Forbidden to mourn the victims of Covid: a bishop is fined
There’s no stopping the Catalonian government’s atheist offensive, even when it concerns the dead. Barcelona’s archbishop is now under investigation for violating an absurd rule of permitting a maximum of 10 faithful inside a church. At a funeral Mass for Covid victims there were 200 people in the Sagrada Família (with a capacity for 9,000). Archbishop Ormella decried: "Our freedom of worship has been violated."
Global survey finds the world still believes in God
“The Global God Divide” is the new report of the Pew Research Center that interviewed more than 38,000 people from 34 different countries in 2019. It shows that the world is still very believing: 45% openly recognise the necessity of believing in God. It is a deeply-rooted conviction in nations like Islamic Indonesia and the Catholic Philippines (96%), much less in Europe (22%), but still present in the United States (44%). Italy gives bad signals, while the former USSR very good ones.
Post Coronavirus: notes for living true freedom
Uproot statism and streamline bureaucracy, promote subsidiarity, free schools, fiscal freedom and the freedom to be born once conceived, national loan, combat the new humanism of the supra-national globalism that conducted an experiment of limited freedom and political authoritarianism during COVID-19: the future awaiting us will have to be the phase of true freedom, an extraordinary opportunity “to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment. . .” (Caritas in veritate, n. 21). Archbishop Crepaldi’s notes for rebirth according to the Social Doctrine of the Church.
Trump and Viganò: a dialogue that reads current events in a Biblical key
U.S. President Donald Trump sent a tweet showing his enthusiastic support for the open letter Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò wrote to him, that speaks of a fierce battle underway between the children of darkness and the children of light. It is a reading of current events that follows the same line as the prophecies of John Paul II and the judgments of Benedict XVI. Viganò notes that at this juncture President Trump is the only international authority capable of standing up to the global power which is intent on destroying freedom, which has taken advantage of the Covid crisis and which is stirring up revolts in the United States, with even harder times still in store.
The silence of surrender
The global lockdown crisis represents the definitive assault on the foundations of western civilization, built on the principles of Christianity. But even more than the surrender of politics, law and the media to the new tyrants, the silence of the Christian leaders is striking, as if God had nothing to say in this situation: a white flag of surrender that invites the barbarians to finally assault the citadels of Christianity.
Saint Paul teaches that an Empire should repair its injustices
The coronavirus crisis has brought about a focus on freedom and its relationship with the law, a theme that seems inopportune to bring up right now, even for many Catholics. And yet in the Acts of the Apostles we find a very clear example that speaks to our situation when Saint Paul calls for the public reparation of an injustice. This is why Christians ought to act in defence of their own freedom and rights for the good of the entire society.
All Masses banned. Italy’s “Patriotic Church” like China.
The Italian Bishops’ Conference has decided to suspend all Masses in Italy with the faithful in attendance until April 3 because of the coronavirus. This is a grave and historically unprecedented decision, which sends a clear message, faith is irrelevant to people’s lives. It is a model that creates the risk of being followed by the rest of the world. The ecclesiastical hierarchy seems to be ever more dependent on the government, following the model of the “Patriotic Association” in China. “Clandestine” priests are now celebrating Mass in churches or homes with a few of the faithful in attendance, at the risk of being denounced by state officials and other priests.
France, ambiguous start of the dialogue between State and Islam
President Macron wants a “French Islam". His appeal was followed by concrete actions and last year the AMIF, the new Association for Islam in France, was created. But who controls this association? According to a parliamentary question, the AMIF is dangerously close to the Muslim Brotherhood, even if its promoters deny this.
The 21 martyrs killed by ISIS, true followers of Christ...
Five years have passed since 21 young Christian men were brutally slaughtered on a Libyan beach by Islamic State members. Twenty were Coptic Christians, Egyptians working in Libya, the 21st came from Ghana. Before the execution, they raised their prayer: Ya Rabbi Yassou, “O Lord Jesus”. The Coptic Orthodox Church declared them martyrs, and a book has reconstructed their life. A life based on a truly lived Gospel, with no compromise with the world.
Abu Dhabi, one year later: The ambiguity about religions remains
One year after the signing of the Abu Dhabi Declaration, two fundamental ambiguities remain: the will of God regarding the plurality of religions and the way in which religions ought to collaborate for peace. But the point is this: the way in which religions see God determines the way they see the human person, the family, woman, law, and freedom, as well as peace.
Pakistan: judges rule it’s OK to rape Christian girls
Scandalous sentence of the Sindh High Court against the 14-year-old Catholic Huma Younus, kidnapped, raped and forced to marry a Muslim man: the marriage is valid, according to Sharia law, because Huma had already begun her menstrual cycle. This proves that Pakistani laws, which prohibit marriage to minors, are only a façade to secure Western economic aid, firstly from the European Union. The judgement sounds like a sentence for the thousands of Christian girls who suffer the same fate, with forced conversions perpetrated through abduction and sexual violence.
India, "Christmas gift" for the harassed Church
The defeat of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP in the election to the state legislature of Jharkhand was a real "Christmas gift" for the Christians, after years of persecution from the hindu nationalists. Very happy is Archbishop Felix Toppo of Ranchi, after years of false accuses againts nuns and priests.
