Meat prices continue to soar as Israelis gear up for Independence Day barbecues

People lining up to buy meat to put on the grill are grappling with price rises due to scarce competition, as local reforms fail to bring down costs for consumers

By Sharon Wrobel Follow

Today, 5:41 pm

Ahead of Independence Day, Israelis have been lining up at butcher counters to stock up on roast cuts to prepare sizzling slabs of meat. Faced with higher meat prices, they were feeling the pinch in their pockets at a time when many households are already contending with the rising costs of goods and are struggling to make ends meet in the shadow of the war.

Starting Wednesday after sunset and continuing on Thursday, tens of thousands of Israeli families will celebrate the country’s 77th birthday by participating in the Jewish state’s national pastime: charcoal grilling. Though heavily affected by the wildfires raging in the country’s center this year and a consequent nationwide ban on lighting fires in public areas, many were set to barbecue in their backyards or on their balconies.

Over the past year, meat prices in Israel continued to rise by an average of 2 % to almost 10% due to import trends, changes in local regulations, and global market influences, according to data and market trends collated and analyzed by non-bank credit provider Ultra Finance. The firm provides tailored funding solutions to thousands of businesses and enterprises, including the food sector.

For example, the price of entrecote rose from NIS 145.7 ($40.21) per kilogram in April 2024 to NIS 152 ($42) per kg in 2025 – an increase of about 4 percent. Fresh chicken breast climbed from NIS 38.6 ($10.64) to NIS 42 ($11.59) per kg – an increase of about 9%. The price of chicken thighs is about 3% higher, rising more moderately, from NIS 60 $16.56) to NIS 62 ($17.11) per kg year-on-year. According to Consumer Price Index data for March 2025, frozen beef prices rose by 1.6%, poultry by 1.4%, and lamb by 1.1%.

“A comparison between supermarket chains and butcher shops illustrates the gap: In the chains, meat prices are tens of percent lower, but private butcher shops continue to attract customers thanks to high quality and personal service,” said Ultra Finance analyst Roy Lengy. “Surveys show that many Israelis are willing to pay more at butcher shops for fresh meat cuts, quality, and a personal service atmosphere, which explains their continued popularity despite the high prices.”

Ultra Finance’s report is based on a combination of proprietary data analysis, insights from the company’s financing activities with businesses across the food sector, and a review of publicly available market research.

Sindel/Flash90)

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Illustrative: Sides of beef and grilled veggies at an Israeli cowboys’ BBQ at Bat Yaar Ranch in the Biriya Forest in northern Israel. (Haim Azulay/Flash 90)

During Independence Day week, there is a threefold increase in the amount of meat and other products bought for grilling compared to a regular week. The average Israeli consumes 19.6 kg of beef per year, about 50% more than in 2015, according to the latest data by the Agriculture Ministry.

Lengy attributed continued price increases to a combination of local and global factors.

“The Hamas war led to a decline in demand by war-hit consumers for [more expensive] steaks, but created a ‘contagion effect’ that pushed up the prices of cheaper cuts, such as ground beef, which soared by tens of percent,” said Lengy. “Importers who had accumulated surplus entrecote compensated for the losses by raising the prices of other cuts.”

In addition, high concentration in the local meat market, controlled by a small number of importers and slaughterhouses, limits competition, according to Lengy.

“Due to a shortage of skilled butchers, retail chains switch to the sale of pre-packaged meat, which in turn leads consumers to buy [fresh meat] at more expensive butcher shops,” said Lengy.

Globally, “production and input costs, including animal food, such as soybeans and grain prices, which account for about 65% of the cost of raising chickens, have soared in the past year due to trade disruptions, including the trade war between the US and China and the war in Ukraine,” said Lengy.

Israel is a country without wide open spaces of grazing land for cattle, and a growing population, which increases the country’s reliance on meat imports. Between 70% and 80% of the meat consumed in Israel is derived from imports, and 20% to 30% from local production. Fresh meat from imported calves makes up about a third of the beef consumed in Israel. Imported frozen meat accounts for more than 40%, imported chilled meat 17%, and meat from Israeli-grown calves about 14%.

Earlier this year, the government introduced rises in taxes, prices and utility bills. The new year also ushered in a slew of reforms aimed at lowering prices by aligning Israeli and European standards to ease trade barriers for imports and foster competition.

The food sector reform includes expanding the adoption of European regulation in areas such as food safety and labeling, to reduce bureaucracy and bring savings to the importer of 7% to 11%.

“The reform, which came into effect in 2025, helps to cut time and costs of meat imports,” said Lengy. “However, the reform did not lead to a significant price drop [for consumers], partly due to global price increases and the high concentration in the local market.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/meat-prices-continue-to-soar-as-israelis-gear-up-for-independence-day-barbecues/

Auschwitz crematorium. The four gas chambers and crematoria constructed at Auschwitz-Birkenau after 1942 represent Nazi mass

murder in its most industrialized form. Each of the four facilities could kill and incinerate more than 1,000 victims per day. About one

million Jews and thousands of non-Jewish victims were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Photo courtesy of http://shuttersmack.com/auschwitz/

Women in the barracks of the newly liberated Auschwitz concentration camp.

Photo courtesy of US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

Photo courtesy of www.photosofwar.net

Adolf Hitler is considered to be perhaps the most villainous man of the twentieth century. His vile

and ruthless deeds are common knowledge. In fact, the name Hitler has now become synonymous

with evil. What many often forget, however, is that Hitler was not only a coldblooded tyrant but that

also a brilliant persuader of men. He personally oversaw the deaths of millions of people, including

the near extermination of the Jewish race while maintaining the full support of the German people.

Holocaust Survivor Shows Tattoo: Polish-born Holocaust survivor Meyer Hack shows his prisoner number tattooed on his arm.

During the Holocaust, concentration camp prisoners received tattoos only at one location, the Auschwitz concentration camp complex,

which consisted of Auschwitz I (Main Camp), Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz and the subcamps).

Incoming prisoners were assigned a camp serial number which was sewn to their prison uniforms. Only those prisoners selected for work

were issued serial numbers; those prisoners sent directly to the gas chambers were not registered and received no tattoos.

Photo courtesy of BAZ RATNER/Reuters/Corbis

Prisoners during a roll call at the Buchenwald concentration camp. Their uniforms bear classifying triangular badges and identi cation

numbers. Buchenwald, Germany, 1938-1941.

Photo courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum courtesy Robert A. Schmuhl

Child survivors at Auschwitz still taken from footage recorded by Soviet forces.

Photo courtesy of United States Holocaust Museum

Five handicapped Jewish prisoners, photographed for propaganda purposes, who arrived in Buchenwald after Kristallnacht. Soon after

Hitler took power, the Nazis formulated policy based on their vision of a biologically "pure" population to create an "Aryan master race."

The "Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases", proclaimed July 14, 1933, forced the sterilization of all persons whoh

suffered from diseases considered hereditary, such as mental illness (schizophrenia and manic depression), retardation ("congenital

feeble-mindedness"), physical deformity, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, and severe alcoholism.

Photo courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Robert A. Schmuhl

Photo courtesy of https://ouchmath.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/tattoos-and-numbers-the-system-of-identifying-prisoners-at-auschwitz-concentration-camp/

An entrance gate with the words "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Brings Freedom") at Dachau concentration camp.

Photo courtesy of history.com - World War II History

A few of the thousands of wedding rings the Nazis removed from their victims to salvage the gold.

