Yesterday's opening match between Qatar and Ecuador should not overshadow the controversy triggered by FIFA president Gianni Infantino's statements on the eve of the World Cup. Beyond the sporting aspects, priority must be given to the moral ones. For Italy, it is a good thing not to participate in what will go down in history as the World Cup of corruption, terrorism and human rights violations.

The Pope and Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s new elected Prime Minister, relaunch cooperation with Europe and Italy to solve the problems of the black continent. This proposal is not new but inadequate as long as we forget that terrorism and migrants also come from Asia and we take for granted Africans are incapable, in the face of a Europe that struggles to help itself.

The conclusion of the XX Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, marking the total centralisation of power in the hands of Xi Jinping, goes well beyond expectations. Xi prepares for conflict, targets Taiwan and only appoints his loyalists: the priority is no longer the economy but his power and the modernisation of the army. It’s a clear message for the Holy See, which has just announced the renewal of the Agreement for the appointment of bishops, interference will not be tolerated.

Masih Alinejad, journalist and blogger, is one of the most representative figures of the Iranian women’s revolt against the Ayatollahs’ Islamic regime,  exploiting social media, from her exile in America, to fuel the protests. But she also has a warning for the free world: "Either democratic countries unite to end Islamic terror, or Islamic terrorists will end democracy."

Hope of a peace deal seems increasingly out of reach, finding a solution to the conflict ever more difficult, still this doesn’t mean attempts to resolve the conflict are worthless. In an interview, the Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, Monsignor Paolo Pezzi, exposes the extreme gravity of the situation and the urgency for negotiation.

By a large majority, the Chilean population has rejected the proposed new Constitution promoted by President Boric. Despite much press coverage and considerable interference from abroad (including the UN and the USA), rejection won in the constitutional referendum. The text of the new constitution included abortion, LGBT rights, and ecologism.

Increased military spending, the purchase of armaments, increased number of soldiers, voluntary military training: in Poland, war is not only considered inevitable, but for many it is even an opportunity to settle the score with Russia. And the hottest front is currently the one with Belarus.

The words pronounced at yesterday’s Angelus by the Pope on the situation in Nicaragua, the first in four years of persecutions, are gravely inadequate and are consistent with the attitude held towards all communist regimes, not only South American. But the real problem is bending the Church's presence and intervention to political logic.

The FBI raid on former President Trump’s residence is the sign and culmination of an oligarchy’s domination (political, financial, media, etc.) which has subverted the natural and legal order. The remedy, however, does not consist in returning to the “American Way” or "to the principles of the Founding Fathers”, because they were always, from the very outset, designed to allow an oligarchy to dominate things politically and socially.

From Ukraine to the Balkans, from the Middle East to Asia-Pacific, tensions are boiling over and becoming more dangerous by the day. Especially disturbing is the fact that there are no firefighters on hand when fires break out. And the crisis in Taiwan is particularly dangerous because the equilibrium rests on certain fictions.

Taiwan’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Matthew Lee, speaks forthrightly to the Daily Compass in his condemnation of Communist China’s military action against his country. "It is a one-sided attempt to create a crisis." Lee reiterates that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is not part of the People's Republic of China and that Beijing has never ruled Taipei.

The Pope's words on his human relationship with Raúl Castro have been ignored in Italy, but not in Latin America, where they have provoked critical reactions. The Compass interviews dissident priest Fernando Gálvez who wrote a letter to Francis. "Those words caused a deep wound. How can one have a human relationship with a person who has shown Cubans that he does not know humanity?  Cuba is in an untenable situation, it is not a symbol of anything good”.