CARDINAL MATTEO TERESCO COULD HE BE THE NEXT POPE. WAR DRUMS POUND AROUND THE WORLD.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
I KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
FAMINE
EZEKIEL 5:16
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
DEUTORONOMY 28:24
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,(LIBERAL GODLESS AIR WAVES) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3-7
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:3-4
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,(EU WORLD DICTATOR)the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.(SOCIALISM)
13 These have one mind,(SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)
2 THESSALONIANS 2:9-12
9 Even him,(EU WORLD DICTATOR) whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,(THE FALSE RESURRECTION BY THE WORLD DICTATOR) that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
GENESIS 49:16-17-POSSIBLY A JEW FROM DAN KILLS THE DICTATOR AT MIDPOINT OF TRIB
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
No one will enter the New World Order... unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.- David Spangler Director of Planetary Initiative United Nations.
THE WORLD DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(EU WORLD DICTATOR) and he that sat on him had a bow;(PEACE) and a crown was given unto him:(WORLD LEADER) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he (FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he (THE EU DICTATOR) do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
No one will enter the New World Order... unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.- David Spangler Director of Planetary Initiative United Nations.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI5_pMvLZd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 DIVSION REGION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT-NEW AGE MOVEMENT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(EU WORLD DICTATOR) and he that sat on him had a bow;(PEACE) and a crown was given unto him:(WORLD LEADER) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he (FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he (THE EU DICTATOR) do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
No one will enter the New World Order... unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.- David Spangler Director of Planetary Initiative United Nations.
PORT OF IRAN GIGANTIC EXPLOSION.CLAIMES CHEMICALS CAUSED THE EXPLOSION.40 KILLED, 1000+ INJURED.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11,25-26
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.so was not yet deemed a threat to land.
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
REV 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
JAMES 1:11
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
The Hebrew noun accurately translated “oven” refers to a “baking oven” as distinct from a kiln or smelting furnace—both of which burn much hotter. (The Hebrew nouns for “kiln” or for “smelting furnace” are more likely to appear in contexts of God's wrath or judgment.)
21 They have roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate them with a stupid nation.
22 Yes, a fire has blazed from my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to the footings of the mountains.
23 I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,(LIBERAL GODLESS AIR WAVES) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:(GODLESS)
Biometric credentials upgrading government service delivery around the world-May 3, 2025, 12:44 pm EDT | Chris Burt
The trend of biometrics backing the government-issued credentials and online service platforms that provide access to digital pubic services is expanding around the world, as seen in the top articles of the week on Biometric Update. New Zealand is seeking information as it builds its national system, Idemia is partnering up to support projects from Armenia to Saudi Arabia and new cards made with Veridos technology are coming to Guyana in 2026.Meanwhile, Persona is the latest biometrics provider to pick up a multi hundred-million dollar funding round.Top biometrics news of the week-An RFI from New Zealand’s government seeks information on the suppliers and technologies that can help build the country’s national digital identity infrastructure. New Zealand is setting up a Trust Register for accredited providers and a centralized issuance platform shared by multiple government agencies to issue credentials in line with the country’s Digital Identity Services Trust Framework, meaning W3C Verifiable Credentials or ISO 18013-compliant mobile driver’s licenses.A pilot of the Mesob platform for digital government service delivery has launched in Ethiopia. Services from 12 government ministries and agencies are included in the trial, including registration for driver’s licenses and the national digital ID, Fayda, and for tax, education and financial services. The government will take the opportunity to evaluate the platform’s performance and user experience before a full production rollout.The U.S. Social Security Administration is introducing a way to store your Social Security Number in an online account accessible from personal devices through a “my Social Security” account. The feature does not replace the SSN card for identity verification, however, and user comments reflect SSN’s dubious usefulness for IDV and the government’s dubious reputation on data privacy.As biometrics provide the identity assurance backing ever more government projects around the world, Idemia’s partnerships grow in number and scale. An MoU in Saudi Arabia, 23 new offices for it’s consortium in Armenia, and a biometrics research facility at West Virginia University launched by Idemia NSS are the latest examples.Guyana is planning to introduce a new version of its national ID card, which Veridos holds a biometrics contract for, next year to ease access to online public and private-sector services. The cards are also intended to help distinguish citizens of the country from foreign residents.Mexico’s government is moving ahead with the introduction of a new ID document, the Llave MX, updates the CURP ID number system with biometrics to gain efficiency and cut fraud. But Mexico’s judiciary has declared the creation of a centralized biometric system unconstitutional before, and could again amid continuing tensions between the governing party and judiciary.Sri Lanka is preparing to tender contracts for implementing the MOSIP digital ID platform, the country’s digital economy minister says. The country has already successfully completed a pilot project and expects to call the tenders some time in the next three months.Papua New Guinea is planning to integrate data across civil registration, bank, telecom and superannuation systems, with user consent following a successful digital identity pilot last year. The process will start with finding out which entities hold what personal data, and involve aligning data with forthcoming Digital ID Trust Framework.The World Economic Forum has launched what it calls the Connected Future Initiative to help DPI projects keep up with emerging technologies like AI. And the WEF estimates “GovTech” could deliver $10 trillion in value over the next decade, pointing to initiatives in Brazil and Caribbean nations.Persona has reported one of the year’s biggest biometrics funding rounds of 2025, with a $200 million series D. The company’s valuation reached $2 billion, rewarding its achievements in doubling its customer base and delivering capabilities for navigating a complex ecosystem of real people, good and bad bots, and fragmented privacy regulations.G+D Ventures reviews lessons from its successful investment in IDnow, from recognizing the value of its remote video identification in 2018 to its acquisition by Corsair Capital in March, one of the few deals so far this year bigger than Persona’s. The Medium post highlights the importance of agility and experience in early stages, the tailwind that regulation can provide, and why establishing a winning product in a single market is the best way to start.Google Wallet continues to spread its wings across the market, with support for UK digital ID passes and some out-loud pondering about DIATF certification. Support for IDs from more American states is coming soon, and ZKPs have been integrated to support age assurance use cases.An RFI from U.S. Customs and Border Protection seeks information on technologies that can capture face biometrics from all the occupants of private vehicles at land border crossings. The system under consideration would act as a backup to biometrics capture in the “Pre-Primary Zone.”Ondato CMO Vytautas Urbonas breaks down the latest tariff reversals by U.S. President Trump and predicts compliance costs will rise in a guest post for Biometric Update.Please tell us if you come across any articles, podcasts or other content we should share with the people in biometrics and the broader digital identity community, either in the comments below or through social media.
Papua New Guinea launches integration exercise for national digital identity-May 1, 2025, 3:19 pm EDT | Joel R. McConvey
Papua New Guinea is forging ahead with its national digital ID. A release says the nation is launching a “data integration exercise” for key partners, including the Civil Registry Office, banks, telecommunication companies and superannuation funds.In 2024, PNG successfully ran a pilot of the SevisPass digital identity, which aims to help citizens access public and private sector services more easily and securely.Now, according to Secretary for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Steven Matainaho, the national integration process will involve mapping out sources of personal data, establishing secure and consent-based data sharing protocols, technical onboarding various agencies and connecting them through secure systems, ensuring data structures and formats align with the anticipated Digital ID Trust Framework, and testing for compliance, security and interoperability.Finally, it will include accrediting digital identity providers to issue SevisPass credentials.During the digital ID rollout in May and June, national workshops and information sessions will be held to help all data holders and stakeholders understand the system.The government’s stated goals are to enable secure, consent-based eKYC verification for both public and private sector services, streamline access to banking and SIM registration, enable single sign-on (SSO) across government services – and support biometric identity verification for the 2027 National General Elections.Officials in charge of elections recently said otherwise, stating publicly that the country is not ready to use biometrics for voting.Nonetheless, as Matainaho says, PNG is “moving decisively toward a trusted and digitally inclusive future.”
Sri Lanka conducting user and security testing for biometric identity card project-Plan to integrate the Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID project with the e-NIC-May 1, 2025, 3:18 pm EDT | Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera
The user and security testing for Sri Lanka’s Electronic National Identity Card (e-NIC) project is now ongoing, M.S.P. Suriyapperuma, director general of the Department of Registration of Persons, told Biometric Update on Wednesday in Colombo.“Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT) is conducting this testing.” This testing is being conducted to check the strength of the software, etc, she added.The Department of Registration of Persons in Sri Lanka has procured 700,000 polycarbonate cards from Thales for its Electronic National Identity Card (e-NIC) project, which includes biometric features such as fingerprint, iris, and face recognition details for enhanced security and efficiency in identification confirmation.The plan is to integrate the Sri Lanka Unique Digital ID project with the e-NIC, assigning unique ID numbers, centralizing various types of IDS, and capturing data like birth certificates and tax identification, Suriyapperuma said.The project has improved citizens’ access to National ID cards by establishing 335 departmental ID card units in all Divisional Secretariats, decentralizing services to provincial levels, and establishing a Department for Registration of Persons in Battaramulla, Suriyapperuma said. VPN technology has connected regional and provincial offices, and 2341 studios have been registered to receive personal photographs online. Starting October 27, 2017, a polycarbonate smart card with ICAO photo laser-printed in Sinhala, Tamil, and English trilingual was issued, Suriyapperuma noted. “The Galle provincial office also offers one-day service facilities to the public. These efforts aim to streamline the process of obtaining National ID cards.”An awareness program was held at the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) to discuss the e-NIC process and operational aspects recently, she said, noting that The Registrar Generals Department plans to complete the e-population registry in Colombo this month, aiming to create an efficient life events registration system, increase information sharing with government institutions, and ensure data accuracy.
Should police AI have discretion? May 3, 2025, 12:33 pm EDT | By Professor Fraser Sampson, former UK Biometrics & Surveillance Camera Commissioner
“Discretion is the art of suiting action to circumstance – it is the police officer’s daily task”. So said Lord Scarman in his totemic report to the UK parliament following the Brixton Disorders of April,1981.The discretion Scarman was referring to was in the context of street searches, what others call stop and frisk (with the racially disproportionate focus being more on the stopping than the frisking). The most intrusive and consequential police powers are discretionary – how could they be anything else? – and the definition applies equally to the exercise of any of them.When suiting action to circumstance, the variables are almost infinite and one of the great advantages that Artificial Intelligence (AI) gives us is the capability to compute them at a speed and scale unimaginable in 1981. Revealing patterns, positing options and inferring outcomes is one of the phenomenal contributions that AI can bring to policing but how will that affect the use of discretionary powers? If they’re using AI to carry out ‘neutral’ or administrative tasks, like buying vehicles or modelling staffing ratios, the police are no different from any other public body, but their use of operational powers is a distinct exercise of force by the state. Using AI in this context would raise new issues, perhaps unique to law enforcement. As I have noted before, there’s a big difference between ordering provisions off the shelf and ordering people off the street.At one level, basic computer-aided decision making is suiting action to circumstance – allocation of response resources to incidents is an example – but that does not involve a discretionary use of power. The key AI question “is this a decision-making tool or a decision support tool?” never arose when the software was only capable of the latter. Now AI is involved, there are some fundamental differences from what has gone before. Artificial Intelligence systems are capable of taking the decision itself, offering solutions beyond their training and improving their performance for the next time.Given this capability, how much discretionary power should police AI systems be permitted? For those saying ‘none’, consider this: once the police have invested public money in an AI system, aren’t they duty bound to maximise its efficacy, find efficiencies and free up as much resource as budgets will allow for tackling priorities? What if the AI’s decisions could uniquely reduce online harm to children or prevent sexual exploitation? For those who say ‘of course’, how will the parameters of discretion be constrained? Addressing the limitations of AI discretion will be more a question of jurisdiction than function.In the film Demolition Man, the police lose their discretion and rely on computer-generated options as they approach a situation. When faced with old school villain Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) who has been deep frozen but returns thawed and threatening, this AI solution proves to be useless. Thankfully, this is Hollywood AI and Sly Stallone appears in the nick of time as misunderstood cop John Spartan – also frozen for perpetuity. He returns to his beat defrosted, with all his discretionary instinct intact and the day is saved once again.We can’t yet rely on cryogenics (or wonderfully apt names), to preserve police discretion in the world of policing AI so we’re going to need a more realistic strategy.One way AI could help with discretionary police powers is by advising on projected impact and viable alternatives. It could provide an objective assessment for the decision maker to check the proportionality and reasonableness of proposed action with circumstance – things that were central to the Scarman Inquiry.Another is bias. While there is much anguish about AI bias in policing, AI could reduce human bias, flagging the risk at organisational (if not individual) level before it becomes policy or hardens into culture. Scarman again.A downside is the potential for deskilling police officers (send for Spartan!). A CENTRIC survey of citizens’ concerns about the police use of AI is showing some interesting early responses here.Then there’s accountability. How does an aggrieved citizen complain about their treatment when discretionary police power is used (another key Scarman consideration)? If AI is partly responsible for a decision, should it shoulder part of the blame? How? The same survey is currently asking thousands of citizens about concerns that the police might pass the blame to AI if something went wrong. A strong response might be a proxy for public attitudes to the police generally as much as a measure of misgivings about their technology, but it will be relevant either way.The Scarman Report concerned the organisation and role of the police in society, particularly in relation to racial disadvantage, and there is not room here to do it justice. After the report’s publication, the UK parliament debated how policing must strike the right balance between consent, independence and accountability, a task which it recognised required ‘great discretion on the part of each individual police officer in the diverse society of today’. Balancing and discretion still apply today.Even if not yet using AI to take active tactical decisions, policing will benefit enormously from the new capabilities it offers. Artificial Intelligence brings substantial benefits to areas such as forensics and biometrics (fingerprint and DNA analysis), surveillance (facial recognition) and crime mapping (geospatial prediction); its discretionary use will have a profound impact on public trust and confidence.The proper role for AI in discretionary policing must look both ways. Responding to the Scarman Report, one member of the House of Lords said:“It is a tribute to the police that they can exercise the discretion needed to do their duty…and, let us make no mistake, it is the responsibility of the community to assist the police in their task”.How will police AI help the citizen suit action to that circumstance
Idex Biometrics: quarterlies, annuals, regulatory actions-Idex hanging on after closing US, China subsidiaries in 2024-May 3, 2025, 11:45 am EDT | Chris Burt
May 3, 2025 – Idex Biometrics is hanging on with balance sheet solvency of negative $0.4 million as of the close of 2024, compared to $0.9 million a year earlier.The company raised $2.9 million in debt which it converted to equity this month.Revenue fell to $0.8 million, from $4.1 million in fiscal 2023, and the company attributes the change to its transition from selling components for the payments market to operating as an end-to-end solution provider for its Idex Pay and Idex Access lines. As it makes this transition, Idex says it retains relatively high levels of inventory from previous supply chain disruptions and lower-than-forecasted sales volumes.The group closed down its subsidiaries in the United States and China in 2024, the annual report states.Idex raises NOK 30M in debt and converts it to equity-April 29, 2025 – Idex Biometrics has secured a 30 million Norwegian kroner (approximately US$2.9 million) loan and converted the debt to equity with the issuance of 3 billion new shares.The share capital increase brings Idex’ total to NOK 38,315,942.32 ($3.7 million) in shares with a nominal value of NOK 0.01.The company resolved to carry out the debt conversion at an April 11 Extraordinary General Meeting, having considered a proposal to reduce its share capital.Idex has been navigating “a fundamental shift” in its biometrics business towards access control, spurred by a “lack of revenues” that also led the company to change CEOs.Idex Biometrics’ revenue woes force CEO ouster, strategic shift to access products-March 11, 2025 – A canceled deal with Zwipe and subsequent financial trouble at Idex Biometrics have materialized into a leadership change .. (read more)Weak biometric payments sales push Idex to the brink-Feb 27, 2025 – Idex Biometrics has closed out a tough fiscal 2024 year with negligible income in the fourth quarter, as sensor shipments for the biometric payments market stalled .. (read more)-Idex insiders subscribe but repair issue falls short-Dec 2, 2024 – Idex Biometrics closed a repair issue following its September private placement on Friday, raising 3.9 million Norwegian kroner (approximately US$350,000) from subscriptions for just under 26.2 million offer shares, according to the final results announcement.The company initially offered 140 million shares at NOK0.15 (roughly US$0.014) per share, for a gross total of NOK21 million ($1.9 million).CEO Catharina Eklof bought 380,880 subscription rights at NOK0.15 per share, Chair Morten Opstad subscribed to a million shares at the same price and CFO Kristian Flaten purchased 1 million shares at an average price of NOK0.118 ($0.011) per share. Since the latter are not at the “offer price,” they are not included in the total above.The initial private placement grossed NOK 70 million ($6.3 million), with just over 101.6 million shares allocated to the first tranche, and just over 365 thousand allocated to the second. That gave Idex NOK 66 million in share capital, divided between roughly 440 million shares.Costs down, biometric card revenues imminent,Idex hopes-October 30 – 2024 – Idex Biometrics reports $60,000 in revenue in the third quarter of 2024, as it struggles to commercialize biometric smart cards.Financial income and changes in liabilities added up to a net income of $1.36 million, and an adjusted net loss of $4.8 million.Idex received approval for Visa’s biometric payment application during the quarter, and Kona I received Mastercard approval for metal cards based on Idex Pay. The company also notes a successful test in India, a card launching with TaluCard in the UK for visually impaired people and a deal for a school ID solution in Kenya signed during Q3.“Transitioning into the CEO role this quarter, my focus has been on executing our transformation program and implementing key initiatives to achieve the targeted cash quarterly operating expense run rate of $2.5 million,” says Catharina Eklof, CEO of Idex Biometrics.Idex reorganized to reduce operating expenses, consolidated its administration in the UK and Europe and shifted its workforce to capture opportunities in the APAC region. Manufacturing partners and solution integrators were added during the quarter, Eklof says, as the company focusses on bringing its partners “from certification to industrialized production.”Mastercard’s approval of cards from Kona is an example. The initial commercial program for that card in Asia is now being planned.Eklof discussed Idex’ plans to ride biometric smart card growth to improved financial results in an interview with Biometric Update earlier this month.Idex plans private placement to raise over $5M-September 17, 2024 – Idex Biometrics is working towards a private placement of stock intended to raise between 55 and 65 million Norwegian kroner (roughly US$5.2 million to $6.1 million) to fund its continued commercialization efforts.Arctic Securities AS is on board as sole manager and bookrunner for the private placement, which is divided into two tranches.The subscription price per offer share is set at NOK 0.15 ($0.014), with a minimum allocation amount equivalent to 100,000 euros ($111,195), though the company can offer discretionary exemptions.The company has received a pre-indication of interest in investing $1 million from Robert Keith.Idex also registered an increase in share capital, settling a term payment on a convertible loan by issuing 9,123,333 shares. The shares were issued on August 30 at NOK 0.60 ($0.057) each.The company appointed Catherina Eklof as CEO just weeks earlier.Idex slashes costs amid shift to biometric cards-August 15, 2024 – Idex Biometrics emphasizes the progress it made towards the commercialization of biometric cards in its interim report for the first half of the company’s fiscal 2024.Idex reports revenue of $385,000 in the second quarter, roughly flat from Q1 but well down from nearly $1.5 million in Q2 of 2023. Net loss was $6.7 million, a reduction from $7.4 million a year ago.The company’s costs included $1.1 million in restructuring costs. Like Fingerprint Cards, Idex is reducing headcount, laying off 25 employees in March. Idex plans to reduce its operating expenses from $6.1 million (excluding materials) this past quarter to $2.5 million per quarter or less with its changes, which the company expects to complete by the end of next quarter.The report makes much of the LoA from Mastercard Idex’ biometric payment card partner BCC received in June.Idex issues private placement after revenue drop in Q1-May 16, 2024 – Idex Biometrics earned $372,000 in revenue in the first quarter of 2024 from sales of its biometric access control and payment technologies, slightly down from the fourth quarter last year, but dramatically lower than the same quarter a year ago.Despite the decrease in revenue, the company reports a lower net loss of $5.4 million in Q1, compared to $7.2 million a year earlier.Idex has also completed a private placement of 33.3 million shares at NOK 1.65 per share, slightly below the closing price of NOK 1.75 per share. Gross proceeds from the placement are NOK 55 million ($5.1 million). The board is also considering a subsequent repair issue rights offering of 8 million more shares on the same terms.Strategic corporate change is scary but so are the weeks that follow-Feb 29, 2024 – The fingerprint-scanning company has just released a fiscal 2023 report that has more moving parts than a busload of kindergartners. Read more here.Adding debt and cutting costs, Idex says it’s good to 2025-Nov 16, 2023 – Idex Biometrics has raised NOK 35 million (US$3.22 million) in a private placement of 78.6 million new shares priced at NOK 0.445 ($0.041) each. Read more here.Brighter quarter as firm preps to issue debt-November 10, 2023 – Idex is reporting an improving environment, having cut its third-quarter and nine-month losses compared to the same period last year.The fingerprint biometrics company says it posed a loss of $7 million, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share, on revenue of $950,000 for the quarter ended September 30. This compares with a loss of $9 million, $0.01, on revenue of $928,000 a year ago.For the first three quarters, it reported loss of $21.7 million, $0.02, on revenue $3.6 million. This compares with a loss of $26.3 million, $0.03, on revenue of $3 million a year ago.Idex also is preparing to issue senior convertible debt for as much as NOK 100 million (US$8.95 million), to be amortized over 3.5 years. It will be priced at 92 percent of the principal. The funding will pay for “commercial ramp-up.”The company will have the option of paying with equity or cash with every two-month installments.Approval of the plan is expected November 30.First-half numbers moving in the right direction-Aug 11, 2023 – Idex Biometrics reported interim first-half figures showing a loss of $14.7 million, or $0.01 per basic and diluted shares, on revenue of $2.7 million. During the same period last year, the company reported a $17.4 million, or $0.02 per share, on revenue of $2.1 million.For the quarter, Idex reported a loss of $7.4 million on revenue of $1.5 million (a quarterly record) for the three months ended June 30. This compares with a loss of $8.3 million on revenue of $1.1 million for the same period last year.According to the company’s interim data, gross margins grew 22 percent over the first quarter of fiscal 2023.Service revenue collapsed in the first half. It was nonexistent in both Q1 and Q2, and had fallen unsteadily since the second quarter. At that point, service sales were $100,000, $84,000 in the third quarter of 2022 and $16,000 in the final quarter of the fiscal year.Chooses to leave the Nasdaq-July 21, 2023 – Being listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the U.S. and the Oslo Bors in Norway is too expensive for fingerprint biometrics firm Idex, according to the company, which has decided to leave the Nasdaq. Idex’ American depository shares, each of which represent 75 ordinary shares, should be a thing of the past as of August 10.Raises $11M for commercialization-May 26, 2023 – Idex Biometrics has raised NOK 125 million ($11 million) via the sale of 147 million new shares at NOK 0.85 ($.077) per share. Read more here.Q1 revenue rises-May 25, 2023 – Biometric sensor maker Idex saw its year-over-year loss narrow slightly during the first quarter, ended March 31. But its revenue rose by a third.Idex, which makes sensors for cards and embedded devices, reported a loss of $7.2 million, or $.01 per basic and diluted share, on revenue of $1.2 million. This compares to a loss of $8.1 million, or $.01, on revenue of $989,000 for the first quarter of fiscal 2022.Executives were able to reduce operating expenses on a quarter-to-quarter comparison. In the most recent period, the company reported $8.6 million and $8.9 million a year ago.The market inflection point claimed in 2022, when nine biometric payment card programs using Idex sensors were launched, could be continuing this year. The company says seven Turkish and Bangladeshi banks have committed to its sensors so far this year. Europe and the Middle East are showing “particularly strong” interest.Mastercard signed off on Idex’ fingerprint test assessment, which is essential to winning real estate on the finance company’s cards. Complete certification, according to the company, is expected in the second quarter this year.Fiscal ’22 tricky but not impossible-Feb 22, 2023 – Idex reported a fiscal 2022 loss of $32.6 million on revenue of $4 million compared to a loss of $32.5 million on revenue of $2.8 million in fiscal 2021. Read more here.Tough third quarter-Nov 22, 2022 – Idex reported a net loss of $8.12 million on revenue of $928,000 in the third quarter this year. Read more here.Idex sells 150M shares-Nov 17, 2022 – Idex has signed a two-tranche private placement raising a total $15 million by selling 150 million shares at 10 cents each. Read more here.More financial and industry news about Idex Biometrics here.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements (NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3 PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
JOEL 3:2 (YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF (HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION KILLED AS A RESULT)
02-I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
NAHUM 3:13
13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
DR DOCTORION-ANGEL OF THE MIDEAST
"The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
FIRST ANGEL: ASIA
But the angel said: "Millions will die in China and in India. Nation will be against nation, brother against brother. Asians will fight each other. Nuclear weapons shall be used, killing millions."Twice I heard the words, "Catastrophic! Catastrophic!"Then the angel said, "Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world."I was trembling while the angel was speaking.