U.S. troops found rings, watches, precious stones, eyeglasses, and gold llings, near the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Germany, May 5, 1945.

Photo courtesy of history.com - World War II History

https://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/unionartgallery/Holocaust-Pictures-2015-opt.pdf

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which President Truman signed on July 26, 1947. The CIA officially came into existence on September 18th that same year, which is when we celebrate our birthday.

With the passage of the 1947 Act, Truman achieved his goals of modernizing and unifying America’s armed services, and, by creating a centralized intelligence agency, reformed our intelligence capabilities. To protect American’s civil liberties, he made sure to clearly divide intelligence roles between domestic and foreign: FBI would handle anything domestic, while CIA was limited to foreign intelligence only. Furthermore, the Act specified that CIA would have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers.

President Truman appointed Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the first CIA director, known as the Director of Central Intelligence. He had been the Director of one of our immediate “ancestors,” called the Central Intelligence Group. The CIG was a bureaucratic anomaly with no independent budget, no statutory mandate, and staffers assigned from other departments of the government. America needed a peacetime, centralized intelligence agency with its own budget and mandate. That’s why Truman replaced the CIG and created the CIA.

The 1947 Act loosely defined CIA’s mission into four broad tasks:

The 1947 Act was relatively unchanged until 2004. President Bush, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made major updates to the 1947 act, including the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about what is called “the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004” on the DNI’s website.

The importance of the 1947 National Security Act cannot be overstated. It created our Nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency, reflected America’s acceptance of its position as a world leader, and it remained a cornerstone of our national security policy for 75 years… and counting.

~ Molly

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/ask-molly-the-national-security-act-of-1947/

Molly

fem. proper name, a diminutive of Moll, which is a familiar form of Mary.

molly (n.1)

a common 18c. colloquial term for "homosexual man" or "man who is deemed effeminate, a sissy," by 1707, perhaps 1690s. The fem. proper name Molly or Moll served as a type-name of a low-class girl or prostitute in old songs and ballads (perhaps in part for the sake of the easy rhymes).

But the colloquial word also resembles Latin mollis "soft," which also had been used classically in a specific pejorative sense in reference to men, "soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak," in Cicero, Livy, etc. A 1629 publication from the Catholic-Protestant theological disputes, "Truth's triumph ouer Trent," written in English with swerves into Latin, at one point describes the denizens of Hell as fideles fornicarios, adulteros, molles, and so forth, and molles is translated parenthetically in the text as "effeminate." Molly House as a term for a brothel frequented by gay men is attested in a court case from 1726.

also from 18c.

molly (n.2)

seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, mallemuck, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."

also from 1857

https://www.etymonline.com/word/molly

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

2 And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, [c]saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great city, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2 The prediction or foretelling of her ruin, containing both the fall of Babylon, in this verse, and the cause thereof uttered by way of allegory concerning her spiritual and carnal wickedness, that is, her most great impiety and injustice, in the next verse: her fall is first simply declared of the Angel: and then the greatness thereof is showed here by the events, when he saith it shall be the seat and habitation of devils, of wild beasts and of cursed souls, as of old, Isa. 13:21, and often elsewhere.

1599 Geneva Bible

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2018&version=GNV

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

Lunar Day

The duration of a single day on the Moon, from sunrise to sunrise, is approximately 29.5 Earth days. However, this is broken down into roughly 14.75 days of daylight followed by 14.75 days of nighttime, due to the Moon's synchronous rotation with Earth.

When we refer to the "life of one lunar day" in the context of a moon mission, it usually pertains to the duration of sunlight (daytime) that the mission equipment can operate within. This is because most moon missions, including rovers and landers, rely on solar panels for power. During the lunar night, temperatures can drop drastically (to below minus 200 degrees Celsius), and without sunlight, there's no power generation from solar panels. This extreme cold can also be damaging to equipment.

So, when a mission states its operational life as "one lunar day," it typically means it is designed to function during the approximately 14 Earth days of sunlight on the Moon, after which it may go into a dormant state during the lunar night, or it might cease operations altogether due to the harsh conditions.

https://www.sriramsias.com/upsc-daily-current-affairs/lunar-day/

The Bible and Numerology (limited use)

When we read the Bible, we encounter both words and numbers. It is easy and natural to focus on the meaning of words, but numbers (as in this genealogical record) can appear unimportant to us. Many people do not realize that in ancient Hebrew numbers are represented by the alphabet letters and they spell things! Imagine that A = 1 and B = 2 and C = 3 and so on, but only in Hebrew.

Matthew (Matt. 1:17) highlights three spans of 14 (fourteen) generations between Abraham and David, then the same between David and Babylon, and then Babylon and Messiah (Matt.1:17). The triple repetition is the author’s clue to the symbolism of the number! The value of David’s name in Hebrew (דוד; David) is 14. Dalet (ד) is 4 + Vav (ו) is 6 + Dalet (ד) is 4 = 14. The gospel summarizes history in three sets of 14 (fourteen) generations all leading up to Messiah, saying “David, David, David”.

Although Gematria, as it is now used in some Jewish circles, was certainly not implemented at the time of gospel composition, we have clear evidence that some of its principles were already in use. Matthew’s theological point that he wants his readers to see in the Gematria he uses is that Yeshua (Jesus) is the “son of David” (בן דוד) the long-awaited King of Israel. He says this plainly in Matthew 1:1 and then demonstrates it through the Gematria of the genealogy that follows. When numbers are letters they begin to speak quite literally!

https://www.amazon.com/Days-Hebrew-Devotions-Eli-Lizorkin-Eyzenberg-ebook/dp/B089P2G8F6

Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility. By about 2400 bce, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king’s son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. The god Seth was considered the murderer of Osiris and adversary of Horus.

According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch, Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to Osiris, who thenceforth remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. His son Horus successfully fought against Seth, avenging Osiris and becoming the new king of Egypt.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Osiris-Egyptian-god

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Revelation 18:2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, [a]saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great city, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+18%3A2&version=GNV

Mr. Barbecue was founded in 1962, by Andy and Nick Carros along with Tom Gallos. Our outstanding food got even better in 1965 when Joe Pope and Leo Miller, renowned NC Pitmasters, joined the Mr. BBQ family and shared their famous recipes. Recipes that are so special and award-winning that we use them to this day!

Mr. Barbecue remains a family business, with Jimmy Carros, the son of Nick Carros, taking the reins. Jimmy is as passionate about serving world-class barbecue as his father and uncle before him!

Here at Mr. Barbecue, we offer you our very best in service and value.

We use only the finest Hickory wood in our barbecue pits, along with our special recipes developed over 50 years to create an experience that you'll never forget!

We slow-cook our pork to perfection and make every item from scratch.

We know you'll be able to taste the difference.

From our hushpuppies and banana pudding to our amazing sweet tea, everything is custom-prepared the day you order it.

Come by and visit us today at 1381 Peters Creek Parkway! And while you're here, join thousands of other people in taking a selfie in front of one of North Carolina's most iconic landmarks, our historic Mr. Barbeque sign.

