India-Pakistan relations sink to new lows following Kashmir attack
From the show
In the aftermath of this week's deadly terror attack in Kashmir, relations between India and Pakistan have worsened. In this edition of Access Asia, the spokesperson for the opposition National Congress Party in India calls for unity, while acknowledging that the intent of the attack was to divide along religious lines. We also report on how the staunchly Catholic Philippines is grappling with the loss of Pope Francis.
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LeMonde
7 hours ago
- LeMonde
Up to a million young Catholics expected in Rome for Pope Leo vigil
Up to a million young Catholic believers are expected Saturday, August 2 for a night-time vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage, a key event in the Jubilee holy year. The "Jubilee of Youth" – when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church's power – has seen thousands of young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome this week. It is taking place just under three months since 69-year-old Leo – the first American pope – took over the papacy. Large groups of pilgrims have packed the streets of Rome all week, waving the flags of their countries or cities and chanting religious songs. Excitement has mounted over the course of the week for the new pope's final appearance to the youths on Saturday. "I feel mainly curiosity, as we don't know him very well yet," Parisian student Alice Berry, 21, told AFP. "What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?" Uncertainty, anxiety Various events have been planned for them by the Church throughout the city, including at Circus Maximus, where on Friday approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession. Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held in Ancient Rome, where youth lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages. Spanish was one of the main languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital. The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty hits young people across the world and as climate change anxiety rises among the under-30s. Many young pilgrims said they wanted to hear the Vatican's position on climate change, wars and economic inequalities. Samarei Semos, 29, said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome. "We are still trying to understand his leadership," she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about "third world countries." The pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over starvation in Israel-blockaded Gaza, and more than three years into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Night vigil The Vatican has praised Catholic youths who travelled to Rome from war-scarred countries like Ukraine or Syria, with Pope Leo repeatedly calling for the youths to "pray for peace." The voices of the amassed young people "will be heard to the end of the earth," Pope Leo told them earlier this week. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries are represented. The mass that is the climax of the event will take place in Rome's Tor Vergata area in a vast open-air space with a newly built stage for the pope. It is the same area used 25 years ago for the last youth jubilee under Pope John Paul II. More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organizers. In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signaling the Vatican's openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth. Rome authorities have tightened security in the city – which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundated the city.
France 24
18 hours ago
- France 24
Ex-porn actor to be Colombian equality minister
Juan Carlos Florian is to be named to the cabinet, an official said, in a move sure to spark debate in the deeply Catholic nation. Florian, who was a sex worker and creator of gay porn, will head up a department that guarantees vulnerable communities get access to social programs. He has already served as a junior minister and worked in various international organizations. More than 50 ministers have passed through leftist Gustavo Petro's cabinet since he took office three years ago. © 2025 AFP
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Vatican strikes solar farm deal to become first carbon neutral state
Italy agreed Thursday to a Vatican plan to turn a 430-hectare field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm. The Holy See hopes it will generate enough electricity to meet its needs and turn Vatican City into the world's first carbon-neutral state. The agreement stipulates that the development of the Santa Maria Galeria site will preserve the agricultural use of the land and minimise the environmental impact on the territory, according to a Vatican statement. Further details weren't released, but the Vatican will be exempt from paying Italian taxes to import the solar panels and won't benefit from the financial incentives that Italians enjoy when they go solar. Italy, for its part, can use the field in its accounting for reaching European Union clean energy targets. Any excess electricity generated by the farm beyond the Vatican's needs would be given to the local community, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not public. Vatican officials have estimated it will cost under €100 million to develop the solar farm, and that once it is approved by the Italian parliament, the contracts to do the work could be put up for bids. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the agreement with Italy's ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto. The Italian parliament must approve the arrangement since it has financial implications for the territory, which holds extraterritorial status in Italy. Where will the Vatican's solar farm be located? The Santa Maria Galeria site has long been the source of controversy because of electromagnetic waves emitted by Vatican Radio towers located there since the 1950s. The once-rural site, some 35 kilometres north of Rome is dominated by two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae that transmit news from the Catholic Church in dozens of languages around the globe. Over the years, as the area became more developed, residents began complaining of health problems, including instances of childhood leukaemia, which they blamed on the electromagnetic waves generated by the towers. The Vatican denied there was any causal link, but cut back the transmissions. In the 1990s, at the height of the controversy over the radio towers, residents sued Vatican Radio officials, claiming the emissions exceeded the Italian legal limit, but the court cleared the transmitter. In 2012, the Vatican announced it was cutting in half the hours of transmission from the site, not because of health concerns but because of cost-saving technological advances in internet broadcasting. Pope Francis last year asked the Vatican to study developing the area into a vast solar farm, hoping to put into practice his preaching about the need to transition away from fossil fuels and find clean, carbon-neutral energy sources. Pope Leo XIV visited the site in June and affirmed that he intended to see Francis' vision through. Leo has strongly taken up Francis' ecological mantle, recently using a new set of prayers and readings inspired by Pope Francis' environmental legacy.
