Pope: "The Church is for everyone, especially for the bad"

He was 93 years of age. In his youth he was a "hawk". He was responsible for the supplies of arms to Israel from the USSR, France, the United States. He was the first proponent of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Twice prime minister, president for seven years. With Rabin and Arafat, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. He has participated as a "dove" at the meeting of prayer for peace in the Vatican in 2014. Gideon Levy: Peres was a man of "almost".

 

He visited China during the Cultural Revolution and after Deng Xiaoping modernisations. Catholic communities that seemed destroyed blossomed again. Ties with old PIME missionaries expelled by Mao Zedong were renewed. The mission has now new frontiers. Here is Fr Piero Gheddo’s autobiography.

On October 7, the Regulations will be implemented. Criticism of contradiction between the emphasis on Constitution, which claims religious freedom in China and the Regulations which place numerous limitations on its expression. The State Council’s intervention on religions is "illegal”.  Requests for a law that would recognize the right also to the domestic churches (underground) and all religions, not only the 5 recognized by the Beijing government.

"We need to figure out when our spirit is in this state of all-encompassing sadness, when it has almost no breathing space: This happens to us all". We must pray, pray strenuously, just like Job, cry out day and night for God to incline His ear. "It is a prayer of knocking on the door, but forcefully."

 

A difficult journey to two countries where Catholics are a small minority. In Tbilisi, for the first time a delegation from the "intransigent" Georgian Orthodox Church will participate in a Papal liturgy. In Baku the meeting with the Sheikh of Caucasus Muslims.

Mgr Antony Xu Jiwei, 81, died of illness. He had entered the seminary in 1948 but was not ordained due to China’s "political events" until 1985. He spent several years in prison and hard labour. "The period of imprisonment has strengthened my faith,” Bishop Xu once said, “every day.” Since the diocese was founded, it has had only two bishops. Xu’s predecessor, Mgr Jou Hou-shan, was one of the first six Chinese bishops ordained by Pius XI.

Speaking before thousands of catechists from around the world during the Jubilee Mass, Pope Francis highlighted "the centre" of the faith that is to be proclaimed: "the Lord Jesus is risen, [. . .] and he has given his life for you”. He also focused on the quality of the messenger, who proclaims “not by the power of convincing, never by imposing the truth, no less by growing fixated on some religious or moral obligation.” The rich man is blind because he does not see the poor. He squints because “he looks with adulation at famous people, of high rank, admired by the world, yet turns his gaze away from the many Lazaruses of today”. Nowadays, “we have fallen into this abyss of indifference, worldliness, selfishness". Francis expressed solidarity with Mexican bishops committed to the family against gender ideology. He mentioned the beatification of Fr Engelmar Unzeitig, killed in Dachau as well as the Day of the Deaf.

In his meeting victims of the terrorist attack in Nice on 14 July and their relatives, Pope Francis encouraged religious groups to entertain fraternal relations and refuse hatred. As a token of the who were killed, the pope received the gift of 86 flowers. Some secularists and environmentalists criticised the meeting. Muslim and Jewish leaders express their appreciation.

The most effective way to safeguard the dignity of all in the Middle East is a renewed commitment to the rule of law and freedom of religion and conscience. The Holy See and the Vatican State become parties to the UN Convention against Corruption.

We publish the video recordings of the presentations made at the international symposium organised by AsiaNews on 2 September. In order of appearance: Fr Ferruccio Brambillasca, PIME Superior General; Card Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide; Sr Mary Prema, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity; Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator of the Cause of Mother Teresa; Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai; Fr John A. Worthley, on the influence of Mother Teresa in China; a witness to the influence of Mother Teresa in the Islamic world; and Mgr Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia.

Fines of up to 200 thousand yuan (27 thousand euro) for "illegal religious activities" by Catholic or other members of underground communities. "Illegal activities" include "dependence from abroad" (such as the relationship with the Vatican). The regulations preach non-discrimination, but party members are forbidden to practice their religion, even in private. Strict control of buildings, statues, crosses. Clampdown on the internet. It could be the end of the underground community.
 

A group of 16 priests from the underground Church held a "simple but solemn" ceremony of prayer in memory of the late Mgr Vincent Zhu Weifang. Fr Paul Jiang, who led the group, was given “a vacation" this morning. Bishop Shao Zhumin, who succeeds the late prelate as ordinary, is still outside the diocese. Wenzhou Catholics thank the Holy See for this decision.

"Our soul can be consumed by two types of worry: a good one gifted us by the Holy Spirit, that spurs an anxious soul to do good things" and a "bad worry, one that is born of a guilty conscience".