Here is the Holy See’s translation into English of the original catechesis in Italian.

* * *

 I went to Marseille at the end of last week to participate in the conclusion of the Rencontres Méditerranéennes (Mediterranean Meetings), which involved Bishops and Mayors from the Mediterranean area, along with numerous young people, so that their outlook would be open to the future. In fact, the event that took place in Marseille was called “Mosaic of Hope.” This is the dream, this is the challenge: that the Mediterranean might recover its vocation, that of being a laboratory of civilization and peace.

As we know, the Mediterranean is the cradle of civilization and a cradle is for life! It is not tolerable that it become a tomb, neither should it be a place of conflict.The Mediterranean Sea is the complete opposite of the clash between civilizations, war, human trafficking. It is the exact opposite because the Mediterranean is a means of communication between Africa, Asia, and Europe; between the north and the south, the east and the west, persons and cultures, peoples and tongues, philosophies and religions. Of course, the sea is always an abyss to overcome in some way, and it can even become dangerous. But its waters safeguard treasures of life; its waves and its winds carry vessels of all types.

From its eastern shore, two thousand years ago, the Gospel of Jesus Christ departed.

Photo: Vatican Media

Of course, this [the proclamation of the Gospel] does not happen magically, neither is it accomplished once and for all. It is the fruit of a journey in which each generation is called to travel a stretch, reading the signs of the times in which it lives.

The meeting in Marseille comes after similar meetings that took place in Bari in 2020, and in Florence last year. It was not an isolated event, but a step forward on the itinerary that began with the “Mediterranean Colloquia” organized by Giorgio La Pira, the Mayor of Florence, at the end of the 1950s. It is a step forward to respond today to the appeal launched by Saint Paul VI in his Encyclical Populorum progressio, to promote “a more humane world community, where all can give and receive, and where the progress of some is not bought at the expense of others” (n. 44).

What came out of the Marseille event? What came out is an outlook on the Mediterranean that I would call simply human, not ideological, not strategic, not politically correct nor instrumental; no, human, that is, capable of referring everything to the primary value of the human person and his or her inviolable dignity. Then, at the same time, a hopeful outlook came out. Today, this is surprising — when you hear testimonies from those who have lived through inhuman situations, or who have shared them, and they themselves give you a “profession of hope.” And also a fraternal outlook.

Brothers and sisters, this hope, this fraternity must not “evaporate”; no, rather, it needs to be organized, concretized through long, medium and short-term actions so that people, in complete dignity, can choose to emigrate or not to emigrate. The Mediterranean must be a message of hope.

Photo: Vatican Media

But there is another complementary aspect: hope needs to be restored to our European societies, especially to the new generations. In fact, how can we welcome others if we ourselves do not first have a horizon open to the future? How can young people, who are poor in hope, closed in on their private lives, worried about managing their own precariousness, open themselves to meeting others and to sharing? Our societies, many times sickened by individualism, by consumerism and by empty escapism, need to open themselves, their souls and spirits need to be oxygenized, and then they will be able to read the crisis as an opportunity and deal with it positively.

Europe needs to retrieve passion and enthusiasm. And I can say that I found passion and enthusiasm in Marseille: in its Pastor, Cardinal Aveline; in the priests and consecrated persons; in the faithful laity dedicated to charity, to education; in the People of God who showed great warmth during the Mass in the Vélodrome Stadium, I thank all of them and the President of the Republic, whose presence testified that all of France was paying attention to the event in Marseille. May Our Lady, whom the people of Marseille venerate as Notre Dame de la Garde, accompany the journey of the peoples of the Mediterranean so that this region might become what it has always been called to be – a mosaic of civilization and hope.

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Chiara Pellegrino

(ZENIT News – Oasis Center / Milan, 09.26.2023).- The Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram attempted to highlight the merits of this ministerial decision by briefly recounting the steps that led to it. In fact, this is not the first time the issue of the niqab has been raised in Egypt. In the 1990s, the same ministry had attempted, unsuccessfully, to ban the full veil for both teachers and students, arguing that concealing the face hindered communication between the two parties. In 2009, the niqab was also criticized by the then Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Shaykh Sayyid Tantawi, who explained that it was not a garment imposed by Islamic religion. This stance had led to accusations of supporting the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had declared a war on the niqab in France. Today, as then, the ministry’s decision to abolish the niqab in schools has been applauded by some figures from Al-Azhar, such as Ahmed Karima, a professor of comparative jurisprudence, who argues that the full veil is not mandatory but a matter of personal choice. However, there has been no reaction from Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyib so far.

