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Responding to ‘Ecological Sins’.  

[ Más información en español ] 

Vatican, Oct. 11.– There were four Synod participants on the podium in the Holy See Press Office this Friday afternoon, each of them sharing their impressions of the discussions so far, and responding to journalist’s questions, reported Vatican News.

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico opened his presentation with a call for “ecological conversion”. Climate change has amplified the “cry of the poor”, he said, and an “integral ecology” is the Church’s response. The Cardinal explained that an integral ecology means a change of lifestyle, abandoning the throwaway culture. It is essential we increase awareness, he said, because it is the poorest people on earth who are being affected.

Archbishop Pedro Brito Guimarâes, of Palmas, Brazil, said he comes from Brazil’s youngest State, in the heart of the country. 1.5 million people live there, along with 9 million heads of cattle. The cattle, said the Archbishop, often enjoy better healthcare than the people. 

• Kinmen Island (also known as Quemoy) is governed by Taiwan/Republic of China but just a stone's throw away from the shores of mainland China.
• Public attention focuses on the former British colony Hong Kong, struggling for its limited constitutional freedoms, but a vibrant participatory democracy has grown outside the Chinese shores.

Taipei, Sept.30.– Taiwan is a place that offers the world fascinating insights. “Last night there was another guy from the other side swimming over the bay,” says Ko Cheng-fang. “We sent him back home,” she adds. Ko Cheng-fang is a young female politician who represents the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) [area 153 km2, pop. 130,000], in the national Taiwanese parliament in Taipei.

The “other side” in this case is China, the world’s most populous country which celebrates its 70th anniversary as a Communist one-party state next Tuesday.

• Read HERE the Whistleblower complaint.
• Read HERE the transcript of Trump's call with Ukraine President. 

Washington DC, Sept.26.– The whistleblower complaint that touched off a political tempest in Washington was released to the public today, alleging President Trump used the "power of his office to solicit interference" from Ukraine in the 2020 election -- and that White House officials subsequently tried to "lock down" records of that phone call.

The rough transcript of the July call, between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was already released a day earlier by the White House. It confirmed that Trump sought an investigation from Ukraine into the Biden family, though did not show the president explicitly leveraging U.S. aid as had initially been suggested in some media reports.

FULL SPEECH VIDEO

New York, Sept.24.– Conservationists blame Mr Bolsonaro and his government for turning a blind eye to farmers and loggers clearing land in the Amazon, hastening deforestation.

But in an address at the United Nations in New York, he struck a defiant note.