A new crackdown by the Parliamentary Commission for Migration Policy. They are targeting bodies that issue compulsory certificates of knowledge of the Russian language and history and the Internet sites that help obtain illegal documents. Unauthorised stay on Russian territory also becomes an aggravating circumstance for any violation of a rule.

After months of clashes with the judiciary, most notably over the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government led by Shehbaz Sharif has approved a constitutional amendment empowering a parliamentary committee with appointing the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, hitherto chosen based on seniority. For experts, this is a new attempt to limit the powers to which the opposition can turn to.

Since 13 October, at least five violent incidents have been reported in different parts of the country, most notably in Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. Prayer services and buildings were targeted, a family was not allowed to bury a loved one in the village cemetery. The police are complicit with the attackers. For the archbishop of Bangalore, government silence is “baffling”.

From St Peter's Square, the pope shared in the pain due to conflicts in the world and their death numbers, including the frightening level of military spending. Speaking about John Paul II, whose memory was celebrated yesterday, Francis said that he was “the pope of families”. Couples were at the centre of today’s catechesis on the Holy Spirit. “The human couple” is the ”realization of the communion of love that is the Trinity”.

Th, Fr Gianni Criveller, editorial director of AsiaNews, made the comment following the renewal of the Agreement between the Vatican and Beijing on episcopal appointments. Given the lowkey with which the renewal was announced suggests awareness that background problems remain serious. “After the 2023 crisis, China avoided taking things too far,” and today the climate seems to have improved; hence, “giving up on the narrow path of dialogue and scrapping the agreement would not bring any advantage.”

Reactions in Indonesia to the choice of the bishop of Bogor who asked Francis to be removed from the list of bishops who will receive the purple on 7 December. Bishops' Conference president Antonio Subianto Bunjamin: “Bishop Paskalis knows what is best for him, for the diocese and for the Church”.