A recent surge in pneumonia cases in China highlights a significant trust deficit that exists between the Chinese population and the government.
On Nov 13, a notable surge in respiratory illnesses, particularly affecting children, was reported by China’s National Health Commission. The release of its report brought back echoes of the pandemic, sparking concerns among social media users about the emergence of a “new virus from China.”
In response to these fears, the World Health Organization (WHO), which had previously criticized Beijing for a lack of transparency during the Covid pandemic, called for additional information from China.
In turn, Beijing reassured the public that “there has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens.”
Chinese authorities attributed the increasing cases to the lifting of Covid restrictions, the onset of the cold season, and the presence of familiar pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
It is believed by Chinese experts to be linked to the emergence of an “immunity gap.” This gap arises from a decline in antibodies against respiratory pathogens within the general population. While the outbreak was primarily noted in the capital, Beijing, it also affected north-eastern Liaoning province and other regions in China.
“China’s approach to handling the outbreak highlighted the limitations of a tightly controlled media environment”
But was the Chinese public convinced by this explanation?
Sri Lankan minister flays Cardinal Ranjith on Easter attack probe
A Sri Lankan cabinet minister has accused Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of not cooperating in the ongoing probe into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which rights activists say is making tardy progress after 55 months.
Tiran Alles, public security minister, criticized the head of the Catholic Church in the Island nation while speaking in parliament on Nov. 23.
The cardinal’s “actions were fuelling racial and religious conflicts,” Alles said.
The minister said that the probe into the 2019 bombings inside three Christian churches was nearly 90 percent complete. But the 76-year-old cardinal lacks urgency, he alleged.
Alles said 23 people are in remand in connection with the case “but the cardinal is reluctant to provide updates.”
Church sources said they have no information on the update the minister expects from the cardinal or Church officials.
“The problem needs to be solved or else the same thing will continue for another ten years,” he told lawmakers. The cardinal has been critical of the ongoing investigations and court cases, claiming that they were biased.
In September, the cardinal called for an international probe into the Easter bombings after a UK-based broadcaster claimed the country’s worst-ever terror attack was an inside job by the government.
“Cardinal Ranjith has issued letters to the authorities against various officials who follow different religions in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks,” Alles further alleged.
Thousands, mostly Christians, flee besieged Myanmar town
Sylvester and his family had no time to think before fleeing their home amid non-stop aerial bombardment and artillery shelling in the civil war-hit eastern Myanmar.
The 65-year-old quickly packed some clothes and important documents like the national registration card and left Loikaw along with his wife, son, and 91-year-old mother in a car on Nov. 14.
“We realized we can no long-er stay safe, especially due to our concern for my elderly mother,” Sylvester, who goes by a single name, told on Nov. 22.
Sylvester’s family is among an estimated 40,000 people, mostly Christians, who are said to have fled Loikaw, a town of some 51,349 residents as per the 2014 census.
Ever since the junta took power in February 2021, armed resistance has been developing against it. The junta targets Christian churches and villages, reportedly suspecting them to be hiding grounds of resistance forces.
The shelling since then destroyed several churches in eastern Kayah state (formerly Karenni) and the recent offensive also da-maged the Christ King Cathedral in Loikaw.
The latest exodus began as fighting intensified between ru-ling junta forces and armed rebel groups, including the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, over the control of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state.
Loikaw, which serves as a nerve centre of the junta administration in the region.
became a war zone as the junta retaliated with indiscriminate air strikes and artillery shelling to keep the rebel forces, which included Christians, at bay.
Catholic pastoral centre in Loikaw attacked and occupied by the Burmese army
A Catholic pastoral centre attached to the cathedral in Loikaw, where internally displaced people have sought refuge for months as part of the ongoing civil war, has been attacked and occupied by the Burmese army. This was reported by Bishop Celso Ba Shwe of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State in eastern Myanmar. Even holy sites, the bishop said, were not spared from military operations, at a time when the military junta was struggling to wage war on the ground. “The Burmese army tried to take the Christ the King Cathedral complex three times,” he reports. “As a local bishop, I, together with the priests, tried to convince the military generals of the importance of the religious sites and asked them to leave the place to spare, where displaced people are also welcomed. However, on the night of November 26, the military deliberately fired artillery shells at the community centre several times, hitting the roof of the pastoral centre’s chapel. The ceiling was destroyed by artillery shells. For security reasons, “in consultation with the priests, we decided to leave the Pastoral Centre. Shortly before our departure on November 27 , 50 soldiers came and occupied the building to use it as a base and shelter.” About 300,000 people live in Kayah State, Myanmar’s smallest state, which is predominantly mountainous and inhabited primarily by the Karenni ethnic group. The Diocese of Loikaw is located here with around 93,000 Catholic believers. The Bishop’s describes the situation in the area as dramatic: “The Burmese army has used heavy weapons, combat aircraft, armoured vehicles and mobile defence systems. As a result, people in both the cities and the countryside are fleeing in different directions. Some fled to the northern part of the state or to areas of Shan State. Among the refugees were old and sick people, people with disabilities, women and some young people who, until a few days ago, were housed in the community centre in Loikaw, where around 80 have already been housed in the past few months, including 10 priests and 16 religious
No Christmas in Bethlehem
Christmas display in Bethlehem is cancelled by Palestinian authorities ‘in honour of Hamas martyrs’ as Israel continues to battle terrorists in Gaza
The annual Christmas dis-play in Bethlehem has been cancelled by Palestinian authorities ‘in honour of Hamas martyrs’ amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.
