It was a beautiful funeral for a Pope with beautiful ideals. He said "build bridges not walls" whilst Trump is literally building walls to cause division. Seeing an imposter like Trump at Pope francis' funeral was so disheartening but the late Pope would want us to show him compassion. It is rather difficult for me to do that especially recalling when Vance insisted on meeting with the Pope. The Pope's eyes and body language showed his unease and distrust of the man. We could all learn so much from Pope Francis who loathed war and the dehumanising of refugees. A cardinal said how ironic it was seeing all the world leaders at the funeral out of duty who would doubtless ignore the message of peace the Pope held so dear. I didn't think I would get emotional but pope Francis was unlike the previous Pope's. His adage was "everyone is welcome", he believed inclusion was love. He even managed to promote two women which was too liberal for many within the Catholic church. May Pope Francis rest in peace.
I agree. It was very moving, and though I am not Catholic or religious and didn't follow his 'career', it's very clear he was an exceptional human being.
The truth — unforgivably obscured by a mainstream media that relies on papal allies for “commentary” on Vatican affairs — is that Francis himself, both before and after his election, has empowered and protected predatory clergy and their accomplices.
No one paid any attention at the time, but one of the cardinals who joined the “humble” new pope on the balcony 10 years ago was the late Godfried Danneels, former Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. In 2010, shortly after the very liberal Danneels retired, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges admitted to his former boss that he had been sexually abusing his own nephew. Cardinal Danneels met the victim and, unaware that he was being recorded, told him to shut up about the abuse until the revelation would cause less embarrassment. Police questioned Daneels about the attempted cover-up and raided his offices. The recording was made public and Danneels — who once nurtured ambitions to become pope — was torn to pieces by a Belgian media that had once admired him.
So what was he doing on the balcony with Francis? And why, in 2015, did the Pope invite Danneels, guilty of trying to cover up incestuous abuse of a minor, to a Vatican Synod on the family, of all subjects? I asked the late Cardinal George Pell, who at the time was in charge of reforming Vatican finances. “To thank him for the votes,” replied Pell. Danneels was a member of the so-called St Gallen Mafia of elderly liberal cardinals who lobbied for Bergoglio in 2005 and 20213. In Pell’s mind, at least, rehabilitation was his reward
Consider, also, the case of Theodore McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington, who twisted arms for Bergoglio. It was an open secret in Rome and the US Bishops’ Conference that “Uncle Ted” loved to seduce seminarians. When Benedict XVI discovered this, he banished him to a life of prayer and repentance. As soon as Francis was elected, McCarrick found himself back in favour, travelling around the world as the Pope’s unofficial emissary and fundraiser. Eventually the New York Times revealed that McCarrick was being accused of child abuse, at which point Francis had no choice but to strip him of his title of cardinal. But it should have happened years earlier given that, on becoming Pope, Francis was told that the Vatican had a thick file on McCarrick’s sexual activities.
One of Francis’s first acts as pope was to make his friend Fr Gustavo Zanchetta the Bishop of Orán in northern Argentina despite claims that he was corrupt. In 2017, aged only 53, Zanchetta resigned for “health reasons”. In fact, he had been reported by the Vatican nunciature in Buenos Aires for alleged abuse; in 2015, graphic gay sex images of himself and “young people” had been found on his phone and were reportedly shown to the Pope. (Zanchetta claimed they had been planted.) There were extensive allegations of misuse of funds that led to a raid on his former office by Orán police.
And what did Francis do after Zanchetta resigned? He created a special job for him in the Vatican “assessing” the assets of the Holy See. He would probably still have it if, in 2022, he hadn’t been sentenced to four and half years in jail in Argentina for the sexual assault of two seminarians while Bishop of Orán.
It took Pope Francis 11 years to ask for forgiveness from people who were sexually abused by priests, and vowed that there will be no going back in the church's fight to protect children.
The pope made the off-the-cuff remarks after coming under criticism from victims' groups for a perceived lack of attention to the problem and ongoing demands that he sanction bishops who covered up for paedophiles.
Syl said
Apr 27 4:15 PM, 2025
Even Mother Theresa was a bastard in some peoples eyes.
Magica said
Apr 27 7:54 PM, 2025
I never watched the funeral. The Vatican has coveredmup sex abuses for many many years.
