Saturday, April 29, 2017
Friday, April 28, 2017
Pope Francis arrives in Cairo seeking to mend ties with Islam
Pope Francis arrives in Cairo seeking to mend ties with Islam
Friday, April 28, 2017 2:22 a.m. CDT
Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican, April 19, 2017. REUTERS/Tony
By Lin Noueihed and Eric Knecht
CAIRO (Reuters) - Pope Francis arrives in Cairo on Friday hoping to mend ties with Islamic religious leaders just as Egypt's ancient Christian community faces unprecedented pressure from Islamic State militants who have threatened to wipe it out.
In an address to the Egyptian people this week, Francis spoke of his hope that his visit would help bring peace and encourage dialogue and reconciliation with the Islamic world.
But it comes at a painful time for Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, three weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in twin church bombings.
Those attacks followed a cathedral bombing that killed 28 people in December and a spree of murders that has forced hundreds of Christians to flee North Sinai, where the group is most active.
Islamic State attacks and sectarian wars in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere are devastating Christian populations and jeopardizing their future in the Middle East, the birthplace of Jesus and home to the earliest churches.
By Lin Noueihed and Eric Knecht
CAIRO (Reuters) - Pope Francis arrives in Cairo on Friday hoping to mend ties with Islamic religious leaders just as Egypt's ancient Christian community faces unprecedented pressure from Islamic State militants who have threatened to wipe it out.
In an address to the Egyptian people this week, Francis spoke of his hope that his visit would help bring peace and encourage dialogue and reconciliation with the Islamic world.
But it comes at a painful time for Egypt's Copts, the Middle East's largest Christian community, three weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 45 people in twin church bombings.
Those attacks followed a cathedral bombing that killed 28 people in December and a spree of murders that has forced hundreds of Christians to flee North Sinai, where the group is most active.
Islamic State attacks and sectarian wars in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere are devastating Christian populations and jeopardizing their future in the Middle East, the birthplace of Jesus and home to the earliest churches.
Pope faces criticism for seeking to mend ties with Islam in Egypt
By CBRU
-April 26, 2017
Images credit jpost.com
Pope Francis greets Christian children in the Middle East. A main reason for the trip is to try to strengthen relations with the 1,000-year-old Azhar center that were cut by the Muslim side in 2011 over what it said were repeated insults of Islam by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict. Tayeb, widely seen as one of the most moderate senior clerics in Egypt, has repeatedly condemned Islamic State and its practice of declaring others as apostates and infidels as a pretext for waging violent jihad. Read More…
University rejects atheists’ claim that Vatican trip is unconstitutional
Tré Goins-Phillips Apr 27, 2017 4:58 pm
The University of Michigan football team visited the Vatican Wednesday despite complaints from the leaders of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who claimed the event was unconstitutional because the college receives taxpayer funding. The team is in Italy practicing football and sightseeing. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)
The University of Michigan’s football team took a trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis Wednesday, defying complaints from the United State’s largest atheist organization, which claimed the meeting was unconstitutional.
The Vatican pit stop came as the Wolverines were practicing football and sightseeing in Rome this week. Students were given the option of whether or not they wanted to participate in the papal visit.
Rick Fitzgerald, the publicly funded university’s director of public affairs, said the decision to visit the Vatican was left up to the students because they are adults who “are able to make informed decisions on their own.”
The University of Michigan’s football team took a trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis Wednesday, defying complaints from the United State’s largest atheist organization, which claimed the meeting was unconstitutional.
The Vatican pit stop came as the Wolverines were practicing football and sightseeing in Rome this week. Students were given the option of whether or not they wanted to participate in the papal visit.
Rick Fitzgerald, the publicly funded university’s director of public affairs, said the decision to visit the Vatican was left up to the students because they are adults who “are able to make informed decisions on their own.”
