Bernardo Cervellera

Fifty years after crushing the uprising in blood, Beijing re-imposes martial law on the Himalayan region so as to better control it. The Chinese accuse the Dalai Lama of trying to break up the nation. Their campaign to destroy the Tibetan leader finds secret supporters in the international community but he is the only one who could stop the violence.

A group of Muslim converts to Christianity asked us to pray for Benedict XVI, who is under attack from all sides. Non-Catholic Churches, progressives and traditionalists, politicians and radicals are all casting stones at the scapegoat of the week. With ideologies and economies in crisis, this is the last attempt to remove a champion of the dignity of man and God himself.

Mgr Li Shan, who was ordained the capital’s bishop with the approval of the Holy See, now apparently backs an independent Church. This is dividing the faithful and causing embarrassment to the Vatican. For more than a year now the Communist Party has been on the offensive to get official bishops to tow its line. But for Cardinal Zen the time of compromise is past.

Benedict XVI asks nations to combat poverty by including the poor, making them active partners in development. Population control policies are "irrational," the ideologies that want redistribution of wealth are "illusory," the current financial system and its disastrous techniques are "based upon very short-term thinking." The education of the poor and sharing are the path of the Church's mission, and of peace. A link to the complete text of the message.

From a few thousand visitors, AsiaNews.it today has tens of thousands of visitors, for a volume of 2-3 million pages each month. An instrument to inform and share the life and hopes of the peoples and Church in Asia, overcoming economic and catastrophic clichés.

For 55 years, the Church has dedicated November 21 to the value of contemplative life, in support of the life of all of the baptized, of missionaries, and of society, which becomes less and less human without God. The pope asks that the material needs of monasteries be taken to heart. Monastic life in Asia is one of the privileged instruments of mission.

The report from Aid to the Church in Need demonstrates that the violations of this right take place purely for reasons of power, and to block social and economic development in society. Civil society throughout the world is increasingly aware of its importance; governments consider it entirely secondary. But promotion of prosperity passes for religious freedom.

Starting tomorrow till Sunday the Central Committee of the Communist Party will hold its plenary session in Beijing. Rural reforms, poverty and unrest will be on the table. At present, farmers have no say in what happens to them. Rural incomes are four to five time lower than those in the cities.

Christianity is not a religion "of the Book", but of the person of Jesus Christ. Asia, and especially Asian young people, are waiting for him. There is a need for people to consecrate themselves to proclaiming him.

It is shameful that India’s Christians, an important element for the country’s social and economic development, are being massacred whilst the world’s governments and humanitarian associations remain silent in what is another example of “Christianophobia.” Italian bishops call on the faithful to take part tomorrow in a day of prayer and fasting in remembrance of the Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.

The hoax of the little girl lip-synching the song at the opening ceremony of the Games is only one of the many deceptions of these Olympics, which favor image over reality, in order to cover up the environmental and human disasters created by the ruling communist party. The intention is to eliminate the individual and the people, and in order to do this, religious freedom is denied. The advice of Benedict XVI.

The "cordial greetings" at today's Angelus might bring hope that a step forward has been made by China and the Vatican on the occasion of the Games. But many international Catholic websites are still blocked, while three bishops have disappeared, dozens are under house arrest, and a number of priests are in prison.