VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis leaves on Monday for a visit to four island nations across southeast Asia, an ambitious trip to urge global action on climate change that may test the strength of the 87-year-old head of the global Catholic Church. Over 12 days from Sept. 2-13, Francis will travel nearly 33,000 km (20,500 miles) to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. It is the longest trip yet by the pontiff, who now regularly uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain. Francis pushed hard for the 2015 Paris climate agreement and aides say he wants to continue his appeals to confront the dangers of a rapidly warming world, and especially to support the most vulnerable. In the countries on his tour, these dangers include rising sea levels and increasingly severe and unpredictable heat waves and typhoons. Jakarta, the Indonesian capital where the trip begins, has experienced disastrous flooding in recent years and is slowly sinking, prompting the government to build a new $32-billion capital on Borneo. Francis is scheduled to headline more than 40 events during the voyage and some observers say that, beyond his specific itinerary, he wants to show he is still capable of leading the 1.4-billion-member Church, despite his age and bouts of ill health.
“It is a show of strength for Pope Francis,” said Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who has followed the papacy closely.
What does the pope hope to achieve?
Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia, noted that no pope had toured abroad at such an age. Benedict XVI, Francis’ immediate predecessor, resigned at 85. John Paul II, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, made his last visit abroad at 84. The tour will be Francis’ 45th foreign trip since his election in March 2013. He speaks often about reaching out to people or groups on the margins of society, and has prioritized trips to places never before visited by a pope, or where Catholics are a small minority.
“Francis has almost drawn a new map of the Church,” said Faggioli. “It’s global Catholicism now, a Church that it is not just more globally extensive, but truly globalized.” Also on the agenda is a renewed push for Catholic-Muslim dialogue, long a priority for Francis who, in 2019, became the first pope to visit the Arabian peninsula.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, has about 280 million inhabitants, only about 3 percent of them Catholic. Francis will take part in an interfaith meeting at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia.
Jeremy Menchik, a political scientist professor at Boston University who has written extensively on Indonesia’s politics, said it was in a “golden age” of interfaith dialogue, noting that the mosque sits opposite Jakarta’s Catholic cathedral.
“This is a moment where you have pluralism rather than polemics,” he said. Francis lands in Jakarta at about midday on Tuesday, and departs for Papua New Guinea three days later. To allow him to rest after a night-flight of more than 13 hours, he will have no public activities on Tuesday, apart from a brief official welcome at the airport.
Why has the Pope chosen Asia?
In each of the four countries, the pope will hold official meetings with political authorities, diplomats, and local Catholics. He will also lead outdoor celebrations of the Catholic Mass in all four countries.
Catholic officials broadly see Asia as fertile ground to expand the faith, which has experienced decline in Western countries.
Shihoko Goto, director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the Wilson Center, a Washington think-tank, said Francis’ visit, despite his health concerns, “speaks volumes about the strategic importance of Asia for the Church.”
Papua New Guinea, with an official population of about 9 million, has some 2.5 million Catholics, the Vatican says. East Timor, with a population of 1.3 million, is nearly 96 percent Catholic, while Singapore counts about 210,000 Catholics among its 5.92 million people, according to the Vatican.
Pope Francis takes climate message to Southeast Asia on 12-day trip
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Pope Francis takes climate message to Southeast Asia on 12-day trip
- Pope Francis sets off on Monday for four-country Asia visit
- Climate change and Catholic-Muslim dialogue high on agenda
Polish FM says EU must end benefits for exiled Ukrainian men to help Kyiv's call for more troops to fight Russian forces
- Of more than 4.1 million Ukrainians on temporary protection status in the EU, 22 percent are adult males
- Many Ukrainian men have reportedly fled abroad to avoid military service by bribing their way out
KYIV: European governments should halt welfare benefits to Ukrainian men of military age who are living in their countries, Poland’s foreign minister said, a measure he said would help Ukraine call up more troops to fight Russian forces.
Following a meeting in Kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart, Poland’s Radoslaw Sikorski said ending social benefits for Ukrainian male refugees would also benefit state finances in host countries in Western Europe.
More than 4.1 million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in European Union countries as of July this year, and about 22 percent of them were adult men, according to data from the EU statistics office, Eurostat.
“Stop paying those social security payments for people who are eligible for the Ukrainian draft. There should be no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine,” Sikorski said at a conference of international leaders in Kyiv. “It’s not a human right to be paid to avoid the draft, to defend your country. We in Poland don’t do it.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha welcomed Sikorski’s call. “It’s time really to raise the question of the European Union developing programs to return Ukrainians home. Certainly, appropriate conditions should be created for this. But this should be on the agenda. And I support the idea of Minister Sikorski,” Sybiha said.
Nearly 31 months into the war against Russia and with Moscow’s forces slowly but steadily advancing in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv needs more soldiers to maintain its defense lines, rotate out exhausted troops and make up for losses.
Russia has a significant advantage in staff numbers and weapons on the battlefield.
Earlier this year, Ukraine adopted new legislation and implemented other measures, including lowering the call-up age for combat duty to 25 from 27 to increase the pace of mobilization into the army.
