Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his closeness in prayer to the people of the Philippines who are suffering because of the destruction and flooding caused by a strong typhoon.
The death toll from Typhoon Vamco, the deadliest to hit the Philippines this year has officially climbed to 67, while many areas remain submerged in a northern region hit by the worst flooding in more than four decades.
Speaking after the Angelus prayer, the Pope said “I express my solidarity with the poorest families who are are also the most vulnerable to this calamity,” and he offered his support to all those who are working to help them.
Six cyclones hit the Philippines in a span of just four weeks, including Vamco and Super Typhoon Goni, the world’s most powerful this year.
Caritas Philippines has appealed to the government to seek international aid to help the victims.
Tragedy in Romania
Pope Francis also recalled a tragic fire that ripped through a hospital in Romania on Saturday where patients affected by coronavirus were being treated.
“I express my closeness and pray for the victims,” he said, asking those present to join him in prayer.
The fire in northeastern Romania killed 10 people and injured 10 others, seven of them critically. Officials the blaze spread through the intensive care ward designated for Covid-19 patients at the public hospital in the city of Piatra Neamt.
According to data released by Johns Hopkins University that is charting the coronavirus pandemic, Romania has registered over 350,000 infections and almost 9,000 deaths, making it one of the 20 countries with the highest mortality rate in the world.
“My thoughts go to the Ivory Coast,” Pope Francis said, “which today celebrates the National Day of Peace in a context of social and political tensions that have unfortunately caused many victims.”
Speaking after the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the Pope asked for prayers to the Lord for national harmony. He also exhorted “all the sons and daughters of that dear country to collaborate responsibly for reconciliation and a peaceful coexistence.”
“In particular, I encourage the various political actors to re-establish a climate of mutual trust and dialogue in the quest for just solutions that protect and promote the common good,” he said.
Controversial election and aftermath
Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council announced that President Alassane Quattara had won his bid for a third term in office on 9 November. Since then violence has continued across the country, with the political capital Yamoussoukro a particular flashpoint.
At least 16 people have reportedly died in election-related violence.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, registered 8,000 people as having fled the country – half of them to neighboring Liberia – and the rest to Ghana, Guinea, and Togo.
Observers said the mass exodus may well have been precautionary measures, similar to those taken by Abidjan residents, who left the city in droves before Election Day, but said they would be back as soon things were back to normal.
The All Faiths Network is a UK charity that reaches into some twenty-five different belief and faith traditions. Open to people of every faith and belief recognized in law (such as under the Equality Act 2010) without discrimination. Formally established on 30 August 2011, its charitable objects include to promote religious harmony for the public benefit, and to work for positive, inclusive dialogue.
Beginning this month, they released a brief yet complete collection of articles of what many of their affiliated denominations have been doing to help society during this COVID-19 pandemic and how they envision the present and the future. It is the most comprehensive yet brief collection of evidenced facts of what People of Faith DO in times of need.
It is the most comprehensive yet brief collection of evidenced facts of what People of Faith DO in times of need.
The European Times News
The circumstances surrounding COVID-19 brought about an unprecedented change in people’s lives on a scale as never before, at least in modern history. Lockdown, protection of the vulnerable, protection of self, poor and mixed government advice and evaluation, vested interests – all are part of the picture that has enveloped us and we have become since early 2020. This book is not the place to get into the rights and wrongs of government, corporate or global management of the crisis. But it is the place to go into how people of many faiths, and none, have responded to the crisis with the goodness of their hearts, inspired by their different spiritual awareness – and by doing so, rising above the crisis to make something positive from it.
YOU WILL FIND THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES
■ Introduction, by Martin Weightman ■ What Is The All Faiths Network ■ COVID-19 Pandemic & Persecution of Religious & Spiritual Minorities, Fighting for Freedom, by Alessandro Amicarelli ■ Rising Above The Challenges Of COVID-19: One Jewish View by Rabbi Jeff Berger ■ Scientology London Volunteer Ministers: Response To COVID-19 by Tracey Coleman ■ Ateker International Development Organisation Response by HRH Paul J. Eganda ■ Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Response: Innocent Lives Matter by Sheikh Rahman ■ WHD: Creating A Million Humanitarian Impressions by Dr. Abdul Basit Sayed ■ Muslims And The Pandemic by Sheikh Ramzy ■ Sikh Perception On COVID-19 by Rabinder Sohil ■ Hindu Community: Rising To The Challenge Of The Pandemic by Ashwin Soni ■ Women Worship Gospel Music Awards by Rev. Precious Toe ■ 2020 & Beyond: Sanskruti’s Journey & Pursuits by Ragasudha Vinjamuri.