In addition to banning the niqab for students, the ministerial regulation also regulates the use of the hijab, the headscarf that covers the hair but leaves the face uncovered. According to the provision, a student can wear the hijab as long as it is done voluntarily and her guardian has been informed. This specific part of the regulation was commented on by an Egyptian journalist, Amina Khairy, in al-Masry al-Youm: “We all know that, for a girl, covering her head has become a natural thing in most cases. You move from one phase of life to another, and wearing a ‘veil’ without any coercion or pressure is a natural development. It’s not about making a decision, or an idea that matures and is then followed by a decision. Moreover, more and more girls are wearing the hijab at the age of seven. I believe that the issue of coercion and pressure is not a problem because in Egypt certain customs were established in the 1970s, and questioning them today is no longer allowed.”

Furthermore, the columnist points out that proving the existence of coercion is not easy; in Cairo (not in the most remote regions or villages!), many schools, especially public ones, impose the wearing of the veil on female students, at least from middle school onwards. However, this is done discreetly and undocumented. In fact, it may happen that those who do not wear the veil are asked about their religion, and at that moment, the girl who declares herself a Muslim feels automatically obliged to wear it. As for the niqab, Khairy writes, “it’s a very important decision, […] because it is a sign that state institutions can affirm the civilized nature of the State.” However, the difficulty of enforcing this rule still exists: it may happen that those who should be responsible for enforcement, namely the teachers, are not willing to do so because they themselves wear the niqab or simply do not share the principle on which the regulation is based. She concludes with a provocative statement that suggests the presence of a radical segment in Egyptian society: “The niqab and other fashions may reflect corrupt or extremist thinking. A quick look at the street allows anyone who wants to understand to get an idea of the prevailing ‘popular’ trends.”

Al-Arabi Newspaper: A Blow to Salafists

For Al-Arabi, a newspaper close to the Emiratis and hostile to Islamism, the ban on niqab in schools “is the first step in opposing Salafists.” Former Egyptian parliamentarian Muhammad Abu Hamid calls on official religious institutions to play their role in the battle against the full veil because “the government cannot wage a battle on a jurisprudential issue without having religious backing, providing evidence confirming the absence of a relationship between the niqab, modesty, and Sharia law.” He accuses al-Azhar of addressing the niqab issue with a “double standard”: on one hand, it denies the existence of a connection between this garment and Sharia law, considering it a tradition, but on the other hand, it allows it to be worn in its faculties. “Banning the niqab in schools is a central point in distancing the new generations from the legacy that still sanctifies customs and behaviors not foreseen by Sharia law but inherited,” the text concludes.

Al-Quds al-Arabi Newspaper: The Government’s Goal Was to Strike Salafists

The goal of the government was to strike at Salafists. Al-Nur, Egypt’s main Salafist party, announced that it would turn to Egyptian justice and parliament because the decision “violates the Constitution and the reference to Islamic Sharia law in Article 2, in addition to the articles that establish the duty to preserve personal freedom.” The ministerial decision contradicts “many clear proofs” (adilla), explains a representative of al-Nur; scholars agree that this garment is lawful, if they are divided on whether the niqab is mandatory or not. This provision, he explains, is the latest in a series of attacks, including the decision to remove Quranic verses and hadiths, accounts of prophets, messengers, and Companions of the Prophet, from school textbooks.

Following the Path of French Secularism

Instead, Al Jazeera titled, “Following the Path of French Secularism.” Egyptian journalist Muhammad ‘Abd al-Shakur mocks the Minister of Education, who believes he can solve the problems of the Egyptian school system by banning girls from wearing the niqab. In a diatribe, the journalist points out that the decision comes just days after the French rule banning the abaya in schools. France considers itself a secular state, and hijab, niqab, and abaya are seen as contrary to secularism. Does the Egyptian Minister of Education of the Islamic State of Egypt, as well as the country of al-Azhar, consider Egypt to be secular to the extent of needing to ban the niqab? Al-Shakur sarcastically asks, adding that the problems plaguing schools for years persist: overcrowded classes, a shortage of teachers, low-quality education, the problem of private lessons used by those who can afford them, and the prohibitively high cost of foreign textbooks.