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Obama scores another $400K speaking fee amid criticism
By Claire Atkinson
April 27, 2017 | 5:42pm | Updated
Getty Images
Even as President Obama faced criticism for getting $400,000 for a speech to a Wall Street bank, he pocketed the same amount of money for a second speech, The Post has learned.
Obama made another $400,000 on Thursday when he appeared at the A&E Networks advertising upfront at The Pierre Hotel. He was interviewed over 90 minutes at the Midtown Manhattan event by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in front of the cable network’s advertisers.
Out of office just 98 days, Obama caught some flack earlier this week when it was learned that he had agreed to speak in September at a health care event sponsored by Wall Street bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she was “troubled” by the big-ticket talk.
At the A&E event, Obama, who got a standing ovation when he entered the room, asked about what he missed most about the White House, said it was sitting on the Truman balcony on summer nights and gazing at the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, a source in attendance said.
SEE ALSO
Elizabeth Warren 'troubled' by Obama's massive speaking fees
Obama also told the crowd that in his three months out of office he has not yet been behind the wheel of a car and he’s learning how to use the coffee machine in the Obamas’ new home in Washington DC.
The event, called a History Makers lunch and put together by A&E’s History Channel, was hosted by A&E chief Nancy Dubuc.
Goodwin asked Obama how, while president, he handled frustrating moments. She mentioned Lincoln would write angry letters and then put them in a desk and not mail them.
Obama responded: “For starters, by not having a Twitter account.”
Among the luminaries were; Harvey Weinstein; Anna Wintour; Bob Sauerberg; Janice Min and Penske Media CEO, Jay Penske.
A Look Back: Blue Laws in Millburn
MILLBURN SHORT HILLS
A Look Back: Blue Laws in Millburn
Let's go to the movies...Wait! It's Sunday!
courtesy of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society
9:06 p.m. ET April 26, 2017
This 1928 article from The Film Daily was just one of a regular parade of articles in the publication about New Jersey's Blue Laws. According to Wikipedia, "Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, are laws designed to restrict or ban some or all Sunday activities for religious reasons, particularly to promote the observance of a day of worship or rest. Blue laws may also restrict shopping or ban sale of certain items on specific days, most often on Sundays in the western world."
As can be seen in this article, Millburn finally responded to threats against the town for the apparent arbitrary application of the laws. Protesters noted that if the theaters could not be opened, then trolleys, buses and trains should not run either. After the many businesses that were allowed to operate on Sundays were noted, the town relented and allowed the theater to be open as well.
The Macroeconomics of De-Cashing
IMF WORKING PAPERS
Author/Editor:
Alexei P Kireyev
Publication Date:
March 27, 2017
Electronic Access:
Free Full text (PDF file size is 896 KB).Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file
Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
Summary:
The paper presents a simple framework for the analysis of the macroeconomic implications of de-cashing. Defined as replacing paper currency with convertible deposits, de-cashing would affect all key macroeconomic sectors. The overall macreconomic impact of de-cashing would depend on the balance of growth-enhancing and growth-constraining factors. Starting from a traditional saving-investment balance, the paper develops a four-sector macroeconomic framework. It is purely illustrative and is designed to provide a roadmap for a systematic evaluation of de-cashing. The framework is disaggregated into the real, fiscal, monetary, and external sectors and potential implications of de-cashing are then identified in each sector. Finally, the paper draws a balance on possible positive and negative macroeconomic implications of de-cashing, and proposes policies capable of augmenting its economic and social benefits, while reducing potential costs.
Series:
Working Paper No. 17/71
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
American Minute for April 26th
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Ten years before William Shakespeare died, English settlers landed in the Colony of Virginia, named for the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I.
Virginia's First Charter stated, April 10, 1606:
"Greatly commending ... their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty,
in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God."
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
"The first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their King and Church,
and the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws 'should not be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England.'"
On APRIL 26, 1607, English settlers landed at the site of Cape Henry, named for Prince Henry of Wales.
Their first act was to erect a wooden cross and commence a prayer meeting.
