Lebanon’s Churches are adjusting to the restrictions imposed on Holy Week by the COVID-19 pandemic. The “picturesque and colourful" processions of Palm Sunday have been cancelled. Liturgical services will be held behind closed doors, but the faithful will be able to follow them via the Internet. The health crisis is a "dark night" that we must face as “one”.
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by Melani Manel Perera | SRI LANKAWith her, the list of regime critics has been incommunicado during the crisis is getting longer. There is also no news about the billionaire who called Xi Jinping a "clown", and a student from Shandong who told China’s president to resign. Xu Zhiyong, Xu Zhangrun and He Weifang have suffered the same fate.
Due to government restrictions, he was fired and fell ill. He worked on a gas pump and earned 600-700 rupees / less than $ 5 a day. Post mortem reveals he was not suffering from coronavirus. But the family didn't have the money to go to the doctor. The parish will guarantee food and education to the deceased's family.
Message from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on the occasion of Vesakh, the most important holiday for Buddhists. Buddhists are also invited to take part in the event on "Reinventing the Global Compact on education", which will be held in the Vatican on 15 October.
Francis recalls the Virgin Mary’s "seven sorrows". “She didn't ask herself to be a quasi-redeemer or a co-redeemer: no. There is one Redeemer and this title not a dual title. Only disciple and mother. And so, as a mother we must think of her, we must look to her, we must pray to her. She is the Mother”.
50,000 dead in Europe; almost 6 thousand in the US. China focuses on imported cases. Numbers remain low in Taiwan. Pyongyang: no case in our country. Nightly curfew imposed in Thailand. GDP growth in Asia-Pacific will slow down to 2.2%.
Only 150 infections in the country. People attribute the low number to the properties of isryk, the Syrian rue made from the harmala seed, already used as a sacred drink in the Aryan (Vedas) and Zoroastrian rites. But for the ministry of health "there is no scientific evidence" on the good effects of smoking the rue. The "Mongolian triangle", which also includes Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, is however one of the areas least affected by the pandemic.
Police threaten an electrician for violating the quarantine. The epidemic hits daily labourers the hardest. The government does nothing to help the jobless. Catholic students donate food parcels to the poor who cannot work because of the lockdown of economic activities.
About 170 families received food and other aid in the Diocese Vasai. After the government imposed a quarantine, people are out of work and money. Many are not entitled to food rations provided by the state. The risk of contagion is high.
Archbishop Santos notes that forced isolation should be an opportunity to enhance one’s understanding of the Lord. Fasting and abstaining are important acts of self-denial during Lent. The Archdiocese of Cebu makes the International Eucharistic Congress Center available for COVID-19 patients. The outbreak is spreading in the country.
In their convent in Rome, 17 Sisters seem at first positive for the virus. The community, whose members are dedicated to nursing the sick, is now on lockdown. To help them, Taiwan’s embassy brought food, including vegetables, tea, fruit, as well as medicine and surgical masks after the Camillian superior delegate in Taiwan made an appeal. The embassy also provided tuna cans for the homeless and masks for the Vatican Pharmacy.
Priests remain close to their infected flock. Some conduct eucharistic blessings in streets. Others gave up ventilators in favour of younger patients. Although Chinese authorities have lifted quarantine restrictions in most of the country, churches remain closed and gatherings are still banned.
The project has sparked a reaction by the few local Christians who informed the Vatican of what is happening. The project will foul land and air.
“The Christian is a Christian not because he can show the faith of baptism: the faith of baptism is an ID card. You are a Christian if you say yes to the election that God has made of you, if you go behind the promises that the Lord has made to you and if you live a covenant with the Lord: this is Christian life.
The cargo includes drugs and equipment to be used in the fight against the pandemic. Basij members provide the material. Last month the young people produced up to 200 thousand masks and thousands of liters of disinfectant. Help to be given to the poorest Americans without health coverage.