Founders

Our founders Nick (left) and Andy (center) Carros are pictured with Chef Joe Pope at Mr.Barbecue.

https://mrbarbecue.com/winston-salem-mr-barbecue-about

The Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off is an annual rib cook-off in Sparks, Nevada. The competition involves St. Louis-style pork ribs. The event is held at Victorian Square in Sparks and has taken place annually over the Labor Day weekend since 1989; it is sponsored by the Nugget Casino Resort.[1]

History

The Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off began in 1989, with six entries and a small group of casino customers. The initial event did not involve cooking the ribs on-site, but rather reheating them with cans of Sterno fuel.[2] The inaugural winner was North Main Barbecue from Euless, Texas.[2][3]

The event is the main attraction for Sparks, and is mentioned in travel guides[4][5][6] and barbecue books.[7]

Rib cook-off and other competitions

The rib cook-off takes place over six days in Victorian Square in Sparks, Nevada; six blocks of Victorian Avenue are closed to traffic during the event for the cook-off competitors and other vendors to stage their booths. Aside from the actual cook-off, ribs are sold to the general public. In addition to the ribs there is a small arts and crafts fair and a few children's rides. In 2007 the event, for the first time, drew half a million visitors, and has done so every following year, serving up to 100 tons of St. Louis-style ribs.[8][9] It was calculated that the 2006 event produced "1.4 million bones' worth of pork ribs."[10]

Top prize for the judged event is $19,500. There is also a "people's choice award" and an award for best sauce.[11]

The 32nd annual Rib Cook-off will take place 01–06 September 2021, as there'll be no cook-off in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be 23 competitors vying for upwards of $20,000 in prize money. The event includes a Rib Village, beer garden and live entertainment.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_in_the_West_Nugget_Rib_Cook-off

Genesis 2:22

1599 Geneva Bible

22 And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, [a]made he a [b]woman, and brought her to the man.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Genesis 2:22 Hebrew, built.

Genesis 2:22 Signifying that mankind was perfect, when the woman was created, which before was like an imperfect building.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A22&version=GNV

Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce is a barbecue sauce created and distributed by Kraft Heinz in the United States and Canada.[1] It is also the official BBQ sauce of the Calgary Stampede.[citation needed]

History

Bulls-Eye was introduced in 1985 with the tag line The Big, Bold Taste of Bulls-Eye can't be beat. In 2009, Bull's-Eye launched a marketing campaign entitled the Bull's-Eye Brotherhood with a comedic series of web videos featuring Canadian comedian Gerry Dee.[2]

Burger King

Bulls-Eye was used at Burger King fast food restaurants on their Bulls-Eye BBQ burger,[3] and Rodeo Cheeseburger.[4] It was replaced in 2007 with Sweet Baby Ray's brand sauce.[citation needed]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull%27s-Eye_Barbecue_Sauce

With regard to self-immolation, it should be pointed out that, unlike Jainism, Buddhism is generally against religious suicide350 and self-mutilation (Sheth, 2012: 73-74), but there are exceptions both in Theravada as well as in Mahāyāna. The Theravāda Jātaka tales relate several instances of religious suicide in some of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the most important and well-known Mahāyāna Scriptural text and often referred to briefly as the Lotus Sutra, extols the case of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, who previously, as the Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, burnt his own body as an act of honor (pūjā) accorded to the Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśri and to the Lotus Sutra. It also mentions that youth who burn some part of their body at the relic chambers of the Buddhas gain immense merit (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, ch. 22, pp. 237, 240). Such examples are adduced in order to justify exceptional cases of heroic, altruistic and sublime self-sacrifice of one’s life. For Thich Nhat Hahn self-immolation is neither good nor bad. It transcends the question whether self-immolation is good strategy in peace activism. But we must make an effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the immolators and try to see things with their eyes. They intend to enkindle the awareness of people and awaken them (Nhat Hahn 1975: 62). We had begun our social justice trip in India. Even though we now move on to Tibet, yet, in consonance with the cyclic worldview of Buddhism, we actually return to India: the reason is that the Dalai Lama has established a Tibetan Government in Exile in India.

The Buddha & Jesus

An Anthology of Articles by Jesuits engaged in

Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Faculty of Global Studies

Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093250/https://jcapsj.org/the-buddha-jesus/

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

AI Overview

Racial justice is about achieving a society where people of all races have equal opportunities and outcomes, free from the effects of systemic racism. It goes beyond simply addressing individual acts of discrimination; it requires addressing the root causes of racial oppression and working towards systemic change. This includes dismantling discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and ensuring fair access to resources and opportunities for all, according to Amnesty International.

Key aspects of racial justice include:

Addressing systemic racism:

This involves dismantling discriminatory structures and processes that perpetuate racial inequality in areas like education, housing, employment, and the criminal justice system.

Ensuring equitable outcomes:

This means creating a society where people of all races have equal opportunities to thrive, regardless of their racial background, according to PolicyLink.

Repairing historical harms:

This involves acknowledging and addressing the legacy of past injustices, such as slavery, segregation, and other forms of discrimination, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.

Advocating for policy changes:

This involves working to change laws, policies, and practices that perpetuate racial inequality, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Promoting racial understanding and empathy:

This involves educating people about the history and impact of racism and fostering dialogue and understanding between different racial groups.

Examples of racial justice initiatives include:

Legal challenges to discriminatory practices:

The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations bring lawsuits to challenge discriminatory laws and policies.

Advocacy for policy changes:

Organizations like the NAACP work to influence legislation and policy at all levels of government.

Community organizing and mobilization:

Grassroots movements and organizations empower communities to advocate for their own rights and interests.

Education and awareness programs:

Organizations like the Racial Justice Initiative and Race Forward aim to educate the public about racism and its impact.

In Mount Olympus, Millcreek, UT, individuals and organizations can contribute to racial justice by:

Supporting local organizations: Engage with local organizations working on racial justice issues.

Educating themselves and others: Learn about the history and impact of racism and share that knowledge with others.

Advocating for policy changes: Contact elected officials to advocate for racial justice policies.

Participating in local protests and demonstrations: Support and participate in peaceful protests and demonstrations advocating for racial justice.

Generative AI is experimental.

Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (born 11 October 1948) is a Ghanaian Catholic prelate who has served as chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences since 2022.[1] He was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 2009 to 2017 and the inaugural prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development from 2017 to 2021.[2]

Turkson was previously Archbishop of Cape Coast from 1992 to 2009, and was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003. He has been viewed as papabile, a candidate for election to the papacy, both during the 2013 papal conclave which elected Pope Francis, as well as during the events leading up to the upcoming 2025 papal conclave.

Early life and priesthood

Turkson is an ethnic Fante and was born in Wassa Nsuta in Western Ghana to a Methodist mother and a Catholic father.[3] He is the fourth child of ten children. His mother sold vegetables in the open market while his father worked as a carpenter. He had a paternal uncle who was a Muslim.[4] He studied at St. Teresa's Minor Seminary in Amisano and St. Peter's Regional Seminary in Pedu, Cape Coast, before attending St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, where he graduated with an M.A. in Theology and a Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Amissah on 20 July 1975. Additionally, he earned a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1980. He returned to St Teresa's for a year, 1980–81, and became vice-rector at St Peter's Seminary in 1981. He also did pastoral work in a parish annexed to the seminary. From 1987 to 1992, he pursued doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute but his work on his thesis was interrupted by his appointment as archbishop of Cape Coast.