They ascended the James River, named for King James I, and settled Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.
The Second Charter of Virginia, May 23, 1609, stated:
"The principal Effect which we can expect or desire of this Action is the Conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and the Christian Religion ...
It shall be necessary for all such our loving Subjects ... to live together, in the Fear and true Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace, and civil Quietness, with each other."
The Third Charter of Virginia, March 12, 1611, stated:
"Our loving Subjects ... for the Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have ... granted unto them ... the first Colony in Virginia."
The Church of England was established as the official denomination in Virginia from 1606 till 1786.
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defined "establishment" of religion as:
"The episcopal form of religion, so called in England."
In 1699, the Virginia Assembly adopted the statutes of Monarchs William and Mary allowing for the toleration of some Protestant dissenters.
James Madison wrote to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819:
"The English Church was originally the established religion ...
Of other sects there were but few adherents, except the Presbyterians who predominated on the west side of the Blue Mountains ..."
Madison continued:
"A little time previous to the Revolutionary struggle, the Baptists sprang up, and made very rapid progress ...
At present the population is divided, with small exceptions, among the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists and the Methodists."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black wrote in Engel v. Vitale, 1962:
"As late as the time of the Revolutionary War, there were established Churches in at least eight of the thirteen former colonies ...
The successful Revolution against English political domination was shortly followed by intense opposition ... in Virginia where the minority religious groups such as Presbyterians, Lutherans, Quakers and Baptists had gained such strength ..."
Justice Hugo Black continued:
"In 1785-1786, those opposed to the established Church ... obtained the enactment of the famous 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty' by which all religious groups were placed on an equal footing."
The 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty', drafted by Jefferson, prevented the government from infringing on the rights of conscience, January 16, 1786:
"Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments ... are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion,
who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone ..."
Jefferson continued:
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical ...
that ... laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust ... unless he ... renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges ... to which ... he has a natural right ...
that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion ... is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others ...
that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself ..."
Jefferson concluded:
"that no man shall be ... molested ... on account of his religious opinions or belief;
but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."
Jefferson's view, that no man should be molested "on account of his religious opinions" would have pitted him against current "hate crime" and "sharia" laws.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, Article 16, ratified June 12, 1776, stated:
"That Religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;
and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience,
and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other."
During the colonial times, only a small number of Catholics settled in the Anglican Colony of Virginia.
After the Revolution, the first Catholic Church in Virginia was erected in 1795, St. Mary Church in Alexandria.
The first permanent Jewish synagogue in Virginia was built in Richmond in 1820.
Named 'Kehilah ha Kadosh Beth Shalome', it is considered one of oldest colonial Jewish congregations in America, along with others in New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Savannah, and Charleston.
Virginian George Washington wrote November 27, 1783:
"Acknowledge ... our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our country from the brink of destruction;
I cannot fail...to ascribe all the honor of our late success to the same glorious Being...
The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field ...
It now remains to be my earnest ... prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings, placed before them."
Show Endnotes
(Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com)
Source
Ten years before William Shakespeare died, English settlers landed in the Colony of Virginia, named for the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I.
Virginia's First Charter stated, April 10, 1606:
"Greatly commending ... their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty,
in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God."
Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Autobiography, 1821:
"The first settlers of Virginia were Englishmen, loyal subjects to their King and Church,
and the grant to Sir Walter Raleigh contained an express proviso that their laws 'should not be against the true Christian faith, now professed in the Church of England.'"
On APRIL 26, 1607, English settlers landed at the site of Cape Henry, named for Prince Henry of Wales.
Their first act was to erect a wooden cross and commence a prayer meeting.
They ascended the James River, named for King James I, and settled Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America.
The Second Charter of Virginia, May 23, 1609, stated:
"The principal Effect which we can expect or desire of this Action is the Conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and the Christian Religion ...
It shall be necessary for all such our loving Subjects ... to live together, in the Fear and true Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace, and civil Quietness, with each other."
