Franco Pisano

Hundreds of illegal Chinese fishing boats have entered the waters near the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between South Korea and North Korea in the Yellow Sea. This year alone, South Korea’s special coastguard has caught seven Chinese boats and forced another 360 to leave the fishing grounds near the Northern Limit Line.

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue issues a message for Vesakh. “May this dramatic situation of the COVID-19 pandemic strengthen our bonds of friendship and further unite us in service to the human family”.

“Sometimes our prayers seem to go unheard” even if “the reason we prayed was noble”, such as for the end of a war. "Let us learn this humble patience of waiting for the grace of the Lord, of waiting for the last day". "Often the end is very ugly, because human suffering is ugly, but the Lord is there. In the end, He resolves everything, it is the day when all human yearnings for salvation will be fulfilled. We learn to wait ".

The "Laudato si 'Action Platform" is launched, "which will involve our communities in different ways, so that they become totally sustainable, in the spirit of integral ecology". An invitation to “seven realities: families - parishes and dioceses - schools and universities - hospitals - businesses and farms - organizations, groups and movements - religious institutes”.

Since December 2013, runaway inflation has pushed the consumer price index up by 356.65 per cent. Whilst the authorities seem unable to do anything, people are taking matters in their own hands. Together LiBeirut is one group making a difference.

“The Synod is nothing more than making explicit what Lumen Gentium says: The totality of God's people, everything from the bishop down, is ‘infallibile in credendo’ (infallible in belief), i.e. cannot be wrong. There is harmony in such unity, but such faith must be made explicit.”

On a visit to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication this morning, Pope Francis recited the prayer for the 55th World Communications Day. He also noted that “for a structure to be functional, everyone must have sufficient freedom to function. That they have the ability to take risks and not go asking for permission, permission, permission...: this paralyses. Functional, not functionalistic.”

Francis today received the ambassadors of Singapore, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Barbados, Sweden, Finland and Nepal for the presentation of their credentials. “I think,” he said, “of the need to confront such pressing global issues as migration and climate change, as well as the humanitarian crises that they often bring in their wake.”

Meeting the "Scholas Occurrentes", Francis connected online with the young people of Valencia, Spain, gathered in the Levante stadium, with the new Scholas offices in Washington and Sydney, and in Argentina with the young people participating in the addiction prevention program in the area of ​​El Impenetrable, province of Chaco.

Weather forecasters issue a new warning just days after Cyclone Tauktae left a trail of death and destruction on India’s west coast. Some 37 bodies have been recovered after an oil installation vessel sank in the heavy seas.

According to the Philippines, the ban “is a violation of Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights.” For Ivy Banzon Abalos, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Beijing is violating Article 56 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

Distractions "are not at fault, but they must be fought". And Jesus says it a lot: "Be vigilant". "Spiritual bareness cannot be overcome with a grey heart, the heart must be bright, wait for consolation, and if it does not enter, wait for it with hope, but do not close it in grey". "Sloth, which is a real temptation against prayer and, more generally, against the Christian life, is different".