Pope Francis has updated a 2019 church law governing clerical sexual abuse and extended it to include accountability for Catholic lay leaders of Vatican-approved religious organizations.
Lay leaders are people other than clergy members who are on the professional rosters of the church.
The norms were first defined by Francis in an Apostolic letter, Vos estis lux mundi, in 2019 and were originally mandated for a four-year period.
Francis has now made minor changes to that document and made it permanent, effective April 30, according to a document released by the Vatican on Saturday.
For decades the Catholic Church has been plagued by a series of sex abuse scandals in countries around the world.
The new norms represent Pope Francis’ pledge to offer “concrete measures” to combat sexual abuse.
One of the changes includes provisions for holding lay leaders of Vatican-approved associations accountable for cover-ups of sexual abuse. The norms previously only related to bishops and religious superiors.
Another change involves the definition of abuse victims, which previously referred to “minors and vulnerable persons.”
The updated document now specifies “a minor, or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason, or with a vulnerable adult.”
This mommy loves any excuse to try out new crafts, and St. Patrick’s Day is no exception. With lots of fun ideas for activities, food, and so much more, we’ve got the luck of the Irish on our side (even though we’re not Irish!).
Make a leprechaun trap. Those sneaky little devils are on the hunt for a pot of a gold, so make a trap to catch him! Or, ask each family member to make their own trap and see how they compare.
Shamrock stamping. You can use three wine corks glued together, and marshmallows will also work.
End of the rainbow twirler. Colour a rainbow on both sides of a paper plate, then cut in a curly-cue fashion (see above). Attach a pot of gold to the end of it (made out of construction paper or cardstock), and hang in the corner of a room.
Rainbow pancakes. Make a basic batch of pancake batter and divide among various bowls, then colour each a different colour.
Make snack necklaces. Thread Fruit Loops onto a piece of yarn for a fun and wearable snack necklace.
Toilet paper roll leprechaun hats. Paint a toilet paper roll green and add a black band and buckle made out of construction paper. This will be the top of the hat. Then glue in the middle of a green circle to complete the hat.
Make packages of rainbow seeds. This is simply a bag of Skittles with a note of affection tied to it – perfect to wish friends and neighbours a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with Suburban readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.
Over the course of about four hours of arguments, a federal judge in Texas asked questions that suggested he is seriously considering undoing the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a medication abortion drug and the agency’s moves to relax the rules around its use.
But the judge, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, also indicated he was thinking through scenarios in which he could keep the drug’s 2000 approval intact while blocking other FDA rules.
Anti-abortion doctors and medical associations are seeking a preliminary injunction that would require the FDA to withdraw or suspend its approval of the drug, mifepristone, and that would block the agency’s more recent regulatory changes making the pills more accessible.
Here are takeaways from the hearing:
Kacsmaryk showed a particular interest in the arguments by the abortion opponents that the FDA approved mifepristone in an unlawful way.
He zeroed in on a claim by the abortion foes that the studies that the FDA looked at when deciding whether to approve the drug did not match the conditions under which the agency allows it to be administered.
Erik Baptist, attorney for the challengers, alleged that those studies all featured patients who received ultrasounds before being treated with the drug, which is not among the FDA’s requirements for prescribing abortion pills. Baptist accused the FDA of “examining oranges and declaring apples to be safe.”
Kacsmaryk returned to that “apples to oranges” argument several times throughout the hearing.
Justice Department attorney Daniel Schwei defended the FDA’s approach, arguing that the relevant law gives the FDA discretion to determine what studies are adequate for approving a drug’s safety. He also said the challengers’ claims were factually flawed, because the FDA also was looking at studies where the patients did not receive an ultrasound.
Kacsmaryk was similarly focused on a claim by the plaintiffs that the FDA violated the law in the special, accelerated process that it used to approve mifepristone in 2000.
At one point the judge revealed in the hearing that he had downloaded a list of the other drugs the FDA had approved through the process. He ticked through the list of drugs, which were made up mostly of treatments for HIV and cancer, and he asked the Justice Department for its “best argument” for why mifepristone fit into the list.
One of the sharpest questions from the judge was whether the anti-abortion activists could point to another analogous case when a court intervened in the way he is being asked to intervene here.
Baptist conceded there was none and blamed FDA delays in addressing citizen petitions and challenges. Later in the hearing, Baptist raised other times the FDA had suspended or withdrawn drugs based on court cases in other contexts, arguing those cases showed that Kascmaryk had the authority to grant the plaintiffs’ request.
Attorneys for the defendants – which include both the FDA and a drug company that manufactures mifepristone and intervened in the case – pushed back on those examples. They said that the plaintiffs were relying on patent cases, where the dispute was between a brand name drug and a generic counterpart, and those examples were not analogous here.
The medication abortion lawsuit targets actions the FDA took around medication abortion pills before last summer’s Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade’s abortion rights protections.
While that decision, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, didn’t play a major role in Wednesday’s arguments, the judge referenced it and suggested it could have an impact on his thinking about the case.
He brought up Dobbs early on in the hearing and raised it specifically in connection with a friend of the court brief filed by 22 GOP-led states supporting the challengers.
The judge noted that the red states’ brief argued that the FDA’s actions were infringing on their state laws concerning abortion pills.
He asked Erin Hawley, an attorney for the challengers, whether Dobbs was an “intervening event” that has “changed the landscape” around the relationship between state and federal government concerning abortion policy.
Hawley agreed, calling it a “sea change.”
If Kacsmaryk has any sore feelings over the blow up around his efforts to keep Wednesday’s hearing plans quiet, he didn’t show them at the proceedings.
When questioning both sides of the case, Kacsmaryk had a restrained, straight-forward tone. He had occasional follow-up questions for the plaintiffs, but did not aggressively push back on their arguments. The substance of his questions for the FDA’s defenders was more skeptical, but he kept with the measured approach in his questioning, and avoided any pushiness when grilling the government and the drug company about the approval process.
At the end of the hearing, he thanked the parties, as well as those who filed dozens of friend of the courts briefs, for their “superb” briefing. He also acknowledged the logistical hurdles the lawyers at the hearing went through to get to his courthouse in Amarillo, which is a several hours’ drive from Texas’ biggest cities.
Left unmentioned by the judge was the fact that he tried to delay the announcement of the hearing until the evening before, which would have made it difficult for members of the public and the media to attend Wednesday’s proceedings. When there was blowback to The Washington Post reporting about his plan – laid out in a private teleconference with attorneys where he pointed to death threats and harassment that had been directed to the courthouse staff – he announced the hearing on Monday.
The courtroom was open to the public, but only with limited seating: 19 seats for reporters and 19 for members of the public. By 6 a.m. CT Wednesday there were already lines outside the courtroom to claim those seats. Those attendees were not allowed to bring electronics in with them, and if they left the courthouse, they were not allowed back in.
Kacsmaryk warned at the beginning of the hearing that anyone who disrupted the proceedings would be immediately removed without warning. But there were no such disruptions.
Kacsmaryk wrapped up the hearing without any explicit timeline for when he’ll rule, telling the parties he would issue an order and opinion “as soon as possible.”
While he was arguing, Schwei, the DOJ attorney, requested that the judge – if he were to rule against the FDA – to immediately put that ruling on pause so it could be appealed. The judge stopped short of promising an automatic stay in the event of an adverse ruling, but he acknowledged he understood what DOJ was asking for.
An appeal would first go to a panel of three judges of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, arguably the most conservative appeals court in the country. The panel’s decision could then be appealed either to the full 5th Circuit or the US Supreme Court.
Beyond these procedural questions, Kacsmaryk seemed to be grappling with the practical impact of a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. He asked plaintiffs’ attorneys, the DOJ lawyers and the attorneys for the drug company Danco whether it would be possible for him to block some but not all of the FDA actions the challengers were targeting. He returned to the question again when the plaintiffs were back up for the rebuttal.
He also pressed Baptist, the attorney for the abortion opponents, on whether the plaintiffs were seeking an order that the FDA begin the withdrawal of the drug – a process that would take months – or if they thought the judge could directly take if off the market.
