The founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre was released a few weeks ago, along with a hundred other Belarusian political prisoners. He spoke with Radio Liberty from exile in Lithuania about his four years in jail for protesting Lukashenko's election fraud. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate noted that a thousand more people are still jailed in a “never-ending vicious circle.”
Dedicated to Saint Francis, the church was built by PIME missionaries called to this area of Bangladesh by some Santals who wanted to learn about the Gospel. The community, which now numbers some five thousand, led to the birth of other parishes. Bishop Tudu expressed gratitude for those who “planted the seed of Christian faith” in the area.
Leo XIV spoke at the Angelus about developments in Latin America, calling for “Overcoming violence” and pursuing the “paths of justice and peace”. He urged respect for "human and civil rights." On the Jubilee of 2025, which ends in two days, he said that hope “is the incarnation of God," who calls for "the promotion of fraternity and communion.”
Some 15,000 people gathered in Hanoi at the shrine of the Vietnamese martyrs to celebrate the conclusion of a Holy Year marked by more than a thousand pilgrimages. Celebrations were also held in dioceses in mainland China. In Japan, Cardinal Kikuchi addressed the Church of Tokyo: "May the flame of hope never be extinguished.”
The famous formula of 19th century tsars, Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality, is being reinterpreted today by Putin's ideologists as the new triad: Sovereignty-Traditionalism-Welfare State. Yet, it is precisely "moral and spiritual values" that are the least clear reference, incapable of going beyond the opposition to the “destructive and degraded” values of the West.
Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Deng Xijun said that the vote (to guarantee Chinese interests) was a condition Xi Jinping imposed on Min Aung Hlaing. The results from the first round on 28 December released by Myanmar’s military regime confirm the expected victory by a wide margin for the military-backed party. In Myanmar, however, China is walking a tightrope, continuing to support ethnic militias that control border areas.
