Rosemarie Perez and her 13-year-old son Rohan, born in Israel, repatriated after a brief legal battle.  The boy has never seen the Philippines.  A similar situation to hundreds of other immigrant workers and which worries the Church.  Bishop Marcuzzo: a "very serious" problem, the result of "extreme right" policies to reduce the non-Jewish population.

Last year the island welcomed over 6 million tourists, about 40 per cent of the 15.8 million tourists who visited the country. Indonesia’s president wants to expand the Indonesian tourist industry via a ‘10 new Bali’ initiative. In 2018 Indonesian tourism grew by 7.8 per cent, twice the global average.

National Minorities Day was established thanks to Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic minister who killed for defending Asia Bibi. Christians are discriminated against in the workplace and ignored in school books. In 2018, 16 people were charged for alleged blasphemy.

In a message published today, the pontiff expresses closeness to all those who have been touched by the tragedy and acknowledges that he does not have "pre-packaged answers". He does however reach out to the people of the city, saying "you are not alone", entrusting to Christ "our questions, our pain, our anger", urging people to look “towards the Madonna della Guardia", and calling for reconstruction in solidarity, together with the Church of Genoa.

Repatriation will take place over the course of a year in two or three batches. In Thailand, the victims of trafficking are mainly exploited workers, beggars or sex slaves. Thailand will also send irregular migrants back to Myanmar.

Lekima is the ninth typhoon in 2019, and the strongest to date.  The torrential rains - up to 732 mm - causes rivers to overflow, which flooded entire counties.  Damage to agriculture, homes, communications.