The government’s population strategy is aimed at reaching a replacement rate of two children per couple. The targets are part of a birth rate adjustment programme towards 2030.
Places of worship will be able to welcome up to 30 per cent of their maximum capacity for Friday prayers and Sunday Mass. Social distancing and sanitary rules will remain in place to prevent contagion. Prime Minister Diab appeals to fellow Lebanese to end divisions and join forces to help the country overcome its economic crisis.
At today's general audience, Francis began a cycle of catechesis dedicated to prayer by commenting on the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man who with his cries receives sight from Jesus. Appeal for agricultural laborers, including many immigrants, who work in the Italian countryside, often exploited.
A Chinese intelligence paper disclosed by Reuters makes this claim. For the US, China is exploiting the pandemic to advance its military and strategic interests in Asia. The two are facing off in the China seas. An invasion of Taiwan is unlikely at this time. For Shen Dingli, mutual distrust is hard to reduce anytime soon.
On the southern island of the Philippines, the quarantine block on masses in parishes fosters impatience and frustration at violence of bloodthirsty monitoring officials (frontiliners). The Eucharist serves to combat despair. A suggestion for all countries - such as Italy - where communities are divided between those who demand mass and those who put health safety first.
The government-imposed quarantine has left hundreds of millions of people unemployed, unable to go home to their villages of origin., “My people are helping India develop and grow,” says Archbishop John Barwa. They “must be treated with respect and dignity. I am waiting for my people to return home to their families.” The diocese has distributed 20,000 food rations to migrants in its territory.
