yossi cohen – Google Search https://t.co/prYsxNyL1m pic.twitter.com/SZOgAUwAdk
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) May 28, 2024
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Day: May 28, 2024
“Они нас бьют со своей стороны, а мы должны стоять и молчать? Так не бывает. Они пошли на нас войной, не мы”, – говорит о войсках РФ солдат ВСУ, который воюет на Харьковском направлении. Он не понимает, почему Украине нельзя бить западным оружием по территории агрессора – России pic.twitter.com/7WAsMdrpVA
— DW на русском (@dw_russian) May 28, 2024
Prosecutors build their case at bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez with emails and texts Bowling Green Daily News
By Matthew Santucci
The Vatican on Tuesday issued an apology after Pope Francis’ use of an offensive word in Italian regarding seminarians who identify as gay.
Matteo Bruni, the Holy See spokesman, said in Tuesday’s press statement that the Holy Father was “aware of the articles recently published about a conversation, behind closed doors, with the bishops” of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).
Italian media reported that Pope Francis had met with the CEI on May 20 in the Vatican’s Synodal Hall. At that meeting the pope was asked about the admission of declared gay men to the seminary.
Telling the bishops that gay men should not be admitted to priestly formation, the pope argued “there is too much ‘frociaggine’ in seminaries,” a slur translated as “faggotry” or “faggotness.”
Bruni told journalists that the pope “never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologizes to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others.”
The remarks were first reported by the Italian tabloid website Dagospia and later confirmed by major Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.
Quoting several unnamed bishops, Corriere della Sera suggested that the pope did not understand the gravity of the term in Italian.
The Vatican nearly two decades ago addressed the topic of gay-identified men entering Catholic seminaries. In 2005 the Congregation for Catholic Education issued an instruction titled “Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders.”
The document stated that “it is necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’”
The instruction went on to note the difference between those who display “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” and those “dealing with homosexual tendencies that were only the expression of a transitory problem.”
Pope Francis upheld the ruling in 2016. In 2018 he again told Italian bishops to carefully vet candidates.
La Repubblica noted the Italian bishops during their meeting in Assisi last November approved a new Ratio Formationis Sacerdotalis, a document detailing the admission criteria and standards for men in Italy’s seminaries.
The Italian paper added that the document “has been under consideration by the Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy for final approval.”
Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh wrote on X on Tuesday that the pope’s “concern is with gay men seeing the priesthood as a way of living out their sexuality, and the gay subculture in many seminaries.”
The pope has at times been hailed for his outreach to the LGBT-identified community.
During an in-flight press conference in 2013, the pope responded to a question from a journalist on his experience as a confessor to homosexual persons by asking rhetorically: “Who am I to judge that person?”
The pope expanded on these remarks in a 2016 book-length interview titled “The Name of God Is Mercy,” where he said he was “paraphrasing by heart” the Catechism of the Church, which states that “these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized.”
“I am glad that we are talking about ‘homosexual people,’” the pope continued, “because before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity.”
In December of last year, meanwhile, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued Fiducia Supplicans, a declaration allowing for nonliturgical blessings for couples in “irregular” situations, including same-sex couples.
Responding to the strong criticism the document received, Pope Francis said in February that to be “scandalized” by gay couple blessings is “hypocrisy.”
“No one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people: and this is a very serious sin,” the pope said in the interview to the Italian weekly print periodical Credere.
“Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual … This is hypocrisy! We must all respect each other. Everyone,” the Holy Father said.
By Fernando Heller
(EurActiv) — Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday (28 May) that Madrid will not admit changes to the 1967 border lines that were not previously agreed between Israel and the Palestinian state, which Madrid officially recognised on the same day in a coordinated move with Ireland and Norway.
“The State of Palestine must be viable, with the West Bank and Gaza connected by a corridor and with East Jerusalem as its capital and unified under the legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority (…),” Sánchez said in a statement.
“We will not recognise changes to the 1967 border lines other than those agreed by the parties,” he said.
According to him, this would be in line with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 as well as with the position of the EU.
While describing the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood as “historic”, the Spanish prime minister expressed his desire to have “the best possible relationship” with Israel and reiterated his “categorical” rejection of the Hamas militants, who do not believe in Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace.
Israel is “a friendly people whom we respect, whom we appreciate and with whom we want to have the best possible relationship”, Sánchez stressed.
Recognising Palestinian statehood for Madrid would have the sole objective of helping Israelis and Palestinians to achieve peace, he added.
“It is not only a question of historical justice with the legitimate aspirations of the people of Palestine; it is also a peremptory necessity if we all want to achieve peace and it is the only way to advance towards the solution that we all recognize as the only possible way to achieve a peaceful future, that of a Palestinian state living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security,” Sánchez said.
Díaz qualifies offensive words towards Israel
Despite Sánchez’s conciliatory tone, Tel Aviv issued a harsh démarche against Spain on the same day. Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Sánchez of being “complicit in inciting Jewish genocide” with the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Katz also condemned Madrid for failing to remove Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz from office, after she stated last week that “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea”.
The political phrase, which has become a battle cry used by either side, is generally viewed as dismissing the right of the other to the land between the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
For Hamas, this de facto means the elimination of the state of Israel, which lies between the two.
