“Tourists and Rome residents were expecting navigation for the year to resume at Easter. But we didn’t open out of respect for them,” said Mauro Pica Villa from “Rome Boats”, the company in charge of all cruises on the river.
“We’re ashamed of the Tiber’s state of abandonment,” he told AFP on Thursday.
The river’s tall stone embankments have become grey with pollution, the river banks are strewn with rubbish and homeless people live under the bridges.
“The last time the river was cleaned up was in 2008! Everyone can see it since trees along the Tiber are covered in plastic bags and other rubbish every time the river overflows,” which happens several times in a year, he said.
We Americans like our movie heroes: Tough, free thinking, adaptive, willing to defy authority to save the people. The problem is, no one ever acts like that in real life. Cheering Arnie or Chuck or Sly is a long, long way from doing something heroic yourself – and the current batch of Americans are not so big on that. (Nor are Europeans, or most others.)
One of the great Roman writers called the Romans a “royal, rebellious race.” Likewise Americans – especially in the West, had a real tradition of unflinching individualism. But, as in Rome, American virtue has been lost, while stories of the virtue remain.
21st Century Westerners obey. They do as they are told. They feel free to complain, but they never stop obeying.
You know the script that people try to follow: Do well in school, rebel a little, wear the new shoes/jeans/accessories, with the popular logos, get a university degree (take student loans to do so), get a job at a big firm with great benefits, buy a house, vote, send your kids to daycare, watch TV, and so on.
The problem is that the “Obedience Script” isn’t working out very well. Please consider these recent reports:
In 2010, the average teen in the U.S. was taking 1.2 central nervous system drugs. Those are the kinds of drugs which treat conditions such as ADHD and depression.
There are many more statistics I could add, including some pretty horrifying stats on obesity, huge percentages of people living on government checks (on both sides of the Atlantic), and astronomical government debts being laid upon generations yet unborn.
The script isn’t working out very well, no matter how much it is shown on TV. You have to wonder how much pain it will take before people will decide to give it up.
[Editor's Note: Paul Rosenberg is the author of FreemansPerspective.com, a collection of insights on topics ranging from Internet privacy to economic freedom, the purpose of life to alternative currencies. Join our free e-letter list to receive other articles like this one... and immediately get a report that explains in a unique way how the US Government got into the mess it's in, the dangers that creates for us, and how to protect ourselves from it.]
Why Government Should Be The First Suspect In Any Terror Attack
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon attack, with authorities struggling to retain a coherent official narrative in the face of photos which show numerous unidentified identically dressed men wearing black backpacks at the scene of the blast, it’s necessary to revisit the evidence of why government should be the very first suspect in the event of any terrorist atrocity.
False flag terrorism – attacks manufactured or provocateured by governments and then blamed on other groups – is a tactic that stretches back almost 2,000 years.
Nero and the Great Fire of Rome
The Roman consul and historian Cassius Dio, his contemporary Suetonius and others say the Emperor Nero was responsible for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.
Legend claims Nero had one-third of the city torched as an excuse to build Domus Aurea, a 300 acre palatial complex that included a towering statue of himself, the Colossus of Nero.
Prior to the fire, the Roman Senate had rejected the emperor’s bid to level a third of the city to make way for a ‘Neropolis,’ an urban renewal project.
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that when the population of Rome held Nero responsible for the fire, he shifted blame on the Christians for ‘hating the human race’ and starting the fire.
The Spanish American War: Remember the Maine
By the late 1800s, the United States was looking for an excuse to kick Spain out of Cuba. U.S. business was heavily invested in sugar, tobacco and iron on the Caribbean island.
The U.S.S. Maine was sent to Havana in January of 1898 to protect these business interests after a local insurrection broke out. Three weeks later, early on the morning of February 15, an explosion destroyed the forward third of the ship anchored in Havana’s harbor, killing more than 270 American sailors.
President McKinley blamed Spain after the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry declared that a naval mine caused the explosion.
A number of historians and researchers later argued that the ship was blown up by the United States to provide a false flag pretext to invade Cuba and expel Spain.
The United States occupied Cuba from 1898 until 1902, although an amendment to a joint resolution of Congress forbid the U.S. to annex the country.
Wilson’s Pretext for War: The Sinking of the Lusitania
Nearly two thousand travelers, including one hundred Americans, were killed on May 7, 1915, when a German U-boat torpedoed the RMS Lusitania, a luxury Cunard Line British ocean liner.
Prior to the sinking, the German embassy in Washington issued a warning. Newspapers in the United States refused to print the warning or acknowledge the German claim that the ship carried munitions.
Wilson’s government issued a flurry of diplomatic protests after the sinking and exploited the tragedy two years later as a pretext for America to enter the First World War.
“There were literally tons and tons of stuff stored in unrefrigerated cargo holds that were dubiously marked cheese, butter and oysters,” Gregg Bemis, an American businessman who owns the rights to the wreck and is funding its exploration, told The Daily Mail.
Hitler’s Fascist Dictatorship: The Reichstag Fire
In February of 1933, a month after convincing Germany’s president that parliament must be eliminated, Hitler and the Nazis instigated the Reichstag fire.
Hitler then urged president Hindenburg to issue an emergency decree restricting personal liberty, including the right to free expression and a free press, limitations on the rights of association and assembly, warrantless searches of homes, property confiscation, and violations of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
The Nazis used the decree to crack down on their political opponents . They worked behind the scenes to force through the Enabling Act, which legally allowed Hitler to obtain plenary powers and establish a dictatorship.
Gestapo Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring would admit that, “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
Prelude to World War: The Gleiwitz Incident
Six years after the Reichstag Fire, the Nazis staged the Gleiwitz incident. Nazi commandos raided a German radio station in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany. The raid was part of Operation Himmler, a series of operations undertaken by the SS as Hitler set the stage for the invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War.
SS operatives dressed in Polish uniforms attacked the radio station, broadcast an anti-German message in Polish, and left behind the body of a German Silesian known for sympathizing with the Poles. The corpse was then offered to the press as evidence that the Poles had attacked the radio station.
Israeli False Flag Terror: The Lavon Affair
In 1954, the Israelis activated a terrorist cell in response to the United States making friends with the Egyptian government and its pan-Arab leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Israelis were worried Nasser would nationalize the Suez Canal and continue Egypt’s blockade of Israeli shipping through the canal.
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion decided a false flag terrorist attack on American interests in Egypt would sour the new relationship. He recruited and dispatched a terror cell that pretended to be Egyptian terrorists.
The plan, however, contained a fatal flaw. Israel’s top secret cell, Unit 131, was infiltrated by Egyptian intelligence. After a member of the cell was arrested and interrogated, he revealed the plot and this led to more arrests. Israeli agents were subjected to a public trial revealing details of the plan to firebomb the U.S. Information Agency’s libraries, a British-owned Metro-Goldwyn Mayer theatre, a railway terminal, the central post office, and other targets.
In order to deflect blame, the Israeli government tried to frame its own Defense Minister, Pinhas Lavon, but the true nature of the plot was eventually made public.
The plan included shooting down hijacked American airplanes, the sinking of U.S. ships, and the shooting of Americans on the streets of Washington, D.C. The outrageous plan even included a staged NASA disaster that would claim the life of astronaut John Glenn.
Reeling under the embarrassing failure of the CIA’s botched Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, president Kennedy rejected the plan in March of 1962. A few months later, Kennedy denied the plan’s author, General Lyman Lemnitzer, a second term as the nation’s highest ranking military officer.
In November of 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
According to Reuters, the United States said on Thursday it would for the first time give non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels, describing the aid as a way to bolster the rebels’ popular support.
The assistance will include medical supplies, food for rebel fighters, and $60 million to help the civil opposition provide basic services like security, education, and sanitation.
“What does it mean when the U.S. government allocates $60 million for assistance to opposition groups that kill the people under the pretext of non-military aid?,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said at a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran.
The U.S. and the European Union are seeking transfer of power in Syria through providing support for opposition forces, Muallem said, adding, “This shows their double standards. We are ready and are waiting for anyone who seeks a political solution and welcome them with open arms. We welcome the United States and others if they seek a political solution. We are aware that the United States is important and has an important role, and if it wants, the violence will be stopped.”
He also said that pressure should be exerted on Turkey and Qatar to withdraw their support for opposition groups.
In addition, the Iranian foreign minister commented on the U.S. decision and said, “The use of double standards will prolong the crisis in the country.”
“Anyone who prevents national dialogue in Syria will be responsible for the blood of the people,” Salehi added.
