First, Ukraine was not a battleground where Russia and the West were hammering it out. Indeed, 99% of what was taking place on ‘the maidan', the central square in Kyiv, was based on issues internal to Ukraine.

Second, there was never the threat of civil war, as everyone living in Ukraine knew.

Unexpected developments seem to emerge on an almost-hourly basis, but in fact all the events are quite definable, the players well-known and the possibilities limited.

There are three separate moments in the current drama, each of which has its own dynamic.

The first and most important moment is the demonstration-turned-revolution on the maidan.

This protracted standoff between an honest, popular yearning and deceitful, corrupt government was understood from the outset as a spiritual, even apocalyptic, battle between good and evil. It was unimaginable without the youth and the Church.

The second follows the first and, while less dramatic, it is more complex: the creation of a style of government based on new values.

This work entails the definitive cleansing of the vestiges of Soviet-style governance and the establishment of what the West takes for granted: transparency, accountability, fair elections and basic justice.

The maidan now exercises a role of civic stewardship until such governance is in place.

The third moment is the illegal intervention of President Putin in Crimea, which is less an act of aggression than an act of fear.

It is not related to the maidan except as an opportunistic exploitation of it. Continue reading.

David Nazar SJ is Superior of the Jesuits in Ukraine.

Source: ThinkingFaith

Image: The Guardian

"Most of the Christians do not want the president," said Father Rafic Greiche, the spokesman for the Greek Melkite Catholic Church in Egypt. "We have to be clear about this."

"Most of the Christians have felt during this year that nothing of his promises toward the Christians has been implemented," Father Greiche told Vatican Radio.

"And it is very important to know that this year nearly every day we have a sectarian problem: Burning churches, deporting people, and this big attack on the Copt Orthodox cathedral that happened two months ago."

The Christians who joined the protests said discrimination and violence against minority faiths had increased since Morsi took office at the head of a political party was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Coptic Pope Tawadros II gave his view in a tweet: "It's wonderful to see the Egyptian people — through the idea of Tamarod and its youth — taking back their stolen revolution in a peaceful way."

Tamarod is the protest group that led the campaign against Morsi.

Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak said "a year from the election of President Mohammed Morsi, we see the country going backwards, instead of forwards".

Last year, representatives of all the Christian churches resigned at the same time from the Constituent Assembly as a gesture of protest against attempts by Islamist forces to impose a Muslim identity on the country.

During the latest demonstrations, President Morsi tried to persuade Pope Tawadros to tell Coptics not to protest. So did the American ambassador, Anne Patterson. Pope Tawadros told them his spiritual authority over the Copts did not extend to political matters.

According to the Middle East News Agency, leaders from Egypt's Muslim and Christian communities will now meet with military leaders and opposition figures to discuss an end to the current political crisis and pave the way forward for Egypt.

Sources:

Vatican Radio

Catholic Online

Vatican Insider

Image: Hindustan Times

Millions of Brazilians have taken part in protests over an increase in the cost of public transportation, the high costs of the 2014 World Cup, and government corruption.

Demonstrators have called for more investment in healthcare and education, rather than funding the soccer tournament.

In a statement to the media, the Brazilian bishops' conference declared "its solidarity and support to these demonstrations, as long as they are peaceful, and which have taken to the streets persons of all ages, especially the youth".

The bishops' statement said the demonstrations "show us that it is not possible to live in a country with such inequalities".

The statement did not mention the World Youth Day, but conference president Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida told reporters it was the government's responsibility to guarantee the safety of the pilgrims.

Earlier, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro said that the protests would not affect the youth event, nor the planned visit of Pope Francis.

He described the demonstrations as "in some ways similar to the spirit of WYD — the desire to work together for a new world, for a new life, a new society".

The archbishop said the local WYD planning committee continues "to focus on the safety of pilgrims as well as the general population during the event".

"I think that there will not be any safety issues, whether for the Pope or for those in attendance as we are studying everything down to the smallest details, to all of the minutiae," he said.

Archbishop Tempesta said he had spoken with Brazilian intelligence officials and they had guaranteed that the event would be safe.

Government officials estimated that nearly 1.2 million people participated in protests across the country June 20. The mayors of Brazilian cities, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, announced June 19 that they were revoking transportation tariff increases.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Catholic News Agency

Image: The Saratogian

"The situation is much more complex and difficult to assess than the media in the West make it out to be," Father Andrew Halemba, Middle East projects co-ordinator for Aid to the Church in Need, told Zenit.

"They seem to be ignoring that there are also internal power struggles and religious tensions between the different Muslim groups, tribal feuds and acts of vengeance are a daily occurrence, and crime is rising in the country due to the unstable situation.

"We are witnesses to vulgar falsehoods that brazenly and shamelessly inflate a small demonstration involving around 50 people into a major demonstration with hundreds or even thousands of persons," Father Halemba said.

"The photos are patched together from different pieces using image processing software in studios created especially for this purpose."

The Franciscans in Syria called on foreign powers to stop sending arms to the country after a reported 200 civilians were massacred in the village of Tremseh on July 12.

"It is a tragedy, the news is confusing, truth is the first victim," Father Romualdo Fernandez, director of the Ecumenical Centre of Tabbaleh, told the Vatican's Fides news agency.

"If foreign powers continue to arm and finance the warring parties, the war will continue and victims will increase."

Syria's 10% Christian minority, who have enjoyed protected status under President Assad, generally support his regime. They have also had peaceful relations with the various elements of the Muslim population.

But a Jesuit priest recently expelled from Syria, Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, said Christians seem to have traded civil rights and hopes for the country's improvement for a "controlled" religious freedom.

And last April the Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said the regime had no future and clerics who fervently defended Assad were wrong to do so.

Sources:

Zenit

Catholic News Agency

Vatican Radio

Vatican Insider

Image: Rubicon