SECOND ANGEL: MIDDLE EAST
Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting.The second angel said: "Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran."I saw those countries in a few split seconds."All of Turkey and those [inaudible] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another."I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries. I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these words:"Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come."
Pakistan tests missile weapons system amid India standoff-by AFP Staff Writers.
Islamabad (AFP) May 3, 2025-Pakistan's military said it carried out a "training launch" of a surface-to-surface missile weapons system on Saturday, further heightening tensions with India after last month's deadly attack in disputed Kashmir.New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on tourists last month in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparking a fresh stand-off between the nuclear-armed neighbours.Pakistan's military said Saturday it conducted a "successful training launch of the Abdali Weapon System", a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 kilometres (279 miles)."The launch was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters, including the missile's advanced navigation system and enhanced manoeuvrability features," Pakistan's military said in a statement.It did not say where the test took place.The missile training launch comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has given his military "full operational freedom" to respond to the attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists.Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attack and called for an independent probe.This week Islamabad warned of an imminent air strike from its neighbour, and has repeatedly made clear it will respond with force to any aggression by India.International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad -- who have fought several wars over the disputed Kashmir region -- to de-escalate.Neighbouring China has urged "restraint", with the European Union warning Friday that the situation was "alarming.In an interview with Fox News, US Vice President JD Vance called on India to respond to the attack in a way "that doesn't lead to a broader regional conflict".He also urged Pakistan to "make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with".- 'Message to the world' -Analysts in Pakistan told AFP the missile launch was a warning shot."It clearly indicates that we have resources to counter India. This is not a message only for India but the rest of the world that we are well-prepared," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a military analyst.On Friday, Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir presided over a meeting of his top commanders about the "current Pakistan-India standoff", a military statement said.Munir "underscored the critical importance of heightened vigilance and proactive readiness across all fronts".Since the attack -- the deadliest in Kashmir on civilians in years -- India and Pakistan have exchanged tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs and expulsions, and shut border crossings.The two sides have exchanged gunfire for nine consecutive nights along the militarised Line of Control, the de facto border, according to Indian defence sources.Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region of around 15 million people, is divided but claimed in full between Pakistan and India.Rebels on the Indian side have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.India regularly blames its neighbour for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir's struggle for self-determination and regularly denounces rights abuses in the regio
India-Pakistan gunfire triggers terror of past conflict.
Balkote, India, May 4 (AFP) May 04, 2025-For 10 nights straight, gunfire between Indian and Pakistani soldiers has echoed from the mountains and deep valleys that form the heavily defended de facto border between the nuclear-armed rivals.And, each night, it brings back afresh the horror for 50-year-old maize farmer Bashir Dar -- the last time the bitter enemies battled across the Line of Control in contested Kashmir, his wife was killed."The mortar shell landed right next to my wife -- she died instantly", said Dar, describing fighting in 2020 near his mountain village of Balkote, on the Indian side of the dividing line.His home lies less than a mile from Pakistani-controlled territory."These days, that moment flashes in my head all the time," the widower said, holding up a picture of his late wife."Every night, I sit huddled with my four children in one room -- with an ear to the sounds of gunfire coming from the border."Relations between the neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the worst attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir in years, in which a gang of gunmen shot dead 26 men, mostly Hindus.Islamabad has rejected the accusations.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- accused of carrying out the April 22 attack at Pahalgam.They say they are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.- Cleaning bunkers -India's army said Sunday that its troops had exchanged gunfire with Pakistani soldiers overnight across the Line of Control in multiple sites, which it says has taken place every night since April 24.The army said "unprovoked small arms fire" from Pakistan, to which Indian soldiers "responded promptly and proportionately".There was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan, but Islamabad -- whose military on Saturday said it carried out a "training launch" of a missile weapons system -- has accused India of a "ceasefire violation".Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with both governing part of the disputed territory separately and claiming it in its entirety.Rebel groups opposed to Indian rule have waged an insurgency since 1989. Tens of thousands have been killed.Government employee Mansoor Ahmed, 38, took two days off to prepare his bunker he had built in the village, at a cost of some 200,000 rupees ($2,300)."I cleaned up my bunker and stocked it up for the first time since 2021," Ahmed said, referring to the year India and Pakistan agreed to a renewed border ceasefire.Many of those without bunkers have already left for safer places like Baramulla, further from the dividing line."Six families in my neighbourhood left their homes for safety during the last few days," said truck driver Mohammad Ibrahim, who has stayed with his wife and children."They requested us to look after their homes and cattle."- 'No protection' -In the villages of Churunda and Tilawari, fearful residents said officials had visited, telling them to check the condition of a few government-constructed community bunkers."There are only six bunkers, and each bunker can accommodate a maximum of 15 people," a young villager told AFP, declining to be named.In Churunda village, there are some 120 families."No proper facilities exist in the bunkers, and when it rains, water enters inside. The bunkers have not been built properly," said the man."If war happens, these bunkers will be useless."AFP reporters saw a community bunker in the village with thick concrete walls and a slab on top.But the floor was covered in runny mud.Residents are fearful, and watch news on their mobile phones constantly."We live in constant fear of becoming victims of the conflict," said a young woman in Tilawari, who declined to be named."We want peace," she said. "We want to send our children to school and live our lives without fear."
Israel says area of airport hit after Yemen missile launch-By Jay Deshmukh.
Tel Aviv (AFP) May 4, 2025-A missile launched from Yemen struck near Israel's main international airport on Sunday, authorities said, an attack that briefly halted air traffic and triggered threats of retaliation.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the missile fire, which follows a series of attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels.Police reported a "missile impact" near Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv after the military said that "several attempts were made to intercept" it.It was not immediately clear whether the impact was caused by the Yemeni missile or by an interceptor.Yair Hezroni, the police's central district chief, said at the scene in a video released by the force that "you can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen metres (yards) wide and several dozen metres deep".The police footage showed officers standing at the edge of a crater in an orchard, with the airport's control tower visible in the distance.AFP journalists said they had heard explosions in the area of Jerusalem and the airport, after air raid sirens sounded in several parts of the country.Israel's airport authority said that "departures and arrivals have resumed" at Ben Gurion, a short while after they had been interrupted due to the missile fire.The airport "is open and operational", the aviation authority said in a statement.- Vow to hit back -Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: "Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger."The Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.On Saturday, the Huthis claimed a third missile attack on Israel in two days.The vast majority of missiles fired by the Huthis since the start of the Gaza war in 2023 have been intercepted by Israeli air defences.The Yemeni rebels had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel's aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the rebels with near-daily air strikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump.Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
Iran says 'has every right' to enrich uranium, dismissing US concerns-by AFP Staff Writers.
Tehran (AFP) May 3, 2025-Iran defended on Saturday its "right" to enrich uranium despite growing Western concern that Tehran may be seeking nuclear weapons and as talks with the United States were delayed.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X that "Iran has every right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle," citing Tehran's long-standing membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."There are several NPT members which enrich uranium while wholly rejecting nuclear weapons," Araghchi said.Under the NPT, signatory states are obliged to declare their nuclear stockpiles and place them under the supervision of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).The United States and other Western countries have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons -- a claim Tehran denies, insisting that its atomic programme is solely for civilian purposes.Iran and the United States have engaged in nuclear talks since April 12, their highest-level contact since Washington withdrew from a landmark deal with Tehran in 2018, during Donald Trump's first term as US president.A fourth round of talks initially scheduled for Saturday has been postponed, mediator Oman said earlier this week, citing "logistical reasons".In a Thursday interview with Fox News, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Iran to "walk away" from enrichment, saying that "the only countries in the world that enrich uranium are the ones that have nuclear weapons."Iran currently enriches uranium to 60-percent purity -- far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal with the United States and other world powers, but below the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.The stockpile remains a concern for Western powers.On Monday French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Iran was "on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons" and said UN sanctions could be reimposed if Tehran's actions threatened European security.Iran rejected the comments from France -- a signatory to the 2015 nuclear deal -- as "simply absurd".Araghchi has previously called Iran's right to enrich uranium "non-negotiable".IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday that the enriched material "can be easily dissolved" or "shipped out" of Iran.Last month, Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani described the transfer of enriched material as a "red line".Rubio said Iran should allow inspections of its nuclear facilities, including by US experts.He also called on Tehran to cease its support for Yemen's Huthi rebels, whose attacks targeting Washington's ally Israel and Red Sea shipping have prompted retaliatory US strikes.Tehran has insisted that the talks with Washington be solely focused on the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions, ruling out negotiations on its regional influence and military capabilities.Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a credible deal must "remove Iran's capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons" and prevent the development of ballistic missiles.Araghchi responded by accusingNetanyahu of "dictating" US policy.
UN envoy urges Israel to halt Syria attacks 'at once.
'Damascus, May 3 (AFP) May 03, 2025-United Nations special envoy Geir Pedersen urged Israel Saturday to halt its attacks on Syria "at once", after it carried out multiple air strikes targeting the Islamist-led authorities following sectarian violence this week.Fresh Israeli raids were reported overnight, after Israel said repeatedly that its forces stood ready to protect the Druze minority after sectarian clashes killed 119 people, mostly Druze fighters, according to a Britain-based war monitor.Since ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's new authorities -- who have roots in Al-Qaeda -- have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country, but they must also contend with pressure from radical Islamists in their ranks."I strongly condemn Israel's continued and escalating violations of Syria's sovereignty, including multiple air strikes in Damascus and other cities," Pedersen said in a post on X, calling "for these attacks to cease at once".The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 20 strikes hit military targets across Syria late Friday, in the "heaviest" assault carried out by Israel on its neighbour this year.Syria's state news agency SANA reported strikes near Damascus and in the country's centre, west and south, saying one civilian was killed.An Israeli military statement said its forces "struck a military site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria". It did not give further details.Firas Aabdeen, 32, a member of the security forces in Harasta near Damascus where one of the attacks hit, said he heard several "very loud" strikes and that a largely disused Assad-era military barracks was targeted.The barrage followed an Israeli attack near the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz called a "clear message" to Syria's new rulers."We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," they said.Israeli foe Iran, which propped up the now ousted Assad government, condemned the strikes, accusing Israel of seeking to "destroy and annihilate the defence, economic and infrastructure capabilities of Syria as an independent country".Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, also an Assad ally, said that the attacks were "a clear attempt to undermine" and weaken Syria.- Israel army 'deployed' in south -The Israeli military said it was "deployed in southern Syria" and "prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into the area of Druze villages".Since the collapse of the Assad government late last year, Israeli troops have entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights and have carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.It was not immediately clear whether the Israeli army was speaking of a new deployment or how many troops were involved.A Druze official in the community's heartland in Sweida province, said there had been "no deployment of Israeli soldiers" there.This week, Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to a united Syria, following clashes between Druze fighters and loyalists of the new government.The unrest in Sweida and the southern suburbs of the capital was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous. AFP was unable to confirm its authenticity.- 'Directly interfering' -The Observatory and Druze residents said forces affiliated with the new government attacked the towns of Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus and clashed with Druze gunmen.The government blamed "outlaw groups" for the violence.A de-escalation deal saw government troop deploy in Sahnaya and tighter security around Jaramana.Israel's military said "five Syrian Druze citizens were evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel overnight" after sustaining injuries in Syria.The Druze official in Sweida said they were wounded "in clashes in Sahnaya" and feared being detained if they sought treatment in Damascus.Middle East analyst Andreas Krieg said Israel was "directly interfering in the transition process in Syria".Israel is using the Druze issue "as some sort of pretext to justify their military occupation" of parts of Syria, he told AFP.burs-lar/lg/kir
Japan, China accuse each other of airspace 'violation' near disputed islands-by AFP Staff Writers.
Beijing (AFP) May 4, 2025-Tokyo and Beijing exchanged diplomatic protests, each accusing the other of "violating" national airspace, after a Chinese helicopter and coast guard vessels faced off with a Japanese aircraft around disputed islands.The islands in the East China Sea -- known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan -- are administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing and are a frequent hotspot in bilateral tensions.China's foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday it had lodged "solemn representations" with the Japanese embassy's chief minister after "a civilian aircraft intruded into the airspace of the Diaoyu Islands", calling it an "illegal infringement activity".A day earlier, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement that its vice minister lodged "a strong protest" with the Chinese ambassador to Japan "over the intrusion of four China Coast Guard vessels into Japan's territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands".The vice minister also protested "the violation of Japan's territorial airspace by a helicopter launched from one of the China Coast Guard vessels, strongly urging (China) to ensure that similar acts do not recur".Japan's defence ministry said the helicopter flew within Japanese airspace for about 15 minutes on Saturday near the Senkaku islands."The Self-Defence Forces responded by scrambling fighter jets," the ministry said.Public broadcaster NHK and other local media reported that this is the first time a Chinese government helicopter violated the Japanese airspace off the disputed islands.China's coast guard on Saturday announced it had used a helicopter to "expel" a Japanese aeroplane from airspace around the disputed islands.Liu Dejun, a spokesperson for China's coast guard, said a Japanese civilian aircraft "illegally entered" the airspace of the islands at 11:19 am (0219 GMT) and left five minutes later.Beijing frequently announces it has driven Japanese vessels and aircraft away from the islands, but Japanese officials have told AFP that Chinese authorities sometimes announce expulsions when none have occurred.Unnamed Japanese officials told local media that Beijing was possibly reacting to a small Japanese civilian aircraft flying near the islands.Chinese and Japanese patrol vessels in the East China Sea have routinely staged dangerous face-offs around disputed islands.Tensions between China and other claimants to parts of the East and South China Seas have driven Japan to deepen ties with the Philippines and the United States.
Vietnam protests China, Philippines claims on South China Sea reef.
Hanoi (AFP) May 3, 2025 - Vietnam on Saturday protested claims by China and the Philippines over a disputed reef in the South China Sea which it considers its own territory.Manila and Beijing traded barbs last week over Sandy Cay, a group of small sandbanks in the waterway's Spratly Islands, after a Chinese state media report suggested the area had been seized.The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.On Saturday Vietnam's foreign ministry spokeperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement posted on the government's official website that Hanoi had "issued protest notes to the countries involved regarding violations of its sovereignty over Sandy Cay".Vietnam considers the resource-rich Spratly Islands -- which lie some 500 kilometres (310 miles) off its east coast -- as part of its territory.Pham Thu Hang said that Vietnam demands "relevant parties" respect its sovereignty over the archipelago, urging them to "refrain from actions that further complicate the situation".Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said last week that the country's coast guard had "implemented maritime control" over Tiexian Reef, part of Sandy Cay, in mid-April.Days later the Philippine Coast Guard released its own photo showing Filipino sailors holding the country's flag over the same disputed reef during an early morning mission the day before.The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops and maintains a coast guard monitoring base.The South China Sea is home to valuable oil and gas deposits and crucial shipping lanes, and several of China's neighbours have voiced concern that Beijing is seeking to expand its reach.Vietnam, along with several other countries in the region, also claims parts of the strategic waterway.
Hegseth revises U.S. Army blueprint to 'ensure peace through strength'by Mike Heuer.
Washington DC (UPI) May 3, 2025-Changing military technologies, tactics and challenges require the U.S. Army to eliminate waste and modernize its capabilities to ensure "peace through strength," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced."To build a leaner, more lethal force, the Army must transform at an accelerated pace by divesting outdated, redundant and inefficient programs, as well as restructuring headquarters and acquisition systems," Hegseth said Wednesday in a memo to senior Pentagon leadership..The goal is to strategically realign forces to "optimize deterrence and rapid deployment ... to defend the American homeland and deter China in the Indo-Pacific," he explained.To do that, Hegseth directed Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll to "implement a comprehensive transformation strategy, streamline its force structure, eliminate wasteful spending, reform the acquisition process[and] modernize inefficient defense contracts."Doing so will "restore the warrior ethos and re-establish deterrence," Hegseth said.Improving operational capabilities-The Army must prioritize current resources to improve its long-range precision capabilities and establish an effective "golden dome" air and missile defense over the United States.Hegseth also wants the Army to improve its cyber, electronic warfare and counter-space defensive capabilities.He ordered Driscoll to accelerate the delivery of arms that can strike moving land and maritime targets, achieve electromagnetic and "air-littoral dominance," and enable AI-driven command and control systems by 2027.The Army also is to extend advanced manufacturing, including 3D printing and additive manufacturing, to Army units by the end of the year.Hegseth also wants the Army to modernize production of munitions to sustain national defense during wartime and increase its forward presence in the Indo-Pacific region.Driscoll must expand munitions stockpiles, troop deployments and joint exercises with Indo-Pacific allies and partners to maximize strategic capabilities within the region.Modernizing the Army requires ending the procurement of obsolete systems and scaling back the use of redundant programs, including manned aircraft, Humvees and outdated unmanned aerial vehicles, Hegseth said.He also wants Driscoll to lower the Army's spending on obsolete weapons systems and "unnecessary climate-related initiatives" and eliminate wasteful contracts and excess travel funding.Optimizing force structure and workforce-Driscoll must merge various headquarters to better enable the Army to effectively generate combat power and synchronize "kinetic and non-kinetic fires, space-based capabilities and unmanned systems," Hegseth said.Attack helicopter formations are to be reduced and restructured to make way for inexpensive drone swarms that can overwhelm targets, and outdated armor and aviation units are to be eliminated.He wants Driscoll to downsize, consolidate or close redundant headquarters and review and consolidate operations across depots, arsenals and installations.Skills and merit are to be prioritized to optimize force structure and achieve maximum military readiness, and general officer positions are to be reduced to streamline command structures.Hegseth also ordered Driscoll to consolidate budgets and shift spending to ensure the rapid adaptation of new technology and include right-to-repair provisions in contracts that involve intellectual property constraints.Contracts are to support faster adoption of critical technologies, including software and software-defined hardware.Performance-based contracts are encouraged to reduce waste, and cost-effective multi-year procurement agreements are preferred."As the Army prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, our nation requires her Army to move further, faster and fight harder than any other force on Earth," Hegseth said."President [Donald] Trump and I will not let this nation down," he concluded.
