Father Franco Mella, 74, a member of the Milan-based Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions, has vowed to abstain from food as he started his protest near the Shek Pik prison on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on 14 July amid sweltering summer heat, Reuters reported.

"The weather is so hot. So, they are suffering inside. And the message (is) we are with you, do not lose hope. Let us continue to fight for everybody's freedom," Mella said.

With temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s Fahrenheit, the task of abstaining from food has become even more challenging for the priest.

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• To provide safe and humane conditions for the asylum seekers
• Not to force the asylum seekers to return to their country if they are not safe
• To have a detailed policy on the resettlement of refugees in PNG.

Last month the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill told the ABC he believed most of the 1,035 asylum seekers at the Manus Regional Processing Centre were not genuine refugees, and would be sent home "within weeks".

He said talks were underway with Iran and Iraq to return the men home.

A 13-day hunger strike by the detainees in Manus was suspended on Monday 26 January after security personnel stormed the compounds where the detainees were on hunger strike.

The hunger strike was against the plan by the PNG government to resettle the genuine refugees to a new camp in Manus Island under the guise of releasing them into the community.

Source

• The Catholic Reporter
• Image: independent.co.uk

"To show my grief, I will, for three days and three nights, abstain from food, excepting water and Holy Communion", said the cardinal, who will be 80 in January.

The Chinese born-cardinal made clear, however, that the Catholic Church would "respect" and abide by the Court's ruling, and would not engage in civil disobedience. "Since we have no intention to surrender any school, civil disobedience is out of the question", he said.

Thee cardinal explained that the new policy introduced in 2004 "has seriously damaged" the Catholic Church's "right of running schools" and, moreover, "is against what is being granted in the Basic Law" - Hong Kong's Constitution.

The policy takes the management of schools away from sponsoring bodies, such as the Catholic Church, and gives it to an "Incorporated Management Committee".

Though the Church, can nominate 60% of the Management Committee, the cardinal and other Church leaders anticipate that a strong, well trained minority, adverse to Catholicism, could effectively hijack the Management Committee's work.

Under this new Ordinance, Zen said, "we would have no more, as in the past, the guarantee that we could run the schools according to our vision and mission".

Led by Zen, then bishop of Hong Kong, it decided to challenge the Ordinance in the courts and seek an exemption for its schools. After 6 years litigation, the Church lost that battle on with the Court of Final Appeal's ruling on October 3.

The Court's decision "is final", the cardinal told the press. Nevertheless, he hoped and prayed that with support "from Catholics and non-Catholic friends" the Church schools would still be able to provide "a truly Catholic education" to Hong Kong's young people.

Full story: Vatican Insider
Image: CNA