Bernardo Cervellera

Washington is still preventing the use of US dollars in transactions with Iranian banks, preventing business with the outside world in spite of the nuclear deal. This way, the US is helping Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards, who want to torpedo the agreement in order to maintain their hold on power. Meanwhile, most Iranians hold down two or three jobs just to make ends meet. An unstable and bellicose Iran is a boon for arms sales. A report follows.

Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on family love cannot be reduced to problem of communion for divorced and remarried people. The document suggests ways to remake societal life. As a Catholic vision, it links the actual to the infinite, and calls for public policies that protect the rights of families.

Lost in a presumptuous prometheanism that proclaims itself capable of curing all possible evils, the world is aging and becoming increasingly immobile. In front of difficulties and obstacles, mankind needs to regain the courage to trust and to take a risk. The Easter proclamation contains a strength capable of helping life to blossom even in those places dominated by death and repression: among Iraq’s refugees; China’s Christians; the poor of the Philippines.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called for an international probe into the Islamist group that has massacred Yazidis, Christians, and Shias in Syria and Iraq. US foreign policy however contributed to the rise of the Islamic State (IS) group by marginalising pro-Saddam Hussein Sunnis in Iraq, by "containing" it without fighting IS, and by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, which ended up in IS’s hands in Syria. Iraq is now the second country in the world in terms of anti-Christian persecution.

The saint of Kolkata is a Jubilee icon, and can help promote corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The pope is praised but not understood. For Mother Teresa, as for Francis, the Church "is not an NGO". The Mother is also an example of how to reconcile contemplation and action, sacrament and mission, witness and commitment in the world, rectifying the discrepancies of those who are traditionalist and inward looking as well those who hold shapeless liberal views.

The Premier Li Keqiang anticipates a growth of between 6.5 and 7%. Public debt (compared to GDP) will grow by 3%. Once again a reform of heavily indebted state enterprises promised, and a transition to a market economy. The obstacle of families of Party members and the Party itself, which does not want to lose its hegemony. Boost to army's budget (7.6%) and public security (5.3%).

During Lent, we call on our readers to help AsiaNews serve the people and the persecuted Churches of Asia.

The Holy Year of Mercy is an opportunity to rebuild relationships and ties with those who live faraway. Reconciliation with unlawful bishops will be difficult. Pope Francis would also like “to come to China." Protestants become Catholic to receive forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation. A divided Hong Kong needs mercy.

The mandate of the Missionaries of Mercy also covers China, where excommunicated bishops could be readmitted. Yet, this would be difficult to do because it would require a public statement that Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association would slam as “Vatican meddling in China's internal affairs". Likewise, "sinicisation" would bring the risk of dividing the Church even more.

Today's meeting raises hope for regional stability and a stop to the slaughter of Christians, condemned to oblivion at the hands of al Qaeda and Isis, who are also Iran’s enemies. The dialogue between cultures, religions and peoples that began under Khatami, frozen under Ahmadinejad, can now start again. Moderate Islam is also useful to Iranian youth, nauseated by the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guards. The Catechism and Catholic theologians are available in Persian translations.

Violence in Paris, Bamako, Dinajpur, Damascus, and Baghdad is met with the war on terror and closed borders. However, in doing so we forget that attackers include French and Belgians who grew up in a vacuum of ideals. To avoid “offending” Muslim sensitivities, Christian signs are stifled, eliminating every religious reference in society, like in China. In a world indifferent of God, Christmas celebrates God who is not indifferent to man.

​Police stood before the cathedral and among the faithful, some in plainclothes; yet everything went smoothly. Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo is not recognized by the government and is under house arrest, monitored day and night. He is often forced to attend indoctrination classes away from his diocese. Pressures continue on underground priests – even with enticements and cash – to join the Patriotic Association.