Bethlehem Municipality announced the plans to do away with the traditional Christmas tree and festive decorations in Manger Square, which has seen Christmas decorations ever since modern celebrations of the season began.
It’s the first time festive decorations will not be seen in the spot which is said to have been where Jesus Christ was born.
The West Bank town’s authorities told The Telegraph normal plans had been scrapped ‘in honour of the martyrs and in solidarity with our people in Gaza.’
The traditional Christmas mass and prayers will still be observed, without the usual Christmas tree or festive lights ‘in-stalled in any part of the city’, which sits just six miles south of Jerusalem, a spokesperson told the newspaper.
Further plans for the festive period in the area are expected to be announced in the coming days.
‘The reason is the general situation in Palestine; people are not really into any celebration, they are sad, angry and upset’, they said.
‘Our people in Gaza are being massacred and killed in cold blood. Therefore, it is not appropriate at all to have such festivities while there is a massacre happening in Gaza and attacks in the West Bank’.
‘This year the situation in Bethlehem is unprecedented and the mood and vibes are extremely sad, and that is exactly what the world should see, and realise that these are not normal circumstances,’ they added.
Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery becomes home for contemplative nuns
The Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the heart of the Vatican Gardens that was the “home” of the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, for almost ten years, is to resume its original purpose.
Pope Francis has asked that it once again serve as the residence for contemplative orders “to support the Holy Father in his daily care for the whole Church, through the ministry of prayer, adoration, praise, and reparation: a praying presence in silence and solitude.”
A statement released by the Holy See Press Office on Mon-day, 13 November, said Pope Francis announced this decision in a handwritten letter dated 1 October of this year.
The Pope has summoned the Nuns of the Benedictine Order of the Abbey of Saint Scolastica in Victoria, Buenos Aires province (Diocese of San Isidro) in Argentina, “who have generously accepted the invitation” of the Pontiff, the statement said. In his brief “The Contemplative Life” of 25 March 1994, St.John Paul II canonically established a monastery of contemplative nuns in Vatican City, with the title of Mater Ecclesiae.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had expressed the desire to reside there after his historic resignation on 11th February 2013. He spent the last years of his life there, assisted by his collaborators and accompanying the Church in prayer until his death on 31st December 2022.The monastery, the statement continued, will now welcome six nuns who, according to the statutes, will form the Mo-nastic Community and will begin living in the monastery in early January.
US bishops’ agency ramps up aid to Gaza amid hopes for indefinite ceasefire
Following a temporary cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the U.S. bishops’ inter-national humanitarian aid agency is ramping up its humanitarian assistance to Gaza with the hope that the ceasefire agreement will last indefinitely.
Bill O’Keefe, Catholic Relief Services executive vice president for mission and mobilization, told Crux that the organization is assembling trucks of supplies in Egypt. Meanwhile, CRS staff in Gaza are preparing to receive the trucks and planning how to distribute those resources safely.
The news comes after Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day ceasefire in the war in Gaza on November 22. In the deal, 50 Israeli hostages captured by Ha-mas during its Oct. 7 terrorist attack will be released, including women and children, in exchange for what Hamas said would be about 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would resume the war after the truce and continue its fight to destroy Hamas and release the remaining hostages. However, Israel also said that the truce would be extended an extra day for every 10 hostages freed by Hamas. The ceasefire goes into effect Nov. 23. The deal was brokered by Qatar, the U.S., and Egypt.
O’Keefe added that CRS continues to pray for the release of hostages, and for the safety of civilians in harm’s way.
O’Keefe applauded the deal, as CRS has long called for a cessation of violence.
“That level of activity is good news, and we are actively and urgently ramping up our humanitarian assistance to take advantage of this pause however long it lasts,” O’Keefe said. “I hope it will last indefinitely, but we are taking advantage of it to meet as many needs of vulnerable Palestinians as we possibly can.”
At Dubai’s parish, Catholics find a home
If you go to daily Mass, you know it’s pretty unusual to run across much of a crowd.
If you go to Mass at your local parish, there may be only a handful of people there, many of them retired, with maybe a few homeschool families to round things out.