The parable describes three servants entrusted with large sums of money by their master, who goes away on a journey. In the parable, Pope Francis noted, the master gives to each of the servants “according to their ability.”
“The Lord does so with all of us,” the Pope explained. God “knows us well. He knows we are not all equal and does not wish to favour any one to the detriment of others, but He entrusts capital to each one according to his or her abilities.”
When the master returns and the servants are called to give an account of the money entrusted to them, two present “the good fruits of their efforts,” and are praised by the master. The third, however, who had hidden his talent, is condemned by the master and cast out of his household.
Using our gifts for good
“This parable,” the Pope said, “applies to everyone but, as always, to Christians in particular.”
He added that it is particularly relevant today, on the World Day of the Poor, when the Church urges everyone to stretch forth our hands to the poor.
We are all given different abilities – and “these gifts need to be used to do good in this life, as a service to God and to our brothers and sisters.”
Pay attention to the poor
Speaking off-the-cuff, Pope Francis urged everyone to look at the poor, of which there are many.
“There is so much hunger, even in the heart of our cities,” he said. “Often we enter into a mindset of indifference: the poor person is there but we look the other way.” Instead, he said, “stretch forth your hand to the poor: He is Christ.”
Jesus, added the Pope, taught us to speak to the poor. He came for the poor.”
Learning considerate love
Once again, Pope Francis pointed to the Blessed Virgin Mary as an example for all of us. She “received a great gift, Jesus Himself, but she did not keep Him to herself. She gave Him to the world,” he said.
“May we learn from her to stretch forth our hands to the poor,” he concluded.
London: A brave new world or a dangerous leap into the unknown? After nearly 50 years of integration with Europe, Britain starts an uncertain new chapter on January 1.
Britain formally quit the European Union in January this year but has continued to observe all its rules during a transition period.
That half-way house ends at 2300 GMT on December 31. So from 2021, it will stand on its own, for better or worse.
If the two sides can secure a new trade deal in the time left, that will smooth the path by lifting the prospect of tariffs and quotas for cross-Channel goods, from cars to lamb.
Without a deal, imports and exports face serious disruption with the abrupt return of barriers that have not existed for decades.
There are fears that certain foodstuffs and medicines could run short.
But even with a deal, the future won’t be seamless.
UK exporters will still need to file reams of new customs paperwork to prove their goods have authorisation to enter the EU’s single market.
Britain is urging business to be ready either way but industry players say the government has failed to deliver vital IT systems and support staff in time, heightening the risk of chaos after January 1.
Brexiteers argue the EU has held Britain back through onerous regulation and it can now embark on a buccaneering new mission to support free trade around the world — “God’s diplomacy”, according to a February speech by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
But if heaven was listening, it had other plans in mind: a month after Johnson’s speech, Britain was forced into national lockdown by the coronavirus pandemic.
If the world ever gets back to normality, the idea is that Britain will not shrink inwards after Brexit but will look outwards, as far afield as a free-trade pact with Pacific rim countries.
“Now Global Britain is back, it is time for the makers, the doers and the innovators to help us write our most exciting chapter yet,” International Trade Secretary Liz Truss declared in October, touting UK exports of everything from clotted cream to robots.
Truss has signed a post-Brexit trade deal with Japan, and is negotiating others with the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — Britain’s partners in the “Five Eyes” collective of English-speaking intelligence powers.
Further deals in the pipeline will cover 80 percent of overseas trade by 2022, according to the government, which has shaken up the Foreign Office to integrate aid and development into Britain’s diplomatic agenda.
Johnson’s pitch to voters in last December’s general election was to “get Brexit done” and focus both money and attention on parts of the country that have failed to benefit from London’s finance-driven growth.
That “levelling up” agenda to bring new investment such as high-speed rail to northern England has been side-tracked by the pandemic.