Magica said
Apr 27 7:55 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Even Mother Theresa was a bastard in some peoples eyes.
I read she was total cow. Not what they made her out to be.
Digger said
Apr 27 8:47 PM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Even Mother Theresa was a bastard in some peoples eyes.
The ones that weren't dying perhaps?
Her Missionary of Charity was (and still is) one on the richest organizations in the world, and yet at the facility under her watch, used syringes were rinsed with cold water, tuberculosis patients were not put in quarantine and strong pain medicine was not prescribed. Mother Teresa believed that suffering made you closer to God. And during the years she ran the clinic in India on a budget of more than £29 million, major floods occurred, one of which left 200 dead and more than 300,000 homeless. What did Mother Teresa do with her money? She offered prayers while enriching the Vatican coffers to the tune of £2.5m in one year alone.
What’s more, her loyalty to lawyer and financier Charles Keating even after he was convicted of fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, destroying the savings of tens of thousands of customers, and her association with Baby Doc Duvalier, the Haitian dictator known for torturing his people, was just bizarre. Her decision to lay a crown of flowers on the tombstone of Communist leader and human rights abuser, Enver Hoxha in Albania in 1990, at best, showed her cluelessness. Maybe her reputation influenced people to do good, but her real work doesn’t stand up to her reputation, and she certainly doesn’t deserve sainthood.
Anonymous said
Apr 27 9:17 PM, 2025
Magica wrote:
Syl wrote:
Even Mother Theresa was a bastard in some peoples eyes.
I read she was total cow. Not what they made her out to be.
I listened to a podcast a couple of years back “The Turning: The Sisters who left”.
This is a woman, many claim, who deprived the sick and dying from pain relief/medicine claiming it would bring them closer to God but accepted and received medical intervention when her own health was problematic.
Maddog said
Apr 28 5:30 PM, 2025
Huge power outages have hit major cities across Spain and Portugal. Flights, traffic lights, trains, phone networks and card payments have been affected, with reports of panic-buying at supermarkets. Follow the latest here.
This is a bit odd. Have they figured out what caused it?
Anonymous said
Apr 28 6:29 PM, 2025
Maddog wrote:
Huge power outages have hit major cities across Spain and Portugal. Flights, traffic lights, trains, phone networks and card payments have been affected, with reports of panic-buying at supermarkets. Follow the latest here.
This is a bit odd. Have they figured out what caused it?
We'll have to wait and see. Portugal is saying it was triggered by unusual weather conditions in Spain, but nothing's confirmed yet.
jackb said
Apr 28 8:33 PM, 2025
These power cuts are very odd.
A whole city doesn't go down because there are many power stations supplying it but almost two countries have gone down.
How the hell is that even possible?
Russia?
Anonymous said
Apr 29 8:27 AM, 2025
jackb wrote:
These power cuts are very odd. A whole city doesn't go down because there are many power stations supplying it but almost two countries have gone down. How the hell is that even possible? Russia?
Keep doing your thing
Magica said
Apr 29 1:59 PM, 2025
My friends going there Thurs. Hope it's sorted as they won't be flying anywhere 😟
jackb said
Apr 29 2:02 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
jackb wrote:
These power cuts are very odd. A whole city doesn't go down because there are many power stations supplying it but almost two countries have gone down. How the hell is that even possible? Russia?
The Duke of Sussex says he wants "reconciliation" with the rest of the Royal Family, in an emotional interview, in which he said he was "devastated" about losing a legal challenge over his security in the UK.
At present Prince Harry said he was cut off from his father King Charles, in a BBC News interview in California.
"He won't speak to me because of this security stuff," the prince said, adding he didn't know how long the King had left to live.
Prince Harry spoke to the BBC in the aftermath of losing an appeal over the levels of security he and his family are entitled to while in the UK.
"There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family," he said, but had now "forgiven" them.
The prince had wanted to overturn changes to his security that were introduced when he stepped down as a working royal and moved to the United States.
Saying that he felt "let down" and looking upset, he described his court defeat as a "good old fashioned establishment stitch up" and blamed the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security.
Asked whether he had asked his father the King to intervene in the dispute over security, Prince Harry said: "I never asked him to intervene - I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs."
The prince said his treatment during the process of deciding his security had "uncovered my worst fears".