Episcopal career

On 6 October 1992, Turkson was appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 27 March 1993 from Archbishop Dominic Kodwo Andoh, with Archbishops Peter Poreku Dery and Peter Kwasi Sarpong serving as co-consecrators. He served as President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference from 1997 to 2005, and as Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana beginning in 2003.[citation needed]

John Paul II created Turkson Cardinal-Priest of San Liborio in his final consistory of 21 October 2003. Turkson is the first Ghanaian cardinal and was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the papal conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI and the papal conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis.[citation needed]

Roman Curia

On 24 October 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Turkson president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.[5] Turkson is also a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and, since 4 March 2010, the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.[6] On 12 June 2012, Turkson was appointed a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education.[7]

On 16 October 2010, Pope Benedict named him to a five-year renewable term as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[8][9] Since 2009, Turkson had been president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

In the spring of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI sent Cardinal Turkson as a mediator to contribute to a diplomatic, non-military solution to the civil conflict in Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo had refused, in spite of international condemnation and local protests and resistance, to step aside and hand over power to Alassane Ouattara, the certified winner of the presidential election. Atrocities have been committed by both sides.[10]

In October 2011, Turkson called for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. His text was very specific, calling for taxation measures on financial transactions.[11] It said that "The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence". The document condemned "the idolatry of the market" as well as "neo-liberal thinking" that looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems. "In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale." It added that world economics needed an "ethic of solidarity" among both rich and poor nations.[12][13]

On 13 October 2012, at a Vatican conference of bishops meant to address evangelizing lapsed Catholics, Turkson showed a YouTube video called "Muslim Demographics" that makes alarmist predictions about the growth of Islam in Europe, a video Reuters called "spurious".[14] Vatican Radio described it as a "fear-mongering presentation".[15] It resulted in "the most raucous back-and-forth most synod veterans have ever witnessed."[16] On 15 October, he apologized and said he had only hoped to focus discussion on more practical issues.[15]

Cardinal Turkson pictured in Helsinki, Finland, in 2016

In 2016, Pope Francis sent Turkson as his special envoy to pursue peace in South Sudan: to urge an end to violence in the country, and to help establish dialogue and trust between the warring parties. Turkson traveled to Juba to support the archbishop and to meet with the country's leaders. He also carried with him a letter from Francis for President Salva Kiir and one for Vice President Riek Machar who are historic enemies and represent different ethnic groups.[17]

On 31 August 2016, Pope Francis created the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, naming Turkson as its first prefect, effective 1 January 2017.[18]

Ahead of the World Meeting of Families 2018 in Dublin, Turkson was announced as homilist at the opening ceremony at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow.[19]

On 23 December 2021, Pope Francis ended Turkson's service as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the conclusion of his five-year term, appointing Cardinal Michael Czerny as his temporary replacement.[2]

On 4 April 2022, Pope Francis named him chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.[1]

Turkson speaks English, Fante, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew, in addition to understanding Latin and Greek.[20]

Papabile status

Following the announcement on 11 February 2013 of the planned resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Turkson was identified by the media as a possible candidate for the papacy.[20][21][22][23][24][25] Bookmakers Paddy Power and Ladbrokes made Turkson the favourite to be elected pope,[26] with Paddy Power giving 2/1 odds.[27] Odds variously of 4/1,[28] 11/4 against (by Paddy Power), and 5/4 against (by Ladbrokes) were given.[29] Parties unknown placed fake election posters in Rome with the caption "At the conclave, vote Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson!"[30]

After the death of Pope Francis and with the 2025 papal conclave due to begin in May 2025, Turkson was again seen as papabile, although as of 23 April 2025, Turkson's papabile status is mixed, with The Guardian and BBC News seeing him as the next pope,[31][32] though being omitted from CNN and CBS News' speculation stories.[33][34]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Turkson

Latium is a 1669 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was dedicated to Pope Clement X and a 1671 edition was published in Amsterdam by Johannes van Waesbergen.[1] The work was the first to discuss the topography, archeology and history of the Lazio region.[2] It was based partly on Kircher's extensive walks in the countryside around Rome, although it included sites that he had probably not visited in person.[3] The work included many illustrations of the contemporary countryside, as well as reconstructions of ancient buildings.[4]: 92 It also included an account of his discovery of the ruined sanctuary at Mentorella, which he had already recounted in his 1665 work Historia Eustachio Mariana.[4]: 94

Contents

Kircher’s stated purpose in Latium was to use the physical remains of ancient Latium as illustrations of human mutability and transience.[5] It was divided into five books. The first covered the origins and ancient history of the Latins. The second contained chapters describing (I) the region of Monte Cavo, Lake Albano and the ancient town of Alba Longa; (II) Tusculum; (III) the ancient Praeneste and the modern town of Palestrina, and (IV) the region of Labici and the ancient Hernici tribe. The third book examined the ancient history of Tivoli and the fourth, the countryside and ancient remains around it. The fifth book was devoted to the Pontine marshes.[1][6] The Pontine Marshes to the southeast of Rome had been discussed by Kircher in his 1658 work Scrutinium Physico-Medicum because they were a source of malaria that prevented the agricultural development of the neighbouring region and imposed a heavy burden of disease on its population. Kircher was probably one of the first people to recommend the taking of quinine in Rome to counter malaria. Pope Urban VIII had brought in the Dutch engineer De Wit to begin draining the marshes and in Latium Kircher noted these efforts approvingly, illustrating the devices used to pump out the water.[7]

Ancient history of Latium

In Book I, Kircher advanced the theory that Latium had been populated after the time of the Tower of Babel, or possibly before. Indeed he held that it had originally been settled by Noah, and that this was supported by local legends about Saturn and Janus, who he believed were in fact Noah himself.[5] Thus, he held, the mythological account of the castration of Saturn was a variant of the Biblical story of the discovery of Noah's nakedness by Ham. Such speculative theories were to be developed in his later works Turris Babel and Arca Noë.[8]: 44

During his countryside walks, Kircher was searching for evidence that would allow him to reconstruct the history of the region from its earliest times right up to the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII. Although the timeline he constructed was highly inaccurate, the evidence he gathered was the first attempt at a complete chronological reconstruction of the region’s history.[9]

The Nile mosaic

Around 1600 a Roman mosaic was discovered at the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste. It is known to modern scholarship as "the Nile mosaic" because it is understood to represent the course of the River Nile from the mountains of Ethiopia through Sudan and Egypt to the sea. However in Book III of Latium Kircher offered a completely different interpretation of the piece, based on the idea that it depicted ceremonies in honour of the goddess of fortune. The upper part, he said, depicted wild animals, representing fortune's dangers. He noted that the people of ancient Praeneste were devotees of Hercules, who was famous for having destroyed monsters and overcome ill fortune. Beneath this, he said, was depicted the veneration of the goddess and consultation of her oracle. He correctly identified the temple of Serapis but this did not serve as a clue of the mosaic's real subject. At the bottom there are festivals and processions in honour of the goddess.[4]: 87–88

Illustrations

Latium was published in folio with 27 engraved plates. These included illustrations, maps, and plans, including 15 double-page foldouts.[10] The illustrations included views of the countryside, sculptures, mosaics, coins and mechanical devices such as watermills.[6]

