miniZibaldone

From Oasis journal The fate of Schengen and the Endurance of the European Pact The migration crisis put the EU to the test. In order to hold out, the Union must not be perceived as a service provider, but as a dimension of existence of its  citizens and residents Andrea Pin | 21 March 2016 The scenario that seems to be solidifying for some time now in the Mediterranean is disheartening. Hundreds of thousands of people literally adrift at sea; European  states are caught in a dilemma between financial sustainability, social stability and the need to save the human beings presenting themselves at their borders; the  added difficulty of distinguishing the crowds of desperate people leaving countries in the throes of civil war from economic migrants, while seeking to deter  economic migrants from making their way to Europe as every entryway and border have fallen. The European and international regulations distinguish the statuses of  those who reach the...

From the address to diplomatic corps [E]very authentic practice of religion cannot fail to promote peace.  Our recent celebration of Christmas reminds us of this: we contemplated the birth of a vulnerable child who is “named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (cf. Is 9:5).  The mystery of the Incarnation shows us the real face of God, for whom power does not mean force or destruction but love, and for whom justice is not vengeance but mercy.  It is in light of this that I wished to proclaim the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. [...]  Sadly, we recognize the numerous challenges presently facing families, “threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life”. [...]  An individualistic spirit is fertile soil for the growth of that kind of indifference towards our neighbours which leads to viewing them in p...