The “God’s Got This” Necklace Has Become a Symbol of Comfort and Peace During Difficult Times
Press Release –
Mar 10, 2023
BRADENTON, Fla., March 10, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– Joy & Country is proud to offer its own unique version of the “God’s Got This” necklace as a symbol of hope, peace, and comfort. Worn by the recipient or given as a gift, its simple yet powerful message penetrates the heart and reminds all who wear it that someone greater than themselves is watching over them and involved in their personal lives.
This beautiful necklace is handcrafted with high-quality surgical steel in a choice of stainless steel or 18k gold finish. The necklace’s face is available in a silver or black background or a military dog tag-style, and it comes with a complimentary gift box and optional engraving.
Joy & Country Founder Jenna Scaglione says this necklace is one of their most-loved items, in addition to all other merchandise that includes the saying, “God’s Got This.”
Jenna states, “The message ‘God’s got this‘ is comforting and powerful, especially during uncertain times, as it helps people relinquish their worry to a loving God whose presence brings solace and strength.
“Our customers love the necklace for its high-quality finish and materials, and often tell us they consider it a work of art. When they get it home, they are even more pleased as they say its superb quality and beauty outshines the images!”
While customers love buying the necklace to inspire and remind them of God’s love and peace, they also gift it to their loved ones to help them through difficult times.
During a recent challenging time with her daughter’s hospitalization, the co-anchor of the NBC News morning show TodayHoda Kotb was grateful to receive a “God’s Got This” necklace from her friend who loved it so much it was already worn out when she gave it to her. The necklace reminded Hoda to be grateful, and offered her comfort and support.
About Joy & Country
Joy & Country exists to inspire, bring hope and faith, and make the world a better place, one tee and necklace at a time. The faith-based, family-run company offers apparel, jewelry, and gifts focused on faith, family, and freedom, and hopes to spread a little joy with every hope-inspired creation.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been fined $5 million for using shell companies to obscure the size of the portfolio under church control, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday.
The faith, widely known as the Mormon church, maintains billions of dollars of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and agriculture. Much of its portfolio is controlled by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit investment manager overseen by ecclesiastical leaders known as its presiding bishopric.
The church has agreed to pay $1 million and Ensign Peak will pay $4 million in penalties based on the violation.
Ensign Peak avoided disclosing investments “with the church’s knowledge,” denying the SEC and the public of accurate information required under law, Gurbir Grewal, the agency’s enforcement director, said in a statement.
Federal investigators said for a period of 22 years, the firm violated agency rules and the Securities Exchange Act by not filing paperwork required that disclosed the value of its assets.
Instead, they said Ensign Peak filed the forms through 13 shell companies they created, even as they maintained decision-making power. They also had “business managers,” most employed by the church, sign the required shell company filings.
“The Church was concerned that disclosure of its portfolio, which by 2018 grew to approximately $32 billion, would lead to negative consequences,” the SEC said in a statement announcing the charges.
Increasingly, the church and its Salt Lake City-based investment arm have faced scrutiny over the fact that tax law largely exempts religious groups from paying U.S. taxes. Ensign Peak is registered as a supporting organization and integrated auxiliary of the church. Investment managers of its size are required to report stockholdings quarterly.
It gained traction in 2019 when a whistleblower alleged the church had stockpiled nearly $100 billion in funds, rather than directing it toward charitable causes. Ensign Peak has since been a source of intrigue and mystery for the nearly 17-million member Utah-based faith, which encourages members worldwide to give 10% of their income in a what is known as “tithing.”
Two years later, prominent church member James Huntsman filed a lawsuit against the church alleging it misrepresented how it used donations and, rather than direct them to charitable causes, invested in assets including real estate and an insurance business. A judge dismissed the complaint last year and Huntsman later appealed the decision.
Earlier this month, the 2019 whistleblower, a former Ensign Peak investment manager named David Nielsen, submitted a 90-page memorandum to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee demanding oversight into the church’s finances.
In a statement, church officials said over the time period investigated, none of their holdings had gone unreported and all had been disclosed through the separate companies. They said they had “relied upon legal counsel regarding how to comply with its reporting obligations while attempting to maintain the privacy of the portfolio” and noted that Ensign Peak had changed its reporting approach after learning of the SEC’s concerns in 2019.
“We affirm our commitment to comply with the law, regret mistakes made, and now consider this matter closed,” they said.
ATLANTA — Dozens of well-wishers made the pilgrimage Sunday to The Carter Center in Atlanta, as prayers and memories of former President Jimmy Carter‘s legacy were offered up at his small Baptist church in Plains, Georgia, a day after he entered hospice care.
Among those paying homage was his niece, who noted the 39th president’s years of service in an emotional address at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter taught Sunday school for decades.
“I just want to read one of Uncle Jimmy’s quotes,” Kim Fuller said during the Sunday school morning service, adding: “Oh, this is going to be really hard.”
She referenced this quote from Carter: “I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I’m free to choose that something. … My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can.”
“Maybe if we think about it, maybe it’s time to pass the baton,” Fuller said before leading those gathered in prayer. “Who picks it up, I have no clue. I don’t know. Because this baton’s going to be a really big one.”
Carter, at age 98 the longest-lived American president, had a recent series of short hospital stays. The Carter Center said in a statement Saturday that the 39th president has now “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.”
In Atlanta, people, some traveling many miles, made the trip to the Carter Center to reflect on the life of the former president on a spring-like Sunday under a sunny sky.
“I brought my sons down here today to pay respect for President Carter and teach them a little bit about how great a humanitarian he was, especially in the later stages of his life,” said James Culbertson, who drove an hour to Atlanta from Calhoun, Georgia.
The presidential library itself was closed in honor of President’s Day weekend, but people were still showing up to walk past the fountains and through the gardens.
David Brummett of Frederick County, Maryland, said he changed his Sunday morning plans when he heard news that Carter was in hospice care.
Brummett paused near a large statue of Carter, where someone had placed some violets at the base.
“Great man, great president, probably under-appreciated by those who didn’t know much about him,” Brummett said. “People should come here to appreciate the life, and the contributions he made both during his presidency and after.”
Following Fuller’s Sunday school service at Maranatha Baptist Church, Pastor Hugh Deloach offered prayers for the Carter family, particularly for Rosalynn Carter, the wife of the former president.
The Carters have been married for more than 75 years, making American history as the longest-married presidential couple.
“Lord, especially Mrs. Carter, and God look back on times and years that they’ve been together and Lord just strengthen her in the power of your might as well,” the pastor said.
Others took to social media to remember Carter, who served one term after defeating President Gerald Ford in 1976.
“Across life’s seasons, President Jimmy Carter, a man of great faith, has walked with God. In this tender time of transitioning, God is surely walking with him,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, said in a tweet.
“May he, Rosalynn & the entire Carter family be comforted with that peace and surrounded by our love & prayers.”
The Carters volunteered for decades with Habitat for Humanity, beginning in 1984 and continuing until 2020.
“All of us at Habitat for Humanity are lifting up President and Mrs. Carter in prayer as he enters hospice care,” Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford said in a statement.
“We pray for his comfort and for their peace, and that the Carter family experiences the joy of their relationships with each other and with God in this time,” Reckford said.
Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, tweeted: “Prize winners and truly impressive people. Few are as truly good as Jimmy Carter, who at age 98 is now entering hospice. He leaves this planet so much better than he found it. A great, great, great man.”
Carter was a little-known Georgia governor when he began his bid for the presidency ahead of the 1976 election. He went on to defeat Ford, capitalizing as a Washington outsider in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon from office in 1974.
Carter served a single, tumultuous term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, a landslide loss that ultimately paved the way for his decades of global advocacy for democracy, public health and human rights via The Carter Center.
The former president and his wife, Rosalynn, 95, opened the center in 1982. His work there garnered a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
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Khan reported from Albany, New York. Associated Press journalist Mark Thiessen contributed from Anchorage, Alaska.
The religiously wary, the spiritually curious — and anyone inclined to appeal to a higher power on game day — are the target audience for a Super Bowl ad campaign with a simple message: Jesus loves them.
A group that includes wealthy Christian boosters is using the biggest megaphone TV marketing money can buy on Sunday to spread the word with two new ads that proclaim “He Gets Us.”