Regarding French secularism, Egyptian political scientist and columnist ‘Amr al-Shubaki also returned to the pan-Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat with an editorial in which he attempts to explain the French debate on Islamic presence and the application of secular principles to an Arab audience. France, writes al-Shubaki, is the only country in Europe that refuses to interrupt football matches for one minute to allow Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan, all to “protect the secular appearance.” The French approach “differs from the path followed by its European neighbors: no one in Britain or Germany would bother to prevent girls from entering school wearing a headscarf.” What would be the solution? For the political scientist, “it is not necessary for the state to become a defender of religions, but to give more space to faithful of other religions, in this case, Muslims, so they can express their religious culture as long as it does not conflict with the Constitution and the law and is not used for political projects, which would undoubtedly aid in the political and social integration process.”

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(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 09.26.2023).- It was in August of the past month when Pope Francis twice announced that there would be a second part of his ecological encyclical, Laudato Si. The publication date has also been disclosed (October 4, 2023). Just days before September concludes, the Pope has shared more information.

The second part of Laudato Si will not have the magnitude of an encyclical but rather an Apostolic Exhortation (a papal document of lesser rank but still considered ordinary magisterium). We now also know its name: it will be called Laudate Deum.

All of this information came to light during the Pope’s meeting with rectors of public and private universities from Latin America and the Caribbean on Thursday, September 21, at the Vatican. The rectors posed questions to the Pope about climate and environmental issues, and in his responses, he disclosed the name and category of the document.

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Placing Fr. Tham’s artworks within the context of traditional Chinese philosophy and Christian spirituality, the exhibition features the traditional Chinese theme of harmony between heaven, earth and humanity in Chinese calligraphy, brush painting and seal carving, revealing the glory and mysteries of God through arts.  Fr. Joseph is not only a Catholic priest, a doctor, and a professor of bioethics, but also an artist, with outstanding achievements in Chinese painting, calligraphy and seal carving.  His artworks have been exhibited internationally in Canada, USA, Mexico, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

To build a foundation of mutual understanding from a cultural perspective has always been one of the aims of ACCM.  During the opening ceremony, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Macau and Chairman of ACCM, Bishop Stephen Lee Bun Sang stated that true beauty is the manifestation of harmony.  Nowadays, there are too much violence and sins in our lives, and people’s desire for harmony has become even stronger.  This exhibition expresses man’s desire for harmony between heaven, earth and humanity through Chinese art, giving us the opportunities to appreciate the convergence of Chinese culture and Catholic culture from a different perspective, cultivating beauty through art, thus, promote harmony in the world.  Fr. Joseph Tham, L.C. also stated that by using Chinese calligraphy, brush painting and seal carving artworks as a bridge of cultural exchange, he hoped to use beauty to touch the hearts of man, so that more people can know the truth, goodness and beauty of God.

The “Art for God” Artworks and Spiritual Reflections Exhibition (Macao) by Fr. Joseph Tham, L.C. starts from September 22 to October 2, 2023, at Rua Formosa No. 5, R/C, Macau, with a series of Chinese Calligraphy Workshops, guided tours of the exhibition, and Live Painting by Fr. Joseph. During the exhibition period, organizations are welcome to organize a group of 10 or more for a special guided tour by Fr. Joseph himself.

The “Art for God” Artworks and Spiritual Reflections Exhibition (Macao) by Fr. Joseph Tham, L.C.

Date:                   September 22, 2023 (Friday) until October 2, 2023 (Monday)

Time:                  10:00 to 18:00

Venue:               Rua Formosa No. 5, R/C, Macau

Website：         https://www.macaucca.org/artforgod

FREE Admission

About Macao Catholic Culture Association

Catholicism has been in Macao for over four hundred years and has always been an important meeting point of Chinese and Western cultures.  Macao has many centuries of religious history and customs that are not only an important cultural heritage but they have contributed greatly to the local communities.  This long-term collective experience gives the Catholic Church in Macao and its faithful certain distinctive characteristics.

​For this reason, the Macao Catholic Culture Association aims to promote this rich historical Catholic culture encompassing two thousand years of Catholic Church tradition and four hundred years of Catholic culture and tradition in Macao.

​The Macao Catholic Culture Association also supports the preservation of Catholic architecture and cultural relics which characterise the Catholic Church in Macao and its precious history.

The Macao Catholic Culture Association also regularly edits and publishes materials that are beneficial to achieving its purpose, and organizes various types of Catholic cultural promotional activities with local and international Catholic organizations, so as to achieve friendly cultural exchanges with the community and other religious groups.

In line with contemporary new media communication technology and innovative digital resources, the Macao Catholic Culture Association has opened an online resource platform to integrate the historical characteristics of Macao’s Catholic culture into modern new media culture, thus promoting the popularization and sharing of Catholic cultural resources.

