Bernardo Cervellera

After 31 years, information control, censorship, expulsion of dissidents, prison, physical and psychological torture, executions and deaths have been unable to stifle the demands of those students and workers of Tiananmen Square: democracy and an end to corruption. The West is indebted to the horror of Tiananmen: the screams, the tears, the blood of the young people killed by the people's army have become the holocaust that has exorcised violence and repression in Europe, at the fall of the Wall. And following this massacre, the West has benefitted from the low-cost labor served on the plate of globalization to the cost of the millions. Calls for full democracy for China and Hong Kong.

The green light for the national security law, has saddened a large part of the Territory's population while the social networks on the mainland celebrate. The "war" between China and the USA, regardless of the rights of the local population. The law will stifle the catalytic function of Hong Kong towards China. Dreams of political and social reforms stopped by Xi Jinping. Doubts about the "China model": is freedom of trade possible without civil liberties?

The National People's Congress is set to send a resolution to its standing committee to draft legislation to ban secession, subversion, foreign interference, terrorism, and treason. This might mark the end of Hong Kong’s high level of autonomy. Beijing is afraid of pro-democracy parties.

Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo recently spoke of “evidence" that the Wuhan lab was behind the virus but failed to provide any details. Australia, the European Union, Sweden and Germany are calling for an international investigation into the origin of the virus, but China has refused. For the Global Times, Mike Pompeo has betrayed Christianity by lying, thus breaking "the ninth commandment".

Pope Francis praises the "domestic Church" and the recitation of the rosary during the month of May, but also asks that masses not be "virtualized". The Italian bishops ask to do their part in the fight against the pandemic by being allowed to re-open churches for celebrations, respecting the necessary safety measures. The need for an ideal that is greater than man and greater unity to defeat the virus. The dangers: the emptiness of politicians, ideological closure, the selfishness of individuals, groups and nations. The example of South Korea.

The US president is threatening to cut funds to the UN health agency. The UN secretary general responds that "this is not the time" to cut resources in the fight against the coronavirus. Beyond ideological readings, the WHO has followed China's indications step by step in keeping silent about the coronavirus, on human-to-human transmission, on delaying the pandemic alarm, on stifling Taiwan's help. Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the first to politicize the global health issue.

The pandemic emergency, far from under control, forces priests to celebrate mass without the people. On the night of the resurrection the tomb in Jerusalem was dominated by the same silence and lack of participants. The world resembles one great tomb that puts our pretension to happiness at all costs with its back to the wall. The announcement of the resurrection in empty churches needs prophets to bring this hope to the global grave.

The doctor, who died of coronavirus, had reported the outbreak in December, but was silenced by the police. Two Wuhan police officers get a demerit and a warning. The investigation into the affair claims the coronavirus was first reported in late December, but government sources note that the first cases date back to 17 November. Official narrative tries to save Xi Jinping and the Party. An anonymous comment slams the inquiry as “shameless”.

Papers and new broadcasts give ample space to the so-called Chinese “aid” to Italy to counter the coronavirus epidemic. Angela Merkel: It is reciprocity. A massive advertising campaign with China victorious over Covid-19, leaving aside the silence held for almost two months on the epidemic. A new silk road in “healthcare”, with aid to Italy, Spain, Serbia, Iran, the Philippines, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, Iraq. "Dictatorship is better than democracy." Religious freedom in China and Europe at risk.

Beijing will give 100 thousand masks; 20 thousand protective suits, 50 thousand swabs. 1000 lung ventilators are also on the way to help Italian coronavirus patients breathe. But China should not have suffocated the voices of doctors and journalists who already warned of a more powerful SARS virus in December. Italy should also ask for "free speech" for the Chinese. The silence of the leadership generated the pandemic.

We need to follow ​​Pope Francis’ line of thought, according to which "the whole is superior to the parts". There are two impervious sides in the Church: pro-China and anti-China; pro-Bergoglio and anti-Bergoglio. We must find a common position, also in view of the deadline of September 21, 2020, when the Agreement expires. This Agreement, although it has positive aspects, has never been put into practice. We must reject an "independent Church" that does not allow ties "with foreigners" and the evangelization of young people. The division among Catholics serves the purpose of the Chinese Communist Party.

Our global society has been hit by a scourge similar to the plague of the 1300s and 1600s, the cholera epidemic of two centuries ago, or the Asian flu of the last century. Discovering our impotence and fear of death. The apocalypse and escape. For many Christians in Asia it is not a question of escape: they have found God in the coronavirus. Political powers see God as an enemy (in China) or as an unnecessary encumbrance (in the West). God is our greatest ally.