Under the new law, Kyiv ordered Ukrainian men living abroad to renew their military draft information online and encouraged them to return to Ukraine and join the fight.
Ukraine imposed martial law at the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, banning men aged 18 to 60 from traveling abroad without special permission and beginning a rolling mobilization of civilian men into the armed forces.
But many men of military age have still fled abroad to avoid the draft amid reports of corruption in the army recruitment system, allowing some men to bribe their way out of army service.
Nigerian army rescues 13 hostages from extremist group
- Kidnappings have become common in parts of northern Nigeria, where dozens of armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to carry out attacks in village
ABUJA, Nigeria: Nigerian troops have rescued 13 hostages who were kidnapped by an extremist group in the northwestern state of Kaduna, the country’s army said on Saturday.
The army said in a statement that “the troops successfully overwhelmed the terrorists, forcing them to abandon their captives.”
Several kidnappers were killed and others captured, the military added. It didn’t specify what armed group the kidnappers belonged to.
The rescued hostages were taken to a military facility for a medical assessment before being reunited with their families. Weapons, ammunition, solar panels and cash were also discovered during the rescue operation.
Kidnappings have become common in parts of northern Nigeria, where dozens of armed groups take advantage of a limited security presence to carry out attacks in villages and along major roads. Most victims are released only after the payment of ransoms that sometimes run into the thousands of dollars.
At least 1,400 students have been taken from Nigerian schools since the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in the village of Chibok in Borno state shocked the world.
Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadi rebels, launched its insurgency in 2009 to establish Islamic Shariah law in the country. At least 35,000 people have been killed and 2.1 million people displaced as a result of the extremist violence, according to UN agencies in Nigeria.
G7 foreign ministers condemn Iran’s export of ballistic missiles to Russia
- Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles
ROME: The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized powers condemned on Saturday “in the strongest terms” Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles.
Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, deepening the military cooperation between the two countries, which are both under US sanctions.
“Iran must immediately cease all support to Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and halt such transfers of ballistic missiles, UAVs (drones) and related technology, which constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as European and international security more broadly,” the G7 ministers said in a statement.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to hold Iran to account for its unacceptable support for Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine that further undermines global security. In line with our previous statements on the matter, we are already responding with new and significant measures.”
Italy currently holds the presidency of the G7 group of wealthy nations which also includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Canada.
British PM breached parliament’s rules over clothing donations to wife — Sunday Times
- Sunday Times said those donations were declared but the clothes given to his wife were not
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has breached parliamentary rules by not declaring a wealthy businessman and Labour Party donor bought high-end clothes for his wife Victoria, the Sunday Times reported on Saturday.
According to the Sunday Times, Starmer, in power since July, faces an investigation after “neglecting to disclose” that major Labour donor Waheed Alli covered the cost of a personal shopper, clothes and alterations for his wife.
The premier’s registered financial interests, listed on the parliament’s website, show that he has received several donations from Alli, including multiple pairs of glasses, work clothes and accommodation.
The Sunday Times said those donations were declared but the clothes given to his wife were not.
A spokesperson for 10 Downing Street said in a statement sent to Reuters that Starmer and his team had sought advice from authorities on coming to office, and believed they had been compliant.
“However, following further interrogation this month, we’ve declared further items,” the spokesperson said.
Alli is British media entrepreneur and former chairman of the online fashion retailer ASOS.
Under the House of Commons code of conduct, members of parliament have to provide information about financial interests which might reasonably be thought to influence their work.
A Conservative Party spokesperson called for a full investigation over “apparent serious breaches of parliamentary rules.”
Pope Francis calls for lasting solution to Palestinian cause
- Pope commended King Abdullah’s ongoing diplomatic efforts
LONDON: Pope Francis has reiterated the need for a just and lasting resolution to the Palestinian issue, warning that failure to achieve this goal would only lead to continued violence and instability in the region, it was reported by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media in Jordan on Saturday.
The pope highlighted the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, and praised Jordan’s King Abdullah II’s support for the Palestinian people.
The king has facilitated daily humanitarian aid to the area, delivered by the Jordan Armed Forces via air and land, since the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out in October.
The pope commended King Abdullah’s ongoing diplomatic efforts, noting his active role in international forums where he consistently advocates for Palestinian rights.
According to Pope Francis, the king has repeatedly warned that true peace, security, and prosperity in the Middle East can only be achieved by resolving the Palestinian issue, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Pope Francis also lauded Jordan’s clear and firm stance on the Palestinian cause, highlighting the country’s efforts to keep global attention on the issue and to condemn violations against the Palestinian people under occupation.
He also expressed deep concern over the prolonged war on Gaza. He voiced regret over the international community’s failure to take meaningful action to end the war and achieve peace.
Addressing Israel’s bombing of schools that sheltered displaced civilians, the pope condemned the attacks, particularly when such strikes are justified by the presumption of fighters being present.
“It is bad, it is bad, it is bad,” he said. The pope also rejected the argument that the ongoing war is purely defensive, highlighting the number of children among the victims.