Aims

The Macao Catholic Culture Association is a non-profit organization established in July 2018. The chairman is Bishop Stephen Lee, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Macau.

Our aims are as follows:

(1) To promote Catholic culture;

(2) To support the preservation of Catholic architecture and cultural relics;

(3) To organize and hold various types of Catholic cultural promotions and activities;

(4) To edit and publish materials that are beneficial to achieving its purpose.

Official Media Platform of the Macao Catholic Culture Association：

Website:  www.macaucca.org
Facebook/Instagram/YouTube: MacauCCA

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In the statement, the Holy Father affirms that “Scholas, as a community that educates, as an intuition that grows, opens the doors of the University of Meaning. Because to educate is to seek the meaning of things. It is to teach how to look for the meaning of things” and that it will be open to “students of all situations, languages and beliefs, because no one is left out when what is taught is not just a thing, but Life”.

Amidst the global pandemic crisis, Pope Francis stated in a virtual message, ” in this new crisis that humanity is facing today, where culture has been shown to have lost its vitality, I want to celebrate the fact that Scholas, as a community that educates, as an intuition that grows, opens the doors of the University of Meaning. Because to educate is to seek the meaning of things.”

In the creation of the manifesto for the University of Meaning, collaboration was sought from Professor Mpho Tshivhase of the University of Pretoria, Professor Stefania Travagnin of the University of London, Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne of Columbia University, Professor Diane Moore of Harvard, among others. They all concurred on the importance of establishing a global university entity that responds to the need to reimagine education, placing the individual in their uniqueness at the center and the community as an expression of diversity. It is envisioned as a welcoming and creative place where all are invited to feel welcome and participate. An atypical university that, as Plato said, “has no place because it is everywhere.” A tiny seed that can grow into a mighty tree, with its roots in the teachings of Pope Francis and the experience of Scholas; a local and global, intercultural, interreligious, and intergenerational university.

Learning is nourished by all languages of scientific and humanistic knowledge, art, technology, and life experiences. This university feeds the soul and knows how to distinguish between what is merely useful and what is essential, helping us not to lose  sight of the latter because “man does not live by bread alone.”

Background: 

Since 2013, Scholas, as an international educational movement created by Pope Francis, has been conducting educational experiences with young people from various faiths and cultures on all five continents in response to the profound thirst for meaning so prevalent in these times.

Since 2015, Scholas initiated collaborative work with public and private universities to introduce the concept of Scholas Chairs within them, working together not only in extension but also in teaching and research areas.

Since 2017, universities that are part of the Scholas Chairs network have been sharing their results and achievements annually through a global congress, reinforcing this methodology and uniting research with fieldwork.

Since 2020, amidst the pandemic, Pope Francis has celebrated and encouraged Scholas to promote this Meaning initiative at the university level.

Since 2021, Scholas has convened Professor Mpho Tshivhase from the University of Pretoria, Professor Stefania Travagnin from the University of London, Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne from Columbia University, and Professor Diane Moore from Harvard, among others, to collaboratively draft the manifesto for the University of Meaning.

During 2022, Scholas has been conducting meaning-centered experiences with university professors and students in Latin America and Europe, which have received various academic recognitions and are now part of the curriculum of various degree programs and institutions.

As of August 15, 2023, the University of Meaning has been instituted by the Holy Father as a civil legal entity with its headquarters in the Vatican City State.

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XXXVIII World Youth Day 2023: “Rejoicing in hope” (cf. Rom 12:12)
XXXIX World Youth Day 2024: “Those who hope in the Lord will run and not be weary” (cf. Is 40:31).

“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of today, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ”, as the 1965 Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (n. 1) emphasised.

Now as then, in today’s difficult times, the Church wishes to rekindle hope in the world. To do this, she relies especially on young people, who are the leading figures of history and “missionaries of joy”.

In the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit, Pope Francis wrote that Christ is “our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world” (n. 1). With the themes of the two forthcoming World Youth Days, His Holiness now invites young people to deepen their understanding of Christian hope and to witness joyfully that Christ is alive.

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(ZENIT News – Asia News / Rome, 09.26.2023).- This past week, two seemingly minor circumstances overlapped with the tragedy of the war in Ukraine that occupied the interests of all politicians and the media during the UN General Assembly.

These are Caucasian issues, the illness of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and the war against the Armenians of the Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliev, thus relating to a ‘middle ground’ between Europe and Asia whose boundaries, geographical and spiritual, have always been rather haphazard, as can generally be said for all dimensions of confrontation between the two continents, of which only Russia is an equivalent part.

