East Asia

Only if we accept that we are made of clay can the "extraordinary power of God” come to us and give us fullness, salvation, happiness, and the joy of being saved, thus receiving the Lord's "treasure".

The order was issued at the end of last year. Churches give in under the pressure of the authorities. Arrests and raids against house churches continue.

The student had been in coma since March 2016, after getting botulism. He was repatriated following a decision of a North Korean court. In prison, he was “terrorised and brutalised”, his family said. His release came after a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts.

Francis has written the preface to a book that is an interview with Card. Tukson titled "Corrosion". Today, even just "imagining the future" is a very difficult undertaking, corruption even undermines the "hope" that an improvement is possible.

Two young people, aged 24 and 26, were abducted and killed in Quetta (Baluchistan). They belonged to a South Korea-based missionary community. Their death has generated fears that Sino-Pakistani friendship might be in jeopardy. A newspaper close the Chinese Communist Party warns of the danger of being used as "missionaries" and "spies".

After three attempts, the Japanese diet approves controversial bill. For the government, the new legislation is needed to ratify the UN treaty aimed at global organised crime and prevent terrorism at the 2020 Olympics. Critics argue that the law restricts freedom and civil rights and has nothing to do with crime or terrorism.

There are good relations between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan. The difficulties were born and nurtured by Saudi Arabia and its Wahhabite Islam, as well as with the Muslim Brotherhoods in Egypt. Sunnism of this ilk are similar to al Qaeda and Daesh. The contribution of Christians to Arab culture involves modernity, education, the role of women in society. Arabic culture unites Christians and Muslims in the East.

"Much of man’s narcissism is born from a feeling of solitude." Lack of love is the source of many apparently inexplicable behaviors: "Not being or not feeling loved as a teenager, can lead to violence."

After two months of government inspections in 28 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, some 13,785 companies (70.6 per cent) have failed to meet emissions standards or lack pollution control equipment. Particulate matter should have been reduced in the smoggy region by 25 per cent this year over 2012 levels, but the target has not been met. One third of the deaths in the region are related to pollution.

The young man, sentenced to 15 years of forced labor in March 2016, is reportedly in a coma. US and South Korean citizens used as commodity exchanges in diplomatic relations. Three Americans and six Koreans still in jail in the North. Among them Protestant missionaries, accused of espionage or betrayal. The South pushes for the reopening of dialogue.

We ask for grace "to be clinging, rooted in the fullness of the promises in Christ Jesus that is 'yes', our total 'yes', and bringing this fullness with the salt and light of our testimony to others to give glory to the Father who is in heavens. "

Francis' Message for the First World Day of the Poor, instituted by him. "Let us never forget that, for Christ’s disciples, poverty is above all a call to follow Jesus in his own poverty." "Poverty is an interior attitude that avoids looking upon money, career and luxury as our goal in life and the condition for our happiness. Poverty instead creates the conditions for freely shouldering our personal and social responsibilities, despite our limitations, with trust in God’s closeness and the support of his grace."