The pontiff leaves Algeria today to travel to Cameroon, the second stop on his apostolic journey to Africa. The testimony of a young woman who grew up in Italy and chose to be present in Algiers to experience this historic event alongside her people. “In the crowd, everyone was saying: it’s a sign of unity between Christians and Muslims. We’ve seen that change happens in a subtle but real way.”
In Tajikistan, a summit of border agency heads from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) addressed the repercussions of instability in Afghanistan. Cooperation has been strengthened to combat infiltration by terrorist and extremist groups of an Islamic fundamentalist nature.
The Augustinian pope is the first pontiff to visit the birthplace of the Bishop of Hippo. This morning, he visited the home of the Little Sisters of the Poor, saying that God's heart is with the "humble," not the "arrogant”. In the Basilica of St Augustine, he said that the Christians of Algeria bring “joy and comfort to so many brothers and sisters.” The Church is a “welcoming bosom for all peoples.” Jesus’s call is “to be born again from above, that is, from God.”
During his meeting with Prince Mohamed bin Zayed in Beijing, the Chinese president called for the creation of a shared security system for the Middle East, as well as respect for the principle of sovereignty and international rules (which Beijing itself, however, does not respect in the South China Sea). According to UNDP estimates, 8.8 million more people are at risk of poverty in the Asia-Pacific.
Activists call this a "long-awaited step" that ends a process that began three years ago. The goal was to ensure that non-Muslim children could also study their own religious tradition in school. However, issues related to the practical application of the policy remain. Teacher recruitment, training, and budget allocations are among the "significant challenges”.
The decision came after days of unrest, which sometimes resulted in violence, in the industrial areas of Noida, home to Samsung factories. The measure comes in response to workers' demands, who complain about precarious working conditions and poor wages, but is also part of the broader process of implementing labour reforms.