Two wars broke out in the Caucasus immediately after the end of the USSR now more than thirty years ago, the Chechen civil war and the war between Azeris and Armenians, and their consequences continue to be felt against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine.

The main one, and the most terrible, was the one between the Russians and Chechens, which lasted a very long time and had devastating consequences, and which marked Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in Moscow most of all.

The obscure head of the FSB (KGB) was called in precisely to solve the intricate problem of Groznyj, the capital of Chechnya razed to the ground by Russian troops, who also intended to lead neighbouring Ingushetia into a new state formation, that of independent Ičkeria.

Putin managed to find the solution after years of massacres, together with one of the most valiant Chechen commanders, Grand Mufti Akhmad Kadyrov, whom he put in charge of the republic of Chechnya within the Russian Federation, and who was then blown up with the entire authorities’ tribune in Groznyj’s Sultan Bilimčanov stadium during the Victory Parade on 9 May 2004.

The perpetrators of the attack were independence and radical Islamic terrorists, led by Šamil Basaev, who was long hunted in the Chechen mountains by Kadyrov’s son Ramzan, who had become prime minister regent and then president of Groznyj.

Basaev died in rather mysterious circumstances on 10 July 2006, in what appeared to be a pre-emptive operation by the Russian army during the G8 summit in St Petersburg, perhaps one of Russia’s last attempts to find its place among the greats of the Earth.

Kadyrov-father was solemnly buried in the cathedral mosque in Groznyj, and streets and monuments are named after him as the great father of the Russian and Chechen homeland together; Kadyrov-son, whom Akhmad wanted to keep out of power because of his violent and uncontrollable tendencies, has ruled Chechnya unchallenged ever since, in total harmony with the Kremlin leader.

And it is precisely in the most critical phase of the war in Ukraine, after a summer tormented by the uprising and finally by the death of Evgenij Prigožin, the ‘friendly cook’ who was undermining Putin’s authority, that Ramzan Kadyrov’s health has deteriorated to the point that some people believe he is already dead, while he is reportedly in a pharmacological coma in a Moscow clinic.

Kadyrov, too, criticised the Russian defence leadership for weaknesses and caving in to the Ukrainians, against whom he had deployed his fierce Kadyrovtsy from the very beginning, who together with the ‘musicians’ of the Wagner company constituted the ‘alternative army’ that allowed Putin to play both the cards of fierce aggression and the long positional war.

The mystery of Kadyrov’s condition thus enters the long and colourful narrative of Putin’s many enemies or former friends (or even friends still in office) who for various reasons create inconveniences for the Kremlin’s godfather and are eliminated, or at least sidelined, with manoeuvres that are difficult to decipher.

In some cases, this involves sensational actions such as the explosion of Prigožin’s plane (assuming it was not a set-up), in many other cases, more malicious means are used such as the various poisons developed by the FSB specialists, as in the case of Aleksej Naval’nyj and many others, and as it seems also in the case of Ramzan Kadyrov.

The Chechen leader has been suffering from serious kidney problems since last April, and it seems he has also been operated on in Abu Dhabi; rumours about the doctors who are supposedly treating him, along with those brutally eliminated as inept or traitors, are circulating.

Kadyrov and Putin make videos in which they laugh behind everyone’s back, but the authenticity of these images seems equal to that of Prigožin’s charred corpse, and perhaps the whole truth will never be known in both cases.

Surely, two figures like the ‘Petersburg cook’ and the ‘Chechen butcher’ had to be out of the picture before 2024, when Putin’s re-election is to celebrate the Tsar victorious over all enemies of the depraved West, and voices critical of the effectiveness of his wars will not be tolerated in the slightest.

Putin’s internal enemies are in fact not the pacifists, who are on the verge of extinction in Russia, but the real warmongers, who are not interested in the ‘metaphysical victories’ incensed by Patriarch Kirill, but in the conquests of productive territories for business, and domination over vast areas at all latitudes.

And here now is another ‘friend’ of Soviet heritage that could undermine Putin’s glorification, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliev (son of the first President Gejdar), who has decided after long tugs and pulls with Russians and Armenians (but also with Americans and French) to finally settle the Nagorno Karabakh issue, another conflict dating back to the end of the Soviet Union.

In the South Caucasus, which is not part of the Russian Federation, geographical, cultural, religious and political confusion is the main feature, even more so than in the northern half of the region; and in the case of the war between Azeris and Armenians, it also takes on epochal dimensions, those of the centuries-old clash between Christians and Muslims.