The frontispiece was by Romeyn de Hooghe. It depicted a seated figure of the genius loci Latia. On one side of her stands a mountain on which Atlas hold up the world, and on the other figures a volcano. These emblems represent, perhaps, the temporal and spiritual power of Rome respectively. Above her hang both ancient and contemporary arms. Romulus and Remus and their she-wolf adopted mother play behind her back while a putto presents her with the papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter. She is wearing regalia that show that her presence and her power are intimately connected with the Catholic Church.[3] Her crown identifies her as the protector of a city, and the star above it is the symbols of the Chigi family to which Pope Alexander VII belonged. She holds a long sceptre topped with the hand of justice and her eyes fall on a mitre, a cardinal's hat, and other Catholic religious objects. Her robe covers the imperial eagle and her foot rests on the orb of temporal power, indicating her primacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Beneath Latia is inscribed the Latin motto 'Latium cui par nihil est, nihil Secundu' ('Latium, to which none is equal, and second to none'). At the bottom of the illustration the male figures are the gods of the river Tiber and its Tivoli tributary the Aniene. The female figure with butterfly wings is the goddess of the Aniene, otherwise Ino, resting on symbols of her mythological shipwreck.[4]: 39

The imagery of the frontispiece was intended to emphasise the purpose of Kircher’s claim that his contemporary Rome was connected not just to the ancient city that preceded it, but to a both the ancient classical and biblical worlds. The figure of Latia was Etruscan, the sceptre she hold resembled the regalia of ancient Egypt, while Greece was represented by the winged figure of Ino.[9]

The illustration depicting the apotheosis of Homer was signed by Giovanni Battista Galestruzzi. The aerial view of Palestrina and the plate of the Nile mosaic were signed by Agapito de Bernardini.[6]: 178 [4]: 51 The maps in the book were the work of Innocenzo Mattei.[11] The book also reused a number of earlier illustrations from previously published works, by Étienne Dupérac, Daniele Stoopendahl and Matteo Greuter. The image of the reconstruction of Hadrian’s villa was a replica of the illustration by Francesco Contini and the image of the temple of Fortune was a replica of a piece by Domenico Castelli.[6]: 182

Critical reception

The work was criticised by many scholars of Kircher’s time for its inaccuracies and speculations about ancient history. Raffaello Fabretti pointed out that Kircher’s text was full of mistakes,[5] his images of aqueducts were inaccurate and his map wrongly located the source of the Aqua Virgo near Colonna.[12] Kircher intended to write a similar work on Etruria, entitled Iter Etruscum, but this was never published, because the Jesuit censors would not approve it.[3][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latium_(1669)

THE American Capitol abounds with clues of its Roman origins. “Freedom,” the Roman goddess whose statue crowns the dome, was created in Rome at the studio of American sculptor Thomas Crawford. We find a whole pantheon of Roman deities in the great fresco covering the dome’s interior rotunda: Persephone, Ceres, Freedom, Vulcan, Mercury, even a deified George Washington. These figures were the creation of Vatican artist Constantino Brumidi. The fact that the national Statehouse evolved as a “capitol” bespeaks Roman influence. No building can rightly be called a capitol unless it’s a temple of Jupiter, the great father-god of Rome who ruled heaven with his thunderbolts and nourished the earth with his fertilizing rains. If it was a capitolium, it belonged to Jupiter and his priests. Jupiter’s mascot was the eagle, which the founding fathers made their mascot as well. A Roman eagle tops the governing idol of the House of Representatives, a forty-six-inch sterling silverand- ebony wand called a “mace.” The mace is “the symbol of authority in the House.”4 W h e n the Sergeant-at-arms displays it before an unruly member of Congress, the mace restores order. Its position at the rostrum tells whether the House is in “committee” or in “session.” America’s national motto “Annuit Coeptis” came from a prayer to Jupiter. It appears in Book IX of Virgil’s epic propaganda, the Aeneid, a poem commissioned just before the birth of Christ by Caius Maecenas, the multi-billionaire power behind Augustus Caesar. The poem’s objective was to fashion Rome into an imperial monarchy for which its citizens would gladly sacrifice their lives. Fascism may be an ugly word to many, but its stately emblem is apparently offensive to no one. T h e emblem of fascism, a pair of them, commands the wall above and behind the speaker’s rostrum in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. They’re called fasces, and I can think of no reason for them to be there other than to declare the fascistic nature of American republican democracy. 6 A fasces is a Roman device. Actually, it originated with the ancient Etruscans, from whom the earliest Romans derived their religious jurisprudence nearly three thousand years ago. It’s an axe-head whose handle is a bundle of rods tightly strapped together by a red sinew. It symbolizes the ordering of priestly functions into a single infallible sovereign, an autocrat who could require life and limb of his subjects. If the fasces is entwined with laurel, like the pair on the House wall, it signifies Caesarean military power. The Romans called this infallible sovereign Pontifex Maximus, “Supreme Bridgebuilder.” No Roman was called Pontifex Maximus until the title was given to Julius Caesar in 48 BC. Today’s Pontifex Maximus is Pope John Paul II. As we shall discover in a forthcoming chapter, John Paul does not hold that title alone. He shares it with a mysterious partner, a military man, a man holding an office that has been known for more than four centuries as “Papa Nero,” the Black Pope. I shall present evidence that the House fasces represent the Black Pope, who indeed rules the world. Later, I will develop what is sure to become a controversial hypothesis: that the Black Pope rules by divine appointment, and for the ultimate good of mankind.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://archive.org/details/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy_202201/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy/

Pope Addresses Congress

Blesses crowd outside the Capitol

Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 24.

The Pope, who became the first pontiff to address Congress, thanked lawmakers for their warm welcome.

"I am most grateful for your invitation to address this joint session of Congress," he said.

"Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives."

Before the speech, House Speaker John Boehner met with Pope Francis in a room outside the House chamber, where the Pope complimented the Speaker's green tie, saying it was the "color of hope."

After his remarks, Pope Francis stopped in Statuary Hall, where he blessed a statue of Junipero Serra, an 18th century Spanish missionary, whom the Pope had canonized the previous evening. Serra is the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil and his statue is one of two California has in the Capitol collection.

Pope Francis, Speaker Boehner, Vice President Joe Biden, and other Congressional leaders then stepped out onto the Speaker's balcony, where the Pope blessed a crowd who cheered "papa, papa."

Speaking in Spanish, he greeted the crowd with "Buenos Dias."

"I am so grateful for your presence," he told the crowd via a translator.

http://www.speaker.gov/pope [ Link changed in new Congress, content kept for historical reasons. ] Speaker Boehner's behind-the-scenes photos and video on his website of the Pope's visit.

https://www.house.gov/feature-stories/2015-9-24-pope-addresses-congress

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.