They hope to counter the notion that religion is used to divide people, spending about $20 million to reach more than 100 million viewers at a time when the nation’s Christian population — and religious affiliation of any kind — are in decline.
Because religion is a touchy subject and prime-time advertising is so expensive, it is rare for faith to be promoted alongside the Super Bowl ‘s perennially buzzed about beer and fast-food commercials. But the backers of the “He Gets Us” campaign see it as a great opportunity to reach so many people at once.
“It fits with our target audience really well,” said campaign spokesperson Jason Vanderground about the NFL and its big game. “We’re trying to get the message across to people who are spiritually open, but skeptical.”
Christianity is still in the majority in the U.S., with 63% of adults defining themselves as believers, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey. But that figure is down from 78% in 2007. About 29% of Americans define themselves as religiously unaffiliated, up from 16% in 2007.
Within the NFL, Christianity has long permeated the culture, and regular fans are accustomed to expressions of faith, from locker-room prayers to Hail Mary passes to players pointing skyward after touchdowns.
That may help explain why there are so few faith-related ads during the big game, said Paul Putz, assistant director of Baylor University’s Faith & Sports Institute. “Football players themselves have often been the advertisements for Jesus,” he said.
The league’s religious undercurrent was thrust into the spotlight last month after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during a crucial game with Cincinnati. Those watching witnessed players praying on the field as medics worked to save Hamlin’s life. An outpouring of public prayer followed for days.
Some advertisers, like the Church of Scientology, have opted to air regional ads during the game. But the 30-second and 60-second “He Gets Us” spots will join a modest list of past faith-based ads aired nationally, including some that spurred controversy.
In 2010, the anticipated debut of a Super Bowl ad by Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian ministry long involved in anti-abortion efforts, received pushback from abortion-rights advocates and others in the run-up to the game. The ad featured Pam Tebow, mother of star Tim Tebow, talking about her challenging pregnancy with her son. She chose not to have an abortion despite medical concerns.
“I think we ended up in the Top 10 for the most controversial ads … that wasn’t the one I wanted, but it’s OK. I communicated a message,” said Focus on the Family CEO Jim Daly. He said the goal was to reach the most people with “a quick story about the positivity of choosing life.”
In spite of the controversy, Daly said he considers the ad a success. The ministry later shared the story of a woman who said she decided not to get an abortion after seeing the ad.
On other occasions, religious themes have been used in a light-hearted way to sell everyday products: In 2018, a Toyota ad featured nuns, a priest, a rabbi, an imam and a Buddhist monk. A California church created a humorous Doritos ad that aired in 2010 after winning the snack brand’s Super Bowl ad contest.
On Sunday, one “He Gets Us” ad will be shown during each half. One will focus on how children demonstrate Jesus’ love, while the other deals with anger, and how Jesus modeled a different way.
“We think Jesus is a big deal and we want to make a big deal out of it,” Vanderground said. “What better way to do that than to put him in the biggest cultural moment that we have the entire year?”
The “He Gets Us” campaign, which was launched in March 2022, is funded by Hobby Lobby CEO David Green and other anonymous donors. The ads direct people to a website, where they can learn more about Jesus, find Bible reading plans and connect with people online or in-person who can answer their questions.
Super Bowl ads draw enormous attention — sometimes too much — so any company or organization considering spending $6.5 million for 30 seconds of air time needs to weigh the pros and cons, experts say.
“It’s incredibly powerful because you really get to reach people, but you also are inviting lots of discussion and scrutiny and feedback,” said Tim Calkins, a Northwestern University marketing professor. A religious organization might decide, for example, that its money would be better spent directly funding programs that benefit people in their community, he said.
There just isn’t a huge need to spend millions on Super Bowl ads about Jesus, said Putz of the Faith & Sports Institute.
“Christians can get the word out for free through the network of Christian athletes and coaches developed by sports ministries,” he said. These ministries began building connections across the NFL during the 1950s — before the Super Bowl had become a major televised event — and believed that players and coaches would serve as unofficial ambassadors for Christianity, on and off the field, through their words and deeds.
Putz said Don McClanen, founder of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, put it best: “If athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades and cigarettes, surely they can endorse the Lord, too.”
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AP NFL Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
More than one million people attended Pope Francis’ Mass in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Wednesday, the Vatican Press Office said, citing figures estimated by local authorities.
Francis’ trip to the DRC – the first papal visit since 1985 – comes at a time the African nation is beset by armed fighting and a worsening refugee crisis.
It is part of a six-day trip in the DRC and South Sudan – two countries where Catholics comprise about half of the population and the Church is a key stakeholder in health and education systems as well as in democracy-building efforts. Both countries have abundant natural resources, but are grappling with poverty and strife.
A CNN team on the ground witnessed crowds singing and dancing at N’Dolo Airport from the early hours of the morning, waiting for their first glimpse of the Pope, who toured the air field in an open Popemobile.
Francis spoke to attendees in his homily about peace and directly challenged those who wield weapons.
“May it be the right time for you, who in this country call yourself a Christian but commit violence,” Francis said. “To you the Lord says, ‘Put down your arms and embrace mercy.’”
“We Christians are called to cooperate with everyone, to break the cycle of violence, to dismantle the machinations of hatred,” the Pope said.
Francis said the population was suffering from “wounds that ache, continually infected by hatred and violence, while the medicine of justice and the balm of hope never seem to arrive,” according to Reuters.
Decades of militia violence have taken grip of the DRC, as state forces struggle to curb rebel groups. Conflict between government troops and the M23 rebel group, which seeks control of the country from its stronghold in eastern DRC, has left many dead and displaced thousands.
According to the UN World Food Programme, 26 million people in the DRC face severe hunger.
Francis met with victims of violence from the east during his visit, and said he was “left without words” after hearing their harrowing stories.
“We can only weep in silence,” the Pope said, as he thanked the victims for their courageous testimony.
He is scheduled to leave Kinshasa Friday for South Sudan’s capital, Juba, where he will be joined by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields.
Pope Francis starts a trip on Tuesday to two fragile African nations often forgotten by the world, where protracted conflicts have left millions of refugees and displaced people grappling with hunger.
The Jan. 31-Feb 5 visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, takes the 86-year-old pope to places where Catholics make up about half of the populations and where the Church is a key player in health and education systems as well as in democracy-building efforts.
The trip was scheduled to take place last July but was postponed because Francis was suffering a flare-up of a chronic knee ailment. He still uses a wheelchair and cane, but his knee has improved significantly.
Both countries are rich in natural resources – DRC in minerals and South Sudan in oil – but beset with poverty and strife.
DRC, which is the second-largest country in Africa and has a population of about 90 million, is getting its first visit by a pope since John Paul II travelled there in 1985 when it was known as Zaire.
Francis had planned to visit the eastern city of Goma but that stop was scrapped following the resurgence of fighting between the army and the M23 rebel group in the area where Italy’s ambassador, his bodyguard and driver were killed in an ambush in 2021.
Francis will stay in the capital, Kinshasa, but will meet there with victims of violence from the east.
“Congo is a moral emergency that cannot be ignored,” the Vatican’s ambassador to DRC, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, told Reuters.
According to the U.N. World Food Programme, 26 million people in the DRC face severe hunger.
The country’s 45 million-strong Catholic Church has a long history of promoting democracy and, as the pope arrives, it is gearing up to monitor elections scheduled for December.
“Our hope for the Congo is that this visit will reinforce the Church’s engagement in support of the electoral process,” said Britain’s ambassador to the Vatican, Christ Trott, who spent many years as a diplomat in Africa.
DRC is getting its first visit by a pope since John Paul II travelled there in 1985 when it still was known as Zaire.
The trip takes on an unprecedented nature on Friday when the pope leaves Kinshasa for South Sudan’s capital, Juba.
That leg is being made with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields.
“Together, as brothers, we will live an ecumenical journey of peace,” Francis told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday address.
The three Churches represent the Christian makeup of the world’s youngest country, which gained independence in 2011 from predominantly Muslim Sudan after decades of conflict and has a population of around 11 million.
