International
Pope to revisit Lesbos on trip to Cyprus, Greece
AFP
Pope Francis will visit Cyprus and Greece next month and will revisit the island of Lesbos, a major point of entry for migrants into Europe, the Vatican said Friday.
His 35th trip abroad comes just five months after the Argentine pontiff, who turns 85 in December, was hospitalised following surgery on his colon.
“Pope Francis will travel to Cyprus from 2 to 4 December, visiting the city of Nicosia, and to Greece from 4 to 6 December, visiting Athens and the island of Lesbos,” spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a brief statement.
Francis has travelled widely since he took office in 2013, and although his schedule was suspended by the coronavirus pandemic, this year he has already made a historic trip to Iraq and visits to the Hungarian capital Budapest and Slovakia.
Migration has been a key theme — his first trip as pope, in July 2013, was to the Italian island of Lampedusa, the landing point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
While there, he criticised the “globalisation of indifference” over migrants.
In April 2016, he visited Lesbos, for many years the main entry point into Europe for migrants and asylum-seekers. He paid a trip to Moria, the continent’s largest migrant camp until it was destroyed by fire last year.
Josif Printezis, the Catholic archbishop for Greek islands in the Aegean, said earlier this month that the pope in Lesbos in December would “make a humanitarian statement, that the Church and all European peoples care about refugees, and that the weight borne by Greece should be recognised by the other European countries”.
After his last visit to Lesbos, Francis returned home with three Syrian families from the camp, who later settled in Italy.
– ‘More tired’.
During his visit to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus — the first by a pope since Benedict XVI in 2010 — Francis will meet with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, the presidency said.
The island has been divided since 1974 between the Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian-majority Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Muslim-majority Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara.
UN-brokered negotiations to reunify the island collapsed in 2017.
In addition to the trip next month, several other papal visits are in the works.
The pope said in October he intends to visit Oceania for the first time next year, without specifying where, and also had “in my head” trips to Congo and the rest of Hungary.
Speaking to Argentine news agency Telam, he said he was overdue a trip to Papua New Guinea and East Timor originally planned for 2020.
The pope had expressed hope he could fly to Glasgow for this month’s UN talks on climate change, another subject close to his heart, but in the end he sent only a video message.
Despite Francis’ busy schedule, there are signs that his age is catching up with him.
On returning from a gruelling three-day trip to Iraq, the pope admitted he “felt a lot more tired” than during other visits.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
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Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
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