Entitled ‘From Samurai to Manga, the Christian epic in Japan’, an exhibition is on display until 13 July at the Mep premises. On display are objects from various collections that trace the history of persecutions and ‘hidden Christians’ but also the vitality of today's ‘little flock’.
In Verona for the Arena of Peace the gesture of two people who have both lost loved ones in the Gaza conflict. The pontiff told the weavers of dialogue in the Holy Land: ‘Ask world leaders to listen to your voice, so that agreements are born from reality and not from ideologies’. ‘The sin of political regimes that have ended in dictatorships is not to admit plurality: only a society where conflicts are addressed and dialogue takes place has a future’.
The inauguration speech of the new president, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party who will begin his term of office on 20 May, is awaited. Meanwhile, in the parliament where the Kuomintang - closer to Beijing - has a majority, the debate on a reform of the legislature with greater control over the government has degenerated into a brawl. The challenge of maintaining the status-quo in the face of China pressing for ‘reunification’.
Today's news: Bodies of three Israeli citizens killed on 7 October found in Gaza; China announces massive funding to clear the glut of unsold housing created by the housing bubble; North Korea wants to strengthen the country's nuclear weapons; In Georgia those who take part in protests risk dismissal
In an essay published in La Civiltà Cattolica, Jesuit Jeong Yeon Hwang looks inside the crisis experienced by young people today, reflected by the collapse in the birth rate. Extreme competition right from school causes ‘burnout and isolation’. But for 94.8% the imagined future is ‘attainable’ and 95.7% give a ‘priority’ role to relationships.
The first decree approved as soon as the ceremony for the start of his fifth term is about the ‘Fundamentals of Historical Education Policy’. The anxiety to rewrite history is the sentiment that stirs Putin's conscience most of all, as well as that of the entire generation afflicted by the resentment of the end of the Soviet Union. And it is this global and eschatological vision that Putin is now also trying to embody side by side with Xi Jinping in Tiananmen Square.