Salehi also said that Iran would regard Bashar al-Assad as the legal president of Syria until the 2014 presidential election.
A Syrian teen watches as Aleppo residents walk through the rubble left by a terrorist attack. (File photo)
Fri Mar 1, 2013 2:55PM GMT
Russia has said that decisions made in the Rome meeting to increase aid to foreign-backed militants in Syria only encourage extremists who want to seize power by force.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said on Friday that the promises of aid to the Syrian opposition made by the US and other countries in the meeting of the so-called “Friends of Syria” in Rome will encourage further violence rather than a negotiated solution.
“The decisions taken in Rome…directly encourage extremists towards precisely a violent seizure of power, despite the suffering of ordinary Syrians,” Lukashevich said.
Lukashevich’s remarks came a day after “Friends of Syria” group decided to increase political and material support for the foreign-backed militants operating in Syria after a meeting in the Italian capital.
US Secretary of State John Kerry promised an additional USD60 million in aid to the opposition Syrian National Coalition headed by Moaz al-Khatib.
Kerry also said the Washington would provide direct support to militant forces in the form of medical and food supplies.
The US secretary of state said the decision was aimed at increasing the pressure on Syrian President Assad to step down .
After the meeting, the European Union also announced changes to its arms embargo on Syria, allowing EU states to provide armored vehicles and technical aid to the militants fighting against the Syrian government.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, at the Friends of Syria conference in Rome. Photograph: Marco Ravagli/Barcroft Media
Syria‘s opposition has won fresh financial and material support from the US but its demands for weapons to fight Bashar al-Assad were ignored in favour of calls for a “political solution” to end the crisis.
John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, announced at a conference in Rome on Thursday that $60m (£45m) in “non-lethal” assistance would go to the western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) while food and medical supplies would – for the first time – go directly to the opposition’s supreme military council, attempting to co-ordinate strategy by the Free Syrian Army and other units.
“Assad cannot shoot his way out of this,” Kerry said after a meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People group. “And as he deludes himself on a military solution, [we] make a different choice. Our choice is a political solution.”
But Moaz al-Khatib, the president of the SNC, protested openly at what he called “an international decision to prevent arming Syrian rebels with quality arms.”
Rumours that the US might supply body armour, military vehicles or communications equipment or training did not materialise. It is now public knowledge that Barack Obama blocked a proposal by the CIA and Pentagon to arm the rebels last year.
Khatib, a former imam of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, also scorned western concerns about the increasing prominence of fundamentalist or jihadi groups in the anti-Assad camp. “Plenty of people focus more on the length of a fighter’s beard than on the scope of the regime’s massacres,” he complained.
Last December the US declared Jabhat al-Nusra, a fighting group with jihadi/al-Qaida links, a terrorist organisation.
Khatib, who caused controversy recently when he called publicly for negotiations for an end to the Assad regime, insisted again that it had to go and its security agencies had to be dismantled.
“Bashar al-Assad, you have to behave as a human being for once in your life,” he urged. “Enough killing, enough slaughtering, enough arresting. Bashar, you need to make one reasonable decision in your lifetime to save this country.”
Pope’s sudden resignation sends shockwaves through Church
By Philip Pullella | Reuters – Mon, Feb 11, 2013
Pope: “My strengths … are no longer suited”Reuters Videos 1:10Pope Benedict surprises the world and his own aides by announcing his resignation. Rough Cut (no reporter …
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church on Monday when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on.
Church officials tried to relay a climate of calm confidence in the running of a 2,000-year-old institution, but the decision could lead to uncertainty in a Church already besieged by scandal for covering up sexual abuse of children by priests.
The soft-spoken German, who always maintained that he never wanted to be pope, was an uncompromising conservative on social and theological issues, fighting what he regarded as the increasing secularization of society.
It remains to be seen whether his successor will continue such battles or do more to bend with the times.
Despite his firm opposition to tolerance of homosexual acts, his eight year reign saw gay marriage accepted in many countries. He has staunchly resisted allowing women to be ordained as priests, and opposed embryonic stem cell research, although he retreated slightly from the position that condoms could never be used to fight AIDS.
He repeatedly apologized for the Church’s failure to root out child abuse by priests, but critics said he did too little and the efforts failed to stop a rapid decline in Church attendance in the West, especially in his native Europe.
In addition to child sexual abuse crises, his papacy saw the Church rocked by Muslim anger after he compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. During a scandal over the Church’s business dealings, his butler was accused of leaking his private papers.
In an announcement read to cardinals in Latin, the universal language of the Church, the 85-year-old said: “Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St Peter …
“As from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours (1900 GMT) the See of Rome, the See of St. Peter will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.”
POPE DOESN’T FEAR SCHISM
Benedict is expected to go into isolation for at least a while after his resignation. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Benedict did not intend to influence the decision of the cardinals in a secret conclave to elect a successor.
A new leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics could be elected as soon as Palm Sunday, on March 24, and be ready to take over by Easter a week later, Lombardi said.
Several popes in the past, including Benedict’s predecessor John Paul, have refrained from stepping down over their health, because of the division that could be caused by having an “ex-pope” and a reigning pope alive at the same time.
Lombardi said the pope did not fear a possible “schism”, with Catholics owing allegiances to a past and present pope in case of differences on Church teachings.
He indicated the complex machinery of the process to elect a new pope would move quickly because the Vatican would not have to wait until after the elaborate funeral services for a pope.
It is not clear if Benedict will have a public life after he resigns. Lombardi said Benedict would first go to the papal summer residence south of Rome and then move into a cloistered convent inside the Vatican walls.
The resignation means that cardinals from around the world will begin arriving in Rome in March and after preliminary meetings, lock themselves in a secret conclave and elect the new pope from among themselves in votes in the Sistine Chapel.
There has been growing pressure on the Church for it to choose a pope from the developing world to better reflect where most Catholics live and where the Church is growing.
“It could be time for a black pope, or a yellow one, or a red one, or a Latin American,” said Guatemala’s Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales.
The cardinals may also want a younger man. John Paul was 58 when he was elected in 1978. Benedict was 20 years older.
“We have had two intellectuals in a row, two academics, perhaps it is time for a diplomat,” said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “Rather than electing the smartest man in the room, they should elect the man who will listen to all the other smart people in the Church.”
Liberals have already begun calling for a pope that would be more open to reform.
“The current system remains an ‘old boy’s club’ and does not allow for women’s voices to participate in the decision of the next leader of our Church,” said the Women’s Ordination Conference, a group that wants women to be able to be priests.
Now that Pope Benedict XVI has resigned, the speculation about his successor is already heating up. What follows is a short list of those who have been mentioned as possible candidates.
Two candidates from Italy are prominently mentioned, because Italians are abundant in the College of Cardinals: Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican’s culture office. Scola’s Milan archdiocese is considered the most important in Italy, and he is known as a serious intellectual. Ravasi is also an intellectual; he is a scholar of Hegel and Nietzsche and his “Courtyard of the Gentiles” project, which engages in dialogue with artists, scientists, and even atheists, has gained acclaim. It doesn’t hurt his cause that Benedict chose him to lead the Vatican’s spiritual exercises during Lent.
Looking outside Italy, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of South Africa noted, “I think we would have a better chance of getting someone outside of the Northern hemisphere this time, because there are some really promising cardinals from other parts of the world.”
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who is only 56 and may be considered too young, Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, the 63-year-old archbishop of Sao Paulo, and Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 69, who spoke for Pope John Paul II when Parkinson’s disease left him silent, are all candidates.
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana, who would be the first black Pope, has been mentioned, too, although he has made statements that veered away from orthodoxy.
From North America, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Canadian Cardinal Marc Oeullet are the leading candidates. Oeullet has headed the Vatican’s office for bishops.
If the Catholic Church looks outside of Europe for a successor, it would have demographic support. In 1900, two-thirds of Catholics lived in Europe, but today, two-thirds live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan, was born on 7 November 1941 at Malgrate, Milan. He was ordained on 18 July 1970 and holds doctorates in theology and philosophy.Cardinal Scola was actively involved in the Communion and Liberation Movement before becoming assistant researcher in philosophy and then assistant professor of moral theology at the University of Fribourg. In 1982 he was appointed professor of theological anthropology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, and taught contemporary Christology at the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome. On 21 September 1991, he was ordained Bishop of Grosseto, subsequent to his appointment on 20 July.
The Holy Father appointed him Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University and President of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in 1995.
On 5 January 2002 the Pope appointed him Patriarch of Venice. He served as President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Triveneta region.
