Speaking to a group of newly appointed bishops from missionary territories, Pope Francis said: “Division is the weapon the devil employs most to destroy the Church from within. He has two weapons, but the main one is division: the other is money.

“The devil enters through our pockets and destroys with the tongue, with idle chatter that divides, and the habit of gossiping is a habit of ‘terrorism’. The gossip is a ‘terrorist’ who throws a grenade – chatter – in order to destroy.

“Please, fight against division, because it is one of the weapons that the devil uses to destroy the local Church and the universal Church. In particular, differences due to the presence of different ethnic groups in the same territory must not penetrate into the Christian communities to the point of prevailing over their own good.

Star Trek praised by Vatican

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s newspaper, commemorated Star Trek’s 50th anniversary by praising the popular series for the model of peace, tolerance and cooperation propagated by its contents. The show aired its first episode on September 8, 1966, when the Cold War between West and East raged on.

While division reigned on Earth, the paper said that Captain James Kirk and his faithful crew travelled to distant galaxies and discovered new civilisations “in order to propose peaceful relations [built] on a foundation of equality”.

The series was very innovative also because it introduced an alien, an African-American woman and a Japanese man as part of the crew of the starship Enterprise.

L’Osservatore Romano said the show represents a “totally human star voyage in search of new ways of understanding one another. A voyage that is always needed”.

President writes to bishops

President Andrzej Duda of Poland wrote to the head of the Catholic Church in England, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and to the head of the Anglican community, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, entreating for a “constructive effort” from Church communities and local parishes to “alleviate the adverse consequences of intolerance and xenophobia, including what appears to be a clear instance of aversion and animosity toward Poles”. Information about this letter was given by The Guardian newspaper.

Several cases of attacks on foreigners were registered in Britain after the Brexit referendum. In his letter, the President argues that Poles living in the UK work “strenuously” and are contributing to the good of the British economy and society.

Chinese arrest bishop

AsiaNews, the Rome-based missionary news agency, said police have arrested Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin and took him out of the diocese in early September. Local faithful say it is to prevent him from taking possession of the diocese after the death of Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang.

AsiaNews reported that the government is opposed to Bishop Shao. Only 400 people have been given permission by the local Chinese police to attend Bishop Zhu’s funeral.

Bishop Zhu was imprisoned in a labour camp for 16 years during the Cultural Revolution and was again imprisoned from 1982 to 1988.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)

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