US approves $3.5 bn missile sale to Saudis by AFP Staff Writers.
Washington (AFP) May 2, 2025-The United States on Friday approved a $3.5 billion sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia, ahead of a visit to the kingdom by President Donald Trump.The State Department said it notified Congress of the deal that will include Saudi Arabia's purchase of 1,000 medium-range air-to-air missiles.The AIM-120 missiles, whose principal contractor is RTX Corp. in Arizona, are a mainstay of a number of militaries around the world.The missiles are guided by active radar after fired by pilots.Trump will visit Saudi Arabia followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on May 13 to 16 on the first foreign trip of his second term -- other than a brief trip to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.Trump has boasted of securing major commercial deals from oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which has also been a key go-between for the US diplomacy on Russia and Ukraine.
16 EU states seek budget concessions to lift defence spending by AFP Staff Writers.
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) April 30, 2025-Sixteen European Union countries will seek exemptions from the bloc's public debt rules so they can ramp up defence spending, the EU said Wednesday.With the continent looking to rearm following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump's stance on European security, the European Commission last month said it would give member states more wiggle room on spending.In an easing of its once strict rule on budget deficits, Brussels will now let states splash out up to 1.5 percent of national output on defence for four years without fear of breaching its strict public debt limits.Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland have decided to trigger the budget exemption clause, an EU statement said.EU countries had until the end of April to inform the bloc of their decision to opt in to the suspension.Twelve countries had already formally requested exemption and four more had committed to do so, according to the European Commission and European Council.In March, the EU forecast that the suspension could unlock defence spending worth up to 650 billion euros ($736 billion), while acknowledging that figure was an estimate.France, Spain and Italy have been among countries to stay away from the exemption, even though they have pledged to increase their defence spending."We remain open for more requests" for exemptions, European Economic Affairs Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Wednesday, quoted in a press release.Since 2021 military spending by the 27 EU members has risen by more than 31 percent, reaching 326 billion euros in 2024.
Lebanon warns Hamas against using its territories to attack Israel-by Dalal Saoud.
Washington DC (UPI) May 2, 2025-Lebanon's Higher Defence Council on Friday warned the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, against launching attacks or firing rockets into Israel from Lebanese territory, stating that strict measures will be taken to end any actions that violate the country's sovereignty.The warning by the country's top military body came after the Lebanese Army arrested a number of Lebanese and Palestinians suspected of firing rockets into northern Israel on March 22 and March 28. The rocket attacks provoked additional Israeli retaliatory strikes.While no group claimed responsibility for the rocket firing and Hezbollah denied any link, security reports indicated that three Hamas members were among those detained by the Army.Major General Mohamad al Mustafa, the Secretary-General of the Higher Defense Council, said after a meeting attended by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam that Hamas was "warned against using Lebanese territories to carry out any action that harms Lebanon's national security.""Maximum necessary measures will be taken to put a definitive end to any action that violates Lebanese sovereignty," al Mustafa said, reading a statement.He said that legal proceedings will commence early next week against all those detained and anyone who would be proven involved with last month's rocket attacks will be prosecuted.Aoun said during the meeting any attempt to "destabilize" the country, "involve it in wars" or "expose it to danger" will not be tolerated.Salam emphasized the need for handing over "all illegal weapons" and preventing Hamas or any other factions to "destabilize security and national stability."Both leaders, who came to power last January, have remained firm on their pledges to disarm all militias and impose the state monopoly on weapons.Hamas has carried out several attacks from southern Lebanon against Israel during the Gaza war that broke out in October 2023. Israel on its part killed a number of Hamas leaders based in Lebanon, including the deputy head of the group's political bureau, Saleh al Arouri.Lebanon has been trying to consolidate its authority and regain its long-lost sovereignty following Israel's recent war that greatly weakened the once-powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah.Mainly, 85% of Hezbollah's positions and military facilities south of the Litani River in south Lebanon already are being taken by the Lebanese Army and its weapons confiscated in line with the Nov. 27 cease-fire agreement that was brokered by the United States and France to end the war with Israel.The Army has also begun gradually taking control of some Palestinian positions outside the country's 12 overcrowded refugee camps located in various regions.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to visit Beirut on May 21 for talks with his Lebanese counterpart to discuss a mechanism for disarming Palestinian factions inside the camps and expanding Lebanon's authority.UN envoy urges Israel to halt Syria attacks 'at once'Damascus (AFP) May 3, 2025 - United Nations special envoy Geir Pedersen urged Israel Saturday to halt its attacks on Syria "at once", after it carried out multiple air strikes targeting the Islamist-led authorities following sectarian violence this week.Fresh Israeli raids were reported overnight, after Israel said repeatedly that its forces stood ready to protect the Druze minority after sectarian clashes killed 119 people, mostly Druze fighters, according to a Britain-based war monitor.Since ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's new authorities -- who have roots in Al-Qaeda -- have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country, but they must also contend with pressure from radical Islamists in their ranks."I strongly condemn Israel's continued and escalating violations of Syria's sovereignty, including multiple air strikes in Damascus and other cities," Pedersen said in a post on X, calling "for these attacks to cease at once".The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 20 strikes hit military targets across Syria late Friday, in the "heaviest" assault carried out by Israel on its neighbour this year.Syria's state news agency SANA reported strikes near Damascus and in the country's centre, west and south, saying one civilian was killed.An Israeli military statement said its forces "struck a military site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria". It did not give further details.Firas Aabdeen, 32, a member of the security forces in Harasta near Damascus where one of the attacks hit, said he heard several "very loud" strikes and that a largely disused Assad-era military barracks was targeted.The barrage followed an Israeli attack near the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz called a "clear message" to Syria's new rulers."We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," they said.Israeli foe Iran, which propped up the now ousted Assad government, condemned the strikes, accusing Israel of seeking to "destroy and annihilate the defence, economic and infrastructure capabilities of Syria as an independent country".Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, also an Assad ally, said that the attacks were "a clear attempt to undermine" and weaken Syria.- Israel army 'deployed' in south -The Israeli military said it was "deployed in southern Syria" and "prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into the area of Druze villages".Since the collapse of the Assad government late last year, Israeli troops have entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights and have carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.It was not immediately clear whether the Israeli army was speaking of a new deployment or how many troops were involved.A Druze official in the community's heartland in Sweida province, said there had been "no deployment of Israeli soldiers" there.This week, Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to a united Syria, following clashes between Druze fighters and loyalists of the new government.The unrest in Sweida and the southern suburbs of the capital was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous. AFP was unable to confirm its authenticity.- 'Directly interfering' -The Observatory and Druze residents said forces affiliated with the new government attacked the towns of Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus and clashed with Druze gunmen.The government blamed "outlaw groups" for the violence.A de-escalation deal saw government troop deploy in Sahnaya and tighter security around Jaramana.Israel's military said "five Syrian Druze citizens were evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel overnight" after sustaining injuries in Syria.The Druze official in Sweida said they were wounded "in clashes in Sahnaya" and feared being detained if they sought treatment in Damascus.Middle East analyst Andreas Krieg said Israel was "directly interfering in the transition process in Syria".Israel is using the Druze issue "as some sort of pretext to justify their military occupation" of parts of Syria, he told AFP.
US Space Force strengthens missile warning network with acceptance of next generation SBIRS S2E2 system-by Clarence Oxford.
Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 02, 2025-The Strategic Missile Warning Ground and Integration Acquisition Delta, part of Space Systems Command (SSC), in coordination with Space Operations Command's Mission Delta 4, has officially accepted the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Survivable Endurable Evolution (S2E2) system for operational use. This critical milestone, achieved on April 25, 2025, enhances the resilience of the U.S. missile warning architecture in increasingly contested and degraded operational environments.The S2E2 system replaces the outdated Mobile Ground System (MGS), which dates back to the 1960s and was originally used for Defense Support Program (DSP) operations. The new system includes modern, mobile ground terminals designed to handle data from both SBIRS and nuclear detonation (NUDET) detection systems. By combining SBIRS Mobile Ground Terminals with Universal Ground Nuclear Detection Terminals, S2E2 delivers significant improvements in capability, survivability, and deployment agility."The S2E2 Operational Acceptance marks a significant leap forward in our ability to provide resilient, uninterrupted missile warning and nuclear detection in the most challenging environments," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Wilson, SSC materiel leader. "This achievement strengthens the backbone of our national defense and maintains the U.S. strategic advantage in an ever-evolving threat environment."Operational Acceptance signifies the system's readiness to fulfill its operational role. It authorizes the system to begin full operational service under the oversight of Mission Delta 4."S2E2 is the first survivable and endurable system with built-in command and control capabilities designed to function through contested and degraded conditions," noted Capt. Connor Dejac, SSC fielding program manager for the Infrastructure Branch. "This ensures our warfighters continue receiving timely, accurate information to make rapid, informed decisions when it matters most."The system is engineered to perform through every phase of conflict, reinforcing the Space Force's mission to provide enduring and resilient missile warning for the United States and its allies.Capt. Morgan Records, SSC deputy program manager for the Infrastructure Branch, added, "S2E2 will deliver the first-ever high data rate missile warning messages, enabling faster and more detailed transmission of critical data. This means national command authorities will receive high-fidelity missile warning and NUDET information with greater speed and accuracy than ever before."Through integrated processing of satellite sensor data on the ground, S2E2 provides real-time threat detection capabilities that are vital for immediate national security decisions during missile or nuclear incidents. The system supports broader national defense operations by maintaining rapid-response readiness in a dynamic threat landscape."Space and Cyber operators across the service responsible for fielding S2E2 are distinctly capable, well-trained, and combat-ready in five discrete mission areas; committed to providing lethal, real-world effects to combatant commands in support of critical national defense priorities," stated 1st Lt. Nathaniel Hatfield, mission officer in charge at Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado.S2E2 also enhances situational awareness within the U.S. Nuclear Command and Control (NC2) framework. It provides early missile warning to U.S. and allied forces and incorporates GPS-based NUDET detection for attack attribution and re-strike coordination.The system integrates into several high-level national security frameworks, including the Integrated Tactical Warning and Attack Assessment System, critical nodes designated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the broader Nuclear Command and Control System.
A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.
ISAIAH 23:15-17
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE 70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:(VATICAN)
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.(THATS PEDOPHELIA-FORNICATION IS SINGLES HAVING SEX OUT SIDE OF MARRIAGE)(AND SINCE PREISTS CAN NOT MARRY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS FALSE CHURCH GOES AGAINST THE BIBLE.THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BECOMES A HOMOSEXUAL HAVEN OF PEDOPHILIAS FACTORY).
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:(THE VATICAN GOES AGAINST A PRIEST MARRING A WOMAN-LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS-AND WHATS AN ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD-HOMOSEXUALITY AND PEDOPHILIA JUST LIKE THIS SCRIPTURE SAYS-FORNICATION IS THE SINGLE HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVING UNMARRIED FORNICATION OR SEX WITH SINGLES-IN THIS CASE ITS SEX WITH CHILDREN OR PEDOPHILIA)
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(GOD HIMSELF GIVES THE OK TO NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.(VATICAN)
HOW THE FALSE POPE IS ELECTED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj3Qnr_30Z4
POPE FRANCIS SISTER (PEDOPHILIA WAY WORSE THEN THOUGHT) (CARDINAL MATEO TERESCO-THE NEXT COVERUP POPE OF PEDOPHILIA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usFshfmBPmY
Macron gets into the Conclave-The president meets with the French cardinals and plots for the progressive archbishop of Marseilles. Objective: regaining weight on the international scene-by Andrea MorigiTuesday 29 April 2025
Sgomita, elbow, sooner or later Emmanuel Macron hopes to find a chair somewhere. Perhaps in the Vatican, thanks to the metropolitan archbishop of Marseilles, Cardinal Jean-Marc Noel Aveline, who wanted to award the prestigious Légion d’honneur in 2022. He has also already found a name to him as Pietro’s successor: John XXIV. If he could raise his favorite cardinal to the papal throne, the head of the French state in one fell swoop would regain an international weight and sew up tensions with the Holy See. The distance to be recovered is considerable. During twelve years of his pontificate, Pope Francis made three apostolic journeys to France, to Strasbourg in 2014, to Marseilles in 2023 and to Ajaccio in 2024, without ever visiting the capital. Indeed, he had even rejected Macron’s invitation to the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Of course, Bergoglio had not gone even to Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, privileging the South of the world.But the problem with Paris is a little more substance. It is a matter of life and death. Macron had inimified the Holy Father by plotting to insert the “right” to abortion in the European Constitution, after having succeeded in imposing it, with a resolution adopted by Parliament meeting in plenary at the Congress of Versailles on 4 March 2024, in the French one. And then, outrageting a few billion faithful and the tradition beyond the Alps, had favored the revolting staging of the Last Suscordant Dinner in drag queen version at the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics in 2024, seasoned with the celebration of the royal beheadings carried out during the French Revolution. From the reaction of an important exponent of the community of Sant’Egidio, Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, according to whom it was “a blasphemous derision of one of the holiest moments of Christianity”, it seemed very clear that the tenant of the Elysée was trying to distance himself from Rome and Catholicism. Then, all of a sudden, Macron dusts off the title of proto-honoon of St. John Lateran. In fact, the office is only honorary and is transmitted to French presidents because they are considered the successors of the kings of the (former) eldest daughter of the Church.But Paris is well worth a mass. Indeed, Rome is well worth a dinner, like the one that was offered to Villa Bonaparte, and in which the cardinal electors Philippe Barbarin, Christophe Pierre, Francois-Xavier Bustillo and, of course, Aveline, president of the French Episcopal Conference, participated. In short, after being rejected unceremoniously by the talks between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in St. Peter’s Basilica, the French president aspires to enter at least from the window of the Sistine Chapel. It has been forgotten that the veto in the Conclave was abolished by St. Pius X. He thought to follow in the footsteps of his most august predecessor Charles De Gaulle, who summoned the cardinals from the other side of the Alps after the death of Pius XII to recommend to them the appointment of Angelo Roncalli, already apostolic nuncio to Paris and considered who knows why he was organic to the French interests. The fact is that the Bergamo candidate of the Elysée was elected, took the name of John XXIII and inaugurated the Second Vatican Council that transformed the Catholic Church. Despite the unsolicited support – by the secular Republic, he is now also holy. This time, the company seems more difficult. To support the progressive compatriot and promigrants Aveline, who does not know the Italian language and could collect votes in opposition to the election of Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Macron concocted a plan. He would like to spend his alleged influence on the community of Sant’Egidio, which in reality is already pushing for other candidates, first of all the Portuguese José Tolentino de Mendon?a and, in a second place not to “burn” him, the president of the CEI and archbishop of Bologna Matteo Maria Zuppi. A hypothesis that, however, would propose again a new Italian Pontiff, exactly the scenario that Macron would like to avoid because of his personal antagonism with Giorgia Meloni. The French president, at this point, could arise the doubt that he did not do the math. Recent experience indicates that the more he tries to take center stage, the further he is removed. It would be wiser if, secularly, they did not look for places in the sacristy.
Emmanuel Macron? After failing in the Vatican, he tries the path of Freemasonry-After the bad figure in front of the whole world, the French cock tries to make up playing (dirty) the houses-by Andrea Morigi-Sunday 4 May 2025
Since in the Vatican he stumbled and made a bad impression in front of the whole world, now Emmanuel Macron wants to do it again by playing at home to see if he is most successful with Freemasonry.Annoled by the lack of acceptance of his interventionism in the balance of the Conclave, the tenant of the Elysée will be at the Grand Grand Lodge of France to celebrate the anniversary of the law of separation between State and Church of 9 December 1905. It sounds like a threat, since 120 years ago those rules were used to proceed with the confiscation of ecclesiastical property and authorize the government to prevent any religious manifestation in public. The communist totalitarianisms, which had not yet been established at the time, also mindful of the guillotine and the civil constitution of the clergy, took up the baton from the revolutionary predecessors of Paris to unleash the worst anti-Christian persecutions.It was enough to copy the first article of the text on “secularism” and the secularist terror was automatically triggered, declining it also with deportations to the Soviet Gulags: “The Republic ensures freedom of conscience. It guarantees the free exercise of religion, with the restrictions prescribed by the interest of public order.But they know they can do worse, the cousins of the Alps. From 2021 to today, the law against “separatism”, approved to fight Islamic fundamentalism, has become the tool to prevent even the blessing of meals in the canteens of Catholic elementary schools. A liberticidal measure perfectly in line with the history of the country, but not with its tradition as the first-born daughter of the Church. Corruptio optim me very bad.To repress believers have instituted for a couple of decades the infamous Miviludes, Interministerial Mission of vigilance and struggle against sectarian drifts. They failed to stop the expansion of radical Islam, but they ghettoized other religions, expelling them from the public sphere.So, if faith is relegated to a private matter, what has the French president gone to do in the Sacred Palaces of Rome? It is the question that the brothers could put him with the apron. They supported it in the election campaign, because they are allowed to control the political dynamics, and now they find themselves forced to witness Macron’s attempt to ingratiate themselves with the priests as if it were the worst clerical.It will end that all obediences will ask him for the account of the ambiguity shown, after having shown him the way in September 2023 with a declaration by the Grand Master of the Grand Orient Guillaume Trichard on the “right to abortion” as “the fundamental right of women”, against “religious and political obscurantisms that oppose this freedom”.But for Catholics, membership in Freemasonry “is forbidden, because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry,” the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed in November, responding to a letter from a Filipino bishop with a statement signed by Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, referring to the most recent documents of the Magisterium of the Church.It is decided, the head of the French state, because to keep his foot in two shoes risks being excommunicated from one and abandoned by the others.
How Pope Francis shaped the College of Cardinals-By Hannah Brockhaus.
Vatican City, May 4, 2025 / 09:00 am-On May 7, an expected 133 cardinal electors will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect the new Roman pontiff, the successor to Pope Francis, who shied away from giving red hats to the traditional archdioceses but opted to give the honor to far-flung places, many of which had never had a cardinal before.Of the 133 cardinals with the right to vote in this conclave, 108 were created by Pope Francis and therefore will be participating in the election of a pontiff for the first time.Compared with the 2013 conclave that chose Pope Francis, none of the major sees typically headed by a cardinal will be represented this time around, including the archdioceses of Sydney, Vienna, Genoa, Paris, Milan, Palermo, Armagh, and Krakow.Pope Francis’ choice of cardinals from nontraditional countries and sees has dramatically shifted what used to be large and powerful representations within the college, such as the cardinals from Italy.Now, only 52 Europeans will enter the Sistine Chapel, less than half of the entire electoral body. Of these 52, just 17 are Italians, including curial cardinals — those who work inside the Vatican — and those who live in Rome. The Italian presence is significantly reduced compared with the 2013 conclave, which had 28 cardinals of Italian origin.By contrast, the continent of Africa has grown by seven cardinal electors since the last conclave for a total of 18 red hats, and Asia’s representation has increased to 20 from 10 in 2013. Countries represented by a cardinal elector for the first time include Haiti, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, Tonga, Cape Verde, East Timor, Sweden, Iran, Luxembourg, Singapore, South Sudan, Ghana, Rwanda, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, and Serbia. Another change to the College of Cardinals made by Pope Francis was the decision to surpass the limit of 120 voting cardinals set by Paul VI and confirmed by John Paul II. This limit was exceeded in June 2017, when Francis designated five new cardinals, bringing the total to 121. The total number of cardinal electors currently stands at 135.In the apostolic constitution governing a “sede vacante,” Universi Dominici Gregis, it says that a cardinal who has been “created and published before the College of Cardinals thereby has the right to elect the pope” if he has not reached the age of 80.Under Pope Francis, there was also an increase in cardinal electors representing the Eastern Catholic Churches “sui iuris”: Cardinal Mykola Bycok (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church); Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad (Syro-Malabar Church); Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal (Syro-Malankar Church); Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel (Ethiopian Metropolitan Church “sui iuris”); and Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako (Chaldean Church).Other geographical areas instead have not seen large changes in the number of voting cardinals.The United States will have 10 voting cardinals (one less than in the 2005 and 2013 conclaves). Canada will have four and Mexico will have two representatives inside the Sistine Chapel.From Europe, there will be five cardinal electors from France, four from Spain, four from Portugal and Poland, three from Germany and the United Kingdom, two from Switzerland, and one each from Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Holland, Serbia, and Sweden.Central America will bring to the Sistine Chapel one cardinal each from Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Haiti. South America will see the presence of seven cardinals from Brazil, four from Argentina (there were two in 2013 and one in 2005), and one each from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.The 18 African cardinals include two from the Ivory Coast and one each from Algeria (although Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco is French by birth), Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco (Cardinal Cristóbal Lopez Romero is Spanish by birth), Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, and Tanzania.There are 20 cardinals who will participate in the conclave from Asia: four from India, three from the Philippines, two from Japan, and one each from China, East Timor, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia (Cardinal Giorgio Marengo is Italian by birth), Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.The Middle East will be represented by three cardinals, one each from the Holy Land (Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is Italian by birth), Iran (Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu is Belgian by birth), and Iraq.From Oceania, four cardinals will be eligible to vote: one each from Australia (Bycok is Ukrainian by birth), New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga.Marco Mancini of ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, contributed to this report.