Relator general of the 11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church (October 2005).
On 28 June 2011 he was appointed Archbishop of Milan.
On 11 October 2011 he was elected President of the Bishops’ Conference of Lombardy (Italy).
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the Consistory of 21 October 2003, of the Title of Ss. XII Apostoli (Twelve Holy Apostles).
Member of:
Congregations: for the Doctrine of the Faith; for the Clergy; for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for the Oriental Churches;
Pontifical Councils: for the Family; for the Laity; for Culture; for Promoting New Evangelization;
Council of Cardinals for Study of Organizational and Economic Affairs of the Holy See.
…
College of Cardinals
Biographical notes
[Updated: 04.11.2012]
Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press, for the exclusive use of accredited journalists.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and President of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology, was born in Merate, Italy on 18 October 1942. He was ordained a priest of the archdiocese of Milan on 28 June 1966 and studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.He taught the Old Testament at the theological faculty of northern Italy. From 1989 to 2007 he served as prefect of the Ambrosian Library in Milan.
He has written may books, articles for L’Osservatore Romano and L’Avvenire and hosts the television show Frontiers of the Spirit.
On 3 September 2007 he was appointed titular Archbishop of Villamagna in Proconsolari and president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and president of the Pontifical Commissions for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and for Sacred Archeology (in November 2012 the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage was absorbed into the Pontifical Council for Culture),
He was consecrated on 29 September 2007.
Since March 2012 he is president of the cultural association Casa di Dante in Rome, dedicated to making the works of Dante known throughout Italy and abroad.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 20 November 2010, of the Deaconry of San Giorgio in Velabro (Saint George in Velabro).
Member of:
Congregation for Catholic Education;
Pontifical Councils: for Inter-religious Dialogue; for Promoting New Evangelization.
…
College of Cardinals
Biographical notes
[Updated: 26.10.2012]
Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press, for the exclusive use of accredited journalists.
Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, O.F.M., Archbishop of Durban, South Africa, Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of Umzimkulu, was born on 8 March 1941 in Swartberg, South Africa. He was ordained for the Franciscans on 25 July 1970 following philosophical and theological studies at the Catholic University of Louvain.After learning Xhosa, he worked in the parish of Lusikisiki and did pastoral work in Tabankulu. In 1978 he was named Apostolic Administrator of Kokstad and appointed Bishop of the same see on 29 November 1980, receiving episcopal ordination on 28 February 1981. During the turbulent changes that marked the South African political scene, he was deeply involved in mediation and negotiation work along with other national and provincial Church leaders. He served as President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference from 1987 to 1994.On 29 May 1992 he was promoted to Archbishop of Durban and on 1 August 1994 was named Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of Umzimkulu.
President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) (November 1999 – November 2008)
President Delegate of the 2nd Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, “The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace. ‘You are the salt of the earth, … you are the light of the world’” (4-25 October 2009).
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 2001, of the Title of S. Francesco d’Assisi in Acilia (St. Francis of Assisi in Acilia).
Member of:
Congregations: for the Evangelization of Peoples; for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life;
Pontifical Councils: for Culture; for Health Care Workers;
Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Affairs of the Holy See;
XIII Ordinary Council of the Secretariat General of the Synod of Bishops;
II Special Council for Africa of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.
Tagle has become involved in many social issues in the Philippines with emphasis on helping the poor and the needy while maintaining opposition against atheism,[10][11]abortion,[12]contraception,[13] and the Reproductive Health Bill.[5] Tagle currently wields strong religious and political influence as the country’s primate, with an estimated 2.8 million professed Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese.[14]
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo (Brazil), was born on 21 September 1949 in São Francisco, Cerro Largo, Brazil. He was ordained a priest on 7 December 1976 and holds a doctorate in theology and master in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University.He served as rector and professor at São José Minor Seminary in Cascavel and of the Seminary Maria Mãe of Igreja in Toledo. He was also rector of the Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe seminary and philosophy professor at the interdiocesan theology centre.He has served as parochial vicar, parish priest and official of the Congregation for Bishops (1994-2001).
He was appointed titular Bishop of Novi and Auxiliary of São Paulo on 28 November 2001 and was ordained a bishop on 2 February 2002.
In May 2003 he was elected general secretary of the Nationsl Bishops’ Conference of Brazil. On 12 December 2006 the Pope appointed him adjunct general secretary of the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Bishops.
He succeeded Cardinal Hummes as Archbishop of São Paulo on 21 March 2007.
On 24 June 2008 he was appointed President Delegate of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church” (5-26 October 2008).
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 24 November 2007, of the Title of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale (St. Andrew at Quirinale).Member of:
Congregation for the Clergy;
Pontifical Councils: for the Family; for Promoting New Evangelization;
Pontifical Commission for America Latina;
Council of Cardinals for Study of Organizational and Economic Affairs of the Holy See;
Cardinal Commission for the Supervision of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR);
XIII Ordinary Council of the Secretariat General of the Synod of Bishops.
…
College of Cardinals
Biographical notes
[Updated: 16.12.2011]
Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Oriental Institute, was born on 18 November 1943 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to parents of Italian descent. He was ordained a priest on 2 December 1967 and holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.In 1971 he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and in 1974 he served at the nunciature in Madagascar. From 1977 to 1989, he worked at the Secretariat of State. In 1989 he was posted to the United States as counsellor at the nunciature and served as papal representative at the Organization of American States.On 22 August 1991 he became regent of the prefecture of the Pontifical Household and on 2 April 1992, assessor of the section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. On 22 July 1997 he was appointed titular Archbishop of Cittanova and Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela. He was ordained a bishop on 11 October of that year.
On 1 March 2000 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico and later, on 16 September, Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. On 9 June 2007 he succeeded Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud as prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
He was a President Delegate of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Byshops (10-24 October 2010),“The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness. ‘Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul’ (Acts 4:32)”.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 24 November 2007, of the Deaconry of San Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari (Sts. Blaise and Charles ai Catinari).
Member of:
Congregations: for Doctrine of the Faith; for the Evangelization of Peoples; for Bishops;
Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura;
Pontifical Councils: for Promoting Christian Unity; for Inter-religious Dialogue; for Legislative Texts,
Pontifical Commissions: for Latin America; for Vatican City State;
Special Council for the Middle East of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.
…
College of Cardinals
Biographical notes
[Updated: 26.10.2012]
Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press, for the exclusive use of accredited journalists.
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Archbishop emeritus of Cape Coast (Ghana), was born on 11 October 1948 in Wassaw Nsuta, Ghana. He was ordained for the Diocese of Cape Coast on 20 July 1975 and holds a doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome.
From 1975-1976 and 1980-1981 he served as staff member at St Theresa’s Minor Seminary, and from 1981-1987 as staff member at St Peter’s Major Seminary.
On 6 October 1992 he was appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast and was ordained on 27 March 1993.
He was President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (1997-2005) and member of the Pontifical Commission for Methodist-Catholic Dialogue; Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana; member of the National Sustainable Development, Ministry of Environment; member of the Board of Directors of the Central Regional Development Committee and treasurer of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
Attended the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, April 10 to May 8, 1994; the 9th Ordinary General Assembly of the World Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, October 2 to 29, 1994; the 11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, October 2 to 23, 2005 and the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Vatican City, October 5 to 26, 2008. General Relator of the 2nd Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, “The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace. ‘You are the salt of the earth, … you are the light of the world’” (4-25 October 2009).
On 24 October 2009 he was nominated President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the Consistory of 21 October 2003, of the Title of S. Liborio (St. Liborius).
Member of:
Congregation: for the Doctrine of the Faith; for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for the Evangelization of Peoples; for Catholic Education;
Pontifical Councils: for Promoting Christian Unity; Cor Unum;
Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses;
XIII Ordinary Council of the Secretariat General of the Synod of Bishops;
II Special Council for Africa of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.
…
College of Cardinals
Biographical notes
[Updated: 26.10.2012]
Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press.
Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, Archbishop of New York (U.S.A.), was born on 6 February 1950 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
He holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Cardinal Glennon College, a license in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, and a doctorate in American Church History from the Catholic University of America.
He was ordained a priest on 19 June 1976 and served as associate pastor at Immacolata Parish in Richmond Heights, Missouri. He also served as liaison for the late Archbishop John L. May in the restructuring of the college and theology programs of the archdiocesan seminary system. In 1987 he was appointed secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C.
In 1992 he was appointed vice rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, serving also as director of Spiritual Formation and professor of Church History. He also taught theology at St. Louis University.
