The new document of the Pontifical Academy for Life on Covid-19 is embarrassing: it says nothing – nothing about life and nothing Catholic. It calls for environmental conversion and solidarity, completely excluding any religious dimension. It is a document that will please many among the global elite.

The churches that have been burned in France are only the tip of the iceberg of a climate of hostility against Christians. There is an obvious convergence between secularist forces and the ever more significant presence of Islam. While mosques are being built, Christian churches – whose maintenance is the responsibility of the State – are being abandoned and closed. The Bishop of Montauban, Bernard Ginoux, says with regard to Hagia Sophia: “The Abu Dhabi agreement has been abandoned; Erdogan is implementing a policy of expansion and hegemony in the Mediterranean in the name of Islam; dialogue with him is impossible.”
 

Lay people at the altar for a celebration identical in every way to Mass with the exception of the consecration, and for two Sundays a month a woman in a cassock and stole. In Lucerne, in German-speaking Switzerland, the dream of the layman in place of the priest and of women-priests is approaching in leaps and bounds, with the blessing of the bishops after a four-year experiment: “The women and men who serve in church have developed an independent liturgical form”. Independent from Rome, of course, and from the sacramental nature of the Mass. This happens when the clericalism of the laity is used to attack the figure of the priest with the excuse of a decline in vocations. Even if the numbers do not justify it at all.

The most incredible phenomenon of the Covid period is the worldwide restrictions on masses and access to churches. The fact of having accepted without even fighting to renounce what we hold dearest, the Eucharist, adds to the astonishment. It calls us to recognize our misery and embrace conversion. This is the only way to ensure that this time will not have been in vain.

The devotion of the Carmelite scapular has its roots in the 13th century, a gift of the Blessed Mother to offer protection from the fires of hell. Saint John Paul II was wearing it on the day of the assassination attempt on his life, and that scapular, soaked in blood, has become a relic.

Today the Church celebrates the 120 Chinese martyrs: bishops, priests, nuns, lay people. An awkward story for those today, who have overturned the values at stake to indicate compromise rather than martyrdom as a model. Moreover, what happens in the relationship between the Holy See and China concerns each one of us.

Two recent contributions by monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò and monsignor Athanasius Schneider radically criticise the Second Vatican Council, which is held responsible for the current deviations from authentic faith. In the first case, they even go so far as to propose quashing that Council. But this is a serious error of perspective because the possible ambiguities or uncertainties of the conciliar documents have already been clarified by the subsequent magisterium of Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI. As has always happened after a Council.

Singapore: life for a number of prisoners would have ended very differently if it wasn’t for the presence of a Catholic nun. Sister Gerard Fernandez was just 36 when she walked her first inmate to be hanged. From 1981 to 2017 she accomplished the difficult mission to guide the sentenced to death back to the faith and lessen their fear of death

A small group of Polish Catholics bought an advertising space in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica in order to make an "appeal" to Pope Francis. They implored Francis to "repair" the Polish Church while accusing Catholic hierarchy of covering up child abuse cases. This is a specious attack. The issue, however painful it is, is relatively marginal among Polish clergy: of the 1000 persons convicted for paedophilia offences, 997 were lay people and 3 were priests. Still, the press are treating the matter as if it primarily concerned clergy and do not explain that the few cases of sexual abuse of young males involve mostly priests with homosexual tendencies. The appeal launched in La Repubblica is only the latest in a long series of attacks, including films and foundations, aimed at denigrating the Church.

An anti-clerical communist, Ercole went to Medjugorje to follow his girlfriend (a divorced woman with children) who had converted. There, thanks to the Blessed Mother, he saw the lie he was living and also God, who held out His hand to him and led him to enter the Franciscan order with the name Brother Cristoforo. In this interview with The Daily Compass, he shares his dialogue with the visionaries on the secrets, the crisis of the Church, and the battle which awaits us before the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Satan's plan has already been implemented; the false religion of man who has replaced God rules the world”. “Our Lady has a plan to save humanity; this is the time of the spiritual battle that prepares the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”. “Terrible things will happen, everyone will have to decide whether to entrust themselves to God or not, eternal salvation is at stake”. “The Coronavirus comes from the devil, it is a test: the solution is to renounce Satan and return to God”. “The cult of Mother Earth is one form of false religion; it's terrible and ridiculous”. Father Livio Fanzaga, Director of Radio Maria, explains to the Daily Compass the present times according to Our Lady's messages in Medjugorje, the historical turning point announced, and the prophecies: “We have entered the time of the ten secrets”.

Fülöp Kocsis, metropolitan archbishop of Hungary’s Greek Catholic Church, tells the New Daily Compass about how Hungarians have overcome the coronavirus pandemic thanks, in part, to good government intervention. Above all, he speaks about how Catholics have an edge: “Can the pandemic be considered as a gift?”, he asks. “Yes, with the eyes of faith it is. Moreover because it teaches us a lot.”