Despite the pandemic and the mainland Chinese government's disapproval, Catholics in Hong Kong will commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre with special Masses.

Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, England, is urging the British government to protest the Chinese government's violations of the 1997 Sino-British Joint Declaration meant to protect democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.

Francis called for reflection on the encyclical in which he “sought to draw attention to the cry of the earth and of the poor.”

The mass protests that had roiled Hong Kong since June 2019, now largely subsided because of the Covid-19 pandemic, are likely to return, many warn, because of recent gestures by Beijing to tighten control over the former British colony.

The Trump administration is moving toward a new nuclear arms race with Russia, warns David Cortright of the University of Notre Dame, but there is still a chance to turn back.

Chinese Catholics have donated significant medical supplies to the Vatican to assist in the fight against Covid-19.