He served as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome (1994-2001), and taught church history and ecumenical theology at various Pontifical Universities.
On 19 June 2001 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Louis and titular Bishop of Natchez. He was ordained a bishop on 15 August 2001.
On 25 June 2002 he was appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee and then Archbishop of New York on 23 February 2009.
On 31 May 2010 he was sent by Benedict XVI as an Apostolic Visitator to seminaries in Ireland.
He was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on 16 November 2010.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 18 February 2012, of the Title of Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a Monte Mario (Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monte Mario).
Member of:
Congregation for the Oriental Churches
Pontifical Councils: for Social Communications, for Promoting New Evangelization:
XIII Ordinary Council of the Secretariat General of the Synod of Bishops.
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College of Cardinals
Biographical notes
[Updated: 26.10.2012]
Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press, for the exclusive use of accredited journalists.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Archbishop emeritus of Québec, was born on 8 June 1944 in Lamotte, near Amos, Canada. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Amos on 25 May 1968. He holds licentiates in theology and philosophy, and a doctorate in dogmatic theology.
Cardinal Ouellet served as consultor to the Sulpicians’ Provincial Council of Canada, and then director and teacher at the Major Seminary of Montreal, where he became rector in 1990. He also served briefly as rector of St Joseph’s Seminary, Edmonton.
He was consultor to the Congregation for the Clergy, then to the General Council of the Priests of Saint Sulpice. He later taught at the John Paul II Institute at the Pontifical Lateran University, where in 1997 he was appointed to the chair of dogmatic theology.
On 3 March 2001, he was named titular Bishop of Agropoli and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Pope John Paul II ordained him a Bishop on 19 March of that year.
On 15 November 2002, Cardinal Ouellet was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Quebec.
Cardinal Ouellet is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology.
Relator General of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church” (5-26 October 2008). On 30 June 2010 he was nominated Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.Created and proclaimed Cardinal by John Paul II in the Consistory of 21 October 2003, of the Title of S. Maria in Traspontina (Holy Mary in Transpontina).Member of:
Secretariat of State (second section);
Congregations: for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments; for Catholic Education; for the Clergy; for the Doctrine of the Fait; for the Oriental Churches;
Pontifical Councils for Culture; for Promoting New Evangelization; for Legislative Texts;
Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.
In 1139 A.D. the Catholic Saint Malachy was said to have experienced visions during a trip to Rome. He subsequently put these visions to paper and penned a document containing 112 short phrases purporting to describe all future popes that would head the Catholic Church. Though not a part of official Catholic dogma or church teachings, this Prophecy of the Popes is well known by Vatican officials and church scholars because it has been remarkably accurate about naming the last 111 heads of one of the world’s oldest and most widespread religions.
According to researchers, theologians and evangelical scholars, the phrases Malachy scribed in his writings offer up the “nature, name, destiny or coat of arms” of every pope in succession and culminate with the naming of the 112th pope.
This morning, Pope Benedict XVI announced he would be retiring. Jokingly referred to as “God’s Rottweiler” in some circles, the German born 111th Pontiff as described in Malachy’s prophecy is called the Gloria Olivae, or ”glory of the olive,” which some supporters of the prophecy suggest is a reference to the Benedictine Order of monks from whom Benedict got his namesake. The monks are also known as the Olivetans, and are represented by an olive branch, leaving many to believe that Saint Malachy was, once again, right.
Now, according to prophecy, the 112th Pope will step up to head the Church, and he will be named Petrus Romanus, or Peter the Roman.
Whether you’re Catholic, Christian or not a religious person at all, the fact that a 900 year old prophecy is coming to a close is intriguing. And one way or the other, whether its predictions turn out to be true or not, the prophecy concludes with the next Pope.
Eerily, the prophecy describes the Catholic Church’s last Pontiff as overseeing a new era, and one that will be met with great difficulty and destruction:
“In extreme persecution the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman…”
“Who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the terrible or fearsome judge will judge his people.
The End.”
Prophecy of the Popes – Attributed to St. Malachy circa 1139 A.D.
Within the Book of Revelation, also known as The Apocalypse of John, are references to the destruction of the City of Seven Hills (Rome) and to the many trials that will be faced by mankind ahead of the final judgement – the rapture, the rise of the anti-christ, seven years of tribulations, and the end of days.
Suffice it to say, if the prophecy is accurate, then the world will soon be engulfed in a battle between good and evil.
The idea by some Catholics that the next pope on St. Malachy’s list heralds the beginning of “great apostasy” followed by “great tribulation” sets the stage for the imminent unfolding of apocalyptic events, something many non-Catholics agree with. This will give rise to the false prophet, who according to the book of Revelation leads the world’s religious communities into embracing a political leader known as Antichrist.
Throughout history, many Catholic priests—some deceased now—have been surprisingly outspoken on what they have seen as this inevitable danger rising from within the ranks of Catholicism as a result of secret satanic “Illuminati-Masonic” influences. These priests claim secret knowledge of an multinational power elite and occult hierarchy operating behind supranatural and global political machinations. Among this secret society are sinister false Catholic infiltrators who understand that, as the Roman Catholic Church represents one-sixth of the world’s population and over half of all Christians, it is indispensable for controlling future global elements in matters of church and state and the fulfillment of a diabolical plan called “Alta Vendita,” which assumes control of the papacy and helps the False Prophet deceive the world’s faithful (including Catholics) into worshipping Antichrist.
As stated by Dr. Michael Lake on the front cover of this unprecedented report, Catholic and evangelical scholars have dreaded this moment for centuries. Unfortunately – as you will discover in the next 90 days – time for avoiding Peter the Roman just ran out.
The prophecy begins in 1143 with the election of Pope Celestine II, who is described in Latin as “Ex caſtro Tiberis,” or “From a castle of the Tiber.” Celestine II was born in central Italy in a city that sits on the banks of the Tiber river.
Pope John Paul II is referred to as “De labore folis,” or “from the labour of the sun,” and is the only pope to have been born on the day of an eclipse and entombed on one as well.
There are scores of similar parallels between prophecy and pope, adding all the more credence to its legitimacy.
In its last prediction, though the prophecy refers to Petrus Romanus as the shepherd that will pasture his sheep, it may not necessarily mean the Pope will be on the side of the people, or even God. According to Thomas Horn, the author of Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here, the last pope is not the anti-christ, but he may well be the false prophet who ushers him in - a chilling thought for the billions of Catholics and Christians around the world:
The important fact is this. The very next Pope, following Pope Benedict the XVI who, according to a lot of news coming out of Rome right now – his days are numbered. He’s getting older, he’s getting feeble, he may retire…
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The next Pope is the final one on a 900 year old prophecy.
So, imagine how historical this moment is with regard to end times bible prophecy.
By the way, the prophecy tells us that he will be the false prophet of biblical fame who will help give rise to the anti-christ.
Whether coincidence, self fulfilling through the machinations of man, or otherworldly, Malachy’s writings have certainly held the attention of the highest levels at the Vatican for centuries, and perhaps even influenced its decisions.
Now, with Benedict the XVI stepping down, we enter its final phase, and we’ll soon learn how accurate it really is.
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Lightning strikes the Vatican — literally
Doyle Rice, USA TODAY2:39p.m. EST February 12, 2013
Papal prank? Or did lightning really hit the Vatican?
I know the pope has connections, but this is extraordinary!
An apparent photo of a lightning bolt striking St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican Monday night (left) — the same day that Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, stunning the world — has gone viral.
Filippo Monteforte, a photographer with Agence France Press, told England’s Daily Mirror that “I took the picture from St. Peter’s Square while sheltered by the columns. It was icy cold and raining sheets. When the storm started, I thought that lightning might strike the rod, so I decided it was worth seeing whether – if it DID strike – I could get the shot at exactly the right moment.”
Monteforte waited for more than two hours and was rewarded for his patience with not one but two bolts, the Mirror reported.
But could it be fake? One expert, AccuWeather meteorologist and lightning photographer Jesse Ferrell, thinks it’s real. In addition to the account from Monteforte — a trusted and well-known photographer — Ferrell sees telltale signs of a genuine lightning strike.
“I believe the photo is plausible, and since it was taken by a professional, with potential video to back it up, I’d say that the photo is legitimate,” Ferrell writes on his blog.