His court defeat, and the prospect of his security arrangements remaining unchanged, meant that he would unwilling to bring his family to the UK, he told the BBC.
Brits can now sleep soundly in their beds tonight knowing he’s forgiven the RF. Very big of him I’d say considering all those media interviews and tell-all books the RF produced slagging him and his wife to oblivion.
As for bringing Meg back…I hope that’s a promise he keeps.
Magica said
May 2 8:04 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
The Duke of Sussex says he wants "reconciliation" with the rest of the Royal Family, in an emotional interview, in which he said he was "devastated" about losing a legal challenge over his security in the UK.
At present Prince Harry said he was cut off from his father King Charles, in a BBC News interview in California.
"He won't speak to me because of this security stuff," the prince said, adding he didn't know how long the King had left to live.
Prince Harry spoke to the BBC in the aftermath of losing an appeal over the levels of security he and his family are entitled to while in the UK.
"There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family," he said, but had now "forgiven" them.
The prince had wanted to overturn changes to his security that were introduced when he stepped down as a working royal and moved to the United States.
Saying that he felt "let down" and looking upset, he described his court defeat as a "good old fashioned establishment stitch up" and blamed the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security.
Asked whether he had asked his father the King to intervene in the dispute over security, Prince Harry said: "I never asked him to intervene - I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs."
The prince said his treatment during the process of deciding his security had "uncovered my worst fears".
His court defeat, and the prospect of his security arrangements remaining unchanged, meant that he would unwilling to bring his family to the UK, he told the BBC.
Brits can now sleep soundly in their beds tonight knowing he’s forgiven the RF. Very big of him I’d say considering all those media interviews and tell-all books the RF produced slagging him and his wife to oblivion.
As for bringing Meg back…I hope that’s a promise he keeps.
Despise this parasite. He wanted us to pay for his security, why? He doesn't live hete, glad he lost.
Now wants to reconcile with Pa, so he will pay instead. Boo hoo
Horrible, nasty, selfish man. We don't want him or megaliar here. As for the kids....what kids?
Anonymous said
May 2 8:42 PM, 2025
Magica wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The Duke of Sussex says he wants "reconciliation" with the rest of the Royal Family, in an emotional interview, in which he said he was "devastated" about losing a legal challenge over his security in the UK.
At present Prince Harry said he was cut off from his father King Charles, in a BBC News interview in California.
"He won't speak to me because of this security stuff," the prince said, adding he didn't know how long the King had left to live.
Prince Harry spoke to the BBC in the aftermath of losing an appeal over the levels of security he and his family are entitled to while in the UK.
"There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family," he said, but had now "forgiven" them.
The prince had wanted to overturn changes to his security that were introduced when he stepped down as a working royal and moved to the United States.
Saying that he felt "let down" and looking upset, he described his court defeat as a "good old fashioned establishment stitch up" and blamed the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security.
Asked whether he had asked his father the King to intervene in the dispute over security, Prince Harry said: "I never asked him to intervene - I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs."
The prince said his treatment during the process of deciding his security had "uncovered my worst fears".
His court defeat, and the prospect of his security arrangements remaining unchanged, meant that he would unwilling to bring his family to the UK, he told the BBC.
Brits can now sleep soundly in their beds tonight knowing he’s forgiven the RF. Very big of him I’d say considering all those media interviews and tell-all books the RF produced slagging him and his wife to oblivion.
As for bringing Meg back…I hope that’s a promise he keeps.
Despise this parasite. He wanted us to pay for his security, why? He doesn't live hete, glad he lost.
Now wants to reconcile with Pa, so he will pay instead. Boo hoo
Horrible, nasty, selfish man. We don't want him or megaliar here. As for the kids....what kids?
Emotional blackmail over his kids hasn’t worked so now it’s him not knowing how long his father has left to live...really grasping for those sympathy votes, eh? He’s an utter embarrassment to his family and the UK, many Americans are condemning his behaviour over this also and disliking his grifting wife as much as Brits do.
He’s reaping what he sowed.
Digger said
May 2 10:22 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
Magica wrote:
Despise this parasite. He wanted us to pay for his security, why? He doesn't live hete, glad he lost.
Now wants to reconcile with Pa, so he will pay instead. Boo hoo
Horrible, nasty, selfish man. We don't want him or megaliar here. As for the kids....what kids?
