Afghan militants are fierce opponents of ISIS. In 2018, some jihadists were saved from their attack by US military. The Taliban also control areas at the border with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to watch over the pipeline between Turkmenistan and India. Uzbekistan plans a railway that passes from Kabul, to the Indian Ocean.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople sent a message to the ongoing conference in Naples on "Theology after Veritas Gaudium in the Mediterranean context". “We need to carefully examine they ways in which we welcome, why we welcome, but above all how to welcome, respecting the local populations. Reception must become mainly integration, but never syncretism".
The UNHCR today released its annual report on the eve of World Refugee Day. It lists 41.3 million internally displaced people (IDPs), 25.9 million refugees, and 3.5 million asylum seekers. Developing nations, not the rich states in the West, bear the brunt of migration. Syria has the largest number of internally displaced people.
At the general audience, Pope Francis explains the event of Pentecost, "God’s eruption" like "wind" and "fire". The word of the apostles, inflamed by the Spirit, speaks the "language of truth and love, which is the universal language: even the illiterate can understand it". "The Holy Spirit is the maker of communion, it is the craftsman of reconciliation". He helps the Church "to go beyond human limits, sins and scandal". Greetings to Asian groups and to the Young Messengers of Peace of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan).
The underground bishop, recently recognized by the government as auxiliary bishop, withdrew his request. In it obedience to the laws of the country was accepted, but not membership of the PA. But the government does not want to publish it, making underground priests believe that they are obliged to join the body that proclaims the independence of the Church. In the Sino-Vatican agreement - also unpublished – membership of the PA is optional.
The Instrumentum laboris unveiled. The possibility of ordaining married men. Integral ecology and recognition of the role of women. Defense of territory and human rights.
Visiting the areas in the Archdiocese of Camerino-San Severino Marche hit by a quake, Pope Francis comforted the faithful so that they can rebuild, starting from the fact that "God remembers us". He noted that that “Three years have gone by and the risk is that, after the first emotional and media involvement, attention will fall and promises will be forgotten, increasing the frustration of those who see the area become increasingly depopulated. The Lord instead pushes us to remember, repair, rebuild, and to do so together, without ever forgetting those who suffer.” “Everyone can do some good, without waiting for others to start.” The Pope also spoke about a new Blessed and made an appeal for the Persian Gulf.
In a video message sent to the Day for the free formation of Spanish-speaking digital missionaries, Francis urges people to go "ahead", without being afraid of tenderness.
Meeting the leaders of the global oil industry, Francis reiterated that "catastrophic forecasts can no longer be viewed with contempt and irony". "They are the poor who suffer the worst impact of the climate crisis", they are the most vulnerable to hurricanes, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events.
Francis gave a series of rules of behavior to the papal nuncios. He is a man of God and of the Church, attentive to the poor and to the situation of the country to which he is sent, obedient, devoted to prayer, he avoids slander, he does not criticize the Pope and he does not wear “designer clothes”, which are contrary to his witness.
Message for the Third World Day of the Poor on the theme "The hope of the poor shall not perish forever". " Their social promotion, is not foreign to the proclamation of the Gospel. On the contrary, it manifests the realism of Christian faith and its historical validity." From the poor a "saving force".
PIME brother Felice Tantardini, spent 69 years on a mission in Myanmar. The name given to him by his mother always pleased him, because "it expresses the ideal of my life: strive to be happy, always and at all costs, and be intent on making others happy".
It is the first testimony that the Apostles offer, even today it is the way to be witnesses, it is in the "DNA of the Christian community", it is a victory "over the mentality that absolutizes the private space". "It is not permissible to destroy life, make it the object of experimentation or false conceptions".
The underground bishop, who died on 8 June, was not given a solemn funeral or acknowledged in accordance with his status as a bishop. Official priests and nuns were not allowed to attend the services. Chinese authorities are afraid of bishops even when they are dead.
Observers think the two will also discuss Syria, the Middle East, including Jerusalem, and perhaps even Venezuela. The Vatican is the only door truly open to Putin in the West. the Russian leader seeks a "Holy Alliance" between the Catholic Church and Russia against the "moral decay" of contemporary society. But no visit to Moscow is in the cards for the pontiff. The Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a source of concerns.