Who needs nations? Scotland, Catalonia, other European regions seek closer ties with EU
By Joergen Oerstroem Moeller
Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond launches the YES campaign for Scottish independence in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 25. The campaign for independence prepares for an autumn 2014 referendum on severing the more than 300-year-old union with England. (Andy Buchanan/AFP/GettyImages)
The fear about the euro’s collapse has receded, but Europe as forged after the industrial revolution is fracturing, reverting to traditional regional entities with cultural traditions, languages, and animosity against nation-states that swallowed them without their consent.
There’s Scotland in Britain, Catalonia and Basque Country in Spain, Flanders in Belgium, Lombardy or Padania in Italy; Soon maybe Wales in Britain, Bavaria in Germany, Brittany and Occitania in France. On top of this litany, there’s also growing concern about Britain exiting the European Union.
The Holy Roman Empire dominating Central Europe before industrialization counted 1,800 states ruled by kings, knights, and bishops.
The states were too small to reap the fruits of industrialization. Fragmented markets prevented transnational supply chains and were incapable of shaping the logistics, transport infrastructure, and, most important of all, the political system necessary for transition from feudal and agricultural states to manufacturing.
So the European nation-state emerged. Admittedly Britain, France, and Spain could trace their roots back 100 or 200 years earlier, but were not solidly secure until around 1800. Italy and Germany were born between 1860 and 1871.
Acquiescence
The nation-states masterminded regional economic integration, but never completely succeeded in shaping a national culture. Yes, a national language gradually took over, but the regions preserved distinct cultural identities. They acquiesced with the nation-state and obeyed respective capitals in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, or Madrid because force compelled them to do so and the economic advantages were evident.
The standard of living rose as industrialization conquered the regions, and prosperity followed. The end result: The increasing standard of living was sufficiently higher to compensate for attacks on cultural identity to ensure the nation-state’s prerogative. The people in the regions traded in some but not all cultural identity.
This became even more manifest as industrialization went into the next phase: economic globalization. International treaties strengthened the capitals’ hold over regions. The regions could not access global markets without the capitals’ consent as laid out in international rules negotiated among nation-states.
Scotland could not on its own strike a deal with the United States or Argentina for export of ships from the shipyards at the Clyde. Only London could. And over the first half of the 20th century, Europe showed little support for regionalism or cultural identity. Few Scots genuinely felt as Scots or saw Scotland in any other way than as part of the United Kingdom.
The role of the nation-states as imperial powers solidified this view. For the Scots, being part of the United Kingdom provided a platform for a central role in running the empire and profiting by doing so.
Conditions for Nation-State Disappearing
Conditions favoring the nation-state are disappearing—and rapidly. The empires are gone. Industrialization is giving way to an economic age shaped by information and communication technology, ICT, opening access to the world outside the nation-state framework.
Manufacturing used to be the cornerstone of European economic activity, but except for Germany, no longer.
The burden of transition has been unevenly distributed aggravating the skepticism among regions about the virtue of the nation-state. Over the last four years national political systems have lost legitimacy because of impotence in dealing with the crisis.
A feeling of unfair distribution of hardship and burdens when capitals cut welfare and increased taxes fuels the idea among regions that more fairness may be found if they handled these questions on their own while relying on the EU despite its shortcomings for economic policy.
The EU has taken away from the nation-state and its capitals the key to participate in economic globalization.
Most important of all, the EU has taken away from the nation-state and its capitals the key to participate in economic globalization. Regions no longer need to go through the capital to request changes in rules of the game or help in accessing foreign markets.
Regions have set up embassies and lobbying associations to promote export and attract investment abroad. For example, in Washington, a Scottish Affairs Office implements Scotland’s plan for engaging with the United States. To drive home the point, the office flags its Gaelic name, Riaghaltas na h-Alba.
Or the Scots work via the European Union with Scotland’s European Union Office implementing an action plan for engagement.
If Scotland, Catalonia, or Lombardy want to safeguard their interests in global negotiations, the negotiators are no longer found in London, Madrid, or Rome, but in Brussels. Sure enough, politicians and civil servants in the capitals still want, indeed crave, serving as the channel to the EU for all regional preferences, but this posture increasingly falls on deaf ears.
The view in London that Scotland’s interests should be weighed against interests put forward by other parts of Britain doesn’t matter much north of the border.
Separatist Sentiment
The wave of austerity rolling through all of Europe reinforces the separatist sentiment. During the industrial age, in particular when the welfare state was introduced, the center or capital was shuffling large sums of money around via taxes and welfare payments to and from the regions.
Then, it seemed quite the gamble to cut this lifeline. Now such fiscal transfers are falling by the wayside as the state pulls back from the super welfare state. Regions increasingly view themselves as capable, perhaps even better equipped, of competing without the support of the nation-state, and find it less attractive to be part of an acrimonious redistribution struggle.
The European Union is on the radar screen. Not only do the nation-states shave fiscal transfers, but current plans for a fiscal union augur a stronger role for the EU. Plans are being drafted to give the EU some kind of veto over national budgets, further transferring power from the capitals of the nation-states to the EU, stimulating regions to strike their own deals with the supranational political leadership.
The proposed banking union works the same way. The regions do not see why their interests and the negotiating about a European supervisory body should be controlled by the nation-state. They may or may not have common interests with banks in other parts of the nation-state, but it cannot be taken for granted, and in some cases they may fear being held hostage to nation-state policies disregarding their interests.
Secession?
It’s no coincidence that Scotland stands first in line to have a go at secession. Britain’s Conservative Party, the leading coalition partner in the British government, toys with the idea of a referendum about continued membership of the EU.
Polls indicate that in the U.K. as a whole 51 percent of the voters favor leaving the EU with only 34 percent preferring to stay. Inside the Conservative Party 83 percent want a referendum, and 70 percent would vote to leave.
But Scotland has always voted overwhelmingly with the Labor Party and abhors the risk of being forced out of the EU by a political party that enjoys limited support among the Scots. The prospect of the Conservative Party taking Britain out of the EU combined with Scotland leaving Britain to join the EU might have once seemed like pure fantasy, but no more. Breakup may be the most realistic scenario.
The Scots will vote yes or no to stay in the U.K. in 2014. The next general election of the British Parliament is set for 2015. But if Scotland decides to leave the U.K., all dates and plans are up in the air. The vote in Scotland may advance the parliamentary election, giving the EU referendum a dominating role.
Joergen Oerstroem Moeller is a senior visiting research fellow, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore Management University. He is also adjunct professor for Singapore Management University and Copenhagen Business School. Copyright Yale Center for the Study of Globalization (Yaleglobal.yale.edu).
Unemployment hangs stubbornly at more than 8 percent, yet, defying election history, U.S. President Barack Obama would handily win a second term if voters went to the polls today.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hasn’t capitalized on the stagnant economy because after sewing up the GOP nomination, he failed to move quickly on issues critical to key demographic groups and act on the challenger’s imperative to offer a better alternative to the president’s policies.
To win conservative primary voters, Romney rejected the Dream Act, which enjoyed bipartisan sponsorship in Congress and would permit young adults brought to America illegally as children to earn citizenship by completing two years of college or military service.
After securing the nomination, Romney failed to define a compromise position more acceptable to Hispanic voters and permitted Obama to pre-empt the issue by suspending deportation of those young adults. Obama enjoys an overwhelming lead among Hispanic voters.
Romney vows to repeal ObamaCare but is vague about what would replace it. The president’s healthcare reforms may be too expensive and encourage private firms to offshore jobs to escape costly coverage for employees; however, the law contains provisions popular among the elderly and with women — for example, much improved Medicare prescription drug coverage and coverage for children with chronic conditions.
No surprise! Obama leads Romney in Florida — a must-win state for any Republican candidate, along with Texas, given the Democrats’ lock on California and New York. And the president enjoys a significant lead among women in battleground states.
On the economy, Romney sounds like a broken record, repeating an annoying theme and undermining his appeal. Constantly harping Obama’s economic policies have failed, he asserts his business experience qualifies him to create millions of new American jobs.
Voters recognize Obama inherited a bigger mess than any president since FDR, managed to stabilize the economy and created more than 3.6 million jobs since the recovery began in October 2009.
At Bain Capital, Romney earned his fortune reorganizing troubled companies — often shutting facilities, outsourcing jobs and firing employees. Little in that history indicates he knows much about shaping public policies to encourage new industries, attract private investment, instigate innovation and generally help U.S. companies compete in global markets and bring jobs to America.
During the early days of his campaign, he talked a lot about the right things — dealing with unfair competition from China and developing domestic oil — but since, he has loaded up on Bush administration economic advisers and emphasized broader themes like deregulation and tax and spending cuts.