Why I Want the Next Pope to Be Wrapped in Mary’s Mantle-The Church stands at a cultural crossroads. The next pope must lead with courage and clarity — and entrust his mission to Mary, Mother of the Church.Grady Connolly Commentaries-May 2, 2025
The next pope will take on one of the most critical and delicate responsibilities of our time: to unify the Church in truth while extending the love of Christ to those who have yet to encounter him. In a world where social media shapes both culture and conscience, the Church is more visible than ever — but also more exposed. Amid the digital noise marked by confusion, fear, and increasing hostility toward the faith, many believe the right response is to fight back with aggression. But this instinct is ultimately ineffective.Aggression may energize the already-convinced, but it tends to drive away those still searching. It can create an us-versus-them mentality that rallies believers to militancy while erasing the human longing for encounter. The Gospel is not a battle cry shouted from behind a wall — it is an invitation, spoken face-to-face, heart-to-heart.Social media has, in many ways, fractured the Church’s witness. Many online communities claiming to defend orthodoxy often end up sowing division and confusion, forming echo chambers that lead many to abandon the authority they claim to honor. The next Holy Father must see through this fog of confusion and guide the Church back toward unity — not by compromise, but by communion rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ.One of the most admirable aspects of Pope Francis’ papacy was his unwavering commitment to bringing hope and the light of God’s love to all people, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. His witness reminded the world that evangelization isn’t about winning arguments; it’s about winning souls. The Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ, carries the mission to remind every human person to whom they belong and to reveal to them the “Church’s heartbeat” — the outpouring of love Christ has empowered his Church with through the sacraments. We are living in the era of the Holy Spirit — a time when Christians must fervently pray for his gifts: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. When the Holy Spirit comes upon a fervent soul, that person radiates Christ. But precisely because this is the Spirit’s hour, the enemy works tirelessly to distort his gifts — especially in this age of deep confusion about what it even means to be human.The next pope will inherit a Church standing at a precipice. Relativism is no longer an abstract threat — it is shaping minds, redefining morality, and leading entire generations into despair, spiritual numbness, and even paganism. We must pray that the next successor of Peter recognizes the devastation of relativism and, with love, leads the Church not only to proclaim the truth but to live it with joy and zeal.Given Our Blessed Mother’s intimate union with the Holy Spirit as his spouse, it would be wise — actually, essential — for the next pope to fully embrace the grace of Our Lady. Her perfect blend of tenderness and strength is the antidote for a world addicted to comfort and compromise. With Mary’s guidance, the Church can bolster its mission: to lead souls to eternal life and awaken in the world a holy fear of sin and a longing for the things of heaven.I pray that the pope’s mission will be to inspire baptized Christians to boldly share the Gospel — not just through words or debate, but through the lived witness of compassion, truth and redemption. The world is starving for clarity and aching to know what is real. The next pope must be a shepherd who leads with both courage and tenderness. The global spotlight will be on Rome when the new pope is elected. This is not just a political moment — it’s a generational opportunity to save souls. The world will be watching, wondering if the Church remains unwavering in its message. The answer must be Yes — through the voice of the next pope.Above all, I pray that he sees the lost souls not as enemies but as dignified children of God longing for purpose. I pray that he reminds the world that compassion, love and unity are not in opposition to objective truth — they are its deepest fulfillment, as Mary reminds us.
Conclave 2025: Why the ‘Liberal vs. Conservative’ Lens Blurs the Church’s Reality-Larry Chapp Commentaries-May 2, 2025
As with every conclave to elect a new pope, this one is surrounded by all kinds of speculation.Will the conclave that begins May 7 elect a new pope in the mold of Pope Francis, or someone more traditional in doctrine and liturgy? Or perhaps he will be what the badly uninformed mainstream media might label a “moderate” — neither conservative nor liberal, but a term overly simplified nevertheless — who seeks to reconcile the various factions within the Catholic Church. The problem with all of these analyses is that they assume the Church is a largely “political” entity that mirrors the demographic dynamics of secular society in the West. What this means is that a term like “reform” gets tossed around in superficial ways, with secular media often treating “reform” as synonymous with “liberalization.”We see this frequently in the standard description of Pope St. John XXIII, who is often called a “reforming” pope since, as the narrative goes, he sought to bring the Church into harmony with modern secular liberalism. This is, of course, a false narrative, since the aggiornamento that he sought was not a project of liberalization but was instead a push for the Church to engage the modern world in new and creative ways, with an eye toward a more effective evangelization of that world.This was made clear by Pope John in his opening speech to the Council Fathers, in which he envisioned the coming Second Vatican Council as an attempt to put the Church’s doctrines into a newer and more evangelical language, all the while remaining faithful to the truths therein.Seen in this light, true “reform” is not liberalization but rather a recentering of the Church in her deepest and fullest traditions, and with a renewed focus on Christ the Lord as the linchpin that holds it all together. This is completely consonant with the history of all of the various reforms undertaken by the Church throughout time. When the Church became corrupted by the allure of worldly power and wealth, various reforming popes and councils sought to right the ship by reemphasizing Christ and renewing the call for the entire Church to live out more fully the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. We also saw this in the various reform movements undertaken by religious orders whose internal life had become lax and worldly. Various “discalced” movements arose within these orders, seeking to reinvigorate religious life through a more rigorous living out of the evangelical counsels — which is to say, a more Christocentric form of life centered in prayer, truth, love, and the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. But the modern media narrative cares little for such distinctions — or for the history of what true reform actually is — largely owing to their ignorance of all things Catholic. Today, we see the same simplistic analysis being applied to the “politics” of the coming conclave, as well as to the pontificate of Pope Francis. Francis is portrayed as a “reforming” pope because he seemingly desired a Church that was more liberal, especially in matters of sexuality — in contrast to the previous two popes, who are wrongly described as “conservative” and thus presumed to have resisted reform. Likewise, Vatican II is often described as a council that sought reform in this same liberal direction — a vision of a more “inclusive” Church said to have been short-circuited for a time by John Paul and Benedict, who allegedly sought to “roll back” the reforms made in the ’60s and ’70s.No attempt is made at a true understanding of the conciliar texts, and the Christocentric conciliar project as the overarching narrative of reform as liberalization became the standard boilerplate for most media depictions of the Council. This fact was noted by Pope Benedict, who lamented that this “council of the media” had replaced the true Council. The essential distortion of this false narrative is especially apparent in the description of the papacy of Francis as one characterized by a desire for a more inclusive Church. It is a distortion because the Church is now, as it has always been, inclusive of everyone. No person who truly seeks Christ in his Church is turned away as if the Church were a nightclub with bouncers at the door, allowing only the morally perfect. All sinners are welcome — so long as they seek conversion and repentance, no matter how many times they might fail. That is why the Church has confessionals. The kind of “inclusion” the Church preaches is the inclusion that comes through a liberating conversion of soul. Sadly, even many influential prelates seem to buy into the false narrative where reform is caricatured as liberalization. Once again, matters of human sexuality loom large in their calculations. A truly wicked notion has crept in that says that the Church cannot be inclusive, and thus the Church remains “unreformed,” until the distinction between sin and the sinner is set aside. This traditional distinction is ridiculed as “exclusive,” “harsh” and “judgmental.” This is especially the case, they say, with “LGBTQ” people, whose very “identity” is at stake; and they say that the Church’s traditional moral teaching — which calls for sexual continence — runs contrary to “how they were made by God.”Therefore, in this narrative, reform is synonymous with an erasure of the distinction between sin and sinner — with the word “inclusion” being used as a cipher for this project. But this is a false sense of true reform, one that threatens the entirety of the Catholic moral tradition. It is an erasure that can be applied to any number of deeply ingrained sins. The very nature of habitual sins, no matter the kind, is that they have a way of becoming “natural” to us, and therefore the Church’s call to overcome them is viewed as harsh and judgmental to “who I really am.” Narratives matter, as we learned in the aftermath of the Council, and there is now an urgent need to resist the narrative of true reform as synonymous with liberalization and “inclusion.” There is much at stake, therefore, in the coming conclave, especially in the domain of moral theology. Very few are calling for a reform of the Church’s traditional Christology, Trinitarian doctrine or the basic tenets of the creed. Rather, the goal of the false reformers is to alter ecclesiology in ways that will open the door to radical changes in moral teaching. This should be on the minds of every cardinal at the conclave who does not embrace the false narrative of reform. The next pope does not have to be conservative, liberal or moderate, in the political sense of those terms. But he must be a man with a shrewd understanding of the dangers that lurk in that false narrative — and the strength of faith, will and intellect to resist them.
THE STUPID PITS OF HELL BELIEF IN PURGATORY (ITS BULLDUNG). THEY CAN PRAY AND THEY CAN RUB THEM USELESS BEADS TILL THEIR BLUE AND PURPLE AND RED IN THE HAND AND FACE. BUT THE PERSON WHO DIED WILL STILL BE IN HEAVEN OR HELL. WERE THEY WENT THE SECOND THEY CLOSED THEIR EYES IN DEATH.
Praying for the Dead, Cardinal Says During Homily for Papal Novendiales Mass, Is ‘the Greatest Work of Charity’Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime celebrated the eighth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on Saturday. Francis urged ‘heart and spirit’ for ‘the poorest’ among us, the cardinal said.May 3, 2025
Pope Francis desired that consecrated Catholic men and women possess “a heart and a spirit pure and free enough” to love and serve the least among us, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime said at the eighth Novendiales Mass on Saturday.The prelate, the former prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, celebrated, and delivered the homily at, the second-to-last Mass held in mourning for the Holy Father, who died on April 21. Praying for the dead, the cardinal said during the homily at St. Peter’s Basilica, is “the greatest work of charity.” Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime speaks at the eighth Novendiale.“When we help our neighbors materially, we share ephemeral goods, but when we pray for them we do so with eternal goods,” Cardinal Artime said. “To pray for the dead means, therefore, to love those who have died,” he continued, “and that is what we are doing now for Pope Francis, gathered as the People of God, together with the pastors and especially this evening with a very significant presence of consecrated men and women.”Francis “felt very well liked by the People of God,” Artime said, “and [he] knew that those belonging to the different expressions of consecrated life also loved him; they prayed for his ministry, for the person of the Pope, for the Church, for the world.”The whole Church, he said, is “called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, who died and rose again.” But consecrated men and women are signaled out for particular service, he said. “[We] have received this vocation, this call to discipleship that asks us to witness to the primacy of God with our whole lives,” he said. “This mission is especially important when, as in many parts of the world today, we experience God’s absence or forget his centrality too easily.”The presence of the Risen Christ, the cardinal said, “transforms everything.”“Darkness is overcome by light; useless work becomes fruitful and promising again; the sense of weariness and abandonment gives way to a new momentum and the certainty that He is with us,” he said. Cardinal Artime recalled the words of Pope Francis during the Year of Consecrated Life, when the Holy Father said he expected consecrated Catholics “to wake up the world, because the note that characterizes consecrated life is prophecy.” Francis at the time asked for the consecrated “to be witnesses of the Lord like Peter and the Apostles,” Cardinal Artime said. “He was asking us to have a heart and a spirit pure and free enough to recognize the women and men of today, our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the last, the discarded,” the cardinal said.“Because in them is the Lord, and so that with our passion for God, for the Kingdom and for humanity, we will be able, like Peter, to respond to the Lord, ‘Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you.’”
Conclave, British pressures: here's who they want PopeCommonwealth cardinals gather to locate their candidate and converge on the archbishop of Johannesburg-by Andrea MorigiSaturday 3 May 2025
To the French maneuvers to influence the Conclave are added, while the countdown has started to elect the successor of Francis, with the college of cardinals now complete in Rome, new opportunities for meetings, never completely disinterested. Among appointments, meetings, receptions, dinners near the various houses of the clergy, where you can have the opportunity to get to know each other better, socialize, test the candidacies already emerged and probe those that can still rise in the approval of the voters, the reception offered yesterday by Cardinal Vincent Nichols for the cardinals of the British Commonwealth is noted.The guests are four English cardinals, Nichols, archbishop of Westminster and Catholic primate of the Kingdom; the Dominican Timothy Radcliffe, academic and preacher at Oxford, former general of the Order of Preachers; Arthur Roche, former bishop of Leeds transferred to the Curia for a dozen years and prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship from 2021; as well as-out of the conclave - Michael Fitzgerald, 88 years old in August, former diplomat of the Pope. But among the guests are also the South African (of Scottish and Irish origins), metropolitan archbishop of Johannesburg, Stephen Brislin, the cardinal of the Tonga Islands, Soane Patita Paini Mafi, to which English speakers like Joseph Coutts and others from India could be added.In his diocese, in South Africa, although the Catholic Church does not allow the ordination of women, Cardinal Brislin, spokesman for the Episcopal Conference of Southern Africa, allowed a dissident group to be installed, which supports the female priesthood and married priests. Moreover, under his supervision, in 2022 the Archdiocese of Cape Town published a summary report as part of his contribution to the Synod on Synod, in which he stated: “In the world of the twenty-first century today, it is important to maintain tradition, to know its origins, but also to welcome change”.He added: “The strong traditions of the Church are also her weaknesses. The main restrictions that may hinder the progress of the Church are many and varied and include issues such as the priestly cellibate and the prohibition of the female priesthood. However, the Holy Spirit of Hope will be with us all as we move forward in faith.However, when he found himself in front of the response document of the African bishops on the Confiferia supplicans, in which the blessing of homosexual couples was rejected, so as not to create ambiguity and confusion with the sacrament of marriage, thus helping to calm the disoriented Christians in Africa and to maintaining communion with the Pope, on January 30 last Brislin not only took off, but he put himself in the way: “It is up to the local bishop to see it. This is sufficiently clear because it is a pastoral and non-doctrinal issue,” he said at a press conference in Pretoria.Moreover, he believes that the author of the current prefect of the dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Victor Manuel Fernandez, is to be considered a “true giant with great intellect and experience”. But the other African bishops have full power to do what seems right to them in consideration of their particular situations and pastoral concerns. Goodness of his. But their vote in the Conclave is certain that it will not have it.
FRANCIS LOVED THE LIBERAL LUKEWARM NUTCASE BISHOPS AND CARDINALS.BUT HATED TRUE CHRISTIAN BISHOPS AND CARDINALS.
Conclave, Cardinal Sarah: nightmare of progressives snubbed by Bergoglio-by Andrea Morigi-Sunday 4 May 2025
A video is circulating on the net, dating back to the last Sunday of the Palms, in which we see Pope Bergoglio, recently resigned from the Gemelli Hospital, who in St. Peter’s Square receives the greeting of some cardinals. He thanks them all, shakes their hand and smiles, but when his eminence Robert Sarah arrives, he makes a sign of a disgrace.That Guinean cardinal, born in 1945 and chosen as archbishop at the age of 34 by St. John Paul II, had become the black man more for the rumors circulating about him than for his positions. But even yesterday the French news agency AFP headlined him as “leader of Francis’ critical conservatives.” It had been of little use trying to clarify the misunderstandings, in 2020, in an interview with the Sheet, in which speaking of the book written together with and then just out of Cantagalli, From the bottom of our hearts, the former Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the discipline of the sacraments, affirmed: “We, without animosity, without attacking anyone, we have offered our reflections with clarity, rigor and fidelity to the truth on an essential question: Why say that I would have opposed Pope Francis? Why?” Is there a single sentence in the text, a single word, an attitude that expresses such opposition? Why am I constantly covered up by slander and humiliation?”He had also tried the year before, speaking with the Corriere della Sera in 2019, on the occasion of the release, also by Cantagalli, of his book Yes evening and the day now turns to decline, “many people write not to witness the truth, but to oppose each other, to damage human relationships. They don’t care about the truth. The truth is that those who oppose me to the Holy Father cannot present a single word of mine, a single sentence of mine or one of my attitudes in support of their absurd statements, I would say diabolical. The Devil divides, opposes people, one against the others. The truth is that the Church is represented on earth by the Vicar of Christ, that is, the Pope. And who is against the Pope is ipso facto outside the Church.Of course, he had not failed to denounce the internal crisis of the Catholic Church, without hiding that “the problem is that there are priests, bishops and even unfaithful cardinals who are missing, and this is just as grave as other sins, to bring the truth of Christ! “It is clear that now those take revenge. They did not even want to recognize that they had kept many traditionalist sheep within the fold of the Church who, in the face of doctrinal disorientation, would have come out by provoking a schism on the right in order to continue to celebrate the “ancient” Mass, that is, with the extraordinary rite, instead of being forced to endure liturgical abuses. The temptation of the faithful is to create communities of perfect as Rod Dreher suggests in his book The Benedict Option.A strategy for Christians in a post-Christian world. It is a pity that the author has become Orthodox. To the sirens of the Moscow Patriarchate, Cardinal Sarah has always opposed it. Yet, the accusation of being the candidate for the papal throne of French tycoon Vincent Bolloré fell on him. For this reason, C-News and other media in his galaxy would name it more than 40 times a day, the left-wing newspapers and websites underline it after Francis’ death. It was tacit, put on the index, in short. And it would have been entrusted with it by no less than the highest office of the state. To block his way, he would gather the French cardinals at Villa Napoleone, in Rome.
The Next Pope: Where Candidates Stand on Scale From Liberal to Conservative-Published Apr 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM EDT-By Jesus Mesa
As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new pope following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, attention is turning to the 138 cardinals eligible to vote—and the ideological tensions that will define the selection.With Francis having appointed 110 of the 138 electors, many expect the next pontiff to carry forward elements of his progressive legacy. Yet, sharp divisions remain over doctrine, tradition and the church's global direction.Why It Matters-The conclave—expected to begin within the next two weeks—comes at a time of shifting power dynamics within the Catholic Church. Christianity is in decline in Europe, while the faith is growing in Africa and Asia and regaining support in Latin America. As such, regional perspectives are influencing ideological camps, with European cardinals tending more liberal, while many from Africa and Asia lean conservative.Who Are the Leading Candidates? The College of Cardinals, responsible for electing the next pope, has been significantly reshaped by Pope Francis. However, Ulrich L. Lehner, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, cautions that this does not guarantee the selection of a progressive successor."Conclaves are impossible to predict," he told Newsweek. "The challenges facing the Church are serious, and the cardinals understand the need to choose someone who is diplomatically skilled, theologically grounded, and fluent in multiple languages."Lehner added that Francis' style of leadership—often marked by unilateral decisions and limited consultation with the college—has made it difficult for cardinals to build relationships with one another. "They were rarely convened during his pontificate," he said, "which makes it harder to assess each voter's suitability for the highest office."As speculation grows, several high-ranking cardinals have emerged as leading contenders. According to Vatican analysts and bookmakers, the following candidates currently have the strongest odds. Here's a closer look at each of them, along with their ideological views.Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle (Soft Liberal)-From the Philippines, Tagle is aligned with Pope Francis' reformist and inclusive vision. He supports a compassionate approach to marginalized groups and has been dubbed the "Asian Francis." He is currently the betting favorite at 3:1 odds.Cardinal Pietro Parolin (Liberal)-The Vatican's secretary of state, Parolin is seen as a diplomatic liberal who played a key role in Francis' Vatican. Despite some conservative stances, he is generally classified as liberal due to his institutional alignment and global outlook. His odds to become the next pope range from 4/1 to 6/1.Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich (Liberal)-From Luxembourg, Hollerich supports ordaining women, relaxing celibacy rules and blessing same-sex unions, making him one of the most progressive figures among the electors. His odds to become the next pope are currently around 12/1.Conservative CandidatesCardinal Peter Erdő (Soft Conservative)-A Hungarian canon law scholar, Erdő advocates for a return to traditional theology and stricter liturgical norms, like support for the old Latin Mass. He is considered a leading conservative candidate, with betting odds at 6/1. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa (Soft Conservative)-The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pizzaballa has gained prominence due to his role amid the Israel-Gaza conflict. He is part of the conservative wing and seen as a younger potential pope. His current odds stand at 20/1.Cardinal Robert Sarah (Conservative)-From Guinea, Sarah has a long-standing reputation as an archconservative. He defends clerical celibacy and has been critical of the Catholic Church's engagement with modern social movements. He is considered a conservative favorite, with odds around 12/1.A Divided Electorate-The ideological breakdown among papabili—the cardinals most frequently mentioned as potential successors—highlights the internal divisions shaped by Pope Francis' tenure. According to The Times, the College of Cardinals can be categorized into five ideological camps: liberals, soft liberals, moderates, soft conservatives and conservatives.The largest bloc consists of liberal and soft liberal cardinals, but no single faction holds a clear majority—indicating that behind-the-scenes consensus-building will be essential in this conclave."Overall, I think the fact that, by my count, over 100 of the eligible papal electors were appointed by Francis could have a profound effect on the outcome," Cristina Traina, professor at Fordham University, told Newsweek. "That is, we may not see a pendulum swing away from Francis' priorities."Flourish logoA Flourish election chart-Francis' decentralized leadership and emphasis on inclusion have transformed the Roman Curia, elevating lay professionals to top Vatican positions. However, these reforms have also sparked discontent among more traditionalist factions within the church."Since his election, Francis has consistently worked to bring greater transparency and professionalism to the Curia and various Vatican offices," said Michele Dillon, Ph.D., dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire. "Undoubtedly, these organizational reforms have not pleased everyone—and some of that personal discontent may influence how certain cardinals approach the selection of the next pope."What Happens Next-The Vatican outlined plans for Pope Francis' body on Monday, announcing that he will be moved to St. Peter's Basilica as early as Wednesday to allow worshippers to pay their respects over a three-day period. The funeral is expected to take place in St. Peter's Square, weather permitting, with a two-hour service conducted primarily in Latin. It will largely follow the format of a traditional Catholic funeral, with additional papal rites.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Parolin, 70, of Italy, has been Francis’ secretary of state since 2014 and is considered one of the main contenders to be pope, given his prominence in the Catholic hierarchy. The veteran diplomat oversaw the Holy See’s controversial deal with China over bishop nominations and was involved — but not charged — in the Vatican’s botched investment in a London real estate venture that led to a 2021 trial of another cardinal and nine others. A former ambassador to Venezuela, Parolin knows the Latin American church well. He would be seen as someone who would continue in Francis’ tradition but as a more sober and timid diplomatic insider, returning an Italian to the papacy after three successive outsiders: St. John Paul II (Poland); Benedict (Germany) and Francis (Argentina). But while Parolin has managed the Vatican bureaucracy, he has no real pastoral experience. His ties to the London scandal, in which his office lost of tens of millions of dollars to bad deals and shady businessmen, could count against him.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi
Zuppi, 69, the archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops conference, elected in 2022, is closely affiliated with the Sant’Egidio Community, a Rome-based Catholic charity that was influential under Francis, particularly in interfaith dialogue. Zuppi was part of Sant’Egidio’s team that helped negotiate the end of Mozambique’s civil war in the 1990s and was named Francis’ peace envoy for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Francis made him a cardinal in 2019 and later made clear he wanted him in charge of Italy’s bishops, a sign of his admiration for the prelate who, like Francis, is known as a “street priest.” In another sign of his progressive leanings and closeness to Francis, Zuppi wrote the introduction to the Italian edition of “Building a Bridge,” by the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit, about the church’s need to improve its outreach to the LGBTQ+ community. Zuppi would be a candidate in Francis’ tradition of ministering to those on the margins, although his relative youth would count against him for cardinals seeking a short papacy. His family had strong institutional ties: Zuppi’s father worked for the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, and his mother was the niece of Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri, dean of the College of Cardinals in the 1960s and 1970s.