If you go to Mass at a New-man Centre, or a downtown ca-thedral during the lunch hour, things are a bit different–at those places, there might well be a few hundred people at a daily Mass.
A congregation of more than 1,000 would take most Ameri-cans by surprise at a weekday Mass, especially at a parish with four or five Masses every day of the week – and sometimes several more. But a recent visitor to St. Mary’s parish church in Dubai found exactly that.
St.Mary’s Catholic Parish is one of the largest parishes in the world, and a center of life for the Catholics who come to live and work in an Arabian city whose population has tripled in the last 20 years – mostly because of the migrants and their children who make up 85% of Dubai’s popu-lation.
Founded in 1967, and staffed by Capuchins, mostly from an Indian province, St.Mary’s is one of two Catholic churches in the emirate of Dubai – the parish is responsible for at least 300,000 parishioners, though some esti-mates are much larger.
The parish is a lifeline to Catholic migrants living in Dubai – many of whom live there in adverse and gravely difficult situations.
Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, is a hard place to understand. Just 60 years ago, the city could hardly be said to exist — it was a coastal outpost on the Arabian Peninsula with a population under 50,000.
But oil, struck in Dubai in 1966, changed everything. The Emirati citizens of Dubai became fabulously rich, and there was money to be made in Dubai for anyone who could balance a ledger, lay a row of bricks, or clean a toilet.
Infrastructure sprang up, and independent monarchies along the Persian Gulf formed the United Arab Emirates — a political union of convenience, which allows for seven small states to maintain their monarchical sovereignty, while banding together to make easier doing business with the rest of the world.
Dubai is a place unlike any other — it is something of the wild west, something of a booming oil town, something of an absolute Islamic monarchy, and something of an increasingly cosmopolitan global city. It is home to both the world’s tallest building, and to some of the world’s most abject poverty.
Fiery Right-Wing(Anti-Pope) Populist Milei Wins Argentina’s Presidency and Promises ‘Drastic’ Changes
Right-wing populist Javier Milei said on November 19 that Argentina’s situation is “critical” and he promised to make “drastic” changes once he takes over the presidency of the third-largest economy in Latin America.
“Argentina’s situation is critical. The changes our country needs are drastic. There is no room for gradualism, no room for lukewarm measures,” Milei told supporters who chanted “president, president” and “liberty, liberty” when the right-wing populist took the stage.
He also said that the “reconstruction of Argentina begins today.”
With 97.6% of votes tallied in Sunday’s presidential runoff vote, Milei had 55.8% and Economy Minister Sergio Massa 44.2%, according to Argentina’s electoral authority. Presuming that margin holds, it would be wider than predicted by all polls and the widest since Argentina’s return of democracy in 1983.
In his first speech as president-elect, Milei also sent a message to the outgoing government, saying the country was their “responsibility until the end of the term” on Dec. 10.
Massa, of the ruling Peronist party, conceded and congratulated Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist who has drawn frequent comparisons to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
With a Milei victory, the country will swing to the right and empower a freshman lawmaker who got his start as a television talking head blasting what he called the “political caste.” For years, Milei criticized the Church’s social doctrine and insulted Pope Francis on several occasions due to his defense of concepts like social justice. He even called the pope an “imbecile” and defined him as “communist.”
Synod report proposes ways to foster synodal Church
Participants in the synod on synodality endorsed a report on October 28 proposing potentially far-reaching changes to foster a synodal Church. The 42-page “synthesis report” – “A synodal Church in mission” understands Synodality as “the walk of Christians with Christ toward the Kingdom, together with all humanity,” it said. This perhaps can be called deconstruction which is journey from an “I” to a “we”. This is the change Pope Francis brought about in the church. It became “a tool at the service of ongoing discernment” attribution of greater responsibility to the episcopal conferences in this area is urged.
After those processes, 365 voting dele-gates – more than 75% of them bishops – were invited to spend four weeks in October in Rome, discussing the topic of synodality, Vatican’s Paul VI Hall included almost 100 staffers, observers, and subject area experts invited to consult or take in the meeting
The text “widely reported need to make liturgical language more accessible to the faithful and more embodied in the diversity of cultures.” Episcopal conferences should be entrusted with a wider responsibility in this regard. Turning to the 23 autono-mous Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome, the report mentioned a proposal for the creation of a council connecting the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches with the pope, as well as a “joint commission of Eastern and Latin theologians, historians and canonists” to address complex issues. A revision of the Code of Canon Law and the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches is requested.
“The Holy Father has significantly in-creased the number of women in positions of responsibility in the Roman Curia,” it added. “The same should happen at other levels of the life of the Church. Canon law must be adapted accordingly.”
The text noted that many assembly mem-bers had highlighted the danger of “‘cleri-calizing’ the laity, perpetuates inequalities and divisions among the People of God.” The possibility should be considered of re-inserting priests who have left the ministry in pastoral services.