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court on Tuesday froze a decree issued by President Mohamed Morsi reinstating the Islamist-led parliament, a judicial source said.
The decision is expected to raise tensions between Morsi, the top court and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which handed over power to the new president at the end of June.
“The court ordered the freeze of the president’s decree,” the source said.
On Sunday, just eight days after taking office, Morsi, a former member of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, ordered the lower house to reconvene.
His move highlighted the power struggle between the president and the Supreme Constitutional Court which last month said certain articles in the law governing the parliament elections were invalid, annulling the lower house.
The judicial source added: “The court ordered that its previous ruling (invalidating the elections and annulling the lower house) be implemented.”
This edition of News Analysis reviews US President Obama’s move to issue a new executive order allowing the White House to control all private communications in case of emergencies.
Putin and the Future of Russia – Eric Draitser on GRTV
Eric Draitser of StopImperialism.com joins us to discuss the geopolitical significance of the reelection of Vladimir Putin as Russian President. We talk about the differences between Putin and Medvedev, the future of Russian-American relations under Putin, and the future of Syria.
New York Police Department (NYPD) has attacked and brutalized OWS protesters near Zuccotti Park
As the US presidential election draw near, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has attacked and brutalized OWS protesters near Zuccotti Park, not sparing journalists who were beaten and detained.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Giles Clarke, OWS Photographer from New York about the escalation in motivation by police to crackdown violently on unarmed peaceful protesters of the OWS movement and the systematic absence of coverage of OWS in US mainstream media as the US presidential election approaches.
Romania’s PM in Brussels to defend bid to oust president
http://www.euronews.com/ Romania’s Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, has held talks with EU leaders in Brussels to explain his bid to oust President Triane Basescu.
Senior European officials remain deeply concerned over the political turmoil unfolding in Bucharest.
Promising to address those concerns Ponta said:
“I’ve committed myself to give answers on this either on Friday or on Monday, to once again offer reassurances that this political battle will not undermine the rule of law, the constitution and the stability of Romania’s governing institutions in terms of European standards.”
The visit to Brussels by Ponta follows Tuesday’s ruling by Romania’s Constitutional Court to uphold Basescu’s suspension last week.
It means a referendum to impeach the centre-right president will go ahead at the end of the month.
Basescu is accused of acting against the government and parliament by blocking Ponta’s policies.
Further political rallies are set to take place in Romania in the coming weeks to bolster support for Basescu, who could hang on to his job if the turnout in the referendum is less than fifty percent.
Wells Fargo pays $175M to settle race discrimination probe
By msnbc.com staff and news services
The Justice Department says Wells Fargo & Co. will pay at least $175 million to settle accusations that it allegedly discriminated against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in its mortgage lending from 2004 through 2009.
The settlement, which needs approval from a judge, would end the investigation into whether the fourth largest U.S. bank between 2004 and 2009 knowingly targeted minorities for risky mortgages that came with higher costs, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“The Department of Justice today filed the second largest fair lending settlement in the department’s history to resolve allegations that Wells Fargo Bank, the largest residential home mortgage originator in the United States, engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in its mortgage lending from 2004 through 2009,” said a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement will provide $125 million in compensation for minority borrowers the DOJ said were steered into subprime mortgages, which usually carry higher fees. Wells Fargo will pay $50 million more in direct down payment assistance to borrowers in parts of the country where the DOJ identified large numbers of discrimination victims.
At a news conference, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the government will ensure that borrowers hit hard by the housing crisis will have an opportunity to access homeownership.
Cole said the bank’s discriminatory lending practices resulted in more than 34,000 African-American and Hispanic borrowers in 36 states and the District of Columbia paying higher rates for loans solely because of the color of their skin.
Wells Fargo in May said it could face civil charges under laws that prohibit discrimination against minority homebuyers. At the time, the lender said in a securities filing it believed the charges should not be brought and said it was seeking to show the department that it is in compliance with fair lending laws.
The government investigation found that loans submitted to Wells Fargo by mortgage brokers had varied interest rates, fees, and costs based only on race and not correlated to the borrowers’ creditworthiness, according to the court document.
Wells Fargo noted in a statement that it has denied the claims.
“Wells Fargo is settling this matter solely for the purpose of avoiding contested litigation with the DOJ,” it said, “and to instead devote its resources to continuing to provide fair credit services and choices to eligible customers and important and meaningful assistance to borrowers in distressed U.S. real estate markets.”
JPMorgan investors wait to hear about the ‘London Whale’s’ splash
Eduardo Munoz / REUTERS
Commuters are reflected in stone as they walk past the JP Morgan headquarters in New York.
By Roland Jones
When JPMorgan reports its quarterly results Friday morning, most investors will be eager to hear just one key piece of information: How much of a splash did the London Whale make for the bank?
In mid-May, the bank announced it had sustained a multibillion-dollar loss that originated in its London office because of a failed hedging strategy undertaken by Bruno Iksil, nicknamed “The London Whale” because of the size of the trading positions he took.
“Investors want to understand what happened, who knew what and when,” Betsy Graseck, a managing director for Morgan Stanley, told CNBC Thursday.
Bank earnings don’t usually attract much attention outside the Wall Street community of analysts, traders and other financial industry observers. The JPMorgan report is likely to spur greater interest because of the massive trading loss, which has enraged public opinion and led to Dimon appearing on television and two Congressional panels to own up to his company’s mistakes.
Graseck said it will be important for Dimon, for investors and for the public to set the record straight on the trading loss. He needs to detail exactly how much of the disastrous trade has been “unwound” so the company can move ahead and avoid any future volatility in its stock price that may arise from uncertainly over deeper losses.
“The question is how much [of the trade] is left to go, and what is the volatility on what’s left,” Graseck said.
Investors and the public will want to hear details of how much money will be recovered from top executives at the bank involved in the botched trade.
When he appeared before lawmakers last month to explain his bank’s multi-billion dollar losses, Dimon said the trading debacle will lead to “clawbacks” — efforts to recover compensation paid to employees whose performance was later found to have harmed the company and shareholders.
Stocks closed Thursday’s choppy session lower, as diminished chances of monetary stimulus from major central banks prompted investors to shy away from risky assets.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 31 points, having lost over 100 points earlier in the day.
Market sentiment was weak, especially after the lack of any monetary easing by the Bank of Japan on Thursday, and few clues in the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting, released on Wednesday. The lack of policy moves suggested major central banks were still cautious about the need for further easing.
Technology shares have been among the worst performers recently, bogged down by profit warnings from companies such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Applied Materials Inc.
Investors in the U.S. appear to have shrugged off the news that the city of San Bernardino has voted to file for bankruptcy. This blue collar city fifty miles East of Los Angeles had already slashed salaries and cut twenty percent of its employees. San Bernardino still faced a 45 million dollar deficit when the city council called an emergency session and voted to file for bankruptcy. Al Jazeera’s Brian Rooney reports from San Bernadino.
Car makers’ dilemma: too many plants, too few buyers
http://www.euronews.com/ Peugeot’s 8,000 job cuts and closure of a plant near Paris comes as cash strapped Europeans buy fewer new cars and the region’s manufacturers ponder what to do about their surplus of factories with too much capacity.
In addition, unemployment is highest among young people – under 25-year-olds – which means a lost generation of drivers.
In France deliveries of cars and light vans fell by 0.9 percent in June after a 17 percent plunge in May.
In the first half of the year Peugeot Citroen was hit hard with a 13 percent slump in deliveries.
Fellow French carmaker Renault’s sales slipped by 3.3 percent, while Germany’s Volkswagen increased its market share in France and overall sales rose 10.2 percent.
Analyst Brenda Kelly with CMC Markets blamed austerity: “You’re seeing the effect (of austerity measures) on the private sector at the moment, and of course, as the demand for these goods (cars) goes down, so there will be an effect on the employment levels. So you would expect to see unemployment in France rise somewhat over the next quarter or so.”
Around Europe carmakers say they need help from governments to reduce their overcapacity.
It is estimated more than a third of the region’s factories are not using enough of their capacity to be profitable so the industry expects more layoffs and plant closures.
http://www.euronews.com/ Challenging Spain for the worst jobless total in Europe Greek unemployment has hit a record 22.5 percent of the workforce.
That was the figure for April, which was the latest available. Analysts said the country’s economy has worsened since then and unemployment will likely go higher.
Thirty-two year old Filia, an educated jewellery maker, has been out of a job for a year and has a 10-month-old daughter. ”It’s difficult. The parents help, I use my savings that I have put aside,” she said.