Top Italian prelate tells new government church will not be silent-By Elise Ann Allen-Sep 28, 2022-|Senior Correspondent
ROME – Italy’s leading Catholic prelate has urged the country’s new leadership, seen as hostile to much of the pope’s social agenda, to stand up for the poor and vulnerable, saying the church itself will continue to advocate for the common good with “severity.”In a statement published Sept. 27, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, said the church in Italy “will continue to indicate, with severity, if necessary, the common good and not personal interests; the defense of the inviolable rights of the person and the community.”“In respect of the democratic dynamics and in the distinction of roles, it will not miss its contribution for the promotion of a more just and inclusive society,” he said.On Sunday, Italy held national elections that saw the overwhelming victory of post-fascist politician Giorgia Meloni, who will be Italy’s first female prime minister, and her conservative “Brothers of Italy” party.Meloni’s success marked the latest instance in Europe’s broader sweep towards nationalist right-wing populism, but also noteworthy were the number of abstentions from the vote.Just 63.95 percent of those eligible to vote went to the polls, marking an all-time low that has many political analysts furrowing their brow over an increasingly concerning aspect of the country’s changing political landscape.This election cycle marks the 70th government Italy has had since the end of the second world war, with the average lasting around 13 months.In his statement, Zuppi, widely considered by Vatican observers as papabile, meaning eligible to become the next pope given his close association with much of Francis’s agenda, lamented the high number of abstentions.“Italy needs everyone’s commitment, responsibility, and participation,” he said.For this reason, he said, the bishops “renew with even greater conviction the invitation to be protagonists of the future, in the awareness that it is necessary to rebuild a fabric of human relations that even politics cannot do without.”Zuppi also asked elected officials to “carry out their mandate as a high responsibility, at the service of all, starting with the weakest and least guaranteed.”He pointed to various national problems such as continually rising poverty rates; Italy’s low birth rate; care and protection of the elderly; the sharp disparity between different sectors of the country, mostly north versus south; environmental challenges and an ongoing energy crisis; high levels of unemployment, especially among youth; bureaucratic backlogs; and much-needed reforms to the “democratic expression of the state and of the electoral law.”Also of concern is “the welcome, protection, promotion, and integration of migrants,” which remains an urgent issue for Italy given the high number of arrivals, mostly from North Africa, and which is also an area on which the new government is expected to spar with the Catholic Church.While supportive of the church’s position on classic cultural issues such as gender theory and euthanasia, Meloni and her Fratelli d’Italia party are seen as hardliners on immigration.Throughout the election campaign, she has opposed “irregular” and “illegal” immigration and has promoted naval blockades to prevent the arrival of more migrants from Africa and the Middle East on Italian shores.In previous media remarks, Meloni voiced her conviction that “the only way to stop illegal immigration” and to “put an end to illegal departures to Italy and the tragedy of deaths in the sea” is a “European mission in agreement with North African authorities” to stop ships from docking at Italian ports.In a social media post over the summer, Meloni referenced this “European mission,” arguing that “a serious state controls and defends its borders” and “the time has come to turn the page.”A similar agreement could be made with Turkish authorities, she said, saying a joint military action by the European Union and Libyan authorities would not only prevent migrant-laden ships from departing in the first place, but it would also establish “hotspots to identify immigrants, distinguishing real refugees from illegal immigrants and allowing reception of the first into the EU states.”Matteo Salvini, a conservative populist Italian politician with Italy’s Northern League party who formerly served as the country’s deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, was frequently criticized by Italian church officials for his similar stance on migration.Salvini was poised to potentially assume a top government post again given his party’s alliance with Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, however, his Lega party massively underperformed in the elections, prompting calls for his resignation.Known for his frequent refusal to allow migrant ships to dock during his stint as Minister of the Interior on grounds that other European countries had to take in their fair share, Salivni has been indicted by a Sicilian court on kidnapping charges for one instance of refusing to allow migrants to disembark.Should Meloni maintain her hardline anti-migrant policies, including naval blockades, she is likely to meet similar resistance from Italian church officials.In comments to Italian media, Godwin Chukwu, president of the Federation of African Diasporas in Italy, voiced hope that Meloni’s new role makes her “more responsible towards ‘others,’ non-Italians, even if I remember a Latin proverb: Quod natura non dat, Salamantica non praestat, no one can give what nature denies.”Chukwu recalled a social media post Meloni made in 2019, after a policeman was brutally stabbed to death by two foreigners, the nationality of whom wasn’t immediately clear.“She took it out on two North African ‘animals,’ only to discover that in reality the killers were two North Americans; that I know of, she never apologized for this episode,” Chukwu said.“The word immigration is a taboo for the whole Italian political class.”In his statement, Zuppi also pointed to the challenges related to the ongoing war in Ukraine, saying the “heavy consequences” of the conflict “require a commitment from all and in full harmony with Europe.”His statement comes on the heels of an appeal released by the Italian bishops on the eve of the election, in which they jointly urged elected officials to “never forget the high responsibility they are invested with” and to remember that their service “is for everyone, especially the most fragile and those who have no way of making their voice heard.”“It is time for courageous and organic choices. Not opportunism, but visions,” they said, and invited elected officials to carry out their political responsibility “as the highest form of charity.”They stressed the importance of co-responsibility and dialogue, calling them “essential ingredients” for building up society, and urged faithful to “rediscover and re-propose the principles of the church’s social doctrine: the dignity of persons, the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity.”
NO MENTION ABOUT PEDOPHILIA BY MATTEO-FRANCIS SISTER SAID MATTEO WILL GET RID OR DISAPPEAR ALL THE CASES AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.THE COVER UP OF ALL COVER UPS.
Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi-Archbishop of Bologna, Italy-Gaudium Domini Fortitudo Vestra (IF THIS GUY IS CARDINAL MATEO TERESCO - HE FITS RIGHT INTO THE FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADER OF VATICAN AND LIBERAL VIEWS BLEND RIGHT IN)
Birthdate:11 October 1955 (69 years old)
Birthplace:Rome, Italy
Nation:Italy
Consistory:5 October 2019 by Francis
Voting Status:Voting
Position:Diocesan-Type:Cardinal-Priest-Titular Church:Sant'Egidio
Summary-Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi has been a rapidly rising star in the Italian episcopate, an Italian prelate very much on the leftist political wing of the Church who would likely continue Pope Francis’ legacy, albeit with plenty of control from the Sant’Egidio lay community to which he has close ties.Born and raised in Rome, he has close family connections to the Vatican. His father, Enrico, was a journalist and a photographer whom the then–deputy secretary of state, Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Paul VI), appointed editor of L’Osservatore della Domenica, a weekly illustrated edition of L’Osservatore Romano. Matteo’s mother, Carla Fumagalli, was the niece of Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri, who served as secretary to Pope Pius XI, then as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and as dean of the College of Cardinals at the funerals of Popes Paul VI and John Paul I.1The fifth of six children, young Matteo went to secondary school in Rome’s historic center and there met Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio movement.2 He soon became involved with the nascent community, which he regarded as “another Gospel and another Church.” In 1977, aged twenty-two, he completed a degree in literature and philosophy at La Sapienza University in Rome, with a thesis on the life of Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster.3 He then entered a seminary in the suburban-Rome Diocese of Palestrina and studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in theology. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Palestrina in 1981, he was first assigned as an assistant parish priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere under Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia. While there, he held a number of additional positions, including rector of a nearby church and head of a diocesan priestly council. In 1992, Fr. Zuppi played a key role in the Sant’Egidio-brokered peace accords with Mozambique, leading him to be made an honorary citizen of the country.In 2000, when Vincenzo Paglia was made bishop of Terni, Zuppi replaced him as parish priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere and as ecclesiastical assistant to Sant’Egidio. In 2006, Benedict XVI granted him the honorary title of Chaplain to His Holiness.4 In 2010, he was transferred to serve in one of Rome’s largest parishes on the city’s periphery, and in 2012, Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Rome. Archbishop Paglia was one of his co-consecrators. Pope Francis appointed Zuppi archbishop of Bologna in 2015, succeeding Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, and elevated him to cardinal in 2019.Apart from his native Italian, Cardinal Zuppi has some knowledge of English but is not listed as being proficient in speaking any other languages.Matteo Zuppi is a personable prelate with friends across the political spectrum in his native Rome. As someone with a lifelong concern for the poor and marginalized, forged through his close connections with the Sant’Egidio community, the Italian prelate reveals himself to be a true son of the spirit of Vatican II, someone who seeks to engage constantly with the modern world and implement the “profound change” that he believes the Council wanted for the Church.That means helping the Church to “listen again to the many questions of the world,” beginning with a concept of mercy, which, he says, “represents the attitude of the post-conciliar Church.” His approach is about “rejecting hate,” engendering “authentic solidarity,” embracing religious pluralism and “fraternity,” and going out to the peripheries to help the poor and the marginalized — whether they be destitute drug addicts, impoverished gypsy children, or elderly persons who have been abandoned — earning him the moniker “street priest.” He also strives to include same-sex-attracted people and the divorced and civilly “remarried,” and engage Muslims, Jews, and the concerns of migrants.Appointed archbishop and created cardinal by Pope Francis, Matteo Zuppi shows himself to be fully committed to adhering to the vision of this pontificate and seeing it to fruition, beginning with Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and including the pontificate’s seminal and controversial interreligious document on human fraternity, signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019. He has taken part in several Vatican synods; he sees synodality as fundamental for renewing the Church and helping ecclesial communities overcome entrenched isolation.For Zuppi, individualism is anathema and community, activism, and mission must come first. He has a devotion to Our Lady and values prayer, on which he places considerable importance, but his emphasis on social justice and equality has inevitably brought him into alliances with Italian leftist politics. So much so, that when Francis announced that he was elevating Zuppi to the College of Cardinals, the Italian media joked that the “chaplain” of Italy’s leading socialist party was to become a cardinal. Zuppi has also had connections with a movement opposed to Matteo Salvini, the populist leader of Italy’s Lega Party; eulogized two far-left, pro-abortion Italian radicals at their funerals; and even incardinated into the Bologna Archdiocese a communist priest who ran for a seat in the European Parliament.Cardinal Zuppi is closely connected with a prominent Italian Freemason. Gioele Magaldi, a Rome native who founded the distinctively progressive Grande Oriente Democratico masonic obedience in 2010, said in an October 2020 interview that he knew “the Vatican world well” and that, “among the cardinals, the one I esteem the most is Matteo Zuppi, who, among other things, married me.” Magaldi added: “He would make an excellent Pope.”He has been especially fervent in welcoming homosexuals and homosexual “love,” usually without any injunctions to amendment of life.But despite his distinctly “progressive” leanings and connections with Freemasonry, he also tries to dialogue with those on the right and keep channels open with those who favor Church tradition. He has celebrated the old Mass on at least two occasions and in 2022 celebrated solemn Vespers in the Pantheon.Contrasting with his humble “street priest” persona is the fact that he heads one of the world’s wealthiest dioceses, thanks to an astonishingly generous endowment of $1.8 billion to the Archdiocese of Bologna made just a few years prior to his appointment.It is not always easy to know exactly where Zuppi, an intelligent prelate with a sharp mind, stands on doctrine and other issues, as he has shown himself able to tailor his message to his audience or his pope. Invariably his views will lean clearly in a heterodox direction, such as on the indissolubility of marriage, homosexuality, gender ideology, and hell.His supporters would say this makes him able to tackle the complexities of the modern world; his critics might describe him as a clever, archetypal modernist.
Where He Stands-Compare to Other Cardinals-Ordaining Female Deacons-See evidence-Blessing Same-Sex Couples-See evidence-Making Priestly Celibacy Optional-See evidence-Restricting the Vetus Ordo (Old Latin Mass)-See evidence-Vatican-China Secret Accords-See evidence-Promoting a “Synodal Church”See evidence-load more issues.
Full Profile-SANCTIFYING OFFICE-Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi is known as a “street priest” and missionary to the peripheries and the marginalized.Since his promotion to the Archdiocese of Bologna, the sanctifying office of Cardinal Zuppi could perhaps best be summed up as a commitment to implementing Pope Francis’ call to “missionary conversion” in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (no. 30).Eucharistic Congress-Archbishop Zuppi began to implement the Pope’s programmatic document within the first year of arriving in Bologna. In 2016, he announced that the forthcoming diocesan Eucharistic Congress would be themed “The Eucharist and the City of Men” and would be based on a reflection of Evangelii Gaudium. The archbishop said the preparatory year for the diocesan congress would be “a year of adoration to understand [Christ’s] presence in the Eucharist and in the sacrament of our brother and the poor; a year of contemplation of the city of men, to look upon it with the eyes of the Lord, those of mercy; a year of a synodal search to respond to the crowd that surrounds us and which Jesus asks us, today, to give something to eat.” The four steps in the year of preparation for the 2017 diocesan Eucharistic Congress invited clergy and the faithful to reflect on several key passages from Evangelii Gaudium. (This will be discussed in greater detail later on.)-Liturgical Guidelines-In November 2019, new archdiocesan liturgical guidelines were issued that underlined a “synodal” approach to the liturgy and greater participation of the laity, drawing on Sacrosanctum Concilium interpreted in light of Evangelii Gaudium.5-Cardinal Zuppi has expressed his views on the nature of the Mass, and the role the laity have in the liturgy, on other occasions. During the coronavirus pandemic, the cardinal likened the absence of the faithful to a kind of Lenten fast. “In reality,” he said, “it is not right because the Mass is for the people. It is a fast because the community is fundamental in the Eucharistic celebration.”Critics said the cardinal’s view was at odds with that of Paul VI in his encyclical on the Eucharist, Mysterium Fidei, in which the Pope said there was “no reason to criticize” when a priest celebrates a Mass privately, without lay participants.6-Liturgy and Sacraments during the Covid Crisis-Each evening from March 8 to 16 during the pandemic, via livestreaming, the cardinal led a special novena in the cathedral. On March 17, he concluded the novena with a pilgrimage to the local Shrine of Our Lady of St. Luke. He told the faithful that the novena was meant to implore the Blessed Virgin to protect Bologna from evil.7-He also stressed the importance of attending to the vulnerable, particularly the elderly. On the feast of the Annunciation, he sent a letter to the elderly of the diocese, saying: “I would like to tell you that we love you, that no one is forgotten and that we are praying for you.”Following the recommendations of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Zuppi also suspended funerals during the pandemic. Speaking to the Italian press, he recalled the suffering of those who die alone. He also issued particular restrictions for Holy Week but encouraged confession to continue.8-During Holy Week, Cardinal Zuppi issued directives indicating that “the solemn liturgical celebrations foreseen by the Roman Missal for Palm Sunday and the Easter Triduum must take place in the churches, behind closed doors, with the minimum number of people present necessary for a worthy celebration.” Churches would remain open for private prayer.Regarding sacramental Confession, Cardinal Zuppi — who authored a pastoral work titled Confession to help people approach the sacrament — noted in his directives that “as far as possible, with the prescribed precautions (open space, distance of at least one meter, use of the mask) it will be good and commendable for those who can approach sacramental confession.”9-Vocations-From 2015 until 2022, the number of priests in the archdiocese of Bologna declined from 577 to 511. The number of male religious slightly increased from 263 to 265, while female religious fell from 787 to 514. The figures are marginally better than those of his predecessor, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, when vocations declined across the board.Popular Devotions-In an interview in 2018, then-Archbishop Zuppi, reflecting on an initial encounter with the Community of Sant’Egidio, said that “Sant’Egidio made me discover another Gospel and another Church, the Church of my friends and not of the priests, of spontaneous prayer instead of the Rosary.”In the same interview, reflecting back on his early days as a new priest in the early ’80s, assigned to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Archbishop Zuppi said he initially found the “popular devotions” of the locals “not easy” to take, as he regarded them as “leftovers of the past.” But he said he discovered their “spiritual depth” in their ability to respond to the laity’s need for an “affective bond with the Church.” By the time he arrived in Bologna, he appeared to have warmed to popular devotions, as his response to the coronavirus pandemic showed.Traditional Latin Mass-Cardinal Zuppi daily celebrates the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite in the Bologna cathedral but in 2014, he won the appreciation of traditionalists for being the first auxiliary bishop of Rome to celebrate the vetus ordo since the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum. It was also the first time that an auxiliary of Rome, while in office, had celebrated the old Mass in a Roman parish since the post-conciliar liturgical reforms began. In October 2015, the new archbishop of Bologna said he would celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in the archdiocese if he were asked. Recalling past requests in Rome, he called it a “gesture of communion” and said he is “in favor of leaving behind every form of being closed.” There is no record of Cardinal Zuppi’s ever having celebrated the old Mass after these remarks. He has, however, visited the headquarters of the traditional Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest outside Florence where he expressed admiration for their number of priests and vocations.Post-Traditionis Custodes, in October 2022 Cardinal Zuppi celebrated Solemn Vespers in the old rite in the Pantheon in Rome. He told the National Catholic Register afterward that he had decided to preside at the liturgy because the organizers had asked him. “They invited me before I became president of the Italian bishops’ conference, and I thought it was all right,” he said. Asked if he thought Traditionis Custodes posed a problem, Cardinal Zuppi said: “No, I think it was a directive that the Pope thought was useful, and it is to be applied with great awareness and with great responsibility.” His decision was well received by traditional Catholics; less so by radical liturgists such as Andrea Grillo, thought to be one of the chief lay architects of Traditionis Custodes.Interreligious Prayer-Zuppi has also led interreligious prayer services with the Muslim community in Bologna. On February 2, 2020 — the Catholic feast of Candlemas and the close of the Christmas Season — the youth branch of the archdiocesan Catholic Action organized a day of prayer for peace. In the morning, the children and young adults were invited to attend Mass. In the afternoon, the group traveled to the Islamic Center to spend time with the Muslim community. The afternoon ended with an interreligious prayer service for Catholic and Muslim children, young adults, and their parents, led by Cardinal Zuppi and the president of the Islamic Center of Bologna.In August 2024, Cardinal Zuppi gave his blessing to a House of Dialogue and Meeting in Bologna, a project begun in 2021 to educate and inform about interreligious dialogue and which is set to open in 2025. Critics warned it is part of the UN’s Agenda 2030, that it would serve to promote syncretism and a watering down of religions, and instill guilt about borders. Zuppi, however, was undeterred: “Dialogue is not a loss of identity,” he said. “Anyone who thinks so is adolescent or decrepit; dialogue strengthens identities.” (For more on Cardinal Zuppi’s teaching through interreligious dialogue, see the “Teaching Office” section below).GOVERNING OFFICE-President of Italy’s Bishops-As expected given his meteoric rise through the ranks of the Italian episcopacy, in May 2022 Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi was elected president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.His leadership has been one of intense engagement, marked by controversy and a progressive stance on social issues such as poverty, migration, rights for same-sex attracted people, peace issues, and interreligious dialogue.Taking his lead from Pope Francis, he has aimed to promote a more open and inclusive approach. This has included greater lay involvement and a focus on the peripheries. He has become seen as an authoritative voice in the public debate, speaking on issues of national and international importance, and occasionally a voice of constructive opposition to the current government.Running One of the World’s Wealthiest DiocesesCardinal Zuppi may be known as a “street priest,” but he governs one of the wealthiest dioceses in the world.In 2012, Michelangelo Manini, the owner of FAAC, a leading international automatic-gate manufacturer, died, having bequeathed his estate, worth an estimated 1.7 billion euro ($1.85 billion), including the majority of FAAC shares (66 percent), to the Archdiocese of Bologna.After two years of legal proceedings and negotiations, the archdiocese acquired complete ownership of the company. Zuppi’s predecessor, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, established a trust and appointed three professionals to manage the company, directing a percentage of its annual earnings to the archdiocese. In 2014, the company had a thousand employees and 284 million euro ($309 million) in sales.One of Cardinal Caffarra’s final acts as archbishop of Bologna, in late 2015, was to allocate 5 million euro ($5.4 million) to the local Caritas for families who were in difficulty or unemployed.10When Matteo Zuppi took possession of the Archdiocese of Bologna in 2015, he confirmed the trust’s administrators in their position. He also credited Cardinal Caffarra with the decision to reserve the profits for the poor. “This has made it possible to