Hope is the main resource religions provide, and one unfortunately becoming scarce. A proposal: reading again “Spe salvi,” the 2007 treatise on hope by the German Pope.
Catholic Church
China, Catholic Clergy Starts Receiving “Patriotic Education”
The United Front lamented that religions do not implement the new law on domestic propaganda quickly enough. The Patriotic Catholic Church mobilized immediately.
Li Wencheng Dies at 97: How China Fabricates Religious Leaders
The former General Secretary of the China Taoist Association knew nothing about religion but was made by the CCP first into a Catholic and then a Taoist leader.
Constitutional Court of Colombia: Religious Liberty Includes the Right to a Religious Funeral
A mother detained in a maximum-security jail still had the right to organize a Catholic funeral for her son, which the state should have subsidized since she had no money for it, the Court said.
“Strict Governance of Religion” for Catholics Too
A conference in Huizhou, Guangdong, is an indication that the new policy is being extended to the Patriotic Catholic Church.
Puerta de la Montaña: Inter-American Court on Human Rights Orders Nicaragua to Free Jailed Protestants
They were falsely accused of money laundering and sentenced to jail penalties ranging from twelve to fifteen years.
French Abuse of “Brainwashing” Theories: The Trial of the Famille Missionnaire de Notre-Dame
A conservative Catholic congregation is accused of “abuse of weakness,” i.e., of “brainwashing.” Its Superior can go to jail.
A Strange Belgian Decision: Catholic Bishops Should Pay Damages for Not Allowing a Woman to Train as a Deacon
Only men can become deacons in the Catholic Church. The judges say they cannot change this but can sentence Catholic authorities to indemnify the woman.
Russia: Towards a Liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church?
A priest in Omsk was detained for “rehabilitation of Nazism.” The FSB warned that “the fate of the Greek Catholic Church in Russia” is at stake.
Diocese of Baoding, Repression of Catholic Conscientious Objectors Continue
Those who refuse the Vatican-China deal and do not join the Patriotic Catholic Church are “disappeared.”