The Third Charter of Virginia, March 12, 1611, stated:
"Our loving Subjects ... for the Propagation of Christian Religion, and Reclaiming of People barbarous, to Civility and Humanity, We have ... granted unto them ... the first Colony in Virginia."
The Church of England was established as the official denomination in Virginia from 1606 till 1786.
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defined "establishment" of religion as:
"The episcopal form of religion, so called in England."
In 1699, the Virginia Assembly adopted the statutes of Monarchs William and Mary allowing for the toleration of some Protestant dissenters.
James Madison wrote to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819:
"The English Church was originally the established religion ...
Of other sects there were but few adherents, except the Presbyterians who predominated on the west side of the Blue Mountains ..."
Madison continued:
"A little time previous to the Revolutionary struggle, the Baptists sprang up, and made very rapid progress ...
At present the population is divided, with small exceptions, among the Protestant Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Baptists and the Methodists."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black wrote in Engel v. Vitale, 1962:
"As late as the time of the Revolutionary War, there were established Churches in at least eight of the thirteen former colonies ...
The successful Revolution against English political domination was shortly followed by intense opposition ... in Virginia where the minority religious groups such as Presbyterians, Lutherans, Quakers and Baptists had gained such strength ..."
Justice Hugo Black continued:
"In 1785-1786, those opposed to the established Church ... obtained the enactment of the famous 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty' by which all religious groups were placed on an equal footing."
The 'Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty', drafted by Jefferson, prevented the government from infringing on the rights of conscience, January 16, 1786:
"Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments ... are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion,
who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone ..."
Jefferson continued:
"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical ...
that ... laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust ... unless he ... renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges ... to which ... he has a natural right ...
that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion ... is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others ...
that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself ..."
Jefferson concluded:
"that no man shall be ... molested ... on account of his religious opinions or belief;
but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion."
Jefferson's view, that no man should be molested "on account of his religious opinions" would have pitted him against current "hate crime" and "sharia" laws.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, Article 16, ratified June 12, 1776, stated:
"That Religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;
and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience,
and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other."
During the colonial times, only a small number of Catholics settled in the Anglican Colony of Virginia.
After the Revolution, the first Catholic Church in Virginia was erected in 1795, St. Mary Church in Alexandria.
The first permanent Jewish synagogue in Virginia was built in Richmond in 1820.
Named 'Kehilah ha Kadosh Beth Shalome', it is considered one of oldest colonial Jewish congregations in America, along with others in New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Savannah, and Charleston.
Virginian George Washington wrote November 27, 1783:
"Acknowledge ... our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our country from the brink of destruction;
I cannot fail...to ascribe all the honor of our late success to the same glorious Being...
The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field ...
It now remains to be my earnest ... prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings, placed before them."
Show Endnotes
(Brought to you by AmericanMinute.com)
Source
Pope Francis Video Message to Egypt April 25th - 2017
Dear People of Egypt,
As-salamu alaykum!
Peace be with you!
With a heart full of joy and gratitude I will soon visit your beloved country, the cradle of civilization, the gift of the Nile, the land of sun and hospitality, the land where Patriarchs and Prophets lived, and where God, Benevolent and Merciful, the Almighty and One God, made his voice heard.
I am truly happy to be coming as a friend, as a messenger of peace, and a pilgrim to the country that, over two thousand years ago, gave refuge and hospitality to the Holy Family as they fled the threats of King Herod (cf. Mt 2:10-16). I am honoured to visit the land visited by the Holy Family!
I greet all of you warmly and I thank you for your invitation to visit Egypt, which you call ‘Umm il Dugna – Mother of the universe!
I offer heartfelt thanks to the President of the Republic, to His Holiness Patriarch Tawadros II, to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, and to the Coptic-Catholic Patriarch, all of whom invited me. I also thank each of you for opening your hearts to me, and in particular all those who worked so hard to make this journey possible.
