The archbishop of Goa has called on Catholics to give up the weekly visit to the Marian shrine in Velankanni on 6 May to avoid missing voting set the following day in this part of India. On candidates, he stressed the importance of voting for “persons with secular credentials, who are truly committed to work for the good of all the people”.
Senator Risa Hontiveros introduced a resolution ahead of Earth Day on 22 April. “As stewards of the Earth, we have a moral imperative to protect our environment for future generations,” said Caritas vice president Bishop Alminaza.
In St Peter's Square, Pope Francis remembers Palestine, Israel and Ukraine, as well as all the "prisoners of war." Today's catechesis focused on temperance, “the virtue of the right measure”. A sensitive person “does not weep over himself. In defeat, he rises up again; in victory, he is capable of returning to his former reserved life.”
The daughter of Sukarno, who heads the PDI-P, the party to which outgoing President Joko Widodo belongs, has asked the Constitutional Court to allow her to act as “amicus curiae” in a legal case that could stop Gibran Rakabuming Raka from taking office as vice president after his running mate, General Prabowo Subianto, won the presidency.
A former teacher, he founded the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement in 1958, holding firm to the link between the secular principle of development and the Buddhist ideals of altruism and compassion, together with a firm option for non-violence. Among the many honours he received in his long life were the Magsaysay Award in 1969 and the Niwano Peace Prize in 1992.
In 2022, the Supreme Court had intervened by "freezing" the expropriations in the neighbourhood long at the centre of high tensions in East Jerusalem. A judge ordered the eviction of three families by July. Behind the decision is said to be pressure from Nahalat Shimon, a pro-settlement group. The army ordered the seizure of land north of Hebron, a UN note against settler violence.
