Central America

Seoul and Havana open ties at the UN, a move that further isolates North Korea. Cuba is the 193rd country with full relations with South Korea, leaving Syria as the only UN member state without relations with the East Asian country.

Honduras is set to switch from Taiwan to China. Since 2016, Xi Jinping has wrested eight diplomatic allies from Taiwan. Now the spotlight is on Paraguay. Taiwan is not standing idly by and could gain diplomatic recognition from Micronesia, which wants to break ties with China.

“We can hardly fail to see that these days, in addition to the pandemic, an ‘infodemic’ is spreading: a distortion of reality based on fear, which in our global society leads to an explosion of commentary on falsified if not invented news,” Francis said. “Fake news has to be refuted, but individual persons must always be respected, for they believe it often without full awareness or responsibility,” he added. “[T]ruth is never merely a concept having to do with judgment about things; no, that is only a part of what truth is. Truth regards life as a whole”.

Humility is “the one way to come to worship God in the same house, around the same altar.” The “great band of martyrs’ around Jesus, indicates “to us here below a clear way, the way of unity!”

"Our sins, our mistakes, our falls, do not frighten God, let's get that straight in our heads, but he is frightened by the closure of our hearts, by our lack of faith in His love". "It is right that those who have erred should pay for their error, but it is just as right that those who have erred should be able to redeem themselves from their error. There can be no condemnation without a window of hope." "We pray that all disciples of Christ may persevere on the path of unity."

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be celebrated from 18 to 25 January, centred this year on the theme: “We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship him”. In Cana, “the first sign Jesus accomplished was not an extraordinary healing or something prodigious in the temple of Jerusalem, but an action that responded to a simple and concrete need of common people, a domestic gesture. Let us put it this way – a miracle done on tip toes”.

In his address to the diplomats representing 183 States accredited to the Holy See, Francis stressed the need to tackle issues such as vaccines for all and openness to those who are forced to leave their country, as well as the main crisis hotspots, from Syria and Afghanistan to the Ukraine and Myanmar.

Francis' message for World Mission Day revolves around "three key phrases that synthesize the three foundations of the life and mission of every disciple: “You shall be my witnesses”, “to the ends of the earth” and “you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit”. "In evangelization, then, the example of a Christian life and the proclamation of Christ are inseparable. One is at the service of the other. They are the two lungs with which any community must breathe, if it is to be missionary.."

"The journey of life and faith demands a deep desire and inner zeal. We need it as Church". "It is also one of the tasks of the Synod: to walk together in listening, so that the Spirit may suggest new ways, ways to bring the Gospel to the hearts of those who are indifferent, distant, of those who have lost hope but seek what the Magi found, 'a most great joy' (Mt 2:10)".

Make room for the God who "does not remain in His blissful eternity and in His infinite light, but makes himself close, becomes flesh, descends into the darkness, inhabits lands alien to him". "Let each one of us be concrete and respond to this. 'Yes, yes, I would like Jesus to come but like this, that I do not have to touch him; this, no, and this yes...'. Everyone has his own sin - let us call it by name. And He is not afraid of our sins: He came to heal us. At least let us let Him see it, let Him see the sin".

In this pandemic, "After the initial reaction phase in which we felt in solidarity in the same boat, the “every man for himself” temptation spread. But thank God we reacted again with a sense of responsibility". "Thanks be to God, because the choice of responsibility in solidarity does not come from the world: it comes from God; indeed, it comes from Jesus Christ, who has once and for all impressed on our history the 'course' of His original vocation: to be all sisters and brothers, children of the one Father".

Francis centred his Urbi et orbi message on the lack of dialogue, not only between States, but also between people, as evinced by violence against women and the tendency “to look the other way” at the sufferings of those forced to leave their homeland. Choosing the Word and the “grace of littleness” means “to believe that God desires to come into the little things of our life; he wants to inhabit our daily lives, the things we do each day at home, in our families, at school and in the workplace.”