I would like this visit to be a witness of my affection, comfort and encouragement for all the Christians of the Middle East, a message of friendship and respect for all the inhabitants of Egypt and the region, and a message of brotherhood and reconciliation with all the children of Abraham, particularly the Muslim world, in which Egypt holds so important a place. I would also hope that my visit will make a fruitful contribution to interreligious dialogue with the followers of Islam and to ecumenical dialogue with the venerable and beloved Coptic Orthodox Church.
Our world is torn by blind violence, a violence that has also struck the heart of your beloved land. Our world needs peace, love and mercy. It needs peacemakers, people who are free and who set others free, men and women of courage who can learn from the past in order to build the future, free of every form of prejudice. Our world needs people who can build bridges of peace, dialogue, fraternity, justice and humanity.
Dear Egyptian brothers and sisters, young and old, women and men, Muslims and Christians, rich and poor… I embrace you warmly and I ask Almighty God to bless you and protect your country from every evil.
Please pray for me! Shukran wa Tahiaì Misr! (Thank you and may Egypt flourish!).
Pope: Why the only future worth building includes everyone
His Holiness Pope Francis:
Why the only future worth building includes everyone
TED2017 · 17:52 · Filmed Apr 2017
View interactive transcript
A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you, says His Holiness Pope Francis in this searing TED Talk delivered directly from Vatican City. In a hopeful message to people of all faiths, to those who have power as well as those who don't, the spiritual leader provides illuminating commentary on the world as we currently find it and calls for equality, solidarity and tenderness to prevail. "Let us help each other, all together, to remember that the 'other' is not a statistic, or a number," he says. "We all need each other."
Source
Full Senate heads to rare classified meeting at the White House on North Korea
FOREIGN POLICY
By Edmund DeMarche
Published April 26, 2017
Fox News
Trump administration on same page over North Korea?
In an unusual move, all 100 senators were invited to attend a classified meeting later Wednesday at the White House to discuss the North Korea and its growing bellicosity.
Congressional aides told Reuters that the meeting was originally scheduled to take place at a secured room at the Capitol, but President Trump asked to move the meeting to the White House.
Salon reported that the meeting will occur in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building auditorium. It will reportedly be made into a “sensitive compartmented information facility”—which means top secret information can be shared. The briefing will take place at 3 p.m. ET.
Some aides on the Hill have expressed confusion about the circumstances of the meeting. Salon wrote, “this could be a preparation for war—or just a forced attempt at a pre-100 days photo op.”
The meeting will be attended by some of Trump’s top cabinet members, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson—who will chair the meeting-- and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
Tillerson was interviewed on CBS’ “Face the Nation” earlier this month and was asked about Trump’s interaction with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi. Tillerson said he thinks that Xi agrees that the situation “has intensified and has reached a certain level of threat that action has to be taken.”
The situation has appeared to only intensify over the past 24 hours. Pyongyang conducted a huge live-fire drill that involved up to 400 artillery pieces, according to Reuters. A nuclear-powered Ohio class submarine, the USS Michigan, pulled into the South Korean port of Busan for a “routine” hull check.
Japan has warned that Pyongyang has made technological advancements, and may be capable of launching a missile tipped with sarin nerve gas. Japan estimated that its people would have about 10 minutes to prepare once a missile is launched from the country. Tokyo has been practicing evacuation drills.
Local governments in the Washington, D.C., are planning a “full-scale” terror attack drill for Wednesday. The drill prepares for an attack involving multiple locations and “teams of perpetrators” – and will be staged at six sites across the District of Columbia and the Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters that he hopes to hear the administration’s next steps.
“It’s (the location of the meeting) their choice,” he said. “I hope that we hear their policy as to what their objectives are, and how we can accomplish that hopefully without dropping bombs.”
Edmund DeMarche is a news editor for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @EDeMarche.