In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]

Background

See also: 2024 United States elections

The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]

Electoral system

Main article: United States Electoral College

See also: United States presidential primary and Primary elections in the United States

The president and vice president of the United States are elected through the Electoral College, determined by the number of senators and representatives with an additional three representatives for Washington, D.C. A majority of 270 votes is needed to win the election. Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all system, in which states award all of their electors to the winner of the popular vote. In Maine and Nebraska, two votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, while each of the individual congressional districts have one vote. Electoral votes are certified by state electors in December and by Congress on January 6.[12] Presidential candidates are selected in a presidential primary, conducted through primary elections run by state governments or caucuses run by state parties which bind convention delegates to candidates.[13] A brokered convention occurs when a candidate does not receive a majority of votes on the first round of voting,[14] or when a candidate withdraws.[15]

Election Day in the United States has been held on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday in November.[16] Previously, states could determine their own Election Day prior to the first Wednesday in December. The 2028 presidential election will occur on November 7, 2028.[17]

Eligibility

The United States Constitution limits occupancy of the presidency to individuals who are at least thirty-five, who have been a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years, and who are a natural-born citizen.[18] Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents current and former federal, state, and military officials from holding office—including the presidency—if they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States;[19] in March 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Trump v. Anderson that former president Donald Trump could seek office after challenges to his ballot eligibility were raised by several state attorneys general.[20] A convicted felon may serve as president.[21] Elon Musk, who emerged as a political influencer in the 2024 presidential election, is ineligible to serve as president as he was born in South Africa and is a naturalized citizen.[22]

Trump is ineligible to be elected to a third term, as the Twenty-Second Amendment forbids any person from being elected president more than twice.[23] Nonetheless, he has repeatedly suggested running for a third term, an idea supported by several of his allies, including Steve Bannon.[24] In January 2025, Tennessee representative Andy Ogles proposed a resolution to amend the Twenty-Second Amendment, allowing for presidents who have served two non-consecutive terms to seek a third term. The verbiage of the amendment would prevent living presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, all currently ineligible under the 22nd Amendment, from running for a third term.[25] At CPAC 2025, conservative groups, such as the Third Term Project, supported the Ogles resolution and promoted the idea of Trump running for an as-yet unconstitutional third term.[26][27] In response, New York Democratic representative Dan Goldman planned to introduce a resolution affirming the Twenty-Second Amendment.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election

Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.

Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.

Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

Kali (/ˈkɑːliː/; Sanskrit: काली, IAST: Kālī), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. The origins of Kali can be traced to the pre-Vedic and Vedic era Goddess worship traditions in Ancient India.[1] Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition and is the supreme deity in the Kalikula worship tradition.[2]

The first major appearance of Kali in the Sanskrit literature was in the sixth-century CE text Devi Mahatmya.[1] Kali appears in numerous stories, with her most famous being when she sprang from the goddess Durga's fury to defeat the demon Raktabija. She is stated to destroy evil and defend the innocent. Kali is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.[3][4][5]

Shakta and Tantric sects additionally worship Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman.[5] She is also seen as the divine protector and bestower of moksha (liberation).[3] Worshipped throughout South Asia but particularly in Nepal, Southern India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is a central figure in the goddess-centric traditions of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism.[1][6]

Etymology

The term Kali is derived from Kala, which is mentioned quite differently in Sanskrit.[7] The homonym kālá (time) is distinct from kāla (black), but these became associated through popular etymology.[8] Kali is then understood as "she who is the ruler of time", or "she who is black".[7] Kālī is the goddess of time or death and the consort of Shiva.[9] She is called Kali Mata ("the dark mother") and also kālī, which can be read here either as a proper name or as a description: "the dark (or black) one".[8]

Origins

Although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7).[10] Kali originated as a tantric and non-Vedic goddess. Her roots are most probably connected to the Pre-Aryan period.[11] According to Indologist Wendy Doniger, Kali's origins can be traced to the deities of the Pre-Vedic village, tribal, and mountain cultures of South Asia who were gradually appropriated and transformed by the Sanskritic traditions.[1]

Legends

Her most well-known appearance is on the battlefield in the sixth century text Devi Mahatmyam. The deity of the first chapter of Devi Mahatmyam is Mahakali, who appears from the body of sleeping Vishnu as goddess Yoga Nidra to wake him up in order to protect Brahma and the world from two asuras (demons), Madhu-Kaitabha. When Vishnu woke up he started a war against the two asuras. After a long battle with Vishnu, the two demons were undefeated and Mahakali took the form of Mahamaya to enchant the two asuras. When Madhu and Kaitabha were enchanted by Mahakali, Vishnu killed them.[12]

In later chapters, the story of two asuras who were destroyed by Kali can be found. Chanda and Munda attack the goddess Kaushiki. Kaushiki responds with such anger that it causes her face to turn dark, resulting in Kali appearing out of her forehead. Kali's appearance is dark blue, gaunt with sunken eyes, wearing a tiger skin sari and a garland of human heads. She immediately defeats the two asuras. Later in the same battle, the asura Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground. Countless Raktabija clones appear on the battlefield. Kali eventually defeats him by sucking his blood before it can reach the ground, and eating the numerous clones. Kinsley writes that Kali represents "Durga's personified wrath, her embodied fury".[12]

Other origin stories involve Parvati and Shiva. Parvati is typically portrayed as a benign and friendly goddess. The Linga Purana describes Shiva asking Parvati to defeat the asura Daruka, who received a boon that would only allow a female to kill him. Parvati merges with Shiva's body, reappearing as Kali to defeat Daruka and his armies. Her bloodlust gets out of control, only calming when Shiva intervenes. The Vamana Purana has a different version of Kali's relationship with Parvati. When Shiva addresses Parvati as Kali, "the dark blue one", she is greatly offended. Parvati performs austerities to lose her dark complexion and becomes Gauri, the golden one. Her dark sheath becomes Kaushiki, who while enraged, creates Kali.[12]

In the Devi Bhagavata Purana, Kali turns black out of rage, while battling the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.[7]: 221

Slayer of Raktabīja

In Kāli's most famous legend, Durga and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabīja, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that drips from Raktabīja, he reproduces a duplicate of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates.[12] Durga summons Kāli to combat the demons. This episode is described in the Devi Mahatmyam, Kali is depicted as being fierce, clad in a tiger's skin and armed with a sword and noose. She has deep, red eyes with tongue lolling out as she catches drops of Raktabīja's blood before they fall to the ground and create duplicates.[13]

Kali consumes Raktabīja and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain.[12] In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda.[13]: 72 Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.[12]: 241 Footnotes

Iconography and forms

The goddess has two depictions: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali avatar. In both, she is described as being black in colour, though she is often seen as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication and rage. Her hair is disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. Sometimes she dons a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. Other times, she is seen wearing a tiger skin. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on the calm and prostrate Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular dakṣiṇācāra ("right-hand path"), as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive vamachara ("left-hand path").[14] These serpents and jackals are shown to drink Raktabīja's blood as it drips out of his head while the goddess carries the head in her hand, preventing it from falling on the ground.

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali, she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.[15]

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as "possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotus, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful".[16]

Popular form

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a Khadga (crescent-shaped sword or a giant sickle), a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapāla) collecting the blood of the severed head.

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The sword signifies divine knowledge and the human head signifies human ego which must be slain by divine knowledge in order to attain moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.[16]: 477

She wears a garland of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a japa mala or rosary for repetition of mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.[16]: 475

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above Prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is Brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities—she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, and bad do not apply to her.[16]: 463–488

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS

Another general rule for predicting oppositions of Mars is from the following: the planet has an approximate 15.8-year periodic opposition cycle, which consists of three or four Aphelic oppositions and three consecutive Perihelic oppositions. Perihelic oppositions are also called "favorable" because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other on those occasions. We sometimes refer to this as the seven Martian synodic periods. This cycle is repeated every 79 years (± 4 to 5 days) and, if one were to live long enough, one would see this cycle nearly replicated in approximately 284 years. The 2031 Mars apparition is considered Transitional (between Aphelic and Perihelic) because the orbital longitude at opposition will be 68.4° from the aphelion longitude of 70° Ls and 111.6° Ls from perihelion (250° Ls).