distribute millions in charity, not for worship, culture and as a means of support [for the archdiocese],” he said.By 2017, FAAC had grown to 2,500 employees on five continents and in twenty-four countries, and closed 2017 with 428 million euro ($465 million) in sales, zero debt, and a net profit of 43 million euro ($47 million). In 2015, 5 million euro ($6 million) was given to the Archdiocese of Bologna. By 2019, that figure doubled to 10 million euro ($11 million). From the latter amount, 6.5 million euro was allocated to several entities: approximately 1.5 million euro went to the diocesan Caritas to help families with rent, bills, and health care; 1.3 million euro was allocated for schooling and educational grants; 1 million euro went to “Together for Work,” a collaborative project launched by the Archdiocese of Bologna and the local government; and a commission chaired by Archbishop Zuppi distributed the remaining 2.7 million to a variety of causes, including projects to help migrants, the homeless, and the reintegration of released prisoners. The remaining millions were placed in an emergency fund.In April 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic and following Cardinal Carlo Caffarra’s example during the 2008 economic crisis, Cardinal Zuppi donated one million euro in FAAC dividends to establish the San Petronio Fund to provide financial assistance to families and individuals who were out of work due to the pandemic.In 2022, the FAAC continued to make profits (71.3 million euros) assuring that the poor of Bologna would not have food shortages. Cardinal Zuppi recently warned FAAC’s board of directors to “beware of firing people” and to “try to do everything possible” to avoid it.Influence of Sant’Egidio“If I am here today,” then-Archbishop Zuppi said on the Community of Sant’Egidio’s fiftieth anniversary in 2018, “I owe it to Sant’Egidio.”And on October 5, 2019, when Pope Francis elevated Archbishop Zuppi to the cardinalate in St. Peter’s Basilica, he assigned him the presbyteral titular church of Sant’Egidio, created specifically for the occasion. This detail speaks volumes about the Pope’s appreciation for the Community. The Church of Sant’Egidio in Rome is the principal seat of the Community.To understand better Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s priorities in governing, it is important to assess the influence of Sant’Egidio in his life.A worldwide Catholic lay movement founded in Rome in 1968 by Andrea Riccardi, Sant’Egidio is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council and focuses on care of the needy and on mediating conflicts.11 It is respected for its work for the poor and the elderly as well as its pioneering DREAM program for treating HIV and AIDS sufferers, especially in Africa. It cares for gypsies, runs soup kitchens for the homeless, and has for many years opened up the nave of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere to serve Christmas lunch to the dispossessed. It has led long-running campaigns to end the death penalty and more recently to push for a debt moratorium for Africa. The community was also responsible for the famous Assisi meeting of interreligious leaders in 1986 and regularly organizes a “Spirit of Assisi” conference in different parts of the world. Its emphasis on social justice has given it a distinctly political rather than spiritual focus, and it has become closely allied with Italy’s political left while maintaining great adaptability to the papacy.12-Shortly before taking possession of the Archdiocese of Bologna, Matteo Zuppi explained that his vocation was “born inside the Community of Sant’Egidio, to which I have belonged from the age of 15.” Three years later, in an interview commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Sant’Egidio, he said he came from a “very religious family that my father had wanted to build around the Gospel, but those were the years after the Council and, as happened to many, this [was] overwhelmed by all the aspirations, naïveté and even the contradictions that ran through the student world.” He said the education he had received “seemed to me obsolete and moralistic,” whereas Sant’Egidio made him “discover another Gospel and another Church” that attracted him “much more than a faith, however deep, like that of my parents.”Due to Sant’Egidio’s influence, he said his vocation “was born as a service to the Church and the Community.” Growing in a lay community, Zuppi said, “helped me greatly to live out a priestly role that isn’t too clerical and, as the Pope says, clericalism is a sickness of the Church.” He said he “learned to live [his] ministry together with lay brothers and sisters, discovering the enormous richness of the Church and the different charisms” that are all necessary in communion. “That said,” he added, “it’s clear that I will not be the Bishop of Sant’Egidio but the Bishop of Bologna.”In 1992, Father Zuppi, who was responsible for Sant’Egidio’s peace efforts in Africa, worked with Andrea Riccardi on conflict-resolution talks that would lead to the Rome General Peace Accords, ending a fifteen-year civil war in Mozambique. The community’s role in brokering the accord, signed at the Sant’Egidio headquarters in Rome, earned the community the name “the UN of Trastevere.”13Yet as Sant’Egidio gained a worldwide reputation as peacemakers in warzones and as bridge builders between religions, by 1998, when Vincenzo Paglia was the community’s ecclesiastical assistant, reports of serious moral, liturgical, and sacramental problems within the community began to emerge.14 In 2003, an important member of Sant’Egidio, who had been with the community for twenty-five years, reportedly lifted the veil on aspects of its inner life, testifying that leaders had used coercion to arrange marriages between lay members and were wielding their authority to dictate if and when married couples in the community could have children.In 2011, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago warned the Vatican about the community’s willingness to compromise on the nonnegotiable values of life and marriage.15-One year later, the Community of Sant’Egidio came under fire from Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who accused the community of taking a submissive stance toward Communist China — a position that does not appear to have changed.16Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick also had a long relationship with the Community of Sant’Egidio and was a featured speaker at their conferences, particularly from 2008 to 2010. Criticism has also been leveled against the community for their involvement in politics in Italy and abroad, and they have entertained controversial figures at their “Spirit of Assisi” annual meetings, including speakers such as population-control advocate Jeffrey Sachs.170Peace Missions-Largely due to his peace-making history with Sant’Egidio, Pope Francis chose Cardinal Zuppi rather than his Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to be his special envoy to Russia and Ukraine. His mission has included visits to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington, D.C., the West Bank and Beijing to engage in dialogue with political and ecclesial leaders, emphasizing humanitarian efforts and the reunification of children with their families.Zuppi’s shuttle diplomacy received a mixed response, sparking debates and discussions on its effectiveness and the role of the Catholic Church in geopolitical issues. By the end of 2024, the warring sides in each of the conflicts were no closer to a peace agreement, and were arguably further away from reaching one. His contacts with Beijing are likely to be leading to a further renewal of the controversial Vatican-Sino peace agreement on the appointment of bishops.In October 2024, Cardinal Zuppi returned to Russia, within the framework of the mission entrusted to him by the Pope in 2023. The Vatican said the trip aimed to evaluate further efforts to promote reuniting Ukrainian children with their families and the exchange of prisoners, in view of achieving a long-awaited peace.Ties to the Political Left-Archbishop Zuppi is the first non-Northern Italian to be appointed to the Metropolitan See of Bologna since 1894. Italy’s political left enthusiastically welcomed his elevation to the cardinalate in 2019, with socialist politicians lauding the choice on social media and headlines reading “The Chaplain of the Pd Has Become a Cardinal” — the Pd (Partito democratico) being Italy’s largest center-left social-democratic party.In view of these allegiances, Cardinal Zuppi inevitably clashed with Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega Party and Italy’s deputy prime minister (2018-2019), particularly on immigration.Speaking at a book launch in Rome in February 2019, Zuppi argued that “populism and sovereignty are intolerant toward [certain] groups that are, instead, the guarantee against totalitarianism: saying us first and then them, first our own and then the others, sends everyone backward, while if you say the others first, then everyone comes.” For him, the Church is tasked with proposing as an antidote to populism “humanism and humanitarianism, which is not synonymous with do-goodery or naïveté” but “is behaving like the Good Samaritan in the parable, i.e., looking at politics as a response to suffering.”Cardinal Zuppi has spoken at numerous Pd conferences and events, and he wrote the foreword to a book by the former communist, ex–Rome mayor, and founding leader of the Pd, Walter Veltroni.18In December 2019, at a dinner held in the nave of one of the archdiocesan churches (a tradition pioneered by the Sant’Egidio community as a service to the poor), Archbishop Zuppi was photographed warmly greeting Mattia Santori, the thirty-two-year-old Bologna native and founder of the Sardines movement, a grassroots anti-Salvini group. Santori has become a symbol of the left’s anti-populist movement.A proponent of dialogue, Zuppi is known also to attend right-leaning meetings if invited.At the death of politician and activist Giacinto (Marco) Pannella, founder of Italy’s Radical Party, who fought for legalized divorce and abortion and who, together with Emma Bonino, pushed for the 2016 law legalizing same-sex civil unions, Archbishop Zuppi called him “an honest and generous man, even if he wasn’t always right.” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, whom Zuppi has known almost all his life through Sant’Egidio, praised Panella as a friend.Archbishop Zuppi said that he and Pannella shared some common battles, such as the abolition of the death penalty — a key Sant’Egidio cause — and prisoners’ rights. Asked by a reporter which of Pannella’s battles he found unacceptable, the archbishop responded: “All those that led to the paradox that freedom can surpass the rights of the human person.” Puzzled, the reporter said he expected a bishop to name abortion or divorce. Archbishop Zuppi replied: “Taking the life of a person who has yet to be born is part of this paradox. I would add that my knowledge of Pannella leads me to say that he would not have asked his companion to have an abortion; he was interested in the fact that she could do so, because he considered it an inalienable right.”In September 2019, Cardinal Zuppi, with the permission of the Congregation for the Clergy, incardinated into the Archdiocese of Bologna Eugenio Melandri, the “red priest” whom John Paul II suspended a divinis (a suspension that lasted twenty-eight years) after he ran in the 1989 European elections as a member of the Proletarian Democracy Party, a far-left Italian political party.In 1992, Melandri was elected to the Italian Parliament for the Communist Reform Party. He was also the cofounder of Senza Confini (Without Borders), an association that works to promote the rights of immigrants and refugees and integrate them into Italian society. On October 20, 2019, Melandri celebrated Mass for the first time since his suspension, but he died one week later, at the age of seventy-one, after a long illness. One year earlier, he was received in Casa Santa Marta by Pope Francis, who had him serve his Mass. There are no reports of his renouncing his communist affiliations before he died.In 2014, as auxiliary bishop of Rome, Zuppi was a featured speaker at a launch of the autobiography of another dissident Catholic priest, Dom Giovanni Franzoni. In 1964, as a young Benedictine abbot, Franzoni took part in Vatican II. In 1976, he was reduced to the lay state for his support of divorce legislation, and openly supporting the Italian Communist Party (Pdi). Franzoni, who died in 2017 at the age of eighty-eight, was in favor of abortion and euthanasia, saw artificial birth control as consistent with the Gospel, and supported the abolition of both the priesthood and the papal Magisterium.Pro-Europeanism-Tied to his political leanings are his views on the European Union which is something of a sacred cow for Zuppi, and part of his desire to see a world without borders fully open to migrants. He shared such views ahead of the 2024 European Parliament elections, writing a joint letter with Bishop Mariano Crociata. Addressed to “the European Union,” they called for a renewed sense of participation in shaping the EU’s future, emphasizing the importance of unity and shared ideals amidst challenges such as nationalism and populism. Like many European prelates, Zuppi views the European Union as synonymous with Europe and crucial to the continent’s identity. Despite the EU’s distinctly secular approach to many issues, especially reproductive rights and gender issues, they urged the EU to adopt a more assertive foreign policy and to address issues like migration and economic disparities.In March 2025, Zuppi reiterated his pro-Europeanism, confirming what he sees as a strong bond between the Italian Church and a united European Union, and opposition to European nationalism. “Only a united Europe can preserve European humanism,” he said. “Today the evil of nationalism wears new clothes” and is “in contradiction with the Gospel.” He also called for a “Europe of peace.”Bologna’s Eucharistic Congress-Cardinal Zuppi’s exercise of his governing office in the Archdiocese of Bologna is also closely connected to Evangelii Gaudium.Within a year of taking possession of the Archdiocese of Bologna, Archbishop Zuppi was tasked with organizing Bologna’s tenth diocesan Eucharistic Congress.19 The congress, held every ten years, with a year of preparation culminating in a weeklong conference, took place from November 2016 to October 2017. Its theme was “Give them something to eat (Mt 14:16): The Eucharist and the City of Men.” The Scripture passage is taken up in paragraph 49 of Evangelii Gaudium.Cardinal Carlo Caffarra had always given the congress an emphasis on the poor but kept the main focus on the Blessed Sacrament. In his letter to the diocese on the congress, Archbishop Zuppi placed far more emphasis on poverty and social justice.20To this end, he announced that the 2016-2017 year of preparation would comprise four steps centered on a “synodal” reflection on Evangelii Gaudium that would set in motion a plan of diocesan and “even structural” renewal.The first step was to be a time for lectio divina on Matthew 14:13-21 and reflection on paragraph 49 of Evangelii Gaudium, which speaks against being confined to structures and rules that “make us harsh judges.”21 It featured two meetings: the formal announcement of the Eucharistic Congress and the closing of the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis, with which it coincided.The second step, from Advent to Lent, was dedicated to “analyzing the local situation” and reflection on paragraph 27 of Evangelii Gaudium — Francis’ dream of a missionary option suited to today’s world.22 The faithful were invited to ask themselves: “If I put myself in the perspective of those on the ‘peripheries’ of the Christian community, what must we change and what missionary choices can we think about to initiate renewal?” That stage included participation in two meetings: a “national march for peace” in December, and the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Fifth Centenary of the Lutheran Reformation.”The third step, during Lent, was centered on “rediscovering the center of everything: the quality of our Eucharistic celebrations” and focused on paragraph 24 of Evangelii Gaudium — the joy of evangelization and the importance of the beauty of the liturgy.23 The faithful were invited to ask themselves: “In the perspective of a missionary conversion, what are the elements of joy and fatigue at our Sunday Masses?”The fourth step, from Easter to Corpus Christi, focused on the “missionary subject.”24 The faithful were invited to consider: “Who are the disciples to whom Jesus says, ‘You give them something to eat’? How do we involve everyone and the whole Christian community?” Common meetings included a May celebration in honor of Our Lady of San Luca, patroness of Bologna; Pentecost; and Corpus Christi.A month before the congress, on September 6, 2017, Cardinal Carlo Maria Caffarra died. Archbishop Zuppi celebrated his funeral Mass in Bologna’s Cathedral of St. Peter.Closing celebrations for the 2017 diocesan Eucharistic Congress included a visit from Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, head of Caritas Internationalis, and a one-day pastoral visit from Pope Francis.Papal Visit-On October 1, 2017, at the culmination of preparations for the Eucharistic Congress, Archbishop Zuppi welcomed Pope Francis to Bologna for an apostolic visit. The Pope’s first scheduled meeting was with migrants and care workers at the “Regional Hub” migrant reception center. He next met with representatives of the world of work, the unemployed, and members of trade unions. Archbishop Zuppi then invited the Holy Father to join a Sant’Egidio-style “solidarity lunch with poor people, refugees and prisoners” in the nave of Bologna’s patronal basilica. An estimated one thousand people were in attendance. After lunch, the pope made a customary visit to priests, religious, and seminarians, then met with students and representatives of the academic world, and concluded the day with Holy Mass.First Pastoral Letter-At the close of the Eucharistic Congress, and following Pope Francis’ pastoral visit to Bologna, Archbishop Zuppi issued his first pastoral letter, titled Were Not Our Hearts Burning within Us? The seventy-nine-page missive, based on the Gospel account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, focused on the importance of traveling along a “synodal path” in communion and mission.25 It also stressed the importance of the Eucharist, Word, and charity — hearkening to Pope Francis’ exhortation to the faithful of Bologna to remember the “three Ps”: in Italian, Pane, Parola, Poveri.Reorganizing the Archdiocese-Pope Francis’ “dream of a missionary option” also inspired Cardinal Zuppi’s restructuring of the Archdiocese of Bologna. In July 2018, the cardinal issued a pastoral note, reorganizing the diocese into fifty “pastoral regions” consisting not only of parishes but also of monasteries, convents, religious houses, and headquarters of ecclesial associations and movements. The reorganization was based on the work and counsel of Cardinal Zuppi’s “vicar for synodality” and input from archdiocesan priests. A moderator was appointed to each pastoral zone for a three-year term and was tasked with convening a “regional assembly.” Cardinal Zuppi said these regional assemblies were “inspired” by Pope Francis’ “dream” in Evangelii Gaudium, paragraph 27.In his pastoral note to the archdiocese, Cardinal Zuppi urged the faithful of Bologna to move away from “self-sufficient” parishes that make the faithful feel at home to “a communion of parishes.” “We become saints in community because sanctification is a community journey, to be undertaken two by two,” he wrote. He also said the year would be dedicated to “continuing the synodal journey” indicated in Evangelii Gaudium.Pastoral Visit-In keeping with canon law, on the solemnity of Pentecost in 2019, Cardinal Zuppi announced his plan to visit the various regions of the diocese over a five-year period.26 The theme of the visit — “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Cor. 12:27) — was inspired by Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Bologna in October 2017, particularly his stress on actively belonging to the diocese and his calls for an outgoing, missionary Church in Evangelii Gaudium. In his letter to the archdiocese, Cardinal Zuppi said “the aim of this pastoral visit will be to grow in communion and live out missionary conversion.” He added: “The Church does not want to live for herself, and her vocation is to serve man and labor in the harvest of the world, without boundaries, as the Lord Jesus asked.”27-Amoris Laetitia Guidelines and the Synod of Bishops-Cardinal Zuppi served as president of the Bishops’ Conference of Emilia- Romagna, during which he took a leading role in formulating and promulgating episcopal guidelines for the controversial chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia (the guidelines, issued in 2018, are discussed in the next section). The bishops’ document, under Cardinal Zuppi’s leadership, referred to sexual relations in a second, unmarried union not as adultery, as the Church has traditionally taught, but as “conjugal acts” that are sometimes needed to preserve the “new union” and therefore the “good of the children.”Zuppi continues to be a member of the Council of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, a position giving him some influence on the organization of synods. He was elected to the council at the conclusion of the Synod on Youth in October 2018 and has been part of the Ordinary Council that has overseen the running of the Synod on Synodality which concluded in October 2024.Coronavirus-As mentioned above, Cardinal Zuppi never closed the churches in Bologna during the Covid crisis but suspended all public celebrations of the Mass, including funerals, following the provisions of the bishops’ conference. He did not prohibit sacramental Confession, the Anointing of the Sick, and Baptisms but ordered that priests observe precautions.28-Communications-Cardinal Zuppi, who won the affection of many Romans, has become well known to Italians through his many appearances on national television and public comments to the press. Perhaps influenced by Sant’Egidio’s effective employment of public relations, Zuppi also makes maximum use of the media.He uses the diocesan television program 12 Porte (Twelve Doors) to broadcast video messages to the faithful of Bologna or special events, such as the diocesan train ride to Rome when he was created a cardinal.Cardinal Zuppi has also had a “docufilm” made about him, called The Gospel according to Matteo Z. Produced by Italian journalist Emilio Marrese and described as a “rock documentary,” it aims at telling the story of the bicycle-riding “street bishop” who is “changing Bologna, dialoguing with everyone and incarnating the open and reforming vision of Pope Francis.” The docufilm was released on December 17, 2019.29An effective communicator, Cardinal Zuppi also regularly appears on TV2000, the official television station of the Italian bishops, as well as on popular talk shows.30-TEACHING OFFICE-Attitude toward the Second Vatican Council-Cardinal Zuppi was born on October 11, 1955, the traditional liturgical feast of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Seven years later to the day would mark the solemn opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.Shortly before taking possession of the Archdiocese of Bologna in December 2018, Archbishop Zuppi was asked what he would be “carrying in his bag” to help him fulfill his episcopal responsibilities. He replied: “Other than the Gospel, which we must never forget there is my story, the Council, and the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which is the program of Pope Francis.”For Cardinal Zuppi, the Council “brought about a profound change in the Church which has begun to listen again to the many questions of the world.” Beginning again with mercy, he said, means “implementing Vatican II, because mercy represents the attitude of the post-conciliar Church” It means “putting into practice exactly what the Council wanted” and “looking sympathetically at the world and its inhabitants, and then answering the many questions that the world itself poses to the Church.”Zuppi has another natural connection to Vatican II — namely, through his father, who knew and worked for Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Paul VI).Cardinal Zuppi often cites Paul VI. In a TedxYouth talk titled “What Unites Heaven and Earth,” delivered in Bologna in 2018, he said that what unites them is “the horizon.” He said he believes that “for each of us, looking at the horizon also means understanding what unites us, what unites earth and heaven (sky), and we can’t understand what we are doing here on earth without measuring ourselves against the greatness of heaven (the sky) itself.”