But the government insists its long-term goals remain in place and that membership dues sent to the EU will be better spent at home.
Some Brexiteers want a radical overhaul of Britain’s economic model, to turn the country into “Singapore on Thames” — a lightly regulated, lightly taxed rival to supposedly sclerotic Europe.
Yet the government stresses that any free-trade deals won’t sacrifice its “red lines”: the state-run National Health Service, food standards and UK farming.
All of those sacred cows could be carved up if the United States forces post-Brexit Britain to yield the same kind of concessions on trade that the world’s most powerful economy has negotiated elsewhere.
And Joe Biden‘s election as US president could restrict Johnson’s plans to bind Northern Ireland into the post-January 1 UK internal market, free of EU influence.
Celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday to mark the occasion, Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel (Mt 25:14-30), in which Jesus recounts a parable about a master who entrusts his servants with talents distributed according to their ability.
The Pope said the parable sheds light on the beginning, center, and end of our own lives.
Our lives, said the Pope, began with the grace of God, at which moment we were each entrusted with different talents.
“We possess a great wealth that depends not on what we possess but on what we are: the life we have received, the good within us, the indelible beauty God has given us by making us in His image.”
‘If only…’
Pope Francis also warned against the temptation of only seeing what we lack in life, like a better job or more money.
“If only” are illusory words, he said, which keep us from appreciating our talents and putting them to good use.
“The Lord,” he said, “asks us to make the most of the present moment, not yearning for the past, but waiting industriously for His return.”
Center: Lives of service
Pope Francis went on to reflect on the center of the parable, and our lives: “The work of servants, which is service.”
He said service is what makes our talents bear fruit and gives meaning to our lives. “Those who do not live to serve, serve for little in this life.”
The Pope said the Gospel makes clear that faithful servants should take risks.
By not clinging to what they possess, good servants put their talents to good use and are not fearful or overcautious.
“For if goodness is not invested, it is lost, and the grandeur of our lives is not measured by how much we save but by the fruit we bear.”
He said a life centered on accumulating possessions rather than doing good is empty. “The reason we have gifts is so that we can be gifts.”
Poor bankers
“How then do we serve, as God would have us serve?” asked Pope Francis.
According to Jesus’ parable, the master tells the faithless servant who buried his talent that he should have invested his money with the “bankers” in order to earn interest.
Those bankers, said the Pope, are the poor.
“The poor guarantee us an eternal income,” he said. “Even now they help us become rich in love. For the worst kind of poverty needing to be combatted is our poverty of love.”
The Holy Father added that Christians can multiply our talents by simply holding out our hand to the poor, rather than demanding what we lack.
End: Success versus love
Pope Francis then reflected on what Jesus’ parable tells us about the end of our own lives.
When our lives are over and the truth is revealed, he said, “the pretense of this world will fade, with its notion that success, power and money give life meaning, whereas love – the love we have given – will be revealed as true riches.”
“If we do not want to live life poorly,” he said, “let us ask for the grace to see Jesus in the poor, to serve Jesus in the poor.”
A recent example of selfless service
Finally, Pope Francis recalled an Italian priest who was killed two months ago while serving the poor.
Fr. Roberto Malgesini was murdered at his parish of Saint Roch (Rocco) in the Italian city of Como. The man who killed him was allegedly a Tunisian migrant with mental problems, whom Fr. Roberto had been assisting.
“This priest was not interested in theories,” said Pope Francis. “He simply saw Jesus in the poor and found meaning in life in serving them. He dried their tears with his gentleness, in the name of God who consoles.”
The Pope concluded his homily holding up Fr. Roberto as an example of a faithful servant whose life was centered on the poor.
“The beginning of his day was prayer, to receive God’s gifts. The centre of his day was charity, to make the love he had received bear fruit. The end was his clear witness to the Gospel.”
Vatican News English Africa Service – Vatican City
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has released a five-minute video in the Tigrigna language giving members of the Tigray Special Forces an ultimatum to surrender in two to three days, said Ethiopia’s online news outlet, The Reporter.
Government says it only wants to restore the rule of law
Ethiopia’s new Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen, assured diplomats in Ethiopia that the government was keen to achieve its goals and end the fighting in the Tigray region.
