| VATICAN

In his first Regina Caeli, from the window of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo XIV cited the Day of Prayer for the Church in China celebrated yesterday and the tenth anniversary of the publication of the encyclical Laudato Si', noting Pope Francis's appeal "to listen to the twofold cry of the Earth and of the poor." This afternoon, the new pope will be installed in St John Lateran as the bishop of Rome.

by By a Chinese "underground" priest

Today we celebrate the Day of Prayer for Christians in China, instituted by Benedict XVI on the feast of Our Lady of Sheshan. This is an opportunity to celebrate communion with the Church in China but also to remember its sufferings. Speaking to AsiaNews, an underground priest explains the actual problems involved in joining the Patriotic Association that Beijing is trying to impose with increasing harshness in the wake of the 2018 Agreement with the Holy See.

| 24/05/2025
| CHINA
by Stefano Caprio

Leo XIV, the first American pope, has somewhat overshadowed the popularity of the American emperor in Russia, acting in some ways as an alternative in the image of the "Anglo-Saxon" West so reviled by the Kremlin. After all, today the Russian Church has split from almost all the other Orthodox Churches, starting with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, while dialogue with Rome has never been interrupted.

| 24/05/2025
| RUSSIAN WORLD
by Melani Manel Perera

On Tuesday the company informed its employees via WhatsApp, shocking workers and unions. A worker told AsiaNews that, “compensation will help us for a few days, but what about after that?” The Ministry of Labour was not informed until the last moment. The “Company has threatened workers against requesting an inquiry,” reports the Dabindu Collective.

| 23/05/2025
| SRI LANKA

The young woman, killed in Washington with her colleague and boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky, by an attacker who shouted "I did it for Gaza, I did it for Palestine”, was actively involved with an NGO that brings together Israelis and Palestinians to build common ground and coexistence using new technologies. Unlike the extremists who fan the flames, the group sees “people behind the propaganda”.

| 23/05/2025
| ISRAEL - PALESTINE - UNITED STATES
by Steve Suwannarat

Life expectancy in Vietnam tops 74 years, but chronic diseases are up among the over 60s, particularly men. Public health authorities are grappling with high costs, inadequate services, and a rapid demographic transition. By  2050, one in four Vietnamese will be elderly.

| 23/05/2025
| VIETNAM
by Fr Alberto Caccaro *

Fifty years after the fall of Phnom Penh to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, the book "Beyond the Horizon" is published in Italian. In it a French woman describes the genocide with the eyes of someone who had come to Cambodia for love. The book is her diary of hell, misery, lies and death experienced with her daughters. The story is extremely interesting and credible for a country where a UN tribunal failed to render justice and uncover the truth.

| 23/05/2025
| CAMBODIA - ITALY
Editor's choices
 
by Giorgio Bernardelli
Hong Kong’s Card Stephen Chow said that the pope told him that he “visited China several times and got to know the Chinese culture and reality.” This is unprecedented for a pontiff, linked to his long mandate as prior general of an ...
| 21/05/2025
| CHINA – VATICAN
 
After 2,454 days unjustly behind bars, the former senator and minister of Justice is back in Congress, in the House of Representatives this time. With the opposition party, Mamamayang Liberal (ML), she will challenge the political oligarchies of the ...
| 20/05/2025
| PHILIPPINES
 
A source in mainland China spoke to AsiaNews about the election of a pontiff born in a country that, according to state propaganda, is its archfoe against whom to flaunt China’s superiority. Yet, the open gaze of Chinese Catholics towards Leo XIV ...
| 14/05/2025
| CHINA
 
The local government is asking the Legislative Council (which it controls) to approve a new regulation that would hand over jurisdiction to mainland China in "complex cases" involving foreign countries. The measure appears tailored to the case of Jimmy ...
| 12/05/2025
| HONG KONG - CHINA
 
by Gianni Criveller
Leo XIV experienced the mission for a long time, in Peru first, as a reason for being alive. This is something new for a pontiff. He has already spoken about authority that should “disappear so that Christ remains.” The choice of the name ...
| 11/05/2025
| EDITORIAL
 
by Oswald Gracias *
The archbishop emeritus of Bombay (Mumbai), representative of Asia on Pope Francis’s Council of Cardinals, wrote to AsiaNews about the new pope. “He brings hopes, expectations, understanding, openness and a missionary thrust,” the cardinal ...
| 10/05/2025
| VATICAN – ASIA
 
by Alessandra De Poli
Cardinal Prevost, a spiritual son of St Augustine, was elected pope on the very day the Church celebrated the liturgical feast of the martyrs of Algeria, among whom were two Augustinian nuns. And in the description of the “disarmed and disarming” ...
| 09/05/2025
| VATICAN /1
 
Born in Chicago, he is the first pontiff from North America who also served as bishop of Chiclayo and has Peruvian citizenship. For two terms he was prior general of the Augustinians, a religious order also present in many Asian countries. Pope Francis ...
| 08/05/2025
| VATICAN
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”