How Taiwan, boycotted by the WHO, beat the virus. And without a lockdown
Despite being internationally isolated, unacknowledged and boycotted by the WHO to curry favour with Beijing, Taiwan has managed to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus and contain the epidemic more successfully than any other country in the world. Taiwan took countermeasures when China still didn’t admit to the epidemic. As of Today, Taiwanese authorities have registered a mere 6 deaths out of a total population of 23 million without ever forcing the island’s inhabitants (except those infected) to stay at home. In the following interview, Andrea Sing-Ying Lee, the Taiwan (Republic of China) diplomatic representative in Italy, reveals his small democratic nation’s secrets of success in containing the coronavirus.
A universal basic wage for everyone? Good intentions are not enough
There are definite limits to a universal basic wage as proposed by Pope Francis for members of the World Meeting of Popular Movements. It would be absurd to seek an increase in public welfare to citizens when national GDPs are suffering and in freefall. When fewer payrolls and invoices are issued, equally fewer taxes are deposited into national treasuries that go to support the various types of "social security." The solution once again falls to markets, provided they’re not blocked not just by viruses, but neither by corruption, crime, high taxation and every strain of political-economic contagion.
Covid-19 frees Europe of its ecological illusions
The coronavirus crisis and the deadly realism it’s subjecting us to, is forcing Timmermans and von der Leyen to put their feet firmly back on the ground and privilege human and economic survival over expensive and ambitious plans that aim to achieve ecological utopia. Much of the Green New Deal will now be postponed to better times.
Socialism’s erroneous solution to the pandemic
Before the unexpected COVID-19 phenomenon, the global economy was already very fragile due to the hyper-activity of central banks, skyrocketing public debt and because of boom (illusory) and bust (real) economic cycles. In the wake of the pandemic, these worrisome trends have led nations to enact a sort of “wartime socialism” to resolve the economic crisis. Yet is it the only solution?
Mass and Sacraments: What we can learn from an American bishop
“We must preach the eternal life found in Jesus Christ.” All the more so in these hard times when people are in need of “hope and consolation.” The death of two of his priest friends due to coronavirus inspired Bishop Peter Baldacchino’s decision to restore the celebration of public Masses in his diocese of Las Cruces. His reasons should serve as a guideline.
More than 100 NGOs lead the assault on innocent life
An open letter from over 100 powerful national and international NGOs (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, CGIL, etc.) petitioned European governments to authorise abortions over the internet or telephone and to send abortion pills to take at home. In this very same period, several children's associations, including Save the Children, have asked the EU to treat "reproductive health" as a priority during the ongoing pandemic. In brief "human" rights for all, but not for the unborn.
Celebrating Mass is an act of full obedience
It is not a loophole to circumvent the law. Celebrating Mass in this time of crisis is actually an act of full obedience. It is about practicing epikeia, a virtue cited inappropriately to discern communion for the divorced and remarried, but which instead may be perfectly applied to Masses currently prohibited during coronavirus pandemic.
What will poor countries do if the “rich” ones get sick?
Even in the midst of the pandemic Oxfam hasn’t changed its tune: it is asking rich countries to help poor countries fight the coronavirus. But the NGO doesn’t ask why poor countries are poor. The answer lies in the tribalism, corruption and violence of their ruling classes. It would do better to ask them for the necessary funds.
The Discernment needed to judge chastisement and conversion
The phenomenon of the coronavirus has provoked considerable online discussion on the theme of the chastisement of God, to which prophecies have been associated and examples of saintly bishops. How are we to judge this matter? By means of a true discernment, which seeks conversion, by using two factors: the exercise of the episcopal ministry as a depository of “charism certain of the truth” and the recognition by the faithful of the holiness of their bishops. Today something similar would not be possible with regard to Covid-19 because if a diocesan bishop spoke like Gregory the Great or Charles Borromeo he would end up in the media grinder. And so if there are chastisements, we bring them to Christ to ask that His wounds heal us, not only from our sins but also from Covid-19.
«We will only have peace and prosperity if we place God at the forefront»
Sister Emmanuel Maillard, a resident of Medjugorje and a great apostle of the Blessed Mother, explains to The Daily Compass the significance of an epidemic that is forcing “a world that believed it was invulnerable” to its knees; the evils of quarantine and what we should hold tight for our own good; the trial permitted as “a sign of love from a Father who desires the salvation of his children;” the journey of the pious women to the tomb of Jesus, although forbidden by “the police of that epoch;” the mystery of Mary as co-redemptrex and the full of significance of suffering. Finally, she reveals the only way to put an end to the virus.
Hope: in ourselves and in our exchanges with others and God
Hope is the most ethereal of all virtues. Few of us understand it well. But the virtue of hope has positive ramifications on a free, trusting and cooperative human economy.
Yes, Christ is truly risen and we are witnesses of this.
We too are there with the three women going to the tomb before dawn to anoint the lifeless body of Jesus. Their loving concern is our concern too. With them we discover that the large tombstone has been rolled away and that the body is no longer there. “He is not here”, the angel proclaims, pointing to the empty tomb and the winding cloth on the ground. Death no longer has power over him. We publish the homily of Saint pope John Paul II at the Easter Vigil, 22 April 2000, as a help to live the meaning of Easter.
