China’s Belt and Road initiative to create a large geopolitical block in opposition to the one led by the US. Trade "de-dollarisation" will help resist US sanctions. However, Sino-Russian rivalry makes integration efforts harder whilst Beijing's presence in Central Asia is a source of dissatisfaction.
“If in prayer we understand that every day given by God is a call, then we open our hearts and welcome everything. We learn to say: 'What You want, Lord. Just promise me that you will be present at every step of my journey. ' This is important: ask the Lord for His presence, so that He does not abandon us”.
This will mark the beginning of the next World Youth Day (WYD). The 34th edition was held in Panama from 22 to 27 January 2019 (pictured); the next will held in Lisbon in 2023.
The new cardinal of Brunei describes his Church and the mission that characterizes it based on education, friendship, the dialogue of life with people of other faiths. "We must not forget that the people here in Asia are hungry for God."
At the Angelus, Pope Francis reiterated the value of World Day of the Poor. “The poor are at the centre of the Gospel. Jesus came for the poor. Have you received so many things and yet you your brother and sister die of hunger?” The pontiff mentioned the people of the Philippines affected by floods caused by typhoons. He also appealed for reconciliation in the Ivory Coast, and prayed for the victims of a fire in the Piatra Neamt hospital (Romania).
During the Mass in St Peter's Basilica for the 4th World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis mentions Don Roberto Malgesini, a priest who was killed in Como on 15 September, “[H]e simply saw Jesus in the poor and found meaning in life in serving them.” “Those who do not live to serve, serve for little in this life.” “For the Gospel, faithfulness is never risk-free.” Those who are “content only to observe rules and obey commandments” make no mistakes, but “end up like mummies.” The real Christmas question: “What can I give to be truly like Jesus, who was born in the manger?”
Pew Research Centre publishes its latest report. To restrain and control religious groups, political authorities increasingly use force - such as detentions, physical abuse, destruction of property, expulsion. More than 50% of the most restrictive countries are in Asia. Instead, the restrictions caused by society (individuals, groups, etc.) are decreasing.
Pope Francis will celebrate Mass in St Peter's Basilica next Sunday, but “only 100 people will be present” to “represent symbolically all the poor people of the world”. Focusing on the theme ‘Stretch forth your hand to the poor’, the Pope seeks “to emphasise the urgency to which the COVID-19 pandemic has subjected the entire world.”
Francis recalls yesterday’s publication of the Report into the "painful case" of the former Cardinal McCarrick at the general audience and renews his "closeness to the victims of all abuse and the Church's commitment to eradicate this evil".
The "Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017) is published. Card. Parolin: "We publish the Report with sorrow for the wounds that this has caused to the victims, their families, the Church in the United States, the Universal Church".
"Do not wait for the last minute to respond to God's grace, do it right now, right away". "If we allow ourselves to be guided by what appears most attractive to us, by the pursuit of our interests, our life becomes sterile". Applause for Juan Roig, a layman who died a martyr at the age of 19, beatified yesterday in Barcelona. Concerns for Central America, hit by Hurricane Age. Ethiopia and the Forum of dialogue for peace in Libya.
Fr. Lu Genjun, former vicar general of the diocese, also forcibly removed. The incident occurred only a short time after the renewal of the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican. The bishop of Baoding, Msgr. Giacomo Su Zhimin has been missing in police custody since 1997 and nothing is known of his whereabouts.
Celebrating Mass in suffrage for the cardinals and bishops who died in the last year, Francis said: "We are called to leave behind the visible world we take for granted, our usual, commonplace ways of thinking, and to entrust ourselves entirely to the Lord who tells us: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (Jn 11:25-26)".
Because of the contagion "we must be very careful with the recommendations of the political and healthcare authorities". Prayer is "the rudder that guides Jesus' course", it is "above all listening to and meeting God", it is "an art to be practiced with insistence", it is "the place where one perceives that everything comes from God and returns to Him” it is “abandoning oneself into the hands of the Father”.
