ASIA/CHINA - Lunar New Year as a sign of solidarity: Pope Francis and Bishop of Macerata send greetings

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "I extend my cordial greetings, and express the wish that in the New Year everyone may enjoy peace, health and a peaceful and secure life. How beautiful it is when families find opportunities to gather together and experience moments of love and joy!", said the Pope on the occasion of the Lunar New Year celebrated on February 1st throughout the Far East, after the prayer of the Angelus on Sunday January 30th. "Many families, unfortunately, will not be able to get together this year because of the pandemic", he continued. "I hope that we will soon be able to overcome this trial. Finally, I hope that, thanks to the good will of individuals and the solidarity of peoples, the entire human family will be able to achieve with renewed dynamism goals of material and spiritual prosperity". In a video message in Italian with Chinese translation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDl5EQHvAfo) by Monsignor Nazzareno Marconi, Bishop of the diocese of Macerata, place of origin of the great Jesuit missionary in China, Fr. Matteo Ricci, together with the Pope's message, made Chinese Catholics feel the warmth of universal brotherhood, especially in this umpteenth New Year with the restrictions linked to the pandemic. The good wishes shortly before the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing once again showed how alive Father Matteo Ricci's great testimony and the links he created between the Chinese people and the universal Church are.
Meanwhile, members of the Catholic community in China are visiting the elderly and lonely, the sick and families in financial difficulties to mark the Lunar New Year. Particular attention is given to the promotion of vocations, with a focus on the parents of priests and religious and seminarians. The faithful of the Diocese of Zhouzhi in Shaanxi Province, led by Diocesan Bishop Joseph Wu Qinjing, visited more than 40 families of diocesan priests and thanked them for their generous accompaniment and support of the priesthood. In addition to material help, the Catholic Church also provides spiritual support for the faithful, especially on New Year's Day. In Inner Mongolia, priests brought the sacraments of confession, communion and anointing of the sick to the needy, and priests from Jiangxi went to the most remote mountain communities. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides, 1/2/2022)

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