Source
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Trump Announces He Wants to Meet Pope Francis Next Month
24 Apr 2017 
Posted by Elisa Meyer 
Trump wants to meet with the Pope after all.
President Donald J. Trump of the United States has signaled his intention to have a personal interaction with Pope Francis. The president is due to travel to Italy in May. Interestingly, the two have clashed in the not-so-distant past. This was confirmed by Sean Spicer, the Press Secretary of the White House during his April 19 press briefing.
Trump Announces He Wants to Meet Pope Francis Next Month.
The Vatican, in response, made an announcement of its own. Archbishop Angelo Becciu told media persons the pontiff is always willing to accommodate heads of state wanting to have an audience.
President Trump is a participant in the G7 summit to be held at Taormina, Sicily. The event will be held over two days, May 26 to May 27. Although it is a custom for American Presidents to ask for an audience with the pope if they are on a trip to Italy, previous reports have indicated that the 45th US President was not much interested in meeting with the pontiff. This was confirmed by Vatican and U.S. diplomats who said the diplomatic corps were surprised when the usual detour was missing in the president's schedule.
Sean Spicer later admitted that the meeting between President Trump and Pope Francis have not yet been confirmed. There is a chance that the meeting may not be held at all and it will look like a snub from the pontiff's part.
Even if they meet, the two may have a tense meeting as they clashed only a year ago after Pope Francis made a remark which many believe were targeted towards Trump. The president returned the salvo. The feud between the two started in February 2016, the time Pope Francis made a plan to undertake a trip so that he can pray with the migrants who amass every day to cross the United States-Mexico border. Trump, at that time, the presidential candidate, asserted the pontiff was being used by Mexico as a pawn. Pope Francis replied in his own inimitable style a few days later. In his response to a reporter's question aboard his papal jet, the pontiff said that an individual who thinks exclusively about constructing walls and not bridges cannot be considered a Christian. When the reporter told him about Trump's view of him as a political person, the pontiff replied that Aristotle described a human person as an “animal politicus,” and thus he is a human.
North Korea stages large-scale artillery drill as U.S. submarine docks in South
Tue Apr 25, 2017 | 4:03am EDT
North Korean soldiers salute bronze statues (not pictured) of North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung and late leader Kim Jong Il at Mansudae in Pyongyang, in this photo released by Kyodo April 25, 2017, to mark the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
By Ju-min Park | SEOUL
SEOUL North Korea conducted a big live-fire exercise on Tuesday to mark the foundation of its military as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid growing concern over the North's nuclear and missile programs.
The port call by the USS Michigan came as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steamed toward Korean waters and as top envoys for North Korea policy from South Korea, Japan and the United States met in Tokyo.
Fears have risen in recent weeks that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test or long-range missile launch in defiance of U.N. sanctions, perhaps on the Tuesday anniversary of the founding of its military.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Lesbian Methodist bishop faces challenge to her election
In this Wednesday, April 19, 2017, photo, Bishop Karen Oliveto poses for a photo in the sanctuary of a United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The top court in the United Methodist Church on Tuesday, April 25, will consider ... more >
By RACHEL ZOLL - Associated Press - Monday, April 24, 2017
NEW YORK (AP) - Karen Oliveto clutched a friend’s hand, closed her eyes and wept when she learned last year she had been elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. Oliveto, who is married to another woman, had become the denomination’s first openly gay bishop.
Within minutes, a formal complaint was filed challenging her election as contrary to the church ban on clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” - a petition that the highest Methodist judicial authorities agreed to consider. On Tuesday, the court will take up the closely watched case, the latest flashpoint over LGBT rights in a denomination splintering over the Bible and homosexuality.
“It highlights very greatly that we are two different churches and that the real difference is whether or not we’re going to live by the covenant that we each have agreed to,” said the Rev. Rob Renfroe, who leads Good News, a caucus of evangelical Methodists that has lobbied to uphold current teaching. Said Oliveto, “I’m in deep prayer, reminding myself of what God has called me to do.”