“This will be a historic visit,” Welby said. “After centuries of division, leaders of three different parts of (Christianity) are coming together in an unprecedented way.”
Two years after independence, conflict erupted when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those loyal to Vice President Riek Machar, who is from a different ethnic group. The bloodshed spiralled into a civil war that killed 400,000 people.
A 2018 deal stopped the worst of the fighting, but parts of the agreement – including the deployment of a re-unified national army – have not yet been implemented.
There are 2.2 million internally displaced people in South Sudan and another 2.3 million have fled the country as refugees, according to the United Nations, which has praised the Catholic Church as a “powerful and active force in building peace and reconciliation in conflict-torn regions”.
In one of the most remarkable gestures since his papacy began in 2013, Francis knelt to kiss the feet of South Sudan’s previously warring leaders during a retreat at the Vatican in April 2019, urging them not to return to civil war.
Trott, a former ambassador in South Sudan, said he hoped the three Churchmen can convince political leaders to “fulfil the promise of the independence movement”.
Barber, a MacArthur “genius grant” recipient, says a coalition of the “rejected stones” of America—the poor, immigrants, working-class whites, religious minorities, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community can transform the country because they share a common enemy.
“The same forces demonizing immigrants are also attacking low-wage workers,” the North Carolina pastor said in an interview several years ago. “The same politicians denying living wages are also suppressing the vote; the same people who want less of us to vote are also denying the evidence of the climate crisis and refusing to act now; the same people who are willing to destroy the Earth are willing to deny tens of millions of Americans access to health care.”
Barber’s fusion politics has helped transform the 59-year-old pastor into one of the country’s most prominent activist and speakers. As co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, he has helped lead one of the nation’s most sustained and visible anti-poverty efforts.
He electrified the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention with a speech that one commentator called a “drop the mic” moment. And at a time when both political parties have been accused of ignoring the working class, Barber routinely organizes and marches with groups such as fast-food workers and union members.
“There is a sleeping giant in America,” Barber told CNN. “Poor and low-wealth folks now make up 30% of the electorate in every state and over 40% of the electorate in every state where the margin of victory for the presidency was less than 3%. If you could just get that many poor and low-wealth people to vote, they could fundamentally shift every election in the country.”
Starting this month, Barber will take his fusion politics to the Ivy League. Yale Divinity School has announced he’ll be the founding director of its new Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. In that role, Barber says he hopes to train a new generation of leaders who will be comfortable “creating a just society both in the academy and in the streets.”
Though he’s stepping down as pastor of the North Carolina church where he has served for 30 years, Barber says he is not retiring from activism. He remains president of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit that promotes moral fusion politics.
Barber recently spoke to CNN about his faith and activism and why he opposes White Christian nationalism, a movement that insists the US was founded as a Christian nation and seeks to erase the separation of church and state.
Barber’s answers were edited for brevity and clarity.
You’ve talked about poverty as a moral issue and said the US cannot tolerate record levels of inequality. But some extreme levels of poverty have always existed in this country. Why is it so urgent to face those problems now, and why should someone who isn’t poor care?
Doctor King used to say America has a high blood pressure of creeds, but an anemia of deeds. In every generation we’ve had to have a moment to focus on the urgency of the right now. We will never be able to fix our democracy until we fully face these issues. We will constantly ebb and flow out of recessions because inequality hurts us all.
Joseph Stiglitz (the Nobel Prize-winning economist) talks about this in his book “The Price of Inequality,” and says that it costs us more as a nation for these inequalities to exist than it would for us to fix them.
Look at how much it costs us to not have a living (minimum) wage. There was a group of Nobel Peace Prize-winning economists two years ago that debunked the notion that paying people a living wage (the federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25 an hour) would hurt business. They said it’s not true.
Well, President Roosevelt said that in the 1930s. He said that any corporation that didn’t pay people a living wage didn’t deserve to be an American corporation.
I don’t think that American society as a democracy can stand much more. We’re moving toward 50% of all Americans being poor and low wealth. It’s unnecessary.
We say in our founding documents that every politician swears to promote the general welfare of all people. You’re not promoting the general welfare of all people when you can get elected and go to Congress and get free health care but then sit in Congress and block the people who elected you from having the same thing.
We say equal protection under the law is fundamental. Well, there’s nothing equal about corporations getting all kinds of tax breaks and all kinds of ways to make more and more money, while the average worker makes 300% less than the CEOs.
Marjorie Taylor Greene calls herself a ‘nationalist.’ This is what that means
Some people cite the scripture where Jesus says, “The poor you always have with you” to argue that poverty is inevitable, and that trying to end it is a hopeless cause.
Every time they say that, they are misquoting Jesus. Because that’s not what Jesus meant or said. He was saying, yeah, the poor are going to be with you always, because he was quoting from Deuteronomy [15:11]. The rest of that scripture says the poor will always be with you because of your greed — I’m paraphrasing it, but that’s the meaning of it. The poor will always be with you is a critique of our unwillingness to address poverty.
To have this level of inequality existing is a violation of our deepest moral, constitutional and religious values. It’s morally inconsistent, morally indefensible, and economically insane. Why would you not want to lift 55 to 60 million people out of poverty if you could by paying them a basic living wage? Why would you not want that amount of resources coming to people and then coming back into the economy?
I want to ask you about Christian nationalism. What’s wrong with saying God loves America and that the country should be built on Christian values?
God doesn’t say it. That’s what’s wrong with it. The scriptures says God loves all people and that if a nation is going to embrace Christian values, then we got to know what those values are. And those values certainly aren’t anti-gay, against people who may have had an abortion, pro-tax cut, pro one party and pro-gun. There’s nowhere in the scriptures where you see Jesus lifting that up.
Jesus said the Gospel is about good news to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, welcoming all people, caring for the least of these: the immigrant, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned. Christian nationalism attempts to sanctify oppression and not liberation. It attempts to sanctify lies and not truth. At best, it’s a form of theological malpractice. At worst, it’s a form of heresy.
When you have some people calling themselves Christian nationalists, you never hear them say, “Jesus said this.” They say, “I’m a Christian, and I say it.” But that’s not good enough. If it doesn’t line up with the founder, then it’s flawed.
I’m very much an evangelical. I tell folks that I’m a conservative, liberal, evangelical Christian. And what that means is I believe in Jesus, not to the exclusion of other faith traditions because my founder said that “I have others who are not of this fold.” I believe that love, truth, mercy, grace and justice are fundamental to a life of faith. And for me to be evangelical means to start where Jesus started.
The word “evangel” is good news. When Jesus used that phase it was in his first sermon, which was a public policy sermon. He said it in the face of Caesar, where Caesar had hurt and exploited the poor. He said it right in the ghetto of Nazareth, where people said, “nothing good could come out of Nazareth.” He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news” — evangel —”to the poor.” That’s what evangelicalism is to Jesus. That’s the kind of evangelicalism that I embrace.
You’ve had health challenges over the years. How do you keep going year after year and keep yourself from being burned out?
I read the Bible one time, specifically looking to see if I could find any person in scripture that God used in a major way that did not have some physical challenge. And I couldn’t find it. That helped me get over any pity party.
You know, Moses couldn’t talk. Ezekiel had strange post-traumatic syndrome types of emotional issues. Jeremiah was crying all the time from his struggles with depression. Paul had a physical thorn in the flesh. Jesus was acquainted with sorrow.
Then then I looked down through history, and I couldn’t find anybody. Harriet Tubman had epileptic-type fits. Martin Luther King was stabbed before he did the March on Washington and had a breathing disorder after that.
During covid, I thought deeply about death and mortality. I have some immune deficiencies and challenges. I’ve battled this ankylosing spondylitis for now 40-plus years. At any time, it could shut my body down.
During covid, as I kept meeting people, I sat down one day and I said, Lord, why am I still here? I’m not better than these people. I know I’ve been around covid. My doctor said to me if I caught covid I probably would not fare well.
As I was musing one day, it dawned on me. That’s the wrong question. The question is never, why are you still alive? Why are you still breathing? The question is what are you going to do with the breath you have?
