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Statue export ban hits at Pyongyang's soft power, hard cash
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- With somewhere around 4,000 artists and staff, the Mansudae Art Studio, a huge complex of nondescript concrete buildings on a sprawling, walled-off campus with armed guards in the heart of Pyongyang, churns out everything from watercolor tigers to mosaics so large they seem to depict a race from another, taller planet....
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null / Credit: ShutterstockCNA Newsroom, Apr 30, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).Florida's bishops are welcoming a new law that allows public schools in the state to have volunteer chaplains.The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents bishops in the state's seven dioceses on public policy matters, did not take a position on the bill while legislators debated it earlier this year."However, we recognize the good that chaplains can do in schools by helping students to address their spiritual and emotional needs. We are pleased that parents will determine the services their children will receive in districts that choose to establish chaplaincy programs," said Michelle Taylor, associate director of communications for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an email message to CNA on Tuesday.The measure, which takes effect July 1, requires public schools and charter schools that establish such a program to publish on their websites a list of volunteer school chaplains a...
Jimmy Lai at a Hong Kong protest / Courtesy of the Acton InstituteCNA Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 18:10 pm (CNA).An unnamed Hong Kong government spokesperson criticized a bill proposed by two U.S. congressmen that would rename the address of the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office in Washington, D.C. "Jimmy Lai Way," honoring a 75-year-old democracy advocate who has been incarcerated in Hong Kong since 2020.The spokesperson called on the U.S. to "stop maliciously interfering" in Hong Kong affairs, according to a Tuesday report by the Hong Kong Free Press.Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) proposed the bill last week. Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy businessman and convert to Catholicism, was arrested on several charges under the controversial national security law, which was passed by China's communist-controlled government in 2020. His newspaper, Apple Daily, published pro-democracy content and was often critical of the Chinese Communist Party. Rep. Chris Smi...
Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 24, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).On the occasion of its first general convention taking place in Rome this week, Pope Francis has addressed a message to the Regnum Christi Federation. In his message, the Holy Father encouraged the organization's membership to discern "how to make present in our days the mystery of Christ," in keeping with the particular vocation of each individual.The convention, the first to be held since the approval of the new statutes in 2019, is taking place after a long process of listening and purification that came in the wake of multiple abuses committed by various members, including the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the late Mexican priest Father Marcial Maciel.In the letter, sent to Father John Lane Connor, LC, president of the federation's general board of directors, the Holy Father asks "the ...
