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Pope Francis has elected 21 new cardinals to help reform the Catholic Church, leaning heavily on diversity just days ahead of a meeting where he will outline plans for its future and discuss controversial issues such as LGBTQ+ followers, women’s roles in the church and celibacy.
The new “princes of the church,” including Chicago-born Robert Prevost — were inducted Saturday by the 86-year-old pontiff in St. Peter’s Square.
In his instructions to the new cardinals, Pope Francis said their variety and geographic diversity would serve the church like musicians in an orchestra, who sometimes play solos while performing as part of an ensemble other times.
“Diversity is necessary; it is indispensable. However, each sound must contribute to the common design,” he said.
“This is why mutual listening is essential: each musician must listen to the others.”
Each new cardinal took an oath to obey the pope, remain faithful to Christ and serve the church. The pontiff reminded them that they were wearing red as a sign that they must be strong “even to the shedding of blood” to spread the faith.
Pope Francis has elected 21 new cardinals to help reform the Catholic Church, leaning heavily on diversity.
The new cardinals hail from the US, France, Italy, Argentina, Switzerland, South Africa, Spain, Colombia, South Sudan — the nation’s first — Hong Kong, Poland, Malaysia, Tanzania, Venezuela and Portugal.
The ceremony was not without controversy, as the appointment of Victor Manuel Fernandez, the new head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, was met with outrage.
The man known as the “pope’s theologian” admitted to making mistakes with his handling of a 2019 case regarding a priest accused of sexually abusing minors in Argentina, when he was a bishop there.
One survivor urged Pope Francis to rescind Fernandez’s nomination during a rally near the Vatican Friday.
Each new cardinal took an oath to obey the pope, remain faithful to Christ and serve the church. The pontiff reminded them that they were wearing red as a sign that they must be strong “even to the shedding of blood” to spread the faith.REUTERS
“No bishop who has covered up child sex crimes and ignored and dismissed victims of clergy abuse in his diocese should be running the office that oversees, investigates, and prosecutes clergy sex offenders from around the world, or be made a cardinal,” Julieta Añazco said according to a statement from the End Clergy Abuse.
Pope Francis said Fernandez would not deal with sexual assault cases as a cardinal. When he named him prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, he said he wanted Fernandez to oversee a radical break from the past, adding the former Holy Office often resorted to “immoral methods” to enforce its will.
Prevost, who is now responsible for vetting bishop candidates around the globe, has also faced criticism. While Augustinian superior in the US, he allowed sexual abuser Fr. James Ray to reside near a Catholic elementary school in 2000.
The now-cardinals seen before the ceremony. AP
Almost 100 of the 137 cardinals are under the age of 80, meaning they will be eligible to vote on Pope Francis’ successor. Europe still has the most voting-age cardinals with 52, followed by the Americas with 39 and Asia with 24.
The promotions of Prevost and French Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the pope’s ambassador in Washington, DC, signal Pope Francis is eyeing a balance-of-power shift in the US, where conservative bishops are outspoken critics of his reforms. The two will nominate new bishop candidates and oversee investigations into current ones.
“I think I do have some insights into the church in the United States,” Prevost said after the ceremony. “So the need to be able to advise, work with Pope Francis and to look at the challenges that the church in the United States is facing, I hope to be able to respond to them with a healthy dialogue.”
Pope Francis will host a synod between Oct. 4 to 29 to discuss women’s roles in the church, the LGBTQ+ church community and priestly celibacy with bishops and lay members. A second will take place next year.
Several new cardinals are voting members of the synod and have clearly stated they agree with Pope Francis’ vision for the church.
Almost 100 of the 137 cardinals are under the age of 80, meaning they will be eligible to vote on his successor.
Europe still has the most voting-age cardinals with 52, followed by the Americas with 39 and Asia with 24.
With Post wires
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The Islamabad-based independent Center for Research and Security Studies, or CRSS, published the report a day after suicide bombings and insurgent raids in southwestern Baluchistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces killed at least 69 people. No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s deadly violence.
The report noted that the number of fatalities from terrorist attacks this year has increased by 19 percent compared to 2022, with the two Pakistani provinces bordering Afghanistan suffering 92% of all fatalities.
“Pakistan’s security forces lost at least 386 personnel, 36% of all fatalities — including 137 army and 208 police personnel — in the first nine months of 2023, marking an eight-year high,” the CRSS said.
The report said 33 paramilitary forces, supervised by the army, also were among the fatalities.
The military, however, has confirmed the death of 214 of its soldiers and officers so far this year in counterterrorism operations and insurgent attacks, according to data compiled by VOA from official statements by the army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations.