Because at any given moment, the scripture says we’re a step from death. And so I’ve decided that whatever breath I have, it is too precious to waste on hate, on oppression and on being mean to people. It’s only to be used for the cause of justice.
The vertically shot video published last November shows no weapons, battlefield atrocities or even soldiers. But the sound of a patriotic Russian song reverberating through a church on Kyiv’s famous Lavra monastery grounds seemed to open a new front in Ukraine’s war with Russia.
The church belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) – which, despite the name, has traditionally been loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church, and whose current leader Patriarch Kiril has openly supported Moscow’s brutal invasion. Splitting with Kiril, the leadership of the UOC denounced Russia’s attack, and last May, declared its independence from Russia.
In a sermon days after the split, Patriarch Kiril said he was praying that “no temporary external obstacles will ever destroy the spiritual unity of our people.”
Days after the video surfaced, masked members of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) conducted a raid on the Lavra – officially, to prevent it being used for “hiding sabotage and reconnaissance groups” or “storing weapons.”
By December, a handful of church leaders had been sanctioned, and dozens more churches across the country were raided by the SBU – though the searches turned up little more than a few Russian passports, symbols and books.
“There was no mention in the findings of weapons or saboteurs. What they said they found was printed matter, documents, which are not prohibited under Ukrainian law,” UOC Bishop Metropolitan Klyment told CNN in an interview.
There is plenty of gray area, however. In a statement the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told CNN that it’s not illegal to store Russian propaganda, but it is to distribute it. “If such literature is in the library of the diocese or on the shelves of a church shop, it is obvious that it is intended for mass distribution,” the statement read.
It insisted that the raids on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “are aimed exclusively at national security issues. This is not a matter of religion.” Vladimir Legoyda, a spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church, however, slammed the searches as an “act of intimidation.”
Professor Viktor Yelenskyi, Ukraine’s newly appointed religious freedom watchdog, said that for more than 30 years the UOC leadership has been “poisoning people with the ideas of the Russian world.” He defended the SBU’s raids, comparing them to the crackdown on Islamic extremism after 9/11. “Ukraine is still a safe haven for religious freedom.”
Yet, at the end of 2022, the government declined to renew the church’s lease on its massive, central Lavra cathedral and turned over the keys to the similarly named, but completely separate Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The rival OCU celebrated Orthodox Christmas (on January 7) mass there for the first time this year.
Speaking outside the church on Christmas Day, Alla, who declined to give her last name, said, “I think it should’ve been done a long time ago.”
“We’ve been tolerating this [UOC] evil and closing our eyes as we thought we should be tolerant, but the war brought it all to surface.”
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church held this year’s Christmas mass at a smaller church down just steps from the cathedral. Kyrylo Serheyev, a student at the lavra seminary, said this year especially, he’s praying for Ukrainian troops. And despite government sanctions and scrutiny of his church, he insists “our patriotism is not becoming less.”
Viktoria Vinnyk said she was sad not to have mass in the central cathedral this year. Though she speaks Russian, she’s never been to Russia.
“I hope for better in my country. And I hope that the situation will change,” she said.
The cathedral isn’t the only holy site to change hands. Outside Kyiv, in the village of Vita Poshtova, a small church has sat perched on a hillside above the frozen lake since the Soviet era. It’s the only one in the village. In September the congregation voted to convert the church from UOC to the independent OCU. Parishioner Olha Mazurets says she was uncomfortable with any connection to Russia.
“It’s a matter of identity and self-preservation. We must identify our enemy too,” she told CNN.
Father Pavlo Mityaev, the newly appointed priest says before war, “people didn’t pay attention to whether it was a Ukrainian or Russian-speaking church, they were coming to God. But when the war started, everything changed.”
According to Klyment, up to 400 of the UOC’s 12,000 churches in Ukraine have converted to the OCU since the war began.
The security services says that since the full-scale invasion began, 19 church clergy have been charged and five have been convicted.
In December, UOC priest Andriy Pavlenko was sentenced to 12 years for passing information about Ukrainian battlefield positions in the Donbas to the Russians. A week later, he was sent to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.
Klyment acknowledges that priest’s guilt but dismisses other cases – like the Vinnytsia priest indicted just this week for disseminating pro-Russian propaganda – as hollow accusations. He thinks the wider church is being unfairly tarnished.
“Members of the Ukrainian Orthodox … are citizens of Ukraine, and sometimes among the best citizens of Ukraine, proving their patriotism with their own lives,” he said referring to UOC members fighting on the front lines.
In his nightly address on December 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated he was prepared to go beyond raids – proposing a law to ban churches with “centers of influence” in Russia from operating in Ukraine – all in the name of “spiritual independence.”
“We will never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul,” he said.
But Klyment believes that law would merely push his church underground.
“What else do you call persecution if not this?” he asked.
Britain’s advertising regulator has banned a poster promoting Demi Lovato’s most recent album for being “likely to cause serious offence to Christians.”
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launched an investigation into the poster, which was seen at multiple sites across London in August, after receiving complaints from four members of the public.
The poster featured an image of the album cover under the headline “HOLY FVCK,” which is also the name of the album. The image showed Lovato sprawled across a large cushioned crucifix in a leather bondage-style outfit.
Under the UK’s code for non-broadcast advertising, ads must be prepared with a “sense of responsibility” and must not contain anything likely to cause serious or widespread offense.
According to the report published by the ASA Wednesday, the complainants “challenged whether the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence,” while some also suggested it was “irresponsibly placed” where children could see it.
The watchdog investigated and upheld both aspects of the complaints, finding that both the language and the imagery used were likely to cause serious offense.
Polydor Records, a division of Universal Music Group, argued that the posters, which appeared at six different sites and which were removed after four days, primarily included the artwork from the singer’s album, and denied that they were offensive.
“We considered that the image of Ms Lovato bound up in a bondage-style outfit whilst lying on a mattress shaped like a crucifix, in a position with her legs bound to one side which was reminiscent of Christ on the cross, together with the reference to ‘holy fvck’, which in that context was likely to be viewed as linking sexuality to the sacred symbol of the crucifix and the crucifixion, was likely to cause serious offence to Christians,” the report said.
Though misspelt, it would be clear to “most readers that the ad alluded to the expression ‘holy f**k’,” it added.
The watchdog concluded that the poster breached the code, and ruled that it “must not appear again in the form complained of unless it was suitably targeted.”
CNN has reached out to Polydor Records for comment.
Lovato’s eighth studio album, which was released in August, deals with some difficult issues, including drug and alcohol addiction. One of the songs, “Skin of My Teeth,” was inspired by her health challenges following an 2018 overdose, which caused multiple strokes and brain damage. She said on the “Spout” podcast that she was sober throughout the creation of the album, something she is “so proud of.”
Pope Francis paid tribute to his predecessor former Pope Benedict XVI Thursday, in a funeral attended by tens of thousands of mourners at St. Peter’s Square.
The event marked the first occasion in modern times that a pontiff had presided over the funeral of his predecessor – and the first ever of one who resigned. Benedict, the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, died aged 95 on December 31 at a monastery in Vatican City.
It was an occasion characterized by simplicity, as per the wish of the former pope. “It’s difficult to have a simple service in St. Peter’s Square, but I think it was,” Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, writer and editor, told CNN’s Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo on CNN Newsroom.
“You have to have some pomp and ceremony for a former pope, but I think within the guidelines of what Pope Emeritus Benedict wanted, it succeeded very well.”
About 50,000 people attended the funeral in St. Peter’s Square according to Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni, with many members of the crowd calling for the late pope to be consecrated a saint.
The attendance compared with an estimated 1.1 million people for the funeral of Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II. There were 500,000 people in St. Peter’s Square and the surrounding area in 2005, and another 600,000 who watched on video screens in other parts of Rome.
John Paul II’s funeral was the largest gathering of heads of state ever outside the United Nations. Delegations included nine monarchs along with 70 presidents and prime ministers.
Over the six days between John Paul II’s death and his funeral, an estimated 3 million people came to pay their final respects. Each hour, 21,000 people passed through St. Peter’s Basilica. The average wait to see the pope was 13 hours, and at its maximum the line was 3 miles long.
