Pope Francis departs Rome for Iraq on March 5, 2021. / Vatican Media.Vatican City, Jan 5, 2022 / 13:00 pm (CNA).As the new year begins amid a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in many parts of the world, Pope Francis has no official international trips confirmed for 2022. But he has expressed an interest in visiting several countries in the new year.At the age of 85, however, it is unlikely that the pope will resume the grueling travel schedule that characterized his pre-pandemic papacy. Pope Francis has already traveled to more than 50 countries during his almost nine-year pontificate, 11 of which he visited in 2019.After the outbreak of COVID-19 put his papal travel schedule on hold for more than a year, Francis made history as the first pope to visit Iraq when he resumed international travel in March 2021. This was followed by apostolic journeys to Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Budapest for the International Eucharistic Congress.However, there are still some canceled pap.
Podgorica confirmed: Patriarch Porfirije was endangered in Cetinje
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China s deal with Montenegro makes sense if you realize it s not about money
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China s deal with the tiny nation of Montenegro makes sense if you realize it s not about money
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PODGORICA, Montenegro The section of highway that threatens to cripple Montenegro’s economy begins in the foothills outside the capital Podgorica, where scaffolding lines a multi-lane expressway closed off to the public. The highway ends, for now, in the remote mountainous terrain east of the city.
The Chinese state-owned company hasn’t finished construction yet, so cars are using the old road underneath it. The highway hasn’t been paid for yet, either. The first installment of the $1 billion loan from a Chinese state bank is due in July, and it’s unclear whether Montenegro, whose debt has climbed to more than a 100% of its gross domestic product due to this project, will be able to afford it. What’s worse, says the country’s former Justice Minister Dragan Soc, once completed, the road won’t lead anywhere anyway. “We make a joke: It is a highway from nothing to nothing,” he says.