In the coming days, we will commemorate the supreme battle between Light and Darkness, between Life and Death.
Rich countries bent on power and profit have mercilessly "plundered and sacked" Africa and other poor regions and exported to them the "cynicism of a world without God," Pope Benedict writes in his first book. He also condemns drug trafficking and sexual tourism, saying they are signs of a world brimming with "people who are empty" yet living among abundant material goods.
Charity is the key to reading the postsynodal exhortation "Sacramentum Caritatis" and also to understanding Benedict XVI's thought, says the author of a book on the Eucharist.
Reality slaps the "prophets"...
On Palm Sunday of 1937, Pope Pius XI's encyclical "Mit Brennender Sorge" (With Deep Anxiety) was read in all the parishes of Germany. It was arguably the Holy See's harshest criticism ever of a political regime, according to Jesuit Peter Gumpel. He says that the 70 years since the encyclical's publication have confirmed what the Holy See understood about the nature of Nazism. The international community reacted enthusiastically. The Jewish communities were elated since that encyclical presented the strongest condemnation of racism. All the Jewish newspapers in the world showed their enthusiasm for what the Holy See had done.
With a picture of the German pope, Benedict XVI, hanging above his desk, Oskar Lafontaine rattles off his plans for reviving the country's political left. Lafontaine, dismissing any suggestions that he is just a pseudo Marxist or populist, looked over at Pope Benedict. He said he was relishing the coming months.
Turkey has suspended talks with Gaz de France over a pipeline project that would bring Caspian natural gas to Europe in reaction to a French bill on the mass killings of Armenians during Ottoman rule. The planned pipeline would reduce Europe's dependency on Russian gas.
A Security Council meeting on Kosovo laid bare deep divisions over UN chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari's plan to grant supervised independence to the breakaway Serbian province. "To keep the status quo is not an option. What is at stake is the stability of Europe."
German press...
German Social Democrat leader Kurt Beck has sparked a firestorm of criticism for his suggestion that the West negotiate with moderate elements within the Taliban. But at least one German commentator thinks that might not be such a bad idea.
Arab newspapers comment on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's landmark visit to Damascus.
Iran's release of the 15 British naval personnel captured in the Gulf is the dénouement of a humiliating episode for the Blair government and for British imperialism. Since they were captured by Iranian naval forces in the Shatt al Arab waterway, the sailors and marines have come to epitomise the gap between Britain's pretensions as a world power and its actual capabilities.
(LT op/ed: They're free, but Britain has been humiliated)
The concern in the voices of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown at their joint press conference in Glasgow this week was real enough. They are justifiably worried that the United Kingdom is in danger of breaking up following the elections to the Scottish Parliament on May 3. The Scottish National Party has a commanding lead in all the opinion polls and Alex Salmond, its leader, has promised to hold a referendum on taking Scotland out of the Union in 2010.
For the past two weeks, Iran has not just been holding 15 British soldiers captive; it's been holding the world's oil markets hostage, too. "There's been a $5 or $6 premium that's been built into the price of oil over this. Even though this crisis has ended, the oil market is still on guard that the tensions in the Middle East are going to continue. Everyone asks me, will we see $4 a gallon? And the answer is, there is a strong possibility that we may see $4 a gallon."
It is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you in the written and spoken form at the same time. (The research) also questions the wisdom of centuries-old habits, such as reading along with Bible passages, at the same time they are being read aloud in church. More of the passages would be understood and retained, the researchers suggest, if heard or read separately.
=========================