In pictures: The funeral of former Pope Benedict XVI
Dignitaries and religious leaders lined the square on Thursday, which can seat approximately 60,000 people, for the ceremony. Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic, was among those in attendance, according to CNN affiliate CNN Prima.
The ceremony was similar to that of a reigning pope but with some modifications. Benedict was named pope emeritus during the funeral, and the language of some prayers was different because he was not the reigning pope when he died.
Francis started leading the mass Thursday morning, during which he gave a homily at about 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET). Members of the crowd later took part in a Communion.
Benedict’s coffin was transported through the Basilica and transferred to the Vatican crypt for the burial, in the first tomb of John Paul II. The tomb was vacated after John Paul II’s body and remains were moved to a chapel inside the Basilica after he became a saint.
As Benedict’s coffin was carried to St. Peter’s Basilica, many members of the crowd could be heard chanting “Santo Subito,” which is a call for the Pope Emeritus to become a saint immediately.
“God’s faithful people, gathered here, now accompanies and entrusts to him the life of the one who was their pastor,” Francis said as he delivered the homily.
“Like the women at the tomb, we too have come with the fragrance of gratitude and the balm of hope, in order to show him once more the love that is undying. We want to do this with the same wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years. Together, we want to say: ‘Father, into your hands we commend his spirit.’
“Benedict, faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever,” Francis added.
At the time of the burial during the rite, a webbing was placed around the coffin with the seals of the apostolic chamber, the pontifical house and liturgical celebrations. The cypress coffin was placed inside a zinc coffin that is soldered and sealed, and subsequently placed inside a wooden coffin, which wasburied, according to Bruni.
The ceremony is expected to end at around 11:15 a.m. local time (5.15 a.m. ET).
High-profile dignitaries including Queen Sofia of Spain and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are set to attend the funeral, alongside US Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donelly.
Benedict was elected pope in April 2005 following John Paul II’s death. He was known to be more conservative than his successor, Pope Francis, who has made moves to soften the Vatican’s position on abortion and homosexuality, as well as doing more to deal with the sexual abuse crisis that has engulfed the church in recent years and clouded Benedict’s legacy.
The scroll that was put inside Pope Benedict XVI’s coffin, which is a biography of his life and mentions some of the most important moments of his tenure, recalls that he “firmly” fought against pedophilia.
“He firmly fought against crimes committed by members of the clergy against minors or vulnerable persons, continually calling the Church to conversion, prayer, penance and purification,” the scroll said.
His death prompted tributes from political and religious leaders including US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Dalai Lama.
About 200,000 mourners, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella, paid their respects to the former pontiff earlier this week during his lying-in-state in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The public viewing of Benedict finished Wednesday, before an intimate religious rite during which items including coins and medals minted over his tenure and a scroll about the pontificate were placed into his sealed cypress coffin ahead of the funeral.
Meloni paid homage to “enlightened theologian” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in a tweet on Thursday.
“Today in St. Peter’s to bid a last farewell to Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus. Enlightened theologian who leaves us a spiritual and intellectual legacy of faith, trust and hope,” Meloni tweeted after the funeral, which she attended.
“We have the task of always preserving and honoring it and of carrying on its precious teachings,” she added.
The Italian government previously announced on Wednesday that Italian and European flags would be flying at half-staff on public buildings across Italy on Thursday.
FAIRWAY, Kan. — The Shawnee Tribe is asking to take over ownership of a historical site in Kansas that might contain unmarked graves of Native American students.
The tribe released an architectural survey Tuesday that found the three buildings remaining at the Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway, Kansas, need millions of dollars in repairs, The Kansas City Star reported.
The site, formerly known as the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School, was one of hundreds of schools run by the government and religious groups in the 1800s and 1900s that removed Indigenous children from their families to assimilate them into white society and Christianity.
It is owned by the Kansas Historical Society. The city of Fairway manages daily operations.
In October, state officials announced that they planned to conduct a ground study to search for unmarked graves on the 12-acre (4.86-hectare) site. That process stalled after the Shawnee Tribe said it had not been consulted enough and raised questions about the proposed study.
Tribal leaders contend that state and Fairway officials have not properly maintained the site.
The Oklahoma-based tribe commissioned the study from Architectural Resources Group last year because leaders are “concerned about the future of this historic site,” Chief Ben Barnes said in a statement Tuesday.
“Over the last year, we have had numerous conversations with the city and state about the need to save this special place,” Barnes said. “When it became clear that there was no plan in place, we began conversations about the possibility of the Shawnee Tribe assuming responsibility for restoring and repairing this site.”
Officials with the Kansas Historical Society and the city of Fairway rejected the suggestion that the site be transferred to the tribe.
Patrick Zollner, acting executive director of the Historical Society, said the organization has already made several improvements, is planning more restoration work and remains committed to telling the history of the site.
In a statement released Tuesday, Fairway officials questioned whether the tribe had the resources to pay for needed renovations and repairs. They also questioned what the tribe would do with the land, and said the city and state may not have any authority over how the land was used.
Tribal leaders estimate the repairs would cost up to $13 million. If given ownership, the tribe said it would repair the buildings in multiple phases while meeting historical preservation requirements.
Nearly 4,000 union nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital have reached a tentative agreement on a contract, while approximately 12,000 nurses at seven other hospitals will move forward with their intention to strike beginning January 9.
New York State Nurses Association members at NewYork-Presbyterian reached a tentative deal just hours before their contract expired Saturday “and one day after delivering a 10-day notice to strike,” according to a news release from the group.
The notice allows time for the hospitals to plan patient care in case of a strike. Nearly 99% of the union members voted last week to authorize the strike, which would affect seven hospitals in all five boroughs of the city.
Nurses at the seven remaining hospital facilities are expected to continue negotiations this week, according to the union.
“Nurses are expected to be back at the bargaining table all week at the seven other facilities,” the release noted. “They have been sounding the alarm about the short-staffing crisis that puts patients at risk, especially during a tripledemic of COVID, RSV and flu.”
The union argued hospitals are not doing enough to keep caregivers with patients, and they say hospitals need to invest in hiring, and retaining nurses to improve patient care.
“Striking is always a last resort,” union president and nurse Nancy Hagans said in a news release last week. “Nurses have been to hell and back, risking our lives to save our patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes without the PPE we needed to keep ourselves safe, and too often without enough staff for safe patient care.”
The last-minute negotiations are the latest example of a growing trend of unions leveraging strike threats to improve working conditions. Unions representing workers of train crews at the nation’s freight railroads, mental health professionals, and teachers have all been among the groups to recently strike or lay the groundwork to do so.
President Joe Biden mourned the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, saying in a statement Saturday that the late pontiff “will be remembered as a renowned theologian, with a lifetime of devotion to the Church, guided by his principles and faith.”
Benedict died Saturday at the age of 95 in a Vatican monastery, according to a statement from the Vatican. He was the first pope in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, doing so in 2013.
Biden, the second Catholic to serve as president of the United States, reflected on his meeting with Benedict at the Vatican in 2011, recalling the late pontiff’s “generosity and welcome as well as our meaningful conversation.”
“As he remarked during his 2008 visit to the White House, ‘the need for global solidarity is as urgent as ever, if all people are to live in a way worthy of their dignity.’ May his focus on the ministry of charity continue to be an inspiration to us all,” Biden said Saturday.
Benedict’s funeral will be held on Thursday in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City at 9:30 a.m. local time, the Vatican statement said. The funeral will be led by Pope Francis.
Benedict was a polarizing figure, hailed by conservatives who admired his erudite writings and careful theology. But he faced criticism, particularly in the postmodern West, for his staunch insistence on fidelity to church doctrine and his willingness to silence dissent. He also came under fire for his handling of the sexual abuse crisis that engulfed the Catholic Church during his years as a senior cleric.
Benedict met with three sitting US presidents – in addition to future President Biden – during his time as leader of the Catholic Church.
“It was like going back to theology class,” Biden told America, a Jesuit publication, in 2015 of his meeting with Benedict. “And by the way, he wasn’t judgmental. He was open. I came away enlivened from the discussion.”