Deadly day
Friday’s attacks marked one of the deadliest days Pakistan has had in recent months. Most of the casualties occurred in Mastung, a volatile Baluchistan district, where a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of devotees marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
The powerful blast killed 59 people and injured dozens more. The rest of the deadly violence took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, targeting security forces.
The outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, the regional branch of the Islamic State terrorist group, known as the Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, and separatist Baluch insurgents often claim or are blamed for the violence in Pakistan.
TTP claims many attacks
The TTP, a globally designated terrorist group, has primarily claimed recent attacks in Pakistan, targeting soldiers and police personnel. The group operates out of Afghanistan and has intensified attacks since the Taliban reclaimed control of the war-shattered neighboring country two years ago, according to Pakistani officials.
Commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, the TTP is an offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban. However, de facto Afghan rulers maintain they do not allow anyone to threaten Pakistan or other countries from their soil.
Islamabad has lately stepped-up diplomatic pressure on Kabul to prevent the TTP from staging cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghan sanctuaries.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani confirmed that Taliban authorities had arrested 200 TTP militants in Afghanistan for launching attacks against Pakistan. The Afghan side has so far not challenged the claims.
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The House has passed a deal to fund every aspect of the government for the next 45 days except Ukraine. This legislation will now go to the Senate. We’ll see what the Senate does with it. But my understanding is they can pass this deal and then do Ukraine funding separately.
I suspect the House sedition caucus just wants to be able to say to their idiot supporters that they ended Ukraine funding. It doesn’t matter if ends up being true or not. Their idiot supporters won’t know the difference. If this is the hollow “victory” they want, and we can fund Ukraine separately, then it’s a huge win for us and we’ll take it.
But remember when I said all along that there was probably no greater than a 30% chance of a shutdown, even as everyone on MSNBC and Twitter was insisting a shutdown was inevitable? Stop listening to these types. They’re always just “predicting” whatever they think will keep you tuned in, not what they think will actually happen – and that kind of thing is never worth listening to. Anyone can make an honestly wrong prediction. But the folks who insisted a shutdown was “inevitable” we’re getting it wrong on purpose.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill on Saturday with overwhelming Democratic support after Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed down from an earlier demand by party hardliners for a partisan bill.
Time remained short to avoid the federal government’s fourth partial shutdown in a decade, which will begin at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) on Sunday unless the Democratic-majority Senate passes the bill and President Joe Biden signs it into law in time.
McCarthy abandoned party hardliners’ earlier insistence that any bill pass the chamber with only Republican votes, a change that could cause one of his far-right members to try to oust him from his leadership role.
The House voted 335-91 to fund the government for another 45 days, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it. The measure would extend government funding by 45 days if it passes the Democratic-majority Senate and is signed into law by Democratic President Joe Biden.
The move marked a profound shift from earlier in the week, when a shutdown looked all but inevitable.
Some 209 Democrats supported the bill, far more than the 126 Republicans who did so, and Democrats described the result as a win.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans have lost, the American people have won,” top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries told reporters ahead of the vote.
Democratic Representative Don Beyer said: “I am relieved that Speaker McCarthy folded and finally allowed a bipartisan vote at the eleventh hour on legislation to stop Republicans’ rush to a disastrous shutdown.”
McCarthy’s shift won the support of top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, who previously had backed a similar measure that was moving through the Senate with broad bipartisan support, even though the House version dropped aid for Ukraine.
“Under these circumstances, I’m recommending a ‘no’ vote, even though I very much want to avoid a government shutdown,” McConnell said.
The two bills are very similar, with the House version providing another 45 days of funding for the federal government – enough to last through mid-November – but not providing additional funds to help Ukraine fight off a Russian invasion.
McCarthy dismissed concerns that hardline Republicans could try to oust him as leader.
“I want to be the adult in the room, go ahead and try,” McCarthy told reporters. “And you know what? If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that.”
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Donald Trump did everything he could to try to stall or delay New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against him, but none of those “stall tactics” actually stalled anything. The verdict has already come down, and now the trial is starting next week to determine the size of the financial penalties.
Michael Cohen was instrumental in unearthing Trump’s financial fraud to begin with, and he’s now set to testify as a witness in next week’s trial. This week the courts shot down Trump’s last ditch bid to delay the start of the trial and now it’s locked in to start on Monday, October 2nd. Cohen celebrated this news, tweeting that “The Day Of Accountability for Donald is quickly approaching.”
It’s important to note that none of Donald Trump’s attempted stall tactics are working. He hasn’t been able to delay any of his criminal trials by even a single day. He wasn’t able to delay the E. Jean Carroll civil trial. And now he’s failed to delay his civil fraud trial. Trump is completely powerless to stop, or even slow down, what’s happening to him.
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