Michalis, 34, lost his job in Athens at a supermarket two years ago. He then went to France and found a job there, but was forced to return to Athens for family reasons and has not been able to find a job since his return a few months ago. ”There is always hope. But in Greece you see how things are, you cannot always save, save, save, that is why we want a united Europe, there has to be a social network, why don’t they go chase the people who spent all the money,” he said.
Bianca Tampouri, a translator, cannot find work, and her husband and 18-year-old daughter are also unemployed. “All my family we all have a problem, so yes I am concerned. About the future, our jobs, our lives, our psychology, you know dignity, everything,” she said.
But some Greeks are more optimistic; Nikos Govas, who was unemployed but opened a coffee shop, said: “If you want a job, you’ll find something. The problem here is everyone wants to work in a doctor’s office or as a civil servant. But it’s not like that. A rubbish collector or a CEO, they’re both jobs and bring in a wage.”
There could be some respite from jobs created by the summer tourism season, but even that is not guaranteed as visitors numbers and revenue were down earlier this year.
Strikes and violent anti-government protests have deterred tourists from visiting.
Tourism is a key sector which accounts for about one in five jobs in Greece.
By Christopher Torchia, The Associated Press July 11, 2012
ISTANBUL – The Syrian ambassador to Iraq has defected and is on his way to Turkey, the most senior diplomat to abandon President Bashar Assad during the 16-month-old uprising, a Syrian opposition figure said Wednesday.
Nawaf Fares, a former provincial governor, would be the second prominent Syrian to break with the regime in less than a week. Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, an Assad confidant and son of a former defence minister, fled Syria last week, buoying Western powers and anti-regime activists, who expressed hope that other high-ranking defections would follow.
Appointed to the Baghdad post four years ago, Fares was the first Syrian ambassador to Iraq in 26 years. Like Tlass, he is a member of the privileged Sunni elite in a regime dominated by Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
“It’s certain. Fares has defected. He declared his defection. … He’s moving toward Turkey,” said Khaled Khoja, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council who is based in Istanbul. Asked for details, Khoja said the information came from his own sources on the ground in Iraq.
There was no immediate confirmation from either Iraq or Syria. An operator who answered the phone at the Syrian Embassy in Baghdad said there was nobody at the embassy. When asked if the ambassador is currently in Iraq, the operator said he did not know.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. had no confirmation of the defection as of Wednesday afternoon. But he said recent high-level defections from the Assad regime were “a welcome development.”
“That is an indication of the fact that support for Assad is crumbling,” Carney said.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said that if true, Fares would be the first senior diplomat from the regime to defect.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh also said he could not confirm whether Fares had defected.
Thousands of soldiers, most of them low-level conscripts, have deserted and joined the rebels. But despite the latest high-profile defections, Assad’s regime has largely held together in the face of the uprising — particularly compared with the swift hemorrhaging of Moammar Gadhafi’s inner circle in Libya in 2011.
The conflict in Syria has defied every international attempt to bring peace. Although the Assad government’s crackdown has turned the Syrian president into an international pariah, he still has the support of strong allies such as Russia, Iran and China.
A prominent Syrian opposition leader said Wednesday during a visit to Moscow that Russia’s resistance to international intervention in the conflict was bringing misery and “suffering” to the violence-torn country.
Two Syrian opposition delegations visited Moscow this week, raising hopes that Russia could be pushed to accept the ouster of Assad. But Syrian National Council head Abdelbaset Sieda said he saw “no change” in Moscow’s stance after meeting with officials including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“The Syrian people are suffering because of Russia, because of the position it has taken, because of its veto in the U.N. Security Council,” Sieda said at a news conference. “The current regime uses Russian weapons against its own people.”
Activists estimate 17,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, and as the conflict continues, the rebellion appears to be getting more and more radicalized and violent, making any peaceful resolution or transfer of power a long-shot.
Confusion and fear has gripped Goma as rebels near the main eastern city.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has expressed alarm as rebel forces advance towards the country’s main eastern city of Goma.
Witnesses told the BBC that rebels of the M23 group were 40km (25 miles) from the city, near the Rwandan border.
They said rebels appeared to be taking towns and villages with ease, with government troops usually melting away.
The Congolese government and the UN say Rwanda is backing the rebels, a claim Rwanda denies.
DR Congo has accused its neighbour of wanting to keep it unstable so it can exploit its rich mineral wealth.
The Congolese government has called on the international community to condemn Rwanda.
On Sunday, rebels were reported to have seized the strategic town of Rutshuru, 70km north of Goma.
A senior official at a national conservation park speaking on Monday just 40km north of Goma, told the BBC that “the rebels are very much in control of this area”.
Flexing muscles
Troublesome neighbors
April-June 1994: Genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
June 1994: Paul Kagame’s Tutsi rebels take power in Rwanda, Hutu fighters flee into Zaire (DR Congo)
Rwanda’s army enters eastern Zaire to pursue Hutu fighters
1997: Laurent Kabila’s AFDL, backed by Rwanda, takes power in Kinshasa
1998: Rwanda accuses Kabila of not acting against Hutu rebels and tries to topple him, sparking five years of conflict
2003: War officially ends but Hutu and Tutsi militias continue to clash in eastern DR Congo
2008: Tutsi-led CNDP rebels march on North Kivu capital, Goma – 250,000 people flee
2009: Rwanda and DR Congo agree peace deal and CNDP integrated into Congolese army
2012: Mutiny led by former CNDP leader Bosco “Terminator” Ntaganda
BBC international development correspondent Mark Doyle says it is not clear if the rebels intend to attack the city.
If they do, there will be a new and massive humanitarian crisis, he says.
However, the rebels may only be flexing their muscles to strengthen their negotiating position with the government, our correspondent adds.
The rebels – who took up arms in April – named themselves the M23 after a failed peace agreement signed on 23 March three years ago.
They are supporters of renegade Gen Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Gen Ntaganda is an ethnic Tutsi – like the majority of Rwanda’s leadership – and a recent UN report accused Rwanda of backing the rebels.
Kikaya Bin Karubi, the Congolese Ambassador to the UK, told the BBC: “The United Nations Group of Experts last week published a report that says clearly that the so-called M23 are using Rwandan soldiers – and that’s the United Nations talking, not us.”
Rwanda has vehemently denied the accusations.
The M23 rebels defected from the army amid pressure on the government to arrest Gen Ntaganda.
An estimated 200,000 people have fled their homes since April, with about 20,000 crossing the border to Uganda and Rwanda.
Eastern DR Congo has been plagued by years of fighting.
In 1994, more than a million Rwandan ethnic Hutus crossed the border following the genocide in which some 800,000 people – mostly Tutsis – were slaughtered.
Rwanda has twice invaded its much-larger neighbour, saying it was trying to take action against Hutu rebels based in DR Congo. Uganda also sent troops into DR Congo during the 1997-2003 conflict.
US warns China of ‘conflict’ if it doesn’t agree to maritime code
Bosniaks hold another mass funeral on 17th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre, Bahraini activists rally in solidarity with Saudi protestors, suicide attack targeting police academy kills 25 in Yemen, and more.
Today’s headlines in full:
Bosniaks hold another mass funeral on 17th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre
BBC Arabic, UK
Bahraini activists rally in solidarity with Saudi protestors
Al-Alam, Iran
Yemeni tribal leaders meet to discuss US intervention in Yemen
Press TV, Iran
Suicide attack targeting police academy kills 25 in Yemen
Press TV, Iran
Saudis hold funeral for slain protestor
Press TV, Iran
Bicycle bomb attack targets Pakistan space researchers; one dead
Press TV, Iran
Syrian opposition and Russia fail to bridge gap in Moscow
New TV, Lebanon
Egyptians call for referendums on parliament dissolution, constitutional declaration
Dubai TV, UAE
Israeli state prosecutors debate proceeding with Olmert charges in real estate scandal
IBA, Israel
Israel: Migron outpost appeal hearing delayed for two weeks
IBA, Israel
Freed Palestinian soccer player Sarsak returns to Gaza
Al Jazeera, Qatar
Image: A Bosnian Muslim man sits and cries near the coffin of his relative at Memorial Center in Potocari before a mass burial, near Srebrenica July 11, 2012: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Mosaic is a Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East, including Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Iran. Watch more Mosaic at http://www.linktv.org/mosaic
The Vatican on Tuesday said it was excommunicating a Chinese bishop ordained last week by state-sanctioned Church authorities in northeast China without Pope Benedict XVI’s consent.