As with other tensions in the ex-Soviet areas, those of Central Asia or of the minor peoples of the Russian Federation itself, the war in Ukraine has rekindled the ambitions of one or the other, and Putin’s Russia is relinquishing much of its authority and control, being unable to sustain all open fronts and condition all political developments.

Azerbaijan is a product of the many overlaps of history between Europe and Asia, heir to the Seljuks and ruled by the Savafids until modern times, then divided into many extremely unstable and relatively autonomous Khanates, which controlled many international trade routes between Asia and the West.

Incorporated into the Soviet Union after the revolution and the civil war in the 1920s, as soon as the Soviet empire collapsed, it found itself reckoning with internal divisions, the most serious of which was precisely the proclamation of independence of Nagorno Karabakh, which seems to have been brought to an end in these days.

The war that broke out in 1994, and was never resolved by any treaty, was resumed at the end of 2020, with the ‘war of the forty days’ (from 27 September to 10 November) that allowed the Azeris to retake five cities, four minor centres and about 240 villages, in the seven districts of what Armenians continue to call Artsakh, Karabakh in their language.

With the actions of the past few days, the entire area has been brought under Baku’s control, including the capital Stepanakert, although it will take time to fully resolve the ‘reintegration’ of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh into the state of Azerbaijan.

The consequences for Russia are unpredictable, due to the many variables at play in this area. The Armenians are traditionally very close to the Russians, who rescued them at the time of the Turkish genocide, constituting with the Soviet republic of Yerevan a safe haven from the total destruction and dispersion of the ancient Monophysite people, the first to create a Christian state even before the emperor Constantine.

The Azeris are Shia Turanians, who contend with Iran for a good part of the territory where their countrymen live, called ‘Southern Azerbaijan’, and rely heavily on Turkey, another nation historically affected by Caucasian affairs.

Not to mention that Baku is now replacing Moscow for a good slice of the gas market to export to Europe, and several other trade routes from East to West and vice versa could pass through the Caucasus, with the watchful eye of China in the background.

The Kremlin is in fact covering up Aliev’s actions, accusing Armenians of flirting too much with Westerners, at least trying to get Armenia to submit to Russia as well as Azerbaijan. The Russian ‘interdiction forces’ have not interdicted anything, not only in the last few days, but in all the two years they have been positioned along the borders of Nagorno Karabakh.

Having now lost Ukraine, its ‘European side’, forever, Russia is now trying not to lose the Caucasus, its ‘Middle Eastern side’. But above all, Putin does not want to lose face in front of the whole world.

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In Rome and Vatican City, the Under Secretary will meet with senior Italian and Vatican officials and civil society on shared efforts to address global human rights challenges.  In Palermo, she will lead a U.S. delegation from the Department of State, Department of Justice, and Department of Homeland Security at the Palermo Convention Ministerial Conference.  This event celebrates the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Finally, in Poland, Under Secretary Zeya will deliver the U.S. opening statement at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chair’s 2023 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference.  She will highlight the OSCE’s work across the region and will join Allies and partners in condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, in violation of the UN Charter and against Helsinki Final Act principles.  The Under Secretary will also meet with senior Government of Poland officials and members of civil society from OSCE participating States.

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(ZENIT News –The Daily Compass  / Ottawa, 26.09.2023).- They weren’t a million, but certainly hundreds of thousands of parents who gathered on Wednesday, September 20, in many cities of Canada, to protest against the indoctrination of the abortionist and LGBTQ ideology that Trudeau’s liberal government wants in all the country’s schools. The parents’ movement includes all social classes and creeds, in which Muslims play a prominent role, exacting respect of educational freedom and of the human rights granted to parents by all Canadian and International Conventions and Rights Charters, which the (il)liberal, and now Socialist Trudeau Government is flagrantly violating.

Kamel El-Cheikh, — Ottawa businessman, parent, activist and leader of the Muslim Community, and promotor of the initiative in Ottawa, where 10,000 people gathered, along with numerous evangelical religious leaders, parents and Christian educators –, asserted that the “March of a Million People” would not be a one-off event, but the beginning of a national coordinated movement, also through their Website “Hands Off Our Kids,” which is already collecting numerous news items and reports on last Wednesday’s initiatives.