NOTE: Ls is the planetocentric longitude of the Sun along the ecliptic of Mars’ sky. 0° Ls is defined as that point where the Sun crosses the Martian celestial equator from south to north, that is the planet’s northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The other Ls values that define the beginnings of Martian northern hemisphere seasons are: summer, 90° Ls; autumn, 180° Ls; and winter, 270° Ls. For Mars’ southern hemisphere these values represent the opposite seasons. Distance (A.U.) - Distance from Earth to Mars in astronomical units, where one (1) A.U. equals 92,955,807.267 miles or 149,597,870.691 km.

Opposition occurs 11 months after conjunction when Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At that time, the two planets will lie nearly in a straight line with respect to the Sun, or five weeks after retrogression begins. Opposition will occur at 1157 UT on May 04, 2031 (138.4° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.7 arcsec. Mars will remain visible for more than twelve months after opposition and then become lost in the glare of the Sun around May 31, 2032 as it approaches the next conjunction (July 11, 2032). The cycle is complete in 780 Earth days.

Closest approach occurs at 0350 UT on May 12, 2031 (142.1° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.9 at a distance of 0.5533578 astronomical units (AU) or 51,437,823 miles (82,781,152 km). During closest approach in 2031 the apparent diameter of Mars will be 2.4 arcsec larger than it was at the same period in 2029; however, it will be 17.1 degrees lower in the sky - not quite as good for observing the Red Planet for observers in the northern hemisphere. It should also be noted that closest approach between Earth and Mars is not necessarily coincident with the time of opposition but varies by as much as two weeks.

https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm

Devī (/ˈdeɪvi/;[1] Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is deva. Devi and deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.

The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. However, they did not play a vital role in that era.[2] Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati and Sita have continued to be revered in the modern era.[2] The medieval era Puranas witness a major expansion in mythology and literature associated with Devi, with texts such as the Devi Mahatmya, wherein she manifests as the ultimate truth and supreme power. She has inspired the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Further, Devi is viewed as central in the Hindu traditions of Shaktism and Shaivism.[2][3]

Etymology

Devi and deva are Sanskrit terms found in Vedic literature around the 3rd millennium BCE. Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is devi.[4] Monier-Williams translates it as 'heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones'.[5][6] Etymologically, a cognate of devi is Latin dea.[7] When capitalised, Devi maata refers to the mother goddess in Hinduism.[8] Deva is short for devatā and devi for devika.[5]

According to Douglas Harper, the etymological root dev- means "a shining one", from *div-, "to shine", it is an Indo-European cognate of the Greek dios, Gothic divine and Latin deus (Old Latin deivos); see also *Dyēus.[9]

A synonym for the word Devi in the Vedas is Bhagavati. Bhagavatī (Devanagari: भगवती, IAST: Bhagavatī), is an Indian epithet of Sanskrit origin, used as an honorific title for goddesses in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, it is primarily used to address the goddesses Lakshmi and Durga. In Buddhism, it is used to refer to several Mahayana Buddhist female deities, like Cundā.[10]

History

The worship of Devi-like deities dates back to period of Indus Valley civilisation.[11][12]

The Devīsūkta of the Rigveda (10.125.1 to 10.125.8) is among the most studied hymns declaring that the ultimate reality is a goddess:[13][14]

I have created all worlds at my will without being urged by any higher Being, and dwell within them. I permeate the earth and heaven, and all created entities with my greatness and dwell in them as eternal and infinite consciousness.

— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.8, Translated by June McDaniel[15][16]

The Vedas name numerous cosmic goddesses such as Devi (power), Prithvi (earth), Aditi (cosmic moral order), Vāc (sound), Nirṛti (destruction), Ratri (night) and Aranyani (forest); bounty goddesses such as Dinsana, Raka, Puramdhi, Parendi, Bharati and Mahi are among others are mentioned in the Rigveda.[2]: 6–17, 55–64 However, the goddesses are not discussed as frequently as gods (devas).[2] Devi appears in late Vedic texts dated to be pre-Buddhist, but verses dedicated to her do not suggest that her characteristics were fully developed in the Vedic era.[2]: 18–19 All gods and goddesses are distinguished in Vedic times,[2]: 18 but in post-Vedic texts, particularly in the early medieval era literature, they are ultimately seen as aspects or manifestations of one Devi, the Supreme Power.[17]

Devi is the supreme being in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism; in the Smarta tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of Brahman that is revered.[18][19] In other Hindu traditions, Devi embodies the active energy and power of Deva, and they always appear together complementing each other. Examples of this are Parvati with Shiva in Shaivism, Saraswati with Brahma in Brahmanism and Lakshmi with Vishnu, Sita with Rama and Radha with Krishna in Vaishnavism.[20][21][22]

Devi-inspired philosophy is propounded in many Hindu texts such as the Devi Upanishad, which teaches that Shakti is essentially Brahman (ultimate metaphysical Reality) and that from her arises prakṛti (matter) and purusha (consciousness) and that she is bliss and non-bliss, the Vedas and what is different from it, the born and the unborn and all of the universe. Shakti is Parvati, Shiva’s wife. [23] She is also mentioned as the creative power of Shiva in Tripura Upanishad, Bahvricha Upanishad and Guhyakali Upanishad.[13]

Devi identifies herself in the Devi Upanishad as Brahman in her reply to the gods stating that she rules the world, blesses devotees with riches, that she is the supreme deity to whom all worship is to be offered and that she infuses Ātman in every soul.[23] Devi asserts that she is the creator of earth and heaven and resides there.[13] Her creation of the sky as father and the seas as the mother is reflected as the 'Inner Supreme Self'.[13] Her creations are not prompted by any higher being and she resides in all her creations. She is, states Devi, the eternal and infinite consciousness engulfing earth and heaven, and 'all forms of bliss and non-bliss, knowledge and ignorance, Brahman and Non-Brahman'. The tantric aspect in Devi Upanishad, says June McDaniel, is the usage of the terms yantra, bindu, bija, mantra, shakti and chakra.[13]

Among the major world religions, the concept of Goddess in Hinduism as the divine feminine has had the strongest presence since ancient times.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi

The name Monita has its roots in India and is derived from the Sanskrit word manita, which means 'honored' or 'respected.' This ancient name reflects the cultural traditions and values of Indian society, where respect and honor hold great significance. Monita has been prominent in Indian history since ancient times, often given to those who were esteemed for their noble character and high social standing. In historical texts and scriptures, the name Monita is often associated with individuals who were recognized for their wisdom, integrity, and leadership qualities.

In modern-day usage, the name Monita continues to evoke a sense of honor and respect. It is a popular name choice among families who value tradition and wish to bestow upon their child a name that reflects these virtues. Monita is often given to female children, symbolizing the strength and dignity they possess. In some cases, the name Monita is also used as a name, further emphasizing the family's heritage and the importance they place on respect and honor.

Overall, the name Monita has a rich history rooted in Indian culture and embodies the values of honor and respect. From ancient times to the present day, this name has stood as a testament to the qualities that society holds in high regard and continues to be cherished by families who wish to pass on these values to future generations.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/monita

Monita

A Latin word meaning "instructions":

Monita, work by Abbot Porcarius I of Lérins (c. 500)

Monita Secreta, an alleged code of instructions of the Jesuits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monita

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

History and development

Floor and table designs

In the eighteenth century Masonic lodges met chiefly in private rooms above taverns, and the symbolic designs used in catechesis were chalked on the table or floor in the centre of the hired room, usually by the Tyler or the Worshipful Master.[2] Evidence suggests that a simple boundary was drawn (usually a square or rectangle, or sometimes a cross) within which various Masonic symbols were added, often of a geometric type (such as a circle or pentagram). In many lodges the boundary shape may have been drawn by the Tyler, with the Master adding the symbolic detail. Later various symbolic objects were incorporated, examples including a ladder, a beehive, and an hourglass, and sometimes drawings were interchangeable with physical objects.[3] At the end of the work a new member was often required to erase the drawing with a mop, as a practical demonstration of his obligation of secrecy.