Emotional blackmail over his kids hasn’t worked so now it’s him not knowing how long his father has left to live...really grasping for those sympathy votes, eh? He’s an utter embarrassment to his family and the UK, many Americans are condemning his behaviour over this also and disliking his grifting wife as much as Brits do.
He’s reaping what he sowed.
He's not very bright. And he's spent most of his life coddled and privileged. Then he meets Little Miss I'm a woman of colour narcissist, and suddenly his whole family are racists and to save his 'suicidal' wife he has to move to America and sell his soul to Netflix. She's giving him the bullets to fire, for sure. Like most narcissists they can spot a flying monkey a mile off, and that's particularly efficacious when he's part of the most famous family in the world. When he's worn out his use, she'll divorce him citing the cruelty of the media, and spitefulness of his family and move onto the next sucker.
Maddog said
May 2 11:04 PM, 2025
He's going to end up like his mother without security. I hope you people are happy..😉🤪
The truth — unforgivably obscured by a mainstream media that relies on papal allies for “commentary” on Vatican affairs — is that Francis himself, both before and after his election, has empowered and protected predatory clergy and their accomplices.
No one paid any attention at the time, but one of the cardinals who joined the “humble” new pope on the balcony 10 years ago was the late Godfried Danneels, former Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. In 2010, shortly after the very liberal Danneels retired, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges admitted to his former boss that he had been sexually abusing his own nephew. Cardinal Danneels met the victim and, unaware that he was being recorded, told him to shut up about the abuse until the revelation would cause less embarrassment. Police questioned Daneels about the attempted cover-up and raided his offices. The recording was made public and Danneels — who once nurtured ambitions to become pope — was torn to pieces by a Belgian media that had once admired him.
So what was he doing on the balcony with Francis? And why, in 2015, did the Pope invite Danneels, guilty of trying to cover up incestuous abuse of a minor, to a Vatican Synod on the family, of all subjects? I asked the late Cardinal George Pell, who at the time was in charge of reforming Vatican finances. “To thank him for the votes,” replied Pell. Danneels was a member of the so-called St Gallen Mafia of elderly liberal cardinals who lobbied for Bergoglio in 2005 and 20213. In Pell’s mind, at least, rehabilitation was his reward
Consider, also, the case of Theodore McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington, who twisted arms for Bergoglio. It was an open secret in Rome and the US Bishops’ Conference that “Uncle Ted” loved to seduce seminarians. When Benedict XVI discovered this, he banished him to a life of prayer and repentance. As soon as Francis was elected, McCarrick found himself back in favour, travelling around the world as the Pope’s unofficial emissary and fundraiser. Eventually the New York Times revealed that McCarrick was being accused of child abuse, at which point Francis had no choice but to strip him of his title of cardinal. But it should have happened years earlier given that, on becoming Pope, Francis was told that the Vatican had a thick file on McCarrick’s sexual activities.
One of Francis’s first acts as pope was to make his friend Fr Gustavo Zanchetta the Bishop of Orán in northern Argentina despite claims that he was corrupt. In 2017, aged only 53, Zanchetta resigned for “health reasons”. In fact, he had been reported by the Vatican nunciature in Buenos Aires for alleged abuse; in 2015, graphic gay sex images of himself and “young people” had been found on his phone and were reportedly shown to the Pope. (Zanchetta claimed they had been planted.) There were extensive allegations of misuse of funds that led to a raid on his former office by Orán police.
And what did Francis do after Zanchetta resigned? He created a special job for him in the Vatican “assessing” the assets of the Holy See. He would probably still have it if, in 2022, he hadn’t been sentenced to four and half years in jail in Argentina for the sexual assault of two seminarians while Bishop of Orán.
It took Pope Francis 11 years to ask for forgiveness from people who were sexually abused by priests, and vowed that there will be no going back in the church's fight to protect children.
The pope made the off-the-cuff remarks after coming under criticism from victims' groups for a perceived lack of attention to the problem and ongoing demands that he sanction bishops who covered up for paedophiles.
I read she was total cow. Not what they made her out to be.
The ones that weren't dying perhaps?
