South West Asia

by Vladimir Rozanskij | AZERBAIJAN

In the age of sovereignism, Azerbaijan rediscovers one of the largest and longest-lived empires in the Muslim world to claim the historical roots of its statehood ion opposition to Tehran. Akhmedov: ‘The political and economic reforms of its founder Šakh Ismail Khataj should be studied’. Ancient events as a key to reading today's battles of the Aliev dynasty.

by Vladimir Rozanskij

For the first time since the ‘velvet revolution’ of 2018, the Armenian premier showed his face shaved of his beard. A gesture to wink at the need to ‘bring the country back to zero’, an expression he increasingly used to call for ‘looking at the real Armenia and not the land of dreams’.

| 18/11/2024
| ARMENIA

In his speech at the UN Conference underway in Baku, the Vatican Secretary of State reiterated Pope Francis’s appeal for the 2025 Jubilee. “A new international financial architecture” is needed “that can truly ensure for all countries, especially the poorest and those most vulnerable to climate disasters, both low-carbon and high-sharing development pathways”.

| 13/11/2024
| AZERBAIJAN – VATICAN
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The opposition continues its mobilisation every night, denouncing the vote manipulations that would have led to the new success of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream. Documents are being collected for an international enquiry, while the outgoing government remains in a wait-and-see position, pointing to divisions between the parties and not believing in their ability to truly involve the population in the protest.

| 07/11/2024
| GEORGIA
by Vladimir Rozanskij

How many hold the pro-Russian government responsible for fraud that overturned the exit-poll results are pouring into the streets of downtown Tbilisi amid rising tension. President Zurabišvili and leaders of the opposition (which appeared divided into four different parties) do not recognize the results, which give the Georgian Dream 53.92 percent of the vote in a divided country. The Kremlin cries "destabilization on behalf of the Europeans."

 

 

 

| 30/10/2024
| GEORGIA
by Stefano Caprio

The war in Ukraine is forcing the peoples of these countries to make a clear choice, against their own conscience. Moldovans want a place in the world, not just in the "Russian world", to which they already belong. Even more heart-wrenching is the choice Georgians have to make this weekend, deciding their country’s future in addition to picking their representatives in parliament.

| 26/10/2024
| RUSSIAN WORLD

The place of worship, dating from the 4th century AD, was found in Artaxata. The discovery is the result of joint work of archaeologists from the University of Münster and the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. For experts, it is also a "significant" find because the kingdom was the first in history "to adopt Christianity as its official religion”.

| 26/10/2024
| ARMENIA – TURKEY
Editor's choices
 
by Gianni Criveller
The College of Cardinals Francis created reflects the world more than the Catholic Church, or rather, it reflects her missionary vocation. Numbers count far less than bearing evangelical witness, which Christians are expected to live in the community ...
| 27/04/2025
| EDITORIAL
 
by Sumon Corraya
The meeting in 2017 in Bangladesh with a delegation of one million exiles from Myanmar was one of the most touching moments in the pontiff's trip. He often remembered that embrace in the following years. “Pope Francis was a beacon of hope for ...
| 26/04/2025
| BANGLADESH - VATICAN
 
A source talked to AsiaNews about how Chinese Catholics are coping with Francis’s death. Remarks and pictures abound on local social media. “Amid the sorrow and mourning, the joy of announcing love prevailed,” as “a spontaneous ...
| 24/04/2025
| RED LANTERNS
 
The 12 years of Francis’s pontificate were marked by 13 trips in Asia, from the first visit to South Korea to the long journey last September to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore. During this time, his message of peace and ...
| 23/04/2025
| VATICAN – ASIA
 
by sr. Mary Joseph *
From Calcutta, the superior of Mother Teresa's sisters remembers Pope Francis. ‘He made the Church refocus its attention on the marginalised’. Bergoglio wanted the Missionaries of Charity to open a new home in Bajo Flores, a slum ...
| 23/04/2025
| INDIA - VATICAN
 
by Gianni Criveller
Proclaiming the Gospel was his top priority: he reminded us that mission is about joy, that its territories are not defined by geography or people's religious affiliation. Through his life and teaching, he taught us that Jesus' missionaries ...
| 22/04/2025
| EDITORIAL
 
by Card Anthony Poola*
One of the great signs of the pontificate that ended this morning with the death of Pope Francis is his care for the peripheries of the world. The archbishop of Hyderabad, the first Dalit called to join the College of Cardinals in 2022, pays tribute ...
| 21/04/2025
| VATICAN - INDIA
 
by Gianni Criveller
From Myanmar to the Middle East, countless women, children and men in Asia, victims of pain and injustice, weep like Mary Magdalene who lost her Lord and friend. But with her, they believe that the Risen One changes the course of history and allows ...
| 19/04/2025
| EDITORIAL
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”