Oliveto, who is based in the Denver area, will attend the hearing in Newark, New Jersey, accompanied by fellow bishops from the church’s Western Jurisdiction, her wife, mother and childhood pastor. LGBT clergy and their supporters plan to pray outside and wear T-shirts listing the first names only of gay clergy who would risk losing their ministerial credentials by coming out.
The goal is to underscore the human cost of church policy, said the Rev. Lea Matthews of the LGBT advocacy group Methodists in New Directions. Prayer vigils are planned in the Methodist Mountain Sky Area region, which Oliveto leads, while others will join a prayer vigil online.
The court, or Judicial Council, is expected to issue a ruling a few days later.
By RACHEL ZOLL - Associated Press - Monday, April 24, 2017
NEW YORK (AP) - Karen Oliveto clutched a friend’s hand, closed her eyes and wept when she learned last year she had been elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. Oliveto, who is married to another woman, had become the denomination’s first openly gay bishop.
Within minutes, a formal complaint was filed challenging her election as contrary to the church ban on clergy who are “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” - a petition that the highest Methodist judicial authorities agreed to consider. On Tuesday, the court will take up the closely watched case, the latest flashpoint over LGBT rights in a denomination splintering over the Bible and homosexuality.
“It highlights very greatly that we are two different churches and that the real difference is whether or not we’re going to live by the covenant that we each have agreed to,” said the Rev. Rob Renfroe, who leads Good News, a caucus of evangelical Methodists that has lobbied to uphold current teaching. Said Oliveto, “I’m in deep prayer, reminding myself of what God has called me to do.”
Oliveto, who is based in the Denver area, will attend the hearing in Newark, New Jersey, accompanied by fellow bishops from the church’s Western Jurisdiction, her wife, mother and childhood pastor. LGBT clergy and their supporters plan to pray outside and wear T-shirts listing the first names only of gay clergy who would risk losing their ministerial credentials by coming out.
The goal is to underscore the human cost of church policy, said the Rev. Lea Matthews of the LGBT advocacy group Methodists in New Directions. Prayer vigils are planned in the Methodist Mountain Sky Area region, which Oliveto leads, while others will join a prayer vigil online.
The court, or Judicial Council, is expected to issue a ruling a few days later.
Adventist Pastor Alicia Johnston Comes Out as Bi, Announces Resignation
22 April 2017 | Jared Wright
Instead of preaching a sermon today at the Foothills Community Church of Seventh-day Adventists in the Arizona Conference, Pastor Alicia Johnston released a video discussing her resignation after coming out as bisexual.
“It’s wonderful to finally be able to say ‘This is who I am,’ and that’s something I love about myself,” Johnston said in the message.
Johnston served as the sole pastor of the Foothills Community Church in Chandler, Arizona, since January, 2016, succeeding Stuart Harrison who was the founding pastor of the church in October 2001. Johnston completed her Master of Divinity degree in 2012 from Andrews University and served as a church-planting pastor for the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists prior to coming to the Arizona Conference. She shared her coming out and resignation with her congregation and the leaders of the Arizona Conference this week.
Instead of preaching a sermon today at the Foothills Community Church of Seventh-day Adventists in the Arizona Conference, Pastor Alicia Johnston released a video discussing her resignation after coming out as bisexual.
“It’s wonderful to finally be able to say ‘This is who I am,’ and that’s something I love about myself,” Johnston said in the message.
Johnston served as the sole pastor of the Foothills Community Church in Chandler, Arizona, since January, 2016, succeeding Stuart Harrison who was the founding pastor of the church in October 2001. Johnston completed her Master of Divinity degree in 2012 from Andrews University and served as a church-planting pastor for the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists prior to coming to the Arizona Conference. She shared her coming out and resignation with her congregation and the leaders of the Arizona Conference this week.
Adventist Pastor Alicia Johnston Comes Out as Bi, Announces Resignation
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