The leader of the Early Rain Covenant Church is reportedly suffering from liver cancer. His family, who have long been denied prison visits, have received no official news. Despite summits between Trump and Xi, China is intensifying its crackdown on believers and prominent figures within Protestant communities.
The government follows up on the promise to purchase more US military equipment. The five-year plan imposes a record spending of 27.47 trillion yen (244 billion euro) for Defense until March 2024. Critics defend the pacifist constitution.
Wang has been in prison for three years. He is not allowed to have an attorney or visits from his wife. An open letter from over 20 lawyers around the world calling on Xi Jinping to respect "the rule of law".
The first episcopal ordination without papal mandate is celebrated with meeting and a seminar. The original event split the Chinese Church. For Wang Zuoan, deputy chief of the United Front, the principles of independence and self-management will not be eliminated "at any time and under any circumstances". Noting that more than half of China’s 98 dioceses have no bishop and in others prelates are very old, Mgr Ma Yinglin called for “politically reliable" bishops.
"Dreams are a privileged place to look for the truth because in them we do not defend ourselves from the truth. They come, and ... and God also speaks in dreams; not always, because it is usually our unconscious that comes, but God so often chooses to speak in dreams.”
Francis message for the 52nd World Day of Peace. In “a climate of mistrust rooted in the fear of others or of strangers, or anxiety about one’s personal security ", "our societies need “artisans of peace” who can be messengers and authentic witnesses of God the Father, who wills the good and the happiness of the human family ".
In his Message for the World Day of Peace, the pontiff asks for a conversion of the heart so that politics returns to being a concern for the common good. The "Beatitudes of the politician", invoked across the world. A widespread and profound division between the political classes and the populations is evident. Being "artisans of peace".
Since Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012, about 1,000-1,500 North Koreans have left the country each year. Between January and November 2018, Seoul has authorised several humanitarian missions in the North, including drugs, milk powder and flour worth US$ 4.15 million. The North slams new US sanctions that threaten “denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula”. South Korea is trying to mediate. New talks are set with the US.
The Chinese president has extolled Deng Xiaoping’s modernizations, which has propelled China to becoming the second largest economic power in the world. Silence on the "fifth modernization", democracy, and on the economic reforms needed today. The leadership of the Chinese Communist Party reaffirmed, a guarantee of development.
Francis received the International Commission against the death penalty. "The acceptance of this form of punishment was a consequence of a mentality of the time, more legalistic than Christian, that sacralized the value of laws lacking in humanity and mercy." Legitimate defense is legitimate, but must always be proportionate.
About 5.24 million people of working age are not employed as of last May. Economic growth will end in 2027 when those employed will account for less than 66.7 per cent of the population. Agreement protects Indonesian migrant workers.
During the Angelus Pope Francis commented on the liturgical readings of Gaudete Sunday. “In a remote village in the Galilee, in the heart of a young woman unknown to the world, God ignited the spark of happiness for the whole world. And today the same proclamation is addressed to the Church,” he said. “No concern, no fear shall ever take away the serenity that comes from knowing that God lovingly guides our lives, always.” The pontiff urged the international community to implement the directives of the Marrakech conference on migration. He also mentioned the blessing of the Little Children (Bambinelli) brought by the children of Rome.
Dr Sung Young-chul donated 10 billion KRW to the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine out of respect for life in every aspect of the university’s research activity.
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