In pictures: The life of Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict met with his first sitting president in 2007 when George W. Bush traveled to the Vatican. Benedict made his only papal visit to the United States the following year. Bush took the rare step of meeting the pope when his plane arrived at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, DC, and he later welcomed Benedict to the White House with an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn where thousands gathered and sang “Happy Birthday” to the pope, who turned 81 that day.
Later that year, Bush visited Benedict at the Vatican, where the two men strolled through the Vatican Gardens and met privately for roughly 30 minutes.
In 2009, President Barack Obama met with Benedict for 30 minutes at the Vatican. Officials at the time said their meeting included discussions on addressing poverty and the Middle East, as well as issues such as abortion and stem cell research.
Abortion also appeared to be a topic of discussion during Biden’s meeting with Benedict. In his 2015 interview with America, Biden said the two men spoke about Catholic doctrine and the then-vice president’s view that he should not impose his own beliefs on other people, including on issues such as abortion.
Benedict talked about Biden’s abortion stance after he became president in 2021.
“It’s true, he’s Catholic and observant. And personally, he is against abortion,” Benedict said in an interview with The Tablet, a Catholic publication. “But as president, he tends to present himself in continuity with the line of the Democratic Party … and on gender policy, we still don’t really understand what his position is.”
Biden also spoke of Benedict at a White House event this summer, calling him a “great theologian, a very conservative theologian.” The president shared that Benedict had asked him for advice when they met.
“‘Well, one piece of advice,’ I said, ‘I’d go easy on the nuns. They’re more popular than you are,’” Biden recounted to laughter.
Law enforcement officials are investigating a homicide at a Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Colorado where two adults were found dead, police said.
“The investigation is still active, witnesses being interviewed, scene being examined,” Thornton Police said in a tweet. “A suspicious device found at the scene is being evaluated by the Hazardous Materials Unit.”
There is no known threat to the community at this time, police said.
The cause or manner of death has not been identified, police added.
Thornton is located about 10 miles north of Denver.
It was bedtime on Christmas Eve 2018. I was sitting outside my 6-year-old daughter’s bedroom, head in my hands, as I listened to her cry about us not celebrating Christmas.
We’ve always tried to be age-appropriately honest with our kids about everything. So although we had taken them shopping for a few toys with gift money they’d received from Nana, when my daughter started talking about having presents under a decorated tree the next morning, we gently let her know that wouldn’t be happening.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when my husband and I decided to leave Christianity, but 2017 was when it fully became our reality. That year, we spent Christmas at my mom’s house, so the kids were able to follow along with all of the traditions that come with the holidays. I, meanwhile, spent my time trying to quiet my anxious thoughts about what we’d do when December rolled around next year and we were in our own home.
Now the time had come. We had just moved into a new house, which was still mostly empty except for boxes stacked in corners. I had convinced myself that this in and of itself was a good enough reason to once again postpone the huge task of trying to define Christmas now that we no longer identified as devout Christians. In the meantime, we’d just opt out of celebrating.
I honestly didn’t think my kids would even notice, but maybe that was my own wishful thinking. My 4-year-old-son and my 2-year-old daughter took it in stride, but my oldest was heartbroken.
My own childhood memories of Christmas were bright and beautiful. My family and I drove around different neighborhoods to hunt for the best Christmas light displays. My mom made homemade cookies in festive shapes that everyone gathered around the table to decorate together. The nativity scene that pre-dated me was always displayed somewhere prominent. When I got older, I called dibs on being the one to set it up and found new and inventive ways to hang the angel above the manger.
When I was growing up, the presence of God and Jesus in my home felt like a warm blanket. It was comforting to believe they were watching over me. We identified as Christians, but I didn’t fully understand what that meant. It included a lot of kindness and love without a lot of the specific formalities that many people who practice include.
The author at 2 years old in 1992. “I’m sitting next to that year’s batch of our annual Christmas cookies,” she writes. “A the time, we were living on the same military base in Okinawa, Japan, that we came back to just before I entered high school.”
Courtesy of Holly Henderson
When I was invited by my middle school best friend to attend church with her family, I jumped at the opportunity. Practicing Christianity more formally offered me a way to belong to something, especially after my family moved overseas the summer before my freshman year of high school. Days after arriving in Japan, I looked up the chapel on our small Air Force base and walked straight into its youth group building, which was dimly lit and full of second-hand furniture. I was instantly accepted as one of them, and it was a relief to have a group of people to share my life with. But I soon discovered that in many fundamentalist Christian circles, if you want to be accepted, you have to conform, and you can quickly lose yourself in the process.
I spent much of my life feeling like I was the odd one out, so when I finally felt I had found a way to belong, I went above and beyond to make sure I was doing everything the way I was “supposed” to do it. When I decided to attend a Christian college to get a degree in elementary education, the admissions officer gushed about how selfless it was for me to be a teacher even though I had “high enough scores to be anything I wanted.” Later, when I went in for an admittance interview, I told them how I had found their school by Googling “what college does God want me to go to?” That story continued to be repeated by staff as inspiration for other students even after I had graduated.
I only attended for a year before I got married at 19. Girls who go to Christian colleges and are looking to get married call it getting their “MRS” degrees. Despite hating that idea, I got married before anyone I knew. I met my husband when my family moved to Arkansas before my senior year of high school. He wasn’t allowed to date because of his family’s Christian values, but after over a year of knowing each other, his family acknowledged our courting relationship. Six months after that, we were engaged. Four months later we were married.
All my husband and I wanted was to be together, and marriage allowed us to do that. Our relationship and the family we would make together gave me a place to belong other than church. When we decided to have our first child, I was still excited to raise her as a Christian with all the celebratory occasions and milestones I knew that would include.
I remembered how my mom cried tears of joy when I had fully welcomed Jesus into my life. She felt secure in the knowledge that I would go to heaven with her. After we promoted her to Nana, she gave me that nativity I loved so much as a kid to decorate my own home. While having children added an extra dose of nostalgia to the holidays, it also brought on a whole new level of wanting to do everything “right.” I felt immense pressure to fully embrace the idea of Christmas being a celebration of Christ rather than a commercial holiday.
The author at age 7. “I’m standing next to my mom with our not-yet-decorated Christmas tree in the sun room of our Florida home,” she writes.
Courtesy of Holly Henderson
I met this problem head-on by reading Bible passages aloud and going to all the Christmas services my church offered. But that wasn’t enough. Each year our traditions became more and more rigid. By our last Christian Christmas, we listened exclusively to religious-themed music and removed Santa from the picture entirely. Everything we did had to have a Godly motivation: We gave presents because of the three wise men’s gifts, our decorations had to be religiously themed, not secular, and even our big dinner was considered “Jesus’ birthday banquet.” Still, it didn’t feel like any of it was ever enough. Every time I thought I had succeeded in satisfying all of the requirements for a pious Christmas, our friends, who were all Christian, would point out something else I was doing that was wrong.
Even though church and the community that came with it had been such a big part of my life for so long, other doubts started to creep in as well ― especially when it came to my kids. As I rocked my eldest child in my arms in the pink glow of her nursery, I knew I could never discipline her in a way our Christian circles would accept. I couldn’t tell her she was fundamentally flawed and sinful ― and I certainly couldn’t spank her, which I was constantly told was the only way to raise her. This was the first true crack in my religious worldview.
It certainly wasn’t the last. The more I began to question what my religion was really saying ― and what practicing it demanded ― the harder it was for me to imagine raising my children with those beliefs. Up until then, I had been able to go along with so much of it because of the things that Christianity gave me: The way it made me feel accepted. I loved reading the nativity story to my daughter and teaching her about Jesus’ love. Praying with her brought tears to my eyes. But as everything that was required of me ― and would be required of my kids ― became clearer, I knew deep down it was time to step away.
So, because taking my kids to church became incompatible with teaching them kindness, we stopped going. Because being around our Christian friends exposed my kids to things I could not abide by ― like bigotry and spanking ― we withdrew from those relationships.
It wasn’t long before the rest of my fundamentalist Christian beliefs ― and friends ― were gone. The cracks had multiplied with every month that passed, and every harsh comment and judgment I faced, until my idea of religion finally shattered. I realized that the values I most cherished and had attempted to express through practicing Christianity could flourish without its confines. But the comfort of it was gone, too, along with the bulk of my support system. All except my mom. She did cry (sad tears this time) when I told her I was leaving the faith we had shared. But she also said, “I just want you to be happy,” and she meant it.
