Pope Francis was interviewed by Philip Pullella of Reuters. In the tête-à-tête, the pontiff said that with respect to the dialogue with China, “We are at a good point.” In addition to diplomatic channels there are friendships and cultural exchanges. The Chinese people are “very wise” and know how to wait.

Q: How is the rapprochement with China?
We are at a good point, but relations with China follow three different paths. First of all, there is the official one. The Chinese delegation comes here, takes part in meetings, and then the Vatican delegation goes to China. Relations are good and we have managed to do good things. This is the official dialogue.

Then there is a second dialogue, of everyone and with everyone. “I am a cousin of the minister so and so who sent me to say that….” There is always an answer. “Yes, all right, let’s go forward.” These side channels are open, let’s say, at a human level, and we do not want to burn them. We can see goodwill, both from the Holy See and the Chinese government.

The third path, which for me is the most important in the rapprochement with China, is cultural. Some priests work at Chinese universities. Then there is also culture, like the exhibit that was put on in the Vatican and in China. This is the traditional path, like those of the great ones, like Matteo Ricci.

I like to think about relations with China as, multifaceted, based not only the official diplomatic one, because the other two are very enriching. I think things are going well. In your question, you mentioned two steps forward and one step backward. I think the Chinese deserve the Nobel Prize for patience, because they are good, they know how to wait, time is theirs and they have centuries of culture…. They are a wise people, very wise. I respect China a lot.

Q: How do you respond to concerns such as those of Cardinal Zen?
Cardinal Zen taught theology in patriotic seminaries. I think he’s a little scared. Perhaps age might have some influence. He is a good man. He came to talk to me. I received him, but he’s a bit scared. Dialogue is a risk, but I prefer the risk to the sure defeat of not talking. With respect to time, someone mentioned Chinese time. I think it is God’s time, forward, calm.

More than 100 parishioners of Lahore’s Sacred Heart Cathedral were treated at a free medical camp organized by an imam.

Qari Abdul Qayyum Zaheer, a televangelist, and his team of four doctors offered full body check-ups and food supplements at the health camp at St Victoria’s Nursery in the cathedral compound on June 24. Awareness sessions on the health effects of extreme heat and climate change were also conducted.

“We only charged 350 rupees (US$2.88) for a test of body organs and vitamins. That’s one third the cost of an ordinary medical test in a private hospital. Sunstroke, dehydration and gastrointestinal infections were common among the visitors,” Zaheer told ucanews.com.

The U.N. World Meteorological Organization has confirmed that the hottest April temperature ever witnessed on earth was recorded at Nawabshah, a southern district of Sindh province, where the mercury reached a scorching 50.2C (122.4F). Media reports say 65 people have died due to the heat wave in Karachi.

Leading bishops of the Catho-lic Church criticized President Rodrigo Duterte for calling God stupid, as they issued rare state-ments that singled out the chief executive who now faces rising public outrage.

How can he be a President for all Filipinos if he does not have respect for the Catholic faithful? Asled Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David in a Face-book post on Monday, June 25. “Most of his supporters are Catholics, right? Catholics will respect him even if he does not agree with the Catholic faith. But disagreement is not a license to insult,” David said.

“Catholics respect the duties of the President, and his mandate as President. I hope he also respects Catholics even if he does not agree with the doctrines of Catholics,” he added. In his statement, David drew from his expertise as a leading Bible scholar. A priest for more than 30 years, David chaired the Commission on Biblical Apostolate of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines from 2009 to 2015. Referring to the forbidden fruit eaten by Adam in the Bible, Duterte said, “That son of a bitch is really stupid if that is the case.”

After four years “there is still a climate of uncertainty” among the refugees from Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, because the reconstruction work “continues but slowly.” In addition to the houses “we must guarantee a future through work,” said Fr Paul Thabit Mekko who spoke to AsiaNews about the slow rebirth of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain a year after the military victory against the Islamic State (IS) group that had turned Iraq’s northern metropolis into one of its stronghold.

“The general situation of uncertainty in the country has been made worse by the stalemate over the formation of Iraq’s new government and the accusations of electoral fraud,” said the clergyman, “and this has further complicated the situation and generated fear.”

After years of violence and terror by the Islamic State, life is getting back to normal in East Mosul, and it is easier now to move inside the city’s western neighbourhoods.

The rebirth of the northern metropolis is taking place thanks to the reopening of schools, factories and small businesses, as well as the opening of new commercial spaces, unthinkable under the “caliphate.” This renaissance includes a literary café as a place of reading and exchanges.

In recent weeks, said Fr Paul, “at least 100 Christian families” have returned to the eastern sector of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris River, which suffered less from the Islamic State.

Over 200 priests and preach-ers from other religious denomi-nations want to carry firearms, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said.

The PNP received requests for the permit to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) from 188 Catholic priests and 58 ministers, preachers and pastors from June 2017 to June 2018, he said. “As a policy and by the power vested in me as the approving authority for PTCFOR, we may accommodate requests for PTCFOR by duly qualified gun holders among members of the clergy and leaders of religious congregations, subject to their compliance with the minimum requirements,” Albayalde said.

The PNP chief did not say if any of the applications have been approved.

Albayalde, however, added there were some requests following the barangay (village) elections last month.

He made the announcement a week after Fr Richmond Nilo was shot dead while about to hold mass in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija, Northern Philippines.

The Chinese government placed strict controls on the funeral of a bishop in Shandong province.  Restrictions were placed on photography and the number of mourners at the service for Bishop Joseph Li Mingshu of Qingdao, who died of lung cancer at 93 on June 15. Even the bishop’s 92-year-old sister had to rush to the funeral after receiving a late message from other Catholics. She had not received any official notice of his death. The funeral for the bishop, recognized by the Vatican and China, was held on June 18 at St Michael’s Cathedral in Qingdao.