“The Reverend Joseph Yue Fusheng, ordained without pontifical mandate and hence illicitly, has automatically incurred the sanctions laid down by canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law,” the Vatican said in a statement.
Under religious law, both the bishop ordained and the bishop celebrating the ceremony without papal consent are excommunicated, meaning that they can no longer receive the Eucharist or take an active part in the liturgy.
“Consequently the Holy See does not recognise him as bishop of the Apostolic Administration of Harbin, and he lacks the authority to govern the priests and the Catholic community in the Province of Heilongjiang,” it added.
With just 16 days before the Olympic Games kick off in London, there’s been a major hitch in the much-hyped security plans. Thousands of extra British soliders have had to be drafted in after a private firm failed to supply promised guards. The company’s been paid almost 300 million pounds – but hasn’t trained enough staff. RT’s Sara Firth has more.
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A group of Roman Catholic nuns are taking an unusual bus ride across America.
They are protesting against government budget cuts, which they say are harming low income families.
A recent Vatican report criticised some nuns for focusing too much on economic injustice
Even though the nuns were stung by the criticism from Rome, they decided to stay the course and say the firestorm has given them a platform.
In their latest trip, the nuns are in Janesville, Wisconsin, to deliver an alternative budget to Republican House member Paul Ryan, in which they propose a plan that favours a safety net for the worst off instead of tax cuts for the rich.
There is every sign they’ll continue to take their gospel on the road, with or without the Vatican’s blessing.
Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports from Janesville, Wisconsin.
The mood at the Vatican is apocalyptic. Pope Benedict XVI seems tired, and both unable and unwilling to seize the reins amid fierce infighting and scandal. While Vatican insiders jockey for power and speculate on his successor, Joseph Ratzinger has withdrawn to focus on his still-ambiguous legacy.
Finally, there is clarity. The Holy See has cleared things up and made the document accessible to all: a handout on checking whether apparitions of the Virgin Mary are authentic.
Everything will be much easier from now on. The Roman Catholic Church has taken a step forward.This “breaking news” from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) reveals the kinds of issues the Vatican is concerned with — and the kind of world in which some there live. It’s a world in which the official Church investigation of Virgin Mary sightings is carefully regulated while cardinals in the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s administrative and judicial apparatus, wield power with absolutely no checks and the pope’s private correspondence turns up in the desk drawers of a butler.
It’s a completely different apparition of the Virgin Mary that has pulled the Vatican and the Catholic Church into a new crisis, whose end and impact can only be surmised: the appearance of a source in the heart of the Church, a conspiracy against the pope and a leak code-named “Maria.”
Since the end of May, the pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, has been detained in a 35-square-meter (377-square-foot) cell at the Vatican, with a window but no TV. Using the code name “Maria,” he allegedly smuggled faxes and letters out of the pope’s private quarters. But it remains unclear who was directing him to do so.
Even with Gabriele’s arrest, the leak still hasn’t been plugged. More documents were released to the public last week, documents intended primarily to damage two close associates of Pope Benedict XVI: his private secretary, Georg Gänswein, and Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s top administrator. According to one document, “hundreds” of other secret documents would be published if Gänswein and Bertone weren’t “kicked out of the Vatican.” “This is blackmail,” says Vatican expert Marco Politi. “It’s like threatening total war.”
A House in Disarray
Fear is running rampant in the Curia, where the mood has rarely been this miserable. It’s as if someone had poked a stick into a beehive. Men wearing purple robes are rushing around, hectically monitoring correspondence. No one trusts anyone anymore, and some even hesitate to communicate by phone.
It all began in the accursed seventh year of the papacy of Benedict XVI, with striking parallels to the latter part of Pope John Paul II’s papacy. The same complaints about poor leadership and internal divisions are being aired outside the Vatican’s walls, while the pope himself seems exhausted and no longer able to exert his power.
Joseph Ratzinger turned 85 in April. This makes him the oldest pope in 109 years, and one of the few popes who have exercised what Benedict has called this “enormous” office at such an advanced age.
Of course, he is still enviably fit, both mentally and physically, especially compared to his predecessor in his later years. But speaking has become unmistakably more difficult for Benedict than at the beginning of his papacy, and it’s hard to miss that his movements have become stiff and cautious.
He recently told a visitor that his old piano hardly gets any use anymore. Playing it requires practice, he added, but he doesn’t have any time for that. He prefers to continue working on the last part of his series on Jesus, which he wants to finish before dying.
A Ship with No Captain
These days, it isn’t difficult to find clerics at the Vatican who are willing to talk, provided their identities remain anonymous.
The monsignor who finds his way to a restaurant near Piazza Santa Maria in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood one evening worked closely with Ratzinger in the CDF for years. But even before the waiter arrives with water and wine, the monsignor delivers his verdict on Ratzinger’s papacy: “The pope doesn’t fully exercise his office!” In his view, instead of having things under control, they control him.
The pope isn’t interested in daily affairs at the Vatican, says the anonymous monsignor. Still, this is not exactly unprecedented, as his predecessor also neglected the Curia. While the Polish pope spent a lot of time traveling, his German successor is apparently happiest while poring over books and writing speeches. “He simply isn’t taking matters into his own hands,” the monsignor says. In essence, he adds, the pope faces a different power in Rome — and one he hasn’t take command of.
Although the Vatican is Catholic, it’s also two-thirds Italian. In the end, says the monsignor, the Vatican’s employees and administration don’t care who among their ranks leads the Church. Even for someone who has been living there for decades, the monsignor says, “the Vatican is a ball of wool that’s almost impossible to untangle — not even by a pope.”
When John Paul II died in April 2005, the Curia was in terrible shape. Events and personnel decisions had been postponed during his last few years, in which he was often ill. The new pope was expected to finally clear off the desks and give the Curia a fresh start.
But, for the most part, such reforms haven’t materialized. Priests still hold all key positions, including those on the Council for the Laity and the Council for the Family. The only woman in a senior position, Briton Lesley-Anne Knight, was driven out of office as secretary-general of the Catholic development agency Caritas Internationalis in 2011 for having openly opposed the Church’s male-dominated hierarchy.
Fractured and Ferocious
A “reform of the Curia” is probably a contradiction in terms. Its hierarchical, essentially medieval organizational model is incompatible with modern management. The Vatican is an anachronistic, albeit surprisingly tenacious system, in which pecking orders and an absurd penchant for secrecy and intrigue prevail. “The only important thing is proximity to the monarch,” says a member of a cardinal’s staff. Rome works like an absolutist court, one in which decisions are made by people whispering things into the others’ ears rather than by committees. “There are many vain people here, people in sharp competition with one another,” the staff member adds.
Who spoke with whom, and for how long? What did they talk about? Who attends early Mass with whom, and who invites whom to dinner? Who’s in and who’s out? Who belongs and who doesn’t, and who’s coming into favor and who’s falling out of it? “This mood fosters feelings of exclusion, discrimination, envy, revenge and resentment,” the monsignor says. And all things have now appeared in the so-called Vatileaks documents.
Papal secretary Gänswein, in particular, has made many enemies. As the pope’s gatekeeper, he has influence over who is granted or denied the pontiff’s favor as well as over which events and issues might command his attention. This power can trigger fear, jealousy and derision in the corridors of the Apostolic Palace, the pope’s official residence. For Gänswein, it seemed almost miraculous that he was able to spend an entire evening relaxing and conversing with German clerics at the Vatican’s embassy in Berlin last September. It was an experience he couldn’t have had in Rome.
The Vatican is disintegrating into dozens of competing interest groups. In the past, it was the Jesuits, the Benedictines, the Franciscans and other orders that competed for respect and sway within the Vatican court. But their influence has waned, and they have now been replaced primarily by the so-called “new clerical communities” that bring the large, cheering crowds to Masses celebrated by the pope: the Neocatechumenate, the Legionaries of Christ and the traditionalists of the Society of St. Pius X(SSPX) and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter — not to mention the worldwide “santa mafia” of Opus Dei.They all have their open and clandestine agents in and around the Vatican, and they all own real estate and run universities, institutes and other educational facilities in Rome. Various cardinals and bishops champion their interests at the Vatican, often without an official or recognizable mandate. At the Vatican, everyone is against everyone, and everyone feels they have God on their side.
Perhaps Benedict XVI simply knows the Vatican too well to seriously attempt to reform it. “As pope, this veteran curial insider has turned out to have virtually zero interest in actually running the Roman Curia,” writes John L. Allen, a biographer of the pope.
Eduardo Munoz / REUTERS