The ”March of a Million People,” or #1MillionMarch4Children has also elicited an organized counter-protest, in part, by the labour unions of Ontario’s public sector, and in part by LGBTQ and Transgender lobbies and movements, widely supported by the Federal Government. Ottawa’s, as was foreseen, was only one of the dozens upon dozens of protests held throughout Canada on September 20, to demonstrate parents’ opposition and anger because, in the majority of the country’s provinces, not only is the  LGBTQ and reproductive rights doctrine imposed, but also children under 16 can decide to change their sexual gender and pronoun, without permission and not even the school’s information to their parents. A fully Communist doctrinal imposition implemented with Soviet authoritarian methods. Those taking part in the protests held in the country chanted the slogan “Leave our children in peace,” challenging the school programs the Trudeau Government wants.

Canada about to be lit today with protests and counter protests to the #1MillionMarch4children

The 1 Million March 4 Children is a protest taking place across Canada against Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity curriculums in schools. pic.twitter.com/aAhdjWT3hG

— Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) September 20, 2023

The detractors of this new popular Canadian movement, profoundly inter-confessional and firm defender of freedom and of parents’ rights describe the protestors as simplistic and contemptuous, and accuse them of being “extremists of the Right” who want to harm LGBTQ+ young people. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the marches and wrote on his Twitter account: “Transphobia, homophobia and biphobia have no place in this country. We energetically condemn this hatred and its manifestations and we remain united in support of 2SIGBTQi+ Canadians of the whole country: you are good and you are appreciated.”

In complete agreement with Trudeau, Celeste Trianon, one of the leaders of Canada’s LGBTQ pressure group, reminded the national CTV News chain that it’s necessary to convince the dissenting people and “teach them the adequate vocabulary, the appropriate words, in a suitable moment for their age, to explain to them that inclusion is something good. We must ensure that their trans and queer companions in school feel welcome,” said Trianon. In fact, whereas in Ottawa the police detained five protestors, manifesting in defense of children’s and parents’ rights, in Vancouver gangs of LGBTI thugs, organized and coordinated with various labour union federations, provoked peaceful parents and sought confrontation repeatedly to thwart the authorized protest.

The challenge to the indoctrination and manipulation of children and the privation of the patria potestas, as well as the restriction of citizen liberties, was also taken up in the summer months by several Conservative Governors and parliamentary majorities in several Canadian Federal Provinces, beginning by Ontario, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, which also banned the presence of Planned Parenthood in schools and introduced swiftly regulations in favour of information and obligatory parental consent prior to sexual, abortive and LGBT education of children in the schools.

The first signs of protest erupted on July 15, when Muslim parents of schoolchildren of the city of Mississauga (Ontario) decided to protest publicly against the gender ideology imposed by the Canadian Government on their children and the city’s schoolchildren. Then, on July 17, in Calgary (Alberta) dozens of Christian and Muslim parents went out on the street to “protect together” their children from the indoctrination and the abolition of the patria potestas, which was being imposed in the schools. Over the ten years of Justin Trudeau’s Government, Canada has been transformed from a liberal and tolerant country to a tyrannic and discriminatory one with ordinary citizens and parents that are not resigned to see their children engulfed by the insane abortionist and LGBTI doctrines.

“We are not here to fight the LGBTQ community, we are here to fight the government who isn’t listening to us.”

Parent at Coquitlam’s #1MillionMarch4Chidren takes the mic and calls on BC premier @Dave_Eby to open up the parental rights discussion.
More at https://t.co/Jcnpt9jS5n pic.twitter.com/vNhWg9GDMp

— Drea Humphrey – Prepping and Politics (@DreaHumphrey) September 20, 2023

In regard to all this, the Conservative leader Pierre Polievre continues to gain ground in the polls, according to a new Ipsos survey, carried out exclusively for the Global News Canadian newspaper, 40% of Canadians believe he is the best option as Prime Minister. Trudeau registered 31%. Polievre could win the next 2025 general elections and re-establish a democratic and liberal State in the country. Two years is a long timer and his positions on abortion continue being ambiguous but [voters] are comforted by the clarity of his official position on parents’ rights in education: “Parents must have the last word . . . schools must leave to them the final decision on sexual, gender and LGBTI indoctrination.”

Translation of the Italian original into Spanish by ZENIT’s Editorial Director and, into English, by Virginia M. Forrester

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Those areas are: Assisting in updating and implementing safeguarding guidelines  throughout the Church (Praedicate Evangelium 78.2); Assisting in the implementation of  article 2 of Vos Estis Lux Mundi to ensure welcome and assistance for those who have been  abused and preparing for the Holy Father an Annual Report on Safeguarding Policies and  Procedures in the Church (Pope Francis, April 29, 2023).