“We are born in one place but have to learn to be anywhere,” he said, adding that Paul VI had a beautiful expression: La stanza del mondo (the room of the world). “It’s one room,” the cardinal told young people, and “many times we believe more in division and can’t see the room anymore, and it’s terrible because we don’t understand anymore who we are.” He noted that Pope Francis “uses a similar expression, ‘common home,’ and invites us all to remember that the house is one and that we are all called to be citizens of the world, an expression that was very fashionable in the 1960s, when people saw the terrible effects of nationalism” We need to learn to live with others, to see others, or else we become enclosed in our own little world, he said. Addressing the inequality of resources in the world, Zuppi told young people that “we need to adjust the room” and said this begins with each of us, through solidarity.In his TedxYouth talk, Cardinal Zuppi mentioned neither God nor Jesus, nor heaven in any supernatural sense.31On Hell-During an in-studio appearance on an Italian television program in October 2019, Cardinal Zuppi was asked by the presenter: “Do you believe in hell, or does the mercy of God exclude it?” Cardinal Zuppi answered: “Hell is something we have to contend with seriously.” He added: “I believe that hell is, for example, when you are so distrustful that you no longer believe in love, or you construct a completely autonomous world where mercy can no longer enter in, because you do everything alone. Individualism leads to this. You also think you can judge everything yourself, and so you remain alone with your judgment, surrounded by mirrors but you’re alone. I think this is what hell is” Cardinal Zuppi said with a smile, adding: “And when mercy can’t enter in, then I believe mercy is able to do the impossible.”On the Death Penalty-Consistent with his close association with the Community of Sant’Egidio, Cardinal Zuppi has long favored a universal ban on the death penalty. Speaking in Bologna, at the 2016 launch of a book by center-left journalist and politician Mario Marazziti, titled Life—From Cain to Caliphate: Towards a World without the Death Penalty, Cardinal Zuppi asserted that the death penalty is “born out of the feelings of revenge that underlie punitive justice.” This concept, he said, is the “the exact opposite of what justice must really be” Supporting Pope Francis’ statements on the subject, Cardinal Zuppi said that “to speak of the death penalty is actually to speak of imprisonment, because, for example, life imprisonment is in fact a kind of masked death penalty. The penalty, instead, must be a path of rehabilitation.”The cardinal praised the United Nations for seeking (with Sant’Egidio) a moratorium on capital punishment, saying to fight for a world without the death penalty “is a duty of our generation.” It is a commitment, he believes, “to the culture of life,” whereas “the death penalty turns us from victims into executioners without realizing it.”Euthanasia and Abortion-The cardinal’s views on both issues have been ambiguous. Interviewed by Vanity Fair in August 2022, Cardinal Zuppi, who had just two months earlier had been elected president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, declared that he would celebrate the funeral of Piergiorgio Welby, an Italian poet and assisted suicide campaigner. Welby suffered from muscular dystrophy and campaigned to have his life support removed, which eventually occurred in December 2006. This case sparked a significant debate in Italy about euthanasia and end-of-life issues. Church officials at the time rejected the family’s request for a funeral, stating that Welby had gone against Catholic teaching by expressing a desire to end his life. In the same year, Zuppi said that although the Church rejects assisted suicide, Italy’s Constitutional Court “cannot fail to be a point of reference” and that he would see where the “political discussion will lead us to.”However, a 74-year-old woman, who had decided to travel to a clinic in Switzerland to be euthanized, credited Cardinal Zuppi with changing her mind after the cardinal spoke to the woman on the phone on the initiative of a friend who was a priest.In comments to a chat show host on Italian television in April 2023, Cardinal Zuppi said Italy’s abortion law, no. 194, was “painful” but “guarantees an important secular interpretation” and that “no one thinks of questioning it.” His imprecise remarks led to criticisms that he appeared to be approving the law, something he denied.32-He has not been reticent in praising pro-abortion figures, as shown elsewhere in this profile. In 2023, he sent a message to be read at the funeral of Michela Murgia, an author and pro-abortion figure whose last work was entitled God Save the Queer: A Feminist Catechism. Zuppi, who was described as a “longtime friend,” said Murgia’s life is not finished, and its pages will continue to be written with letters of love, in that universal language of the spirit that reveals the greatness of every person and the eternity that’s hidden in all of us.”Amoris Laetitia-As mentioned above, as president of the Bishops’ Conference of Emilia-Romagna, Cardinal Zuppi played a key role in developing pastoral guidelines for chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia. Issued in 2018, the guidelines appear to depart from traditional Church teaching on admission of the divorced and “remarried” to Holy Communion. The document argues that chastity is not the only possible option for “remarried” divorcees, “since the new union and therefore also the good of the children could be put at risk in the absence of conjugal acts.” The document adds that it is a “delicate matter” of that discernment in the “internal forum.”Regarding possible readmission to the sacraments, the guidelines state “it will be opportune to establish the modalities, in order to avoid, on the one hand, situations of conflict and scandal and, on the other, the feeling that readmission represents a private matter and a sort of ‘exception’ granted to some.”Humanae Vitae-Cardinal Zuppi has expressed support for Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical Humanae Vitae but has not explicitly endorsed its teaching against the use of contraception. In October 2018, Zuppi was a featured speaker at a conference to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae.33 During his talk, titled “What Are the Ways to Welcome Pope Francis’ Invitation to Rediscover Humanae Vitae?,” Cardinal Zuppi, who is one of six children, praised a pro–Humanae Vitae talk and stressed that the “beauty” of marriage set forth in the encyclical needs to be rediscovered today, in a world where so many people grow up in unstable families and relationships. Cardinal Zuppi, who prefers not to take sides and seeks conciliatory positions as much as possible, cautioned against polemics in the Church. He said he believed Pope Francis had sought to relaunch the teaching of Humanae Vitae in Amoris Laetitia.In 2023, Zuppi indicated he supported a renewal of perspectives regarding the Church’s teaching on contraception, and encouraged theologians to “go further” with “creative fidelity.” He also warned against “proceeding in small and homogeneous circles” so that all sides could be heard and avoid becoming entrenched in their positions, even if — as one critic pointed out — one of those sides proposes the truth and fights error. His comments, observers said, mirrored those of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, who, like Zuppi, has long and deep ties to the Sant’Egidio lay community.Homosexuality-Shortly after Zuppi’s promotion to Bologna in 2015, Famiglia Cristiana published an article noting that, as auxiliary bishop in Rome, Cardinal Zuppi was “sensitive to the paths of welcoming ‘marginalized’ people into the community.” It added that, with his support, the Jesuits of San Saba, Rome, had organized a group called “Church: A Home for All,” whose meetings were “attended mainly by remarried divorcees and homosexuals.”34 In 2016, in Bologna, Cardinal Zuppi said that “the fight against homophobia will find us close.”Cardinal Zuppi’s views on homosexuality can appear ambiguous; he has shown support for divergent stances in writing the prefaces to two books with opposing perspectives on the pastoral care of persons who experience same-sex attraction. The first was written for the Italian edition of Same-Sex Attraction: Catholic Teaching and Pastoral Practice, originally published by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council in 2007.Cardinal Zuppi, who has firsthand experience of the AIDS epidemic through his work in Africa with Sant’Egidio, wrote that being a pastor to homosexuals means risking going to the peripheries, to those “who feel rejected by family or society; it implies a presence in areas at risk, where — as in a ‘field hospital’ of a ‘throw-away society’ — there are deaths and injuries to be healed.” And he says that this is not meant figuratively but relates to those homosexuals who have died of HIV or AIDS.He wrote that “no obvious pastoral solutions” exist in this area, adding that the Church “does not build walls” or create “categories of people according to sexual orientation, because, before having a particular sexual attraction, they are people.” He added that it was “pleasing” to see people with homosexual tendencies help each other to live a “full Christian life” and acquire “a deep sense of mercy, close to the sacraments,” where “God’s abundant grace will help, I am sure,” to direct “so many souls towards the happiness of love.”But Cardinal Zuppi also wrote the preface for Building a Bridge, the controversial book by Father James Martin, S.J., praised by those pushing for greater LGBT acceptance in the Church, but criticized for its failure to stress the importance of celibacy and chastity and to acknowledge Catholics who experience same-sex attraction and seek to live in obedience to Church teaching.Drawing on Pope Francis’ writings, he urged “a true and patient accompaniment (‘To accompany, To discern; To integrate’), one that favors the comprehension and vital engagement of the Gospel message on the part of every person, but without reducing it” He supported “a wise pedagogy of gradualism,” taking the particular circumstances of each person into account, but not taking “anything away from the integrity of faith and doctrine” He said Father Martin’s book was “useful for encouraging dialogue, as well as reciprocal knowledge and understanding, in view of a new pastoral attitude that we must seek together with our LGBT brothers and sisters.” And he supported Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s endorsement of the book: that it was “much-needed” and would be of help to Church leaders to “compassionately minister to the LGBT community” and make them “feel more at home” in the Church.35-In May 2020, Cardinal Zuppi wrote a third preface to a book on the same topic, this one called Church and Homosexuality: An Inquiry in Light of Pope Francis’ Magisterium. Written by Luciano Moia, editor-in-chief of Avvenire’s monthly magazine, the book aims to “define better” the boundaries of a new pastoral approach to homosexuality. Zuppi’s endorsement amounted to a “new offensive for the legitimization of homosexuality in the Church” under the “guise of welcoming people,” wrote Riccardo Cascioli, editor of the Italian Catholic daily La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.Regarding Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Zuppi firmly defended Pope Francis’ line on the document, saying Italy’s bishops accepted the new teaching on non-liturgical blessings of same-sex couples. The text, Zuppi said, shows “the loving gaze of the Church for all of God’s children without undermining the teachings of the magisterium.” God wants “everyone to be saved,” he said, adding it is therefore the task of the Church to stand up for everyone and everything. “We cannot forget that all the baptised have the full dignity of children of God and as such are our brothers and sisters,” he asserted. Zuppi’s comments were criticized by an Argentine bishop who said they amounted to approval of homosexual unions.In June 2022, before Fiducia Supplicans was published, Cardinal Zuppi allowed the “blessing” in his diocese of a same-sex couple, in a diocesan church in the presence of six priests. The ceremony was billed as a “Mass of Thanksgiving” in order not to violate a 2021 Vatican instruction forbidding same-sex blessings. However, observers said the ceremony had all the trappings of a blessings and Cardinal Zuppi was evidently made aware of the ceremony beforehand. The Italian Catholic newspaper La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana accused Zuppi and his diocese of lying by issuing a statement that denied evidence of a blessing when it had all the appearances of such a ceremony, and that it was merely a form of accompaniment when in reality it aimed, according to LNBQ, to “bring into the heart of the Church the LGBT agenda, the legitimacy of any sexual orientation, the practical application of gender ideology, including acceptance of civil unions.”Three years later, Cardinal Zuppi again caused controversy over the issue of homosexuality. At a 2024 Italian film festival, he reportedly praised “queer” families, emphasizing the importance of love within such relationships. Echoing Pope Francis’ stance on the issue, he said “everyone must be in the Church” and described the term “queer” as representing a bond that can exist within a legal framework. La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, a frequent critic of Zuppi, suggested his comments represented a “systematic deconstruction” of traditional family relationships. It added that his comments contradicted Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate which taught that love must always be considered within the truth.The LGBT movement rejoiced at his appointment as president of the Italian bishops, describing him as “one of the closest ever cardinals to the LGBTQ+ community.” They recalled comments he gave in 2016 in which he said that “the fight against homophobia will bring us together,” and comments he made in Father Martin’s book including that he believes sexual orientation is something “no one chooses” and is “not separable from the identity of the person.”Response to Church Crisis-In a January 2024 speech to the permanent council of Italy’s bishops’ conference, Zuppi acknowledged “a sense of decline” in the Church, one that is spreading among priests and the faithful. Zuppi said that in response, the Church should become aware of its mission anew, to “be itself, with an open mind, a courageous heart and a far-sighted understanding,” and has a vocation from God in the face of the widespread disorientation and isolation people experience.Therefore, Zuppi continued, this is not only a time of secularisation, but also the era of the Church, a time not of decline but of calling to be the Church of God. “Let us not be intimidated by a culture for which faith is in decline,” he stressed, adding that the Church had survived many crises over the past 50 years “because its pastors were not afraid to preach the Gospel and were aware that they had a mission.” Back then, too, people wrote that Christianity was doomed, he said. “Let’s not be frightened by fragility and smallness! They are not just indicators of a problem, but the everyday reality in which the Church has always lived.”Civil Unions-In January 2016, just months before Italy legally recognized same-sex civil unions, Archbishop Zuppi said he agreed with Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, then president of Italy’s bishops’ conference, that “there are other priorities that must be faced.” Zuppi added, “There are different sensibilities. We hope we can find solutions that bring these sensitivities together without upsetting the fundamental lines of the family that we all want.”Speaking in August 2016, three months after the approval of the Cirinnà law, which legalized civil unions between same-sex couples, Archbishop Zuppi stated that, for him, these couples “represent human closeness. Once the aspects that most concerned the Church have been clarified—namely, the confusion with marriage and the family—these are brothers and sisters whom we will love. And with them we will try to live and walk together.”Regarding the possibility of homosexual couples’ adopting children, he said the real concern of the Italian bishops is that “there aren’t adequate defenses for the family,” and the “contradiction” that those who have more children pay more. “We are far behind on this front,” he said, adding: “I believe that the task of the Church will be more for than against something — to give the family back the indispensable role it actually has, otherwise with the economic crisis there will be further consequences of impoverishment.”Interreligious Dialogue-As a long-serving member of the Community of Sant’Egidio — which for decades has promoted the spirit of the 1986 World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi through its own international Meetings of Prayer for Peace — Cardinal Zuppi is unsurprisingly a keen promoter of interreligious dialogue. The 1986 Assisi meeting gathered 160 religious leaders who spent the day together in prayer to God or their gods. While supporters see the meetings as vital for ensuring peace among men, critics believe the Assisi meeting and other similar initiatives relativize the uniqueness of Christ and His Church for the salvation of souls.36-Cardinal Zuppi has been a regular participant at the annual “Spirit of Assisi” meetings, which are held in a different city each year and seek to continue the essence of the 1986 meeting. The 2018 meeting was organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio in Bologna. Speaking to representatives of the great world religions, Zuppi said Bologna’s “magnificent towers” symbolized man’s “desire for heaven” but that people cannot live “enclosed in towers” and be a “collection of isolated individuals.”37-The meetings often draw controversial guests and speakers advocating a more globalist world. Among those attending that year were three Chinese bishops, two of whom were vice presidents of the communist-run Chinese church, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (underlining Sant’Egidio’s close ties with China and its state-run church), and UN adviser and population-control proponent Jeffrey Sachs, who spoke at the 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2019 gatherings.38-In an interview at the 2019 meeting, held in Madrid and themed “Peace with No Borders,” Cardinal Zuppi said that more than three decades after their inception, the international meetings are still very “forward” in their vision. “It is an event that helps us to glimpse the future that awaits us.” This future, he said, “will not be the ‘supermarket of religions’; the future will not be a ‘super-religion’!”Instead, he said “individual religions will point their faithful to the future reality of our entire planet, that is, living together and thinking of each other in this unique, extraordinary home that is earth. Each religion has the duty to teach its faithful how to live together with others”Cardinal Zuppi acknowledged that “a kind of UN of religions might frighten some, since it would mean that then there is also a ‘super-religion’ above all others” Better, he said, is “a meeting between a friend who invites his friend, rather than a cold institution” At the international Meetings of Prayer for Peace, he said “there is a lot of friendship. Everyone knows who has invited them, who else comes . . . everyone feels at home.”Islam-For Cardinal Zuppi, one of the good fruits of the 1986 Assisi meeting is the controversial “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” signed by Pope Francis and the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, on February 4, 2019 in Abu Dhabi.39-Speaking to Catholic and Muslim university students at a summer school in early September 2019, he said we are “indebted” to the first Assisi meeting for the Abu Dhabi document.40 During the weekend event, Catholic students were invited to participate in Muslim Friday prayers, and Muslim students were invited to participate in Catholic Sunday Mass. Cardinal Zuppi told the young people: “If there is no dialogue, there is division. If there is no fraternity, there is indifference. When one does not understand the other, there is prejudice. Dialogue is often seen as dangerous, in the sense that it discolors identities, but this is a contradiction. Faith helps us to understand, makes us rejoice in diversity and expresses fraternity.”41. No distinction between supernatural Christian faith and natural faith appeared to have been made.Cardinal Zuppi’s embrace of the Abu Dhabi document is consistent with his approach to the growing Islamic presence in Bologna. In March 2016, at a conference on the local Muslim community, sponsored by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, Cardinal Zuppi called for a mosque to be built in Bologna. “Rome has had a mosque since the 1970s, and I believe it is an important place. Some people think otherwise, but they are wrong,” he said. The fact that Islamic countries forbid the construction of Catholic churches, he added, “commits us even more to enabling believers to pray, and I am convinced that among believers one finds that unique belonging, that one God, whose name is peace.”At the meeting, Cardinal Zuppi also expressed his hope that “some Islamic feasts will be welcomed in schools.” Citing Pope Francis, he said “we need to build bridges between different cultures.” The one-day conference, titled “For a Politics of Inclusion of Islam and Muslims in Bologna,” was based on the findings of a report by the same title, also funded by the Open Society Foundation.One month later, in April 2016, Cardinal Zuppi visited one of the many small mosques in Bologna and reminded the media and all those present of Pope Francis’ call to “build bridges” and not “walls.” He insisted that “Violence has nothing to do with Islam; terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.” And noting the upcoming feast of the Blessed Virgin of San Luca, the cardinal invited the imam to “contemplate the profound faith of the city, which is not a faith against the others and without the others” but “helps us see in the other our brother.” Recalling the thirtieth anniversary of the 1986 Assisi meeting, Cardinal Zuppi also said he hoped a similar meeting could be organized in Bologna.In May 2019, Cardinal Zuppi visited the Islamic Center of Bologna (established to unite the majority of smaller mosques in the city) for the first Friday of Ramadan. He told reporters that “when you don’t know one another or [when you] look at one another only from afar, you often think there is an enemy.” Getting to know one another, he said, will “help us commit to living in the reality” of Bologna and Italy. “This is what all Muslims want — to integrate, to live fully in the culture and rights and duties of our countrys,” he said. “It’s clear that we are experiencing something new. It’s the first time that there is such a constant presence of Islamic communities in [Italy] — in wider Europe it’s already been this way for some time — but above all, we need to be more ourselves and talk and dialogue so that this presence may be a sign of respect and humanism that we live.”Also in the spirit of the Abu Dhabi document, Cardinal Zuppi has attended and encouraged participation in a public celebration of iftar, the evening meal with which Muslims break their fast during Ramadan.42. In May 2019, he supported the celebration of iftars in front of the Catholic church in Marzabotto (Diocese of Bologna), even though the parish priest had suggested the square in front of the town hall was a more suitable and less controversial location. A letter from the archdiocesan office of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue said the decision was in harmony with the Abu Dhabi document.43-On February 2, 2020, the Catholic feast of Candlemas, Cardinal Zuppi together with the president of the local Islamic community, led an interreligious prayer service for peace with Catholic and Muslim children and young people at the Islamic Cultural Center of Bologna. Cardinal Zuppi told local media: “This is a right and important method for living together, without confusion and without syncretism, without yielding. This is important as we look to the future.”During the coronavirus pandemic, Cardinal Zuppi sent a message to the Muslim community in Bologna for Ramadan, telling them: “This emergency can strengthen the bonds of solidarity between us.”In March 2024, Zuppi wrote a wide-ranging message to his Islamic “brothers and sisters” for Ramadan, making a parallel between Islamic fasting and Lenten fasting but without mentioning Christ and the difference he makes between the two.Immigration-Cardinal Zuppi is a staunch supporter of the need to welcome and integrate into Italian society migrants and refugees fleeing war, violence, and poverty. His positions on migration led to sharp clashes with the Salvini populist movement.In November 2019, shortly after it was announced that Pope Francis had chosen to elevate him to the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Zuppi published a book exploring what he believed are the root causes of the opposition to the mass migration Europe has been experiencing in recent years: fear, individualism, and an unwillingness to see the “other” as one’s brother. The summary of the book, titled You Shall Hate Your Brother: Why We Have Forgotten Fraternity, says that Matteo Zuppi considers it “urgent to address the issue of hatred, a feeling that dehumanizes us and condemns us to loneliness.” He criticizes “unbridled individualism” that makes people “impervious to the suffering of others, but also more fragile and incapable of thinking about themselves in relation to others.” Hate, he wrote, must be rejected, and the antidote is love and fraternity. The book says Zuppi calls for the rediscovery of “authentic solidarity,” to see religious pluralism “as an opportunity to rediscover the reasons for one’s faith” and to be open to love and so be capable of “great things.”More recently, in his apparent eagerness for open borders, Zuppi further blurred the distinction between refugees and migrants. At a Sant’Egidio meeting in June 2023, the cardinal, now president of the Italian bishops’ conference, drew attention to the 3,170 refugees who in just a year had lost their lives in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe. But he then called for a “legal system that guarantees protection and welcome for all.” Critics said those legal systems already exist, 300 million people currently live and work in foreign countries, and refugees already have international protection. The problem, they say, is that the vast majority of those arriving in Europe illegally are not refugees.1-In 2010, a selection of his father’s professional and personal correspondence, which included eight letters from Giovanni Battista Montini (whom Enrico had met during his university years while serving in the Catholic apostolate on the peripheries of Rome) and eighty letters to Carla during their engagement and marriage, was published in a book titled You Have Filled the Abyss of My Heart. With a foreword by Cardinal Achille Silvestrini (an occasional collaborator of L’Osservatore della Domenica during the Enrico Zuppi years), the book was presented in Rome in November 2010. