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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Euronews
8 hours 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.
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Are there more mosques than churches in Catalonia?
Claims on social media allege that the autonomous community of Catalonia in northeastern Spain is now home to more mosques than churches. A picture, which appears in posts on X and Instagram, among others, also says that 120 Catalan schools "teach Islam". The Catalan government's website features an official Religious Map of the region, which tracks established places of worship across various religions that hold services at least once a year. As of 2024, the most recent dataset, the Catalan government counts 7,260 places of worship throughout its territory, corresponding to 14 main religious denominations and some smaller denominations grouped into the "Other" category. The data show that Catholic churches are by far the most common type of religious centre in Catalonia, accounting for 5,665, or 78% of the total. However, these are declining due to the ageing population and certain parishes joining forces. Evangelical or protestant churches come in second place with 889 places of worship. The government notes that this is the denomination which has grown the most by places of worship since it started tracking the data. Islam, including mosques, is in third place with 326 religious centres, meaning that, no, there aren't more mosques than churches in Catalonia, and the social media posts claiming the contrary appear to want to spread an Islamophobic narrative. The Catalan government does, however, also note a "sustained growth" in Islam since the 1970s based on the number of places of worship. The social media posts sharing the image suggest that the claims originate from Spanish news outlet EDATV News, which describes itself as an independent media outlet pushing back against "political correctness, ideological censorship and cancel culture". However, the exact claim about mosques and churches doesn't quite appear in any of its articles. Instead, a search of its website takes us to an article about the supposed "Islamisation" of Catalonia. It contains a similar quote attributed to Júlia Calvet, a politician from the far-right Vox party. She says that there are Catalan municipalities with more mosques than churches, such as the municipality of Salt in the province of Girona. Referring back to the official government figures, while Salt does have more mosques than Catholic churches, combining churches from different denominations puts churches on top again. Calvet also reportedly refers to some 120 schools teaching students an Arabic language and Moroccan culture course, which alludes back to the "120 schools teaching Islam" claim in the social media picture. The programme does exist as per an agreement between Spain and Morocco. It aims to teach Arabic and Moroccan culture to both Moroccan and non-Moroccan primary and secondary school pupils in Spain. It's coordinated by the Moroccan embassy in Spain and the Spanish education ministry, and managed by the autonomous communities, according to the agreement. The programme is taught by Moroccan civil service teachers. The agreement underlines that the programme will teach Moroccan students to safeguard their identity while also respecting Spanish culture, encouraging tolerance and participation in Spanish society. The Spanish news agency Europa Press reported earlier this year that 120 public education centres in Catalonia would teach the course between 2024 and 2025, citing government figures. However, this is a language and culture class, not an "Islam" class as the social media posts claim. What about Spain in general? The numbers for the whole of Spain tell a similar story when it comes to centres of worship. Research published by the Observatory of Religious Pluralism in Spain in October 2024 puts the total number of places of worship in the country at 30,949. Catholic churches account for 22,933 of them, or 74% of the total number, with evangelical churches coming in at 4,455 and 1,839 for Islam. Catalonia is the autonomous community with the most places of worship in the country, followed by Andalusia and then Madrid.
LeMonde
20-07-2025
- LeMonde
Pope urges immediate end to 'barbarity' of Gaza war
Pope Leo XIV slammed the "barbarity" of the war in Gaza on Sunday and urged against the "indiscriminate use of force," just days after a deadly strike by Israel's military on a Catholic church. "I once again ask for an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict," Leo said at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome. The pope, who spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the morning after Thursday's strike, spoke of his "deep sorrow" for the attack on the Holy Family Church. The church was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and including dozens of people with special needs. Israel expressed "deep sorrow" over the damage and civilian casualties, adding that the military was investigating the strike. "This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza," Leo said on Sunday. "I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations," he added. The Israeli military on Sunday issued an evacuation order for Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, warning of imminent action against Hamas militants. Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22 nd month. The pope also expressed his "sympathy" for the plight of "beloved Middle Eastern Christians" and their "sense of being able to do little in the face of this dramatic situation."