As our new life without Christianity became more and more real, I thought I had a good grasp on how it would affect me. So I was surprised when breaking from religion broke Christmas for me, too. I could no longer use those “Christian values” to make decisions about our holiday traditions. I felt myself moving full-speed in the other direction in an attempt not to acknowledge a holiday that was the foundation for Christianity. I began cringing at any Christmas song that even vaguely referenced Jesus’ birth. I gave my childhood nativity scene back to my mom. I was lost and completely unsure of how to preserve the magic of Christmas that I had grown up with while removing the religiosity that I no longer believed in or felt offered anything positive for my family.
The author and her husband at their wedding in Arkansas in July 2009. “We were both 19 years old and the suit my husband rented was too big for him,” she writes.
Courtesy of Holly Henderson
That Christmas Eve in 2018, I cried along with my daughter. I listened as my husband laid next to her and empathetically acknowledged her feelings, and I tried to take what he said to her into my own aching heart. That was the start of my very own Christmas miracle: I realized I didn’t have to have all the answers. I finally understood that it didn’t have to be all or nothing ― that there could be a way to take the parts of religion that drew me in, like acceptance and generosity and unconditional love, and reject the parts that were harmful. We were free to make our own traditions, whatever that looked like. We could find our own way forward.
The next day, Christmas Day, we got out our bin of holiday decorations, and I let my kids play with them. We watched old Christmas movies I’d loved as a kid, but hadn’t ever had the joy of sharing with my own children.
Now our family takes a page out of the Christian handbook and borrows pagan traditions for our celebrations. Our winter holiday is a mashup of Winter Solstice and Christmas, celebrated whenever is best for our family. We get a tree ― one we cut down ourselves with hot apple cider in-hand or that we rescue from the hardware store parking lot. We listen to whatever music is on the biggest Spotify Christmas playlist, talking openly with our kids about what the religious ones mean. We tell them that some people believe in the Christian Christmas (like Nana), but Mom and Dad don’t. They know Nana is a Christian, with crosses and Bible verses decorating her walls, but what is truer and more real to them is the depth of her love (and snack stash).
We go on winter walks to look at how nature is changing and thank the Earth for being a good home. We bake cookies with my mom’s recipe and go hunting for holiday lights. We get cozy pajamas that don’t match. We string lights all over the house to brighten our hearts during the dark of winter. Our traditions are just that: ours. Like a patchwork quilt, we sew them together to create something one-of-a-kind: A warm blanket that not only wraps around our family, but grows along with us.
My oldest daughter is 10 now. When we open up our winter decorations this year, instead of anxiety, I’ll feel the same excitement I did when I was her age. Unsurprisingly, she loves going all out for the holidays. But she knows that this season is really about bringing light, love and hope to those around us ― and she didn’t learn that from religion. She learned it from her family.
Holly Henderson has lived all over the world but currently resides in central Georgia (the state, not the country). She has over 10 years of experience in parenting, education and mental health that she draws upon in her work. As a writer, her words come in many forms, from essays and articles to poems and stories. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Pope Francis has revealed in a new interview that he has already signed his resignation letter to be used in the event of him becoming “impaired.”
Francis made the comment in an interview with Spanish news outlet ABC, published Sunday, when asked what would happen if a pope is suddenly rendered unable to perform his duties due to health issues or an accident.
Francis said he wrote the letter several years ago and gave it to then-Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who resigned in 2013.
“I have already signed my renunciation. The Secretary of State at the time was Tarcisio Bertone. I signed it and said: ‘If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my renunciation,’” Francis was quoted as saying.
“I don’t know who Cardinal Bertone has given that letter to, but I handed it to him when he was the Secretary of State,” Francis said, adding that this was the first time he had spoken publicly about the letter’s existence.
Francis said past pontiffs Paul VI and Pious XII had also drafted their letters of renunciation in the event of a permanent impairment.
Francis, 86, appears to be in good health apart from knee problems. He has often been seen with a walking stick and sometimes uses a wheelchair due to pain in his right knee.
Earlier this year, he canceled a trip to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan after doctors said he might also have to miss a later trip to Canada unless he agreed to have 20 more days of therapy and rest for his right knee.
In 2013, Francis’ immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict, made the almost unprecedented decision to resign from his position, citing the reason as “advanced age” and startling the Catholic world.
It marked the first time a pope had stepped down in nearly 600 years. The last pope to step down before his death was Gregory XII, who in 1415 quit to end a civil war within the church in which more than one man claimed to be pope.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The leader of small polygamous group near the Arizona-Utah border had taken at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet, newly filed federal court documents show.
Samuel Bateman was a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, until he left to start his own small offshoot group. He was supported financially by male followers who also gave up their own wives and children to be Bateman’s wives, according to an FBI affidavit.
The document filed Friday provides new insight about what investigators have found in a case that first became public in August. It accompanied charges of kidnapping and impeding a foreseeable prosecution against three of Bateman’s wives — Naomi Bistline, Donnae Barlow and Moretta Rose Johnson.
Bistline and Barlow are scheduled to appear in federal magistrate court in Flagstaff on Wednesday. Johnson is awaiting extradition from Washington state.
The women are accused of fleeing with eight of Bateman’s children, who were placed in Arizona state custody earlier this year. The children were found last week hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in Spokane, Washington.
Bateman was arrested in August when someone spotted small fingers in the gap of a trailer he was hauling through Flagstaff. He posted bond but was arrested again and charged with obstructing justice in a federal investigation into whether children were being transported across state lines for sexual activity.
Court records allege that Bateman, 46, engaged in child sex trafficking and polygamy, but none of his current charges relate to those allegations. Polygamy is illegal in Arizona but was decriminalized in Utah in 2020.
Arizona Department of Child Services spokesman Darren DaRonco and FBI spokesman Kevin Smith declined to comment on the case Tuesday. Bistline’s attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Barlow’s attorney declined to comment. Johnson didn’t have a publicly listed attorney.
The FBI affidavit filed in the women’s case largely centers on Bateman, who proclaimed himself a prophet in 2019. Bateman says he was told by former FLDS leader Warren Jeffs to invoke the “Spirit of God on these people.” The affidavit details explicit sexual acts that Bateman and his followers engaged in to fulfill “Godly duties.”
Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for child sex abuse related to underage marriages.
Criminal defense attorney Michael Piccarreta, who represented Jeffs on Arizona charges that were dismissed, said the state has a history of trying to take a stand against polygamy by charging relatively minor offenses to build bigger cases.
“Whether this is the same tactic that has been used in the past or whether there’s more to the story, only time will tell,” he said.
The office of Bateman’s attorney in the federal case, Adam Zickerman, declined to comment Tuesday.
Bateman lived in Colorado City among a patchwork of devout members of the polygamous FLDS, ex-church members and those who don’t practice the beliefs. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the mainstream church abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.
Bateman often traveled to Nebraska where some of his other followers lived and internationally to Canada and Mexico for conferences.
When Bateman was arrested earlier this year, he instructed his followers to obtain passports and to delete messages sent through an encrypted system, authorities said.
He demanded that his followers confess publicly for any indiscretions, and shared those confessions widely, according to the FBI affidavit. He claimed the punishments, which ranged from a time out to public shaming and sexual activity, came from the Lord, the affidavit states.
The children identified by their initials in court documents have said little to authorities. The three children found in the trailer Bateman was hauling through Flagstaff — which had a makeshift toilet, a couch, camping chairs and no ventilation — told authorities they didn’t have any health or medical needs, a police report stated.
None of the girls placed in state custody in Arizona disclosed sexual abuse by Bateman during forensic interviews, though one said she was present during sexual activity, according to the FBI affidavit. But the girls often wrote in journals that were seized by the FBI. In them, several of the girls referenced intimate interactions with Bateman. Authorities believe the older girls influenced the younger ones not to talk about Bateman, the FBI said.
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Associated Press writer Sam Metz in Salt Lake City contributed to this story.