Her Missionary of Charity was (and still is) one on the richest organizations in the world, and yet at the facility under her watch, used syringes were rinsed with cold water, tuberculosis patients were not put in quarantine and strong pain medicine was not prescribed. Mother Teresa believed that suffering made you closer to God. And during the years she ran the clinic in India on a budget of more than £29 million, major floods occurred, one of which left 200 dead and more than 300,000 homeless. What did Mother Teresa do with her money? She offered prayers while enriching the Vatican coffers to the tune of £2.5m in one year alone.
What’s more, her loyalty to lawyer and financier Charles Keating even after he was convicted of fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, destroying the savings of tens of thousands of customers, and her association with Baby Doc Duvalier, the Haitian dictator known for torturing his people, was just bizarre. Her decision to lay a crown of flowers on the tombstone of Communist leader and human rights abuser, Enver Hoxha in Albania in 1990, at best, showed her cluelessness. Maybe her reputation influenced people to do good, but her real work doesn’t stand up to her reputation, and she certainly doesn’t deserve sainthood.
I listened to a podcast a couple of years back “The Turning: The Sisters who left”.
This is a woman, many claim, who deprived the sick and dying from pain relief/medicine claiming it would bring them closer to God but accepted and received medical intervention when her own health was problematic.
news.sky.com/story/spain-portugal-power-outage-latest-large-parts-of-countries-affected-with-traffic-lights-not-working-and-phone-lines-down-13357538
This is a bit odd. Have they figured out what caused it?
We'll have to wait and see. Portugal is saying it was triggered by unusual weather conditions in Spain, but nothing's confirmed yet.
A whole city doesn't go down because there are many power stations supplying it but almost two countries have gone down.
How the hell is that even possible?
Russia?
Keep doing your thing
Yes I'm scratching it now...
Harry loses security court case. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cp34k42pkvnt
Boo bloody hoo.
Absolutely spiffing
The Duke of Sussex says he wants "reconciliation" with the rest of the Royal Family, in an emotional interview, in which he said he was "devastated" about losing a legal challenge over his security in the UK.
At present Prince Harry said he was cut off from his father King Charles, in a BBC News interview in California.
"He won't speak to me because of this security stuff," the prince said, adding he didn't know how long the King had left to live.
Prince Harry spoke to the BBC in the aftermath of losing an appeal over the levels of security he and his family are entitled to while in the UK.
"There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family," he said, but had now "forgiven" them.
The prince had wanted to overturn changes to his security that were introduced when he stepped down as a working royal and moved to the United States.
Saying that he felt "let down" and looking upset, he described his court defeat as a "good old fashioned establishment stitch up" and blamed the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security.
Asked whether he had asked his father the King to intervene in the dispute over security, Prince Harry said: "I never asked him to intervene - I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs."
The prince said his treatment during the process of deciding his security had "uncovered my worst fears".
His court defeat, and the prospect of his security arrangements remaining unchanged, meant that he would unwilling to bring his family to the UK, he told the BBC.
"I can't see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point," he said. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8074n5z597o
Brits can now sleep soundly in their beds tonight knowing he’s forgiven the RF. Very big of him I’d say considering all those media interviews and tell-all books the RF produced slagging him and his wife to oblivion.
As for bringing Meg back…I hope that’s a promise he keeps.
Despise this parasite. He wanted us to pay for his security, why? He doesn't live hete, glad he lost.
Now wants to reconcile with Pa, so he will pay instead. Boo hoo
Horrible, nasty, selfish man. We don't want him or megaliar here. As for the kids....what kids?
Emotional blackmail over his kids hasn’t worked so now it’s him not knowing how long his father has left to live...really grasping for those sympathy votes, eh? He’s an utter embarrassment to his family and the UK, many Americans are condemning his behaviour over this also and disliking his grifting wife as much as Brits do.
He’s reaping what he sowed.
He's not very bright. And he's spent most of his life coddled and privileged. Then he meets Little Miss I'm a woman of colour narcissist, and suddenly his whole family are racists and to save his 'suicidal' wife he has to move to America and sell his soul to Netflix. She's giving him the bullets to fire, for sure. Like most narcissists they can spot a flying monkey a mile off, and that's particularly efficacious when he's part of the most famous family in the world. When he's worn out his use, she'll divorce him citing the cruelty of the media, and spitefulness of his family and move onto the next sucker.