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio community, and Giovanni Maria Vian, then editor-in-chief of L’Osservatore Romano, were featured speakers at the launch. 2-Virgilio High School, located on the well-known via Giulia in historic Rome. 3-Archbishop of Milan from 1929 to 1954. Regarding his thesis, Archbishop Zuppi has said that “getting to know him has greatly helped me to understand the complexity of the Church. I saw him as an exponent of a Church that was weak against fascism. In reality, I discovered exactly the opposite, that is, a very beloved father of his diocese, who was anything but subservient to power. It was Fr. David Maria Turoldo, who when he was very young preached in Milan at the request of the cardinal, who helped me to discover this aspect of Schuster. They were extremely different, they had ways and sensibilities that were almost opposite, and yet Turoldo loved Schuster and felt understood by him. This taught me that the Church is a much more complex reality than our ideas and some of our ideological readings of it.” 4-Granting him the title of Monsignor. In 2014, Pope Francis abolished this title for diocesan priests under the age of sixty-five.5-Diocese of Bologna Office for Liturgy, La liturgia della “Chiesa in uscita,” 18 November 2019. The guidelines, entitled The Liturgy of the “Church That Goes Forth”: Considerations on the Celebrative Style of the Church in Her “Missionary Conversion” (EG, 30), assert: “In our need to understand liturgical celebration ever better, it is necessary to keep as the horizon of our thinking the indications of Sacrosanctum Concilium, according to the understanding, revival and perspective that Evangelii Gaudium offers the Church today.” Issued by the archdiocesan Office for Liturgy, the guidelines point to four characteristics of evangelization found in Evangelii Gaudium: the kerygmatic, mystagogical, synodal, popular.Regarding the “synodal” way of celebration, the document asserts that the “tendency” in liturgy “to delegate the carrying out of the celebration to experts, to others who have to perform the rites, is an evil that has assailed us for centuries and from which we can be healed with difficulty.” The document recalled Sacrosanctum Concilium’s reminder to the Church that all of the baptized have the “right and duty” to participate in the liturgy, not just “the clergy and some other ‘altar boy.’”According to the guidelines, a “synodal” way of celebrating the liturgy would mean the laity’s being involved “not only in the preparation of the prayers of the faithful,” but also “in the preparation of the Sunday readings, in the choice of the various options that the rite provides, and in some services, so that it appears that the entire assembly that God has gathered is made up of the whole People of God.” The document asserts that when liturgies are prepared in such a “synodal manner” and “a large part of the People of God [feel] represented in the celebration,” the rite more truly “manifests and expresses the real nature of the true Church.”6-”[While] active participation by many faithful is of its very nature particularly fitting when Mass is celebrated,” there is “no reason to criticize but rather only to approve a Mass that a priest celebrates privately,” Paul VI wrote. It brings “a rich and abundant treasure of special graces” to the priest, the faithful, the Church, and the whole world. “It is also only fitting for us to recall the conclusion that can be drawn from this about ‘the public and social nature of each and every Mass.’ For each and every Mass is not something private, even if a priest celebrates it privately; instead, it is an act of Christ and of the Church. In offering this sacrifice, the Church learns to offer herself as a sacrifice for all and she applies the unique and infinite redemptive power of the sacrifice of the Cross to the salvation of the whole world. For every Mass that is celebrated is being offered not just for the salvation of certain people, but also for the salvation of the whole world. The conclusion from this is that even though active participation by many faithful is of its very nature particularly fitting when Mass is celebrated, still there is no reason to criticize but rather only to approve a Mass that a priest celebrates privately for a good reason in accordance with the regulations and legitimate traditions of the Church, even when only a server to make the responses is present. For such a Mass brings a rich and abundant treasure of special graces to help the priest himself, the faithful, the whole Church and the whole world toward salvation — and this same abundance of graces is not gained through mere reception of Holy Communion.”7-“For nine days,” he said, “I invite you to pray the Holy Rosary wherever you are, united spiritually to her and among ourselves, one in prayer like the Apostles with Mary on the day of Pentecost.” In a video message, he told the faithful of Bologna that only with “insistence more insistent than evil” is it possible to “fight evil and feel Mary’s protection, feel the strength of the Lord who loves the lives of men.” Cardinal Zuppi continued to pray (and livestream) the Rosary each evening throughout the coronavirus pandemic, from the diocesan cathedral or the archbishop’s residence or a monastery of nuns. During the coronavirus crisis, although Cardinal Zuppi suspended all public Masses, he opposed closing churches.8-“It’s the greatest regret I have, and it’s been a cause of great suffering,” he said, adding, “Let’s not overlook the absence of funerals: the communities were unable to say goodbye to their friends who have passed. Even the absence of funerals reminds us that we cannot but be a community.” He repeated the concern in a joint video message with the mayor of Bologna, referring to the lack of last rites for many of those who died. The cardinal announced that church bells around the city would be rung “to remember all those we carry in our hearts and who have gone to heaven. It will be a moment of recollection and suffering for them, and also of consolation for those who remain.” 9-Matteo Zuppi, La confessione. Il perdono per cambiare (Cinisello Balsamo: San Paolo Edizioni, 2016). The cardinal continued: “If the sick cannot confess their sins individually, but ask for sacramental absolution, priests may absolve them, after having invited them, as far as possible, to express repentance and the request for forgiveness.” He gave provision for limited general absolution for the sick, health-care workers, and families, but reminded them of the need “once the emergency is over, to confess serious sins that have been absolved without being able to make individual confession.” He also stipulated that “priests who have recourse to general absolution should inform the Archbishop.”Asked during the coronavirus pandemic if he could envision a “diaconate” being given to Catholic hospital workers, he replied: “Rather than the diaconate, one could confer a ministry of the Eucharist.” He cited the example of a nurse in his diocese who was given “the faculty to bring Communion” to people in the COVID wards of the hospital where she works. “In reality I believe that many patients also asked her for blessings and prayers and at that point she became almost an established minister,” Cardinal Zuppi said. “This is part of that enormous heritage of generosity, solidarity, closeness, attention to others, compassion, piety and sensitivity that these weeks of fighting the virus have shown.”10-“I am not doing it for the money,” Cardinal Caffarra said on accepting the FAAC inheritance. “I am doing it for the 300 families of the Bologna company who represent the heart and mind of FAAC. If we let it go they will all be absorbed by the new owners who may transfer the headquarters elsewhere. I cannot allow it. I stand with the families.” 11-Today the Community of Sant’Egidio is present in more than seventy countries, in Europe (twenty-three), Africa (twenty-nine), Asia (seven), North America (eight), and South America (five).12-Andrea Riccardi served as minister for international cooperation in the cabinet of Italian prime minister Mario Monti (2010-2013), and in 2013 Riccardi was president of Scelta Civica (Civic Choice), a centrist political party. In March 2015, Riccardi was elected president of the Dante Alighieri Society, receiving “best wishes for fruitful work” from the Grand Orient of Italy Palazzo Giustiniani Masons. Historically, the leadership of the Dante Alighieri Society is given only to Freemasons. “Società Dante Alighieri, Riccardi presidente. Con tanti auguri dalla massoneria,” Corrispondenza Romana, 26 March 2015-13-He visited the country in 2022 to mark the 30th anniversary of the peace agreement.14-Sant’Egidio has organized the annual interreligious meetings in Assisi since the first famous interreligious meeting in 1986.15-Cardinal George took issue with the community’s granting Illinois governor Pat Quinn an award for abolishing the death penalty, even though he had signed into law same-sex “marriage” and supported legalized abortion. The cardinal’s concerns were raised in an encrypted cable from the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., to the Vatican, later revealed in Vatileaks.16-Cardinal Zen criticized the community for inviting to their 2011 interreligious meeting in Munich a Chinese bishop in grave disobedience to the pope for his participation in the ordination of a bishop imposed by the Chinese authorities. In September 2019, Andrea Riccardi and Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio, together with former Italian MP from Emilia-Romagna, Romano Prodi, along with Cardinal Claudio Maria Celli and Fr. Federico Lombardi, were featured speakers at the launch of a new book lauding the Holy See’s secret agreement with the Chinese communist government. The foreword to the book was written by Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin.17-Jeffrey Sachs has had an increasingly influential role at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo. In his talk to Sant’Egidio in 2019, Sachs spoke of Jesus Christ as a historical figure on a par with Immanuel Kant, saying: “We are the heirs of Plato and Aristotle, who championed the gift of reason; of Jesus, who proclaimed that peacemakers are the children of God; of Immanuel Kant, who envisioned a union of republics to secure perpetual peace; of Franklin Roosevelt, who launched the United Nations after World War II to put Kant’s vision into effect; of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, who signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty at the height of the Cold War, and thereby showed the path to peace; and of Martin Luther King, Jr., who reminded us that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’” “‘Pace senza confini’: Comunità di Sant’Egidio, da domenica a Madrid l’incontro internazionale nello ‘spirito di Assisi,’” SIR, 11 September 2019, 18-Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome, is perhaps more famous for having married George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin in a civil ceremony in Venice.19-The Archdiocese of Bologna has held a Eucharistic Congress every ten years since 1947. The previous Eucharistic Congress was held in 2007 and was organized by Cardinal Carlo Maria Caffarra.20-He wrote: “Jesus (Mt 14:13-21) involves us in his emotion for the crowd and teaches everyone to respond to the hunger of so many. To do this, we must not look for particular abilities or extraordinary possibilities, which we will never have, but only offer the little we have and share it, offer it to his love so that all may be satisfied, we and our neighbor.” The archbishop continued: “We ourselves can give to eat if, like Jesus, we do not remain distant from the condition of others. This is the goal that we want to achieve in the year of the Eucharistic Congress, through a synodal journey that involves all the Christian communities that are gathered around the Lord, always looking toward the horizon of the crowd that Jesus wants to feed.”21-“More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: ‘Give them something to eat’ (Mark 6:37).”22-“I dream of a ‘missionary option,’ that is, a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented.”23-“Finally an evangelizing community is filled with joy; it knows how to rejoice always. It celebrates every small victory, every step forward in the work of evangelization. Evangelization with joy becomes beauty in the liturgy, as part of our daily concern to spread goodness. The Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her renewed self-giving.”24-“Evangelization is the task of the Church. The Church, as the agent of evangelization, is more than an organic and hierarchical institution; she is first and foremost a people advancing on its pilgrim way towards God. She is certainly a mystery rooted in the Trinity, yet she exists concretely in history as a people of pilgrims and evangelizers, transcending any institutional expression, however necessary. I would like to dwell briefly on this way of understanding the Church, whose ultimate foundation is in the free and gracious initiative of God.”25-In March 2020, Pope Francis chose as the theme of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, “Towards a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.”26-CIC/83 can. 396 § 1.27-By “making us all feel part of a body, all important and full of the same Spirit of love,” the cardinal said the pastoral visit would be the “exact opposite” of the archdiocese’s worst enemy, “what Pope Francis calls ‘postmodern and globalized individualism (EG 67).’” Each visit, beginning on Thursday and ending on Sunday, would include the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, a moment of prayer and fraternity with the priests, group lectio divina, a vocational-missionary prayer vigil, initiatives specific to each region, and the Sunday Eucharistic liturgy. 28-In an interview with La Repubblica in early April, the cardinal intimated that he would have liked to have celebrated the Holy Week and Easter liturgies but that the risks were too “dangerous” and the “rules must be respected.” He continued to livestream liturgies during Holy Week and Easter. The cardinal said that when, at the beginning of the crisis, he saw restaurants open but Masses banned, he initially found it “very hard to understand the government’s decision and asked [himself] many questions.” “We need God as well as scientists and doctors,” he said, adding that even under lockdown it is important to “strengthen communion between people and the awareness that the community needs the Eucharist and vice-versa.” Cardinal Zuppi also stressed that the elderly “are not objects” but “indispensable people” who face a double burden of isolation. “It is not acceptable that age should become a discriminating factor to save or condemn a life,” he said. The cardinal said it is a regrettable reality that too little is done to care for parents and grandparents and to support them at home. If more of the elderly had been able to “stay at home,” they would have been better protected, he said. This crisis, he noted, is teaching a lesson on how to treat the weakest. “If it’s true that nothing will be like before, we too must be better,” he said. 29-The film synopsis reads: “Don Matteo (as he prefers to be called) is one who rides a bike and lives in a retirement home for priests, one who quotes Alda Merini and Saint Francis, the Gospel and the Constitution, John XXIII and Guccini. He was the first bishop of Bologna to speak on the May Day stage, to enter a social center, to dialogue with the LGBTI community and to let refugees dance in the Basilica of San Petronio during the Mass for their Patron Saint.”30-He is also regularly featured on a program broadcast by the Italian public broadcasting system (RAI) called A Sua immagine (In His Image) to comment on the Gospel and highlight how it is being lived out in the Archdiocese of Bologna. 31-Yet when Paul VI used the expression stanza del mondo (room of the world), he used it entirely in reference to Christ, the true Light, who shines into “the room,” illumining nations, and giving beauty and brightness, meaning and the splendor of supernatural life, to every soul who welcomes Him. The original text of Paul VI is: “There resound in Our spirit the words of the Gospel that yesterday, on the feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, and the Purification of Mary Most Holy, the liturgy offered to Our meditation, proclaiming Jesus the Messiah of the Lord ‘Christum Domini,’ the salvation of all peoples, ‘salutare omnium populorum,’ the light to illumine the nations ‘lumen ad revelationem gentium’ (Lk. 2:30-32). . . . Jesus is at the summit of human aspirations, He is the end of our hopes and prayers, He is the focal point of the desires of history and civilization, He is the Messiah, the center of humanity, He who gives meaning to human events, He who gives value to human actions, He who forms the joy and fullness of the desires of all hearts, the true man, the type of perfection, beauty, and holiness, placed by God to embody the true model, the true concept of man, the brother of all, the irreplaceable friend, the only one worthy of all trust and all love: He is the Christ-man And at the same time Jesus is at the source of all our true good fortune, He is the light through which the room of the world takes proportions, form; beauty and shadow; He is the word that defines everything, explains everything, classifies everything, redeems everything; He is the principle of our spiritual and moral life; He says what must be done and gives the strength and grace to do it; His image, indeed His presence, reverberates in every soul that becomes a mirror to welcome His ray of truth and life, that is, who believes in Him and welcomes His sacramental contact; He is the Christ-God, the Master, the Savior, the Life.” 32-Explaining his words, Zuppi told the journalist Edward Pentin that he was “not defending” law 194, but rather “reiterating that no one in the Catholic world (except for a few ‘gladiators’) wants to open a discussion on the law. What is needed is an application of the whole law, especially the part about deterrence. To do this we need to get away from an ‘Orazi and Curiazi’ [Horatii and Curiatii] logic, whereby we do not cooperate on the matter. Regarding pain, I reiterated that the Church favours palliative care, taking away pain, and that this is sacrosanct. The problem is taking away pain, not life! That was all.” 33-The one-day conference, sponsored by numerous pro-life, pro-family organizations, was titled “Humanae Vitae: Natural Methods: A Road to Happiness.” It also featured a talk by wife, mother, and journalist Costanza Miriano on “How Humanae Vitae Saved My Life.”34-“‘Chiesa casa per tutti’ (Church: home for all) aims at being an opportunity to experience an inclusive way of being ‘Church’ that is open to all; an ecclesial space where one can get to know, tell, and share one’s spiritual experience with others starting from the condition that each one lives: lay or religious, old or young, homosexual or straight, single or married, living together or divorced.”35-Some argue that by merely using the acronym LGBT, a politically loaded term, Zuppi was signaling his support for their agenda. Certainly, this was how Father Martin saw it, tweeting on the day he was announced a new cardinal that Zuppi is a “great supporter of #LGBT Catholics.”36-In 2011, Benedict XVI eliminated common prayer so as not to give the impression that theological differences have been reduced or are inconsequential. 37-Participants in the Bologna meeting included the founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, Andrea Riccardi; the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb; the Syrian Orthodox patriarch, Ignatius Aphrem II; the chief rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia; the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani; and the former president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. Also participating were three bishops from the People’s Republic of China: Joseph Shen Bin, bishop of Haimen; Anthony Dang Mingyan, bishop of Xi’an; and Joseph Yang Yongqiang, bishop of Zhoucun. Among the other important personalities were Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King and guardian of his “dream” of a world without discrimination; Fr. Solalinde, who in Mexico defends migrants and takes young people away from the network of drug traffickers; and the Beninese Grégoire Ahongbonon, who fights for the dignity and care of the mentally ill in West Africa.38-Sachs, Jeffrey D.,” Sant’Egidio, September 2019: Sachs has gained increasing influence in the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences and drew attention in 2020 for his tirade against U.S. President Donald Trump at an academy meeting, to the applause of many attending, including academy chancellor Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo.39-The Abu Dhabi document sparked controversy for stating: “The pluralism and the diversity of religions, color, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings.”40-Dialogo interreligioso: mons. Zuppi, (Bologna), ‘la fratellanza abbatte l’indifferenza che spesso è al limite dell’intolleranza,’” SIR, 5 September 2019. The summer school, held in the Archdiocese of Bologna, was an initiative promoted by the National Office for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue (UNEDI) of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) in collaboration with the Italian Islamic Religious Community (COREIS), the Union of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy (UCOII), and the Italian Islamic Confederation (CII). 41-Dialogo interreligioso: Mons. Zuppi, (Bologia), ‘la fratellanza abbatte l’indifferenza che spesso è al limite dell’intolleranza,’” SIR, 5 September 2019-42-“Diocesi: Bologna, a fine Ramadan momenti di scambio e incontro come Iftar pubblici nella zona Barca, in via Torleone e piazza Marzabotto,” SIR, 28 May 2019-43-Controversy erupted in October 2019 when reports emerged that Cardinal Zuppi had ordered a chicken-variation of the traditionally pork-filled tortellini customarily eaten at Bologna’s patronal feast to be provided for the sake of Muslim guests. In a statement, the archdiocese called the reports “fake news,” saying that Cardinal Zuppi learned of the news from the media. However, the archdiocese did confirm that non-pork tortellini would be provided, saying the decision was made so that “everyone can participate in the feast, even those who have problems or other dietary needs or religious reasons.”Service to the Church-Ordination to the Priesthood: 9 May 1981-Incardinated in Rome: 15 November 1988-Ordination to the Episcopate: 31 January 2012-Elevation to the College of Cardinals: 5 October 2019-Education-Virgilio Lyceum, Rome-1977: University of Rome “La Sapienza”; License in letters and philosophy-Palestrina Seminary-Pontifical Lateran University; Theology (B.A.)-Assignments-1981-2000: Vicar to Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere-1983-2012: Rector, Church of Santa Croce alla Lungara-2000-2012: General ecclesiastical assistant, Sant’Egidio community-2000-2010: Parish priest, Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere-2005-2010: Prefect of the third prefecture of Rome-2010-2012: Parish priest of Santi Simone e Giuda Taddeo a Torre Angela, Rome-2011-2012: Prefect of the seventeenth prefecture of Rome-2012-2015: Auxiliary bishop of Rome, titular bishop of Villanova-2015-present: Archbishop of Bologna-2015-present: President of Emilia-Romagna Bishops’ Conference-2022-present: President, Italy’s Bishops’ Conference-Memberships-1990s-present: Member of Sant’Egidio community-1995-2012: Member of diocesan presbyteral council-Memberships (Roman Curia)-Member of Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development-Member of Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.
Sunday, May 04, 2025
CARDINAL MATTEO TERESCO COULD HE BE THE NEXT POPE. WAR DRUMS POUND AROUND THE WORLD.
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