The Reporter quotes a diplomatic briefing that the new Foreign Minister held on Friday. Mekonnen said the main goal was to restore the rule of law in the Tigray region and bring perpetrators of the war to justice “within a very short period of time.”
UN asks for a humanitarian corridor
According to The Reporter, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Catherine Sozi, asked the Ethiopian government to open a humanitarian corridor through which humanitarian aid could be delivered to people in need of assistance. She also asked for the opening of infrastructural facilities such as roads, water access, telecommunication and banks.
“Although over 800 humanitarian workers reside in the Tigray region, it has become impossible to communicate and deliver the necessary humanitarian assistance in the conflict areas,” said Catherine Sozi.
Thousands of Ethiopian refugees continue to flee the fighting in Tigray. The majority have crossed into Sudan.
Amnesty International confirms a horrific massacre of civilians
In a press release, Deprose Muchena of Amnesty International’s East and Southern Africa Director, said, “Amnesty International has verified video footage and photographs that show scores of people were attacked with knives and machetes, with hundreds feared dead, in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region on the night of 9 November.” The statement continues, “Amnesty has not yet been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings but has spoken to witnesses who said forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front were responsible – apparently carrying out the killings after they suffered a defeat at the hands of Federal Ethiopian Defence Forces. Three people told Amnesty that survivors of the massacre said they were attacked by members of the Tigray Special Police Force and other Tigray People’s Liberation Front members.”
Eritrean refugees in Tigray
In the meantime, an Eritrean priest, Abba Mussie Zerai, a priest of the eparchy of Asmara has appealed for the protection of Eritrean refugees who are in the Tigray region.
“In Tigray, there are thousands of Eritreans who are often hungry and exposed to all forms of exploitation and abuse. This (current) situation increases the despair of these people and drives them into the hands of human traffickers,” Abba Zerai told Agenzia Fides.
Rebels accuse Eritrea
Rebel leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters on Sunday that rebellious local forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are fighting “16 divisions” of the Eritrean army in addition to Ethiopian Federal troops. The Eritrea’s government has denied involvement in the conflict.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive in the restive Tigray northern region on 4 November.
British business and finance are holding their breath. Few can quite believe that a British government could drive the British economy this close to the brink. Surely no sane government, entrusted with our collective wellbeing, could calmly contemplate imposing on its citizens immense trade disruption, transport chaos, shortages in medicine, fresh foods and key technologies? Then there’s the rise in unemployment created by two lockdowns and widespread bankruptcies. Even a minimalist deal, as John Major said last week, will be far more brutal than anyone expects.
Yet for what? A utopian conception of sovereignty that even in the full flush of empire never held true? Surely rationality must prevail and a deal that goes well beyond the skinny Canada-style deal with the EU – which Boris Johnson says is all he wants – will be struck?
But here we are. As I write, with days to complete negotiations and secure ratification, nobody knows whether there will be no deal – or “Canada”, which is barely better. The reasons are well rehearsed. A reckless, unfocused, Brexit-obsessed prime minister. A Tory party in thrall to its Brexiter ultras. A lapdog rightwing media. And too many of the potential countervailing forces, from the opposition through to business itself, are afraid of offering high-profile arguments for something better out of fear of being cast as undemocratic Remoaners.
Thus the obvious goes unsaid. Britain has no option but to engage extensively with the continent of which it is part. It always has. It always will. Global Britain is just another vacuous slogan. Whatever happens on 1 January is but the beginning of another chapter in Britain’s relationship with Europe. Of course we will have to strike trade bargains on everything from organic food to cars. Equally, with services, whether we’re talking trade in data or mutual recognition of audit standards, there will have to be an accommodation with the 450 million people on our doorstep. And because they are part of a bigger unit, they will get more of their way than we will ours. Only Brexit ideologues, in the same la-la land as Donald Trump in their denial of reality, could think otherwise.
Three weeks ago, the outgoing director-general of the CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn, did manage to gather an astonishing 71 trade associations and professional bodies, encompassing virtually the entire British economy, to jointly insist on an ambitious trade deal – and warn of the consequences of no deal. Steve Elliott, CEO of the Chemical Industries Association, says as the leading manufacturing exporter, “we need that deal”. From Ian Wright, CEO of the Food and Drink Association: “No deal would… put at risk the choice, quality and affordability of food and drink.” David Wells, CEO of Logistics UK, says a deal is “vital to keep the trucks moving”. Mike Hawes, speaking for the motor industry, says: “Only an ambitious deal… will safeguard livelihoods and drive investment.”
