The archbishop of Colombo was invited by the Palestinian ambassador to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Embassy. For the occasion, an oil lamp was brought from Bethlehem. For the cardinal, peace will never be achieved unless “Palestinians live with dignity in their own state". The three great religions “must learn to unite people, not divide them” whilst “world powers must not intrude”.
The idea was inspired by the local archbishop’s Advent message to “keep your eyes open for the needs of the poor". The parents and their four-year-old daughter served the guests. The guests also received small gifts. The father is happy “that we are bringing up good Christian kids”.
The archbishop led a Mass to mark his cardinalship. Scores of Catholic figures and hundreds of former seminarians attended the service. The cardinal told the faithful to be compassionate and “follow up the good hopes for the Saviour's arrival, showing mercy to your neighbours.”
Francis writes to the UN Climate Conference in Madrid. 4 years on from the signing of the Paris agreement the awareness of climate change " is still rather weak, unable to respond adequately to that strong sense of urgency for rapid action called for by the scientific data at our disposal." And current studies "show how far words are from concrete actions".
Emperor Chongzhen lost himself in the internal struggles of the palace and did not worry about making peace with external enemies. He used repression as the only way to keep the people submissive. He had a falsely patriotic and arrogant ruling class. Xi Jinping is a perfect "brother" of Chongzhen, who ended his life by hanging himself and losing his empire. A reflection of the "father of democracy" in China.
Fr Lê Ngọc Thanh, pastor at the Sáu Bọng church in Cần Thơ, reported the incident. “There were three to four people stationed every metre from the church,” he said. “They did not let veterans sit outside”. Redemptorist Fathers launched a programme to help disabled veterans in 2013.