Díaz, who is also minister of labour and leader of the left-wing platform Sumar, the PSOE’s junior partner in government, maintains a tough stance on Israel, which she has accused of committing “genocide” in Gaza, following Hamas terror attacks in October 2023.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s military operation has so far killed more than 35,000 people, many of them civilians.
The Sumar leader last week released a controversial video in which she celebrated Madrid’s announcement of recognition of Palestinian statehood.´
After the protest from Tel Aviv and the Israeli embassy in Madrid, Díaz was forced to qualify her words.
“We have always had (in Sumar) the same position, the recognition of two states that share from the river to the sea; that share the economy, that share the rights and above all the future of peace,” she stated.
The United States expressed “deep concern” Tuesday over an apparent Israeli airstrike on Sunday that killed at least 45 Palestinians sheltering in a refugee camp in Rafah, and wounded 200 others.
“Those images were heartbreaking,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
He said while Israel has a right to go after Hamas, Israel has an obligation to do everything possible to minimize civilian harm while it carries out its operations.
“We will continue to emphasize to Israel their obligation to comply fully with international humanitarian law, minimize the impact of their operations on civilians and maximize the flow of humanitarian assistance to those in need,” Miller said, adding Israel’s military had promised a swift, comprehensive and transparent investigation.
“We will be watching those results closely,” he said.
Israel’s military said it is looking into the possibility that weapons stored in the area hit by the Israeli strike may have sparked a deadly fire at the refugee camp Sunday. A military spokesman said Tuesday the munitions used in the Israeli strike were too small to set off a big blaze.
The Gaza health ministry said the attack ignited tent fires in an area sheltering displaced people. Israel said it killed two senior Hamas militants in the attack.
The U.N. Security Council was meeting Tuesday afternoon in a closed session requested by member Algeria to discuss the attack.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement Tuesday that the “relentless violence” must stop and reiterated his call for a humanitarian cease-fire and the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages.
Gaza medical personnel and residents reported new Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in the area of al-Mawasi on the enclave’s coast, where thousands of people have fled to what Israel has said is a designated “safe zone.”
The Gaza health ministry said at least 20 civilians were killed. The Israel Defense Forces denied striking the area.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Tuesday that more than 940,000 people have fled Rafah in the past three weeks amid Israel’s offensive. Another 100,000 have been displaced by fighting in northern Gaza.
U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths issued a statement late Monday calling the Rafah attack “utterly unacceptable.” He criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s explanation that what happened was a “tragic mistake.”
“Whether the attack was a war crime or a ‘tragic mistake,’ for the people of Gaza, there is no debate,” Griffiths said. “What happened last night was the latest — and possibly most cruel — abomination. To call it ‘a mistake’ is a message that means nothing for those killed, those grieving, and those trying to save lives.”
Griffiths said the U.N. “warned that a military operation in Rafah would lead to a slaughter” and added that there are no safe areas or humanitarian zones in Gaza.
“Despite our best effort, not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic mistake happened last night. We are investigating the case,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel needs to carry out an offensive in Rafah in order to achieve its goal of ensuring Hamas cannot operate in Gaza and threaten Israel in the future.
Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, decried the Rafah attack, saying in a statement Monday, “The images from the camp are horrific and point to no apparent change in the methods and means of warfare used by Israel that have already led to so many civilian deaths.”
Even as he noted the Israeli military’s announced investigation, Türk said it was “shockingly clear” that the decision to strike an area “densely packed with civilians” would result in the “entirely predictable outcome” of the death of more Palestinian civilians.
Türk called on Israel to abide by last week’s International Court of Justice order to totally halt its offensive in Rafah. He also urged Palestinian armed groups to stop firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel “in clear violation of international humanitarian law” and release all the remaining 100 or so hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza.
European Council President Charles Michel also called the strikes “horrendous” and urged Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah.
“Horrendous to see innocent Palestinian civilians killed in the recent attack. There is no safe zone for the internally displaced in Rafah,” Michel said on the X social media platform.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said Monday that the attack could complicate efforts to mediate stalled cease-fire talks and the return of the hostages held in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and led to the capture of about 250 hostages. Israel’s subsequent counteroffensive has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, a death toll that includes both civilians and combatants, according to the Gaza health ministry.
U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union with EU Defence Ministers on Tuesday (28 May 2024) to discuss continued support to Ukraine and the need to increase defence production.
“NATO and the European Union have worked very closely together to provide unprecedented military, economic, and financial support to Ukraine,” Mr Stoltenberg said. He emphasised the need to step up the delivery of “ammunition, air defence systems, and in particular the most advanced ones, the Patriot systems.”
Ahead of Washington Summit, NATO is working on plans to further coordinate the provision of equipment and training, underpinned by a financial pledge.
Mr Stoltenberg underlined the need to “prevent gaps and delays as we have seen recently,” and the importance of providing “predictable, accountable support for the long haul,” so that Ukraine can prevail as a sovereign, independent nation.
Mr Stoltenberg added that NATO is “working closely with the transatlantic defence industrial base to ramp up production,” both to support Ukraine and for Allies’ own stocks.