There was more in the same vein from farmers, chartered accountants, the pharmaceutical industry, ceramics, the City, motor manufacturers, airports, airlines, energy, creative industries, hi-tech. Even country landowners and the security industry added their weight. I can’t remember such urgency and unanimity from every nook and cranny of British business. For their pains, it was hardly reported.
And yet, even if there is no deal by 1 January, with all the immediate chaos it will cause, there will have to be some arrangement negotiated over 2021, as the environment secretary, George Eustice, conceded to the BBC in September, arguing that the intransigent EU would by then have to come to its senses. More to the point, so would the British government. A comprehensive deal encompassing goods, services and regulatory standards in which the interests of the EU are respected and the integrity of the Good Friday agreement is upheld is an inevitability. Johnson simply lies, as John Major says, when he declares all Britain wants and needs is a Canada-style, no-frills deal. There has to be more.
On data alone, the heart of the 21st-century economy, a skinny deal is not remotely enough. The Japan-UK trade deal drops necessary privacy and protection standards for data trade, again barely reported. The EU cannot allow Britain’s financial services industries and hi-tech companies to opt out of conforming to EU data standards, otherwise Britain just becomes a global data-washing hub. Without a deal on data standards, as the international director of the Financial Conduct Authority warned last week, British financial services stand on a cliff edge. So does virtually every British business deploying data.
The No 10 court is deaf to all of this. Grassroots for Europe, a network of 200 pro-EU groups around the country, is trying, to its credit, to raise the salience at the last with its Voices for a Better Deal social media campaign, highlighting the concerns of business, finance, university, science and trade union leaders. It’s a commentary on our times that before a national emergency there is no sustained, high-profile effort to sound the tocsin. In its absence, this is the best we can do.
The Labour party, apparently, is even debating voting for Johnson’s deal to show it has left Remain behind. It would be a category error. This fiasco must be owned by Johnson and the Conservative party. Labour’s role in the years ahead will be to campaign on endless issue after issue – on data, financial standards equivalence, transport logistics, drug safety – for access, common understandings and deals, culminating ultimately in either a special association relationship with the EU or full membership. Brexit Tories and Trumpites can try to defy the tide. Truth – and with it our prosperity – demands differently.
“Not only is the material environment becoming a permanent menace – pollution and refuse, new illness and absolute destructive capacity – but the human framework is no longer under man’s control, thus creating an environment for tomorrow which may well be intolerable. This is a wide-ranging social problem which concerns the entire human family.
The Christian must turn to these new perceptions in order to take on responsibility, together with the rest of men, for a destiny which from now on is shared by all.”
(Paul VI – Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, 1971)
Under the direction of Paolo Ondarza #SeasonOfCreation Instagram: @vaticanmuseums @VaticanNews Facebook: @vaticannews
Nigerian born UK based rising artiste, Cornelius Jideofor, popularly known as Sweetcorn has made a controversial statement on religion, hinting that he does not believe religion is of any good to people now as not only is it harmful, it has outlived its purpose.
In an encounter with razzle dazzle, the Singer who recently released his debut album titled ‘Ikenna’ said, “About 2 months ago I went to church and I regretted it, before then was about 6 months ago. I believe every pastor should preach life and help strengthen your faith in God, not preach like their reading a scripted manual or focus on fund raising for church project.”
“Religion is simply a set of rules and doctrines that are carved out by man and for other men telling them how to worship their god(s)
. And this god supposedly created everyone equal. Then a set of people who think they have power or superior to others make rules telling every other person how to worship their gods. I will reiterate that religion has outlived its purpose. It is now harmful to man. You can’t truly worship your God on someone else’s terms, it’s just wrong,” he said
Also lending his voice to the EndSARS movement which had been trending in the country, Sweetcorn says it was an indeed a legitimate protest with genuine demands. He adds, “It is just unfortunate that we have a government with no human feelings.
Also it’s a shame that the older generation didn’t show any form of support even when they know we were fighting for our right to life and a better Nigeria for all.”
