Trump’s long-awaited visit to Beijing, the first by a US president since 2017, offers an opportunity to refocus attention on the fate of Jimmy Lai and many other defenders of religious freedom and human rights imprisoned in China. This includes Zion Church clergymen, whose families, to keep their fate in the public eye, are posting on Chinese social media images of the Ichthys fish, a symbol used by early Christians during persecution.
On 13 May 1981, feast day of Our Lady of Fatima 45 years ago, John Paul II was hit by two bullets. Today, Leo XIV remembered his predecessor before the general audience in St Peter's Square by kneeling at the spot where he was wounded. He dedicated today’s catechesis to Mary, "the perfect model" for the Church, entrusting to her "the cry for peace" of "peoples afflicted by war.”
Price rises linked to the oil crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have caused the sharpest surge in the Philippines in the last three years in the prices of essential goods and transport fares. This trend is hitting low-income families and those living in rural areas of the Visayas hardest.
Shakeel and Sammer Masih, sewer cleaners, are the latest victims of workplace fatalities among Christians. Activists denounce the failure to comply with safety protocols. The Bishop of the Sahiwal Baptist Church has spoken out, and the authorities have promised a thorough investigation. Also weighing heavily is the lack of access to education for Christians, who are exploited in dangerous jobs.
Today’s headlines: in Lebanon, where the war continues, UNESCO has sounded the alarm over children unable to attend school. Negotiations between Samsung and the unions have broken down, paving the way for a long strike starting on 21 May at the semiconductor factories. For the first time, a woman is at the helm of St Stephen’s College in New Delhi. A message from Kirill to Pope Leo one year on from his election.
In September, Russia will go to the polls for parliamentary elections, and in the campaign that is now getting underway, the traditional allies of United Russia, Putin’s party, appear for the first time to be intent on distancing themselves in order to capitalise on popular discontent. Thus, to close ranks, the Kremlin is rallying the loyalist leaders of local administrations.