“Earlier this year, our Holy Father instructed the Commission to keep moving forward with  the work of safeguarding entrusted to us, which is what the Commission has been doing.  He stressed the importance of walking with victims in their pain and finding ways to repair  the harm done. In our first year, we launched a global campaign of consultation on a set of  comprehensive guidelines that the Commission intends to use in strengthening safeguarding  capabilities throughout whole Church,” said Commission President, Cardinal Sean O’  Malley, OFM, Cap.

Cardinal O’ Malley continued: “I am very grateful for the commitment of such a dedicated  group of safeguarding professionals from all over the world. Our Church is a large entity  that includes all peoples and nations so our task might seem daunting. But we have begun  implementing a plan that encompasses the whole Church in its different stages of  development. We heard testimony from the UK advocacy group LOUDfence about the

calls of those who are seeking a welcoming space in our Churches. We were pleased to  welcome Bishop Edouard Sinayobye from the Diocese of Cyangugu in Rwanda who spoke  of the on the ongoing challenges faced by the Church in that country so many years after  the genocide and how the Memorare Initiative will help respond.

“By adopting a systematic approach to our work, the Commission will be able to offer  support to all areas of the Church’s life where sound safeguarding practices should become  the norm. There is still much work do to, but we are confident we are delivering on the  tasks asked of us by the Holy Father.”

Safeguarding guidelines: 

The Commission reviewed the outcome of the global survey on the Universal Guidelines  Framework (UGF) issued in May 2023. More than 300 responses and 700 suggestions were  reviewed by the Commission that largely confirmed the approach adopted. The  Commission will continue to incorporate feedback until March 2024. Members began  working on the second phase of the UFG which will provide clear criteria for local  churches on how safeguarding policies and procedures can become effective. This will  involve the issuing of 5-7 criteria related to each of the 10 UGF principles and that point to  certain skills required in each diocese to ensure the UGF is being implemented.

Ad Liminas 

Since the beginning of the year the Commission has hosted 13 bishops’ conferences on  their Ad Limina visits. These dialogues are an opportunity for the Commission to review  safeguarding policies and procedures, identify gaps and offer feedback and assistance at a  local level with follow up through the Commission’s four Regional Groups: Africa and  Madagascar, Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe. The Commission reviewed reports on  the Ad Limina visits and drafted recommendations to be shared with the respective local  church and that will be published in the Annual Report.

Building safeguarding capacity in local churches: 

The Commission oversees a funding mechanism sponsodred by Church donors who have  committed to providing $2.5 million in funding for those parts of the churches with scarce  resources. A financial accountability mechanism for use of these funds was published and  implemented as part of a program called Memorare and is available on the Commission’s  website The Plenary heard reports from the Regional Groups on progress in their area, with a focus on the needs in Africa. Twenty local churches – comprising bishops’ conferences  and conferences of religious – expressed their desire to avail itself of the program. During  the meeting the Commission President signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the

Church in the Central African Republic. This is the second Memorandum of Understanding  with the Commission following an earlier one signed with Rwanda in May this year.

Transparency and Accountability via Reporting: 

The Commission spent an entire day discussing and editing work related to the Annual  Report on Safeguarding Policies and Procedures in the Church requested by the Holy  Father. The Commission approved a blueprint of the Annual Report which will be made  available on the Commission’s website by the end of September 2023 with a view to  publishing the first Annual Report in the Spring of 2024. As part of this process, the  Commission reviewed the status of collaboration agreements with the Roman Curia. It also met with the Superiors of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.

The Plenary also heard a presentation by Dr. Davin Smolin, Professor of Constitutional  Law at Samford University’s Columbus School of Law, on the applicability of the concept  of transitional justice to the Church’s work in combatting sexual abuse. The Commission  noted the overlap between the categories of transitional justice and church social teaching on justice, reparation, and prevention. The Commission will explore ways to incorporate  this way of dealing with significant human rights’ abuses into its Annual Report. Professor  Smolin’s address will be posted to the Commission website before the end of September.

Empowering the victim/survivor community: 

The Commission would like to express its profound gratitude to the victims’ advocacy  group LOUDfence. Antonia Sobocki and Maggie Mathews opened the Plenary Session  with a presentation and testimony. LOUDfence advocates for greater welcome of survivors  in the Church. In an opening liturgy, the Commission engaged in a LOUDfence action,  where victims and survivors of sexual abuse are remembered through the ritual use of the  written testimony of survivors. Antonia and Maggie were later received by the Holy Father in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. During their brief greeting, the Holy Father called  LOUDfence “A sign of hope.”

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