World News
Former Pope Benedict XVI died at age 95, Vatican says
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Steph Deschamps / January 1, 2023
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, whose renunciation in 2013 took the world by surprise, died Saturday at age 95 in the monastery in the Vatican Gardens where he had retired.
“I have the pain to announce that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, died today at 09:34, at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican,” announced in a statement the director of the Holy See press office, Matteo Bruni.
The funeral of the former Bavarian pontiff will be held Thursday morning in St. Peter’s Square in Rome under the presidency of Pope Francis, an unprecedented event in the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church.
The health of the German theologian had deteriorated in recent days, but the Vatican had said Friday that his condition was “stationary” and that he had participated in the celebration of Mass in his room on Thursday.
The funeral of the 265th pope is expected to be celebrated by his successor Francis in Rome, an unprecedented event in the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church that could be attended by tens of thousands of people, including heads of state.
His death puts an end to the unusual cohabitation of two men in white: the German Joseph Ratzinger, a brilliant theologian not very comfortable with crowds, and the Argentine Jorge Bergoglio, a Jesuit with an incisive word who wanted to put the poor and migrants at the center of the Church’s mission.
After eight years of pontificate marked by multiple crises, Benedict XVI was caught up in early 2022 by the drama of pedocriminality in the Church. Questioned by a report in Germany on his management of sexual violence when he was Archbishop of Munich, he came out of his silence to ask for “forgiveness” but assured that he had never covered up for a pedocriminal.
His renunciation, announced in Latin on February 11, 2013, was a personal decision linked to his declining strength and not to the pressure of scandals, he had assured in a book of confidences published in 2016.
With this gesture, unprecedented in six centuries, the first German pope in modern history opened the way for his successors whose strength would decline. Francis, 86 years old and suffering from knee pain, has himself left this possibility “open ».
On Wednesday, Pope Francis called for a “special prayer” for his “gravely ill” predecessor and went to his bedside at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican gardens.
The Holy See had then confirmed the “aggravation” of the health of the German theologian because of his “advanced age”, specifying that he remained under permanent medical supervision. “It is his vital functions that are failing, including the heart,” a Vatican source told AFP, adding that no hospitalization was planned, as the residence of Benedict XVI has the necessary medical equipment.
Friday afternoon, the Vatican organized a mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome to pray for the former pope. Benedict XVI had appeared increasingly frail in recent months, moving in a wheelchair, but he continued to receive visitors. Photos from his last visit, on December 1, showed a frail and visibly weakened man.
Born in 1927, Joseph Ratzinger taught theology for 25 years in Germany before being named Archbishop of Munich. He then became the Church’s strict guardian of dogma for another quarter century in Rome as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and then pope for eight years (2005-2013), succeeding John Paul II.
As head of the Catholic Church, he has defended a conservative line, notably on abortion, homosexuality or euthanasia. His statements have sometimes shocked, as on Islam or the use of condoms against HIV. His pontificate was also marked in 2012 by the leak of confidential documents (“Vatileaks”) orchestrated by his butler. The scandal exposed a Roman Curia (Vatican government) plagued by intrigue and lacking in financial rigor. The last video of Benedict XVI, released by the Vatican in August, showed a thin man with a hearing aid who could no longer speak but still had a lively gaze.
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Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
World News
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
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Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
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Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
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