North Asia

Message from Francis to the young people gathered in Madrid for the 41st European Meeting organized by the Ecumenical Community of Taizé. "Promoting a culture of encounter", welcoming "one another while respecting differences".

Mongolia’s Catholic community got ready to relive "the great mystery of Incarnation" through a moment of retreat and reconciliation. Consumerism and untrained relationship to money are new dangers.

Russia could become the protector of the country and of Christians. But in the meantime international powers - such as Britain and France - and regional powers - like Turkey and Israel - are claiming areas of influence, opening up new fronts of confrontation and insecurity for its population and Syria. Two days ago Israeli aircraft attacked a Syrian military base in Qatifah, about 40 km northeast of Damascus.

At the Angelus on the feast of the first martyr, Francis invites us "to welcome with faith from the hands of the Lord the good and the bad that life has in store for us". Forgiveness is "the way forward in interpersonal relationships in the family, at school and work, in the parish and in the different communities". Thanks for the "many greetings from Rome and other parts of the world" and prayers for the Pope.

In Francis' Christmas message, Israelis and Palestinians, Koreans of the North and South, Syrians and Yemenis, Venezuelans, Ukrainians and Nicaraguans and those who are deprived of religious freedom. "The universal message of Christmas" brought by the Child is that "God is a good Father and we are all brothers".

At Christmas Eve Mass, Francis cautions that "Mankind became greedy and voracious. In our day, for many people, life’s meaning is found in possessing, in having an excess of material objects. An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive".

The disaster occurred between Java and Sumatra. "Solidarity and the support of the International Community". "The Gospel of Mary's visit to Elizabeth prepares us to live Christmas well, communicating to us the dynamism of faith and charity". "To live an extrovert Christmas, but not dispersed: in the center there is not our 'I', but the You of Jesus and the you of the brothers". A thought for "all those who are far from their family and their land".

The great Ukrainian scholar defends the election of metropolitan Epifanyj and autocephaly as a flight from "post-Soviet Egypt" and "ideological slavery" under Moscow. Addressing the problems of the population, in a situation of war that has lasted five years, will also help to unite with priests and bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate. Shevchuk's congratulations and Kirill's wrath.

In his meeting with the Curia for Christmas greetings, Francis retraced the past year, " external and internal amid successes and difficulties". In the face of abuse "the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes". The joys for the new blessed and also for the many consecrated who "live their vocation daily in fidelity, silence, holiness and self-denial".

As soon as he receives the Tomos of autocephaly, the new Church will address various themes: the governing bodies, the date of Christmas (25 December and / or 7 January); the situation in the Crimea; relations with other Orthodox Churches. The patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, pushes for the isolation of the Ukrainian Church. Its showdown between Constantinople and Moscow.

The statement following the seventh meeting of the Joint Working Group mentions "positive developments" in relations. With respect to the local Catholic Church, the statement cites Pope Francis’s view that “A good Catholic is also a good citizen”.

It is, emphasized Francis, a passage from the Gospel "difficult to preach", in which the "God of surprises" changes the destiny of man. "It's a convulsive situation, everything changes, history turns upside down".