A missionary in China recounts how the mutual washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, during the Easter Triduum, made him realize more deeply the power of Christ’s love that defeated the darkness of evil.

In a recently held conference at the European Parliament in Brussels on the theme “Religious Freedom in China” participants spoke and shared their witnesses on the continuous persecution of all religions in the world’s most populous country.

Border gates, being meeting points of people passing by, represent kaleidoscopes through which the complexity of reality and the diversity of humanity can be perceived. Border gates are exactly the symbols of where the Church should stand in order to listen to the youth.

The bonds we create among ourselves are built many times to create dependencies and curtail the other person’s freedom. Yet, all the actions of reaching out to others to build meaningful relationships need to respect the autonomy of the other.