Two issues that Pope Francis has prioritised in his papacy are climate change and the sustainability of the global economy. In fact, he sees the two as being so intricately linked as to be inseparable. This is illustrated in his encyclical, Praise Be: On care for our common home (Laudato Si’).

In a message to the diocese published on July 31, the bishop of Hong Kong, John Cardinal Tong Hon, said that the social teaching of the Church in recent years has given much importance to the active participation of the laity in public life.

The 31st World Youth Day is being held during the Jubilee of Mercy. It is taking place in Poland, the home of Pope John Paul II, the founder of the international Catholic festival.

This Sunday the closing Mass of the international Catholic gathering is being celebrated by Pope Francis, who is inviting people to renew the promises of their baptism and don a white robe on which is written the date of their baptism.

During this year’s Book Fair, the local diocese will host a display zone under the theme The 175th Anniversary of the Evangelisation of Hong Kong—170th Anniversary of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong.

No one would disagree that moral issues have become a great tension between the Church and the secular world. Controversial issues ranging from divorce to abortion, from anti-discrimination laws to same-sex marriage have left many Catholics perplexed and those who uphold the Church teaching wearied.

Nineteen years have slipped by since the handover of Hong Kong to China, but the city today is a vastly different place from what it was in 1997.

Complex social issues have left people with mixed feelings towards the handover, even though they do identify themselves as Hong Kong-Chinese, which is a unique cultural identity.

Although not the first to moot the idea, on June 5 Switzerland became the first country in the world to hold a national referendum on the introduction of an Unconditional Basic Income. It would ensure every citizen, simply because they exist, a substantial, life-time income, sufficient to ensure that they could live a decent life.

“Sport is a universal language that brings peoples closer and can contribute to facilitating encounter and overcoming conflicts. I therefore encourage sport to be experienced as a school of virtue in the complete growth of individuals and communities,” Pope Francis said on April 6, the United Nations International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

“Least we forget!” is a phrase invoked to honour the heroism of men and women from every nation on earth who have perished while bearing arms in the name of their homeland and to fix a record of their deeds firmly in the collective memory.

It is used at funerals of deceased soldiers and at national memorials, but without the question, “Lest we forget what?” it can be as much a washing of reason from the collective memory as a way of informing it.

“Least we forget!” is a phrase invoked to honour the heroism of men and women from every nation on earth who have perished while bearing arms in the name of their homeland and to fix a record of their deeds firmly in the collective memory.

It is used at funerals of deceased soldiers and at national memorials, but without the question, “Lest we forget what?” it can be as much a washing of reason from the collective memory as a way of informing it.