Though the various Grand Lodges were then generally hostile to the creation of any physical representations of the ritual and symbols of the Craft, the time-consuming business of redrawing the symbols at every meeting was gradually replaced by keeping a removable "floor cloth" on which the various symbols were painted. Different portions might be exposed according to the work being executed.[4] By the second half of the eighteenth century the Masonic symbols were being painted on a variety of removable materials ranging from small marble slabs to canvas, to give a more decorative and elaborate symbolic display.

Painted boards

During the nineteenth century there was a rapid expansion of the use of permanent painted tracing boards, usually painted on canvas and framed in wood. Many artists produced competing designs, and most lodges commissioned sets of bespoke boards which were therefore of a unique design, despite following common themes. Some designs became particularly popular, leading to some repetition of favoured design features. Boards by John Cole and Josiah Bowring were examples of popularly recurring designs.[5]

The English artist John Harris was initiated in 1818 and produced many different series of tracing boards, including a miniature set of 1823 which became popular after Harris dedicated the design to Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).[6] Eventually the Emulation Lodge of Improvement sought to bring a measure of standardisation in tracing board design, and organised a competition in 1845, to which many different designs were submitted. Harris himself submitted at least two different sets to the competition, but one of his designs was the winner. Harris revised the designs in 1849, and these "Emulation" tracing boards are today considered a definitive design within British and Commonwealth Freemasonry.[7]

Contemporary use

In lodges under the UGLE, and many jurisdictions derived from English Freemasonry, tracing boards are an essential part of lodge furniture, sometimes displayed flat on the floor, and sometimes vertically against a pedestal or on the wall. Sets of three boards, usually of older designs, may often be found in special cases for storage and display within lodge rooms. There are sometimes tracing boards in other degrees.[8] The Royal Arch tracing board has fallen into disuse in most places, and examples are now rare. In the Mark Master Mason and Royal Ark Mariner degrees as administered from London, the tracing boards have experienced a great revival in popularity from the end of the twentieth century, and official rituals for the explanations of these tracing boards are again in regular use in English lodges.

As different Masonic jurisdictions established official, or standard, degree rituals the creation of new tracing boards by artists waned, and has since largely disappeared in favour of standard designs. Nonetheless, some masonic artists have experimented with very modern designs for the twenty-first century.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Mallotus philippensis is a plant in the spurge family. It is known as the kamala tree or red kamala or kumkum tree, due to the fruit covering, which produces a red dye. However, it must be distinguished from kamala meaning "lotus" in many Indian languages, an unrelated plant, flower, and sometimes metonymic spiritual or artistic concept. Mallotus philippensis has many other local names. This kamala often appears in rainforest margins. Or in disturbed areas free from fire, in moderate to high rainfall areas.

It occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as Afghanistan and Australia. The southernmost limit of natural distribution is Mount Keira, south of Sydney. The species name refers to the type specimen being collected in the Philippines, where it is known as banato.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallotus_philippensis

Revelation 22

1599 Geneva Bible

22 1 The river of water of life is showed, 2 and the tree of life: 6, 7 Then followeth the conclusion of this prophecy, 8 where John declareth, that the things herein contained are most true. 13 And now the third time repeateth these words, All things come from him, who is the beginning and the end.

1 And [a]he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and of either side of the river was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and gave fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree served to heal the nations with.

3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.

4 And they shall see his face, and his Name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the Sun: for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for evermore.

6 [b]And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be fulfilled.

7 Behold, I come shortly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.

8 And I am John, which saw and heard these things: and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which showed me these things.

9 But he said unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them which keep the words of this book: worship God.

10 [c]And he said unto me, [d]Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

11 [e]He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 [f]And behold, I come shortly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they, that do his Commandments, [g]that their right may be in the tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.

15 For without shall be dogs and enchanters, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth or maketh lies.

16 [h]I Jesus have sent mine Angel, to testify unto you these things in the Churches: I am the root and the generation of David, and the bright morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come: and let him that is athirst, come: and let whosoever will, take of the water of life freely.

18 [i]For I protest unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

19 And if any man shall diminish of the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy City, and from those things which are written in this book.

20 [j]He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly, Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

21 [k]The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, AMEN.

THE END

Footnotes

Revelation 22:1 Here is absolved and finished the description of the celestial Church (as I showed before, Rev. 21:12) by the effects in 5 verses, and then this book is concluded in the rest of the chapter. The effects proceeding from God, who dwelleth in the Church are these: the everlasting grace of God in this verse, the eternal living of the godly, as Rev. 2:7, the eternal fruits which the godly bring forth unto God, themselves and others, verse 2, freedom and immunity from all evil, God himself taking pleasure in his servants and they likewise in their God, verse 3. The beholding and sight of God, and sealing of the faithful from all eternity, verse 4, the light of God, and an everlasting kingdom and glory, verse 5.

Revelation 22:6 The whole book is concluded and made up by a confirmation, and a salutation. The confirmation hath three places: The words of the Angel unto verse 15, the words of Christ: verses 16, 17, and the obtestation made by S. John from divine authority, thence unto verse 20. By speech of the Angel this prophecy is confirmed unto verse 8 and then he speaketh of the use of this book in the verses following. The prophecy is first confirmed by the Angel from the nature thereof, that it is faithful and true. Secondly from the nature of the efficient cause, both principal which is God, and instrumental, which is the Angel in this verse. Thirdly from the promises of God concerning his coming to effect all these things, and concerning our salvation, verse 7. Fourthly, from the testification of S. John himself, verse 8. The rest of the speech of the angel tending to the same and S. John interrupted or brake off by his unadvised act of worshipping him, in the same verse which the Angel forbidding, teacheth him that adoration must be given not to him, but only to God, as for himself, that he is of such nature and office, as he may not be adored: which thing also was in like manner done, Rev. 16:10.

Revelation 22:10 The Angel returneth unto his former speech: in which he teacheth the use of this book, both towards ourselves, in this and the next verse and in respect of God for declaration of his truth, thence unto verse 15.

Revelation 22:10 That is, propound this prophecy openly unto all, and conceal no part of it. The contrary whereunto is commanded, Isa. 8:6 and Dan. 8:26.

Revelation 22:11 An objection prevented. But there will be some that will abuse this occasion unto evil, and will wrest this Scripture unto their own destruction, as Peter saith. What then saith the Angel, the mysteries of God must not therefore be concealed, which it hath pleased him to communicate unto us. Let them be hurtful unto others, let such be more and more vile in themselves, whom this Scripture doth not please: yet others shall be further conformed thereby unto righteousness and true holiness. The care and reformation of these may not be neglected, because of the voluntary and malicious offense of others.

Revelation 22:12 The second place belonging unto the use of this book, as I said, verse 10. Also (saith God by the Angel) though there should be no use of this book unto men: yet it shall be of this use unto me, that it is a witness of my truth unto my glory, who will come shortly to give and execute just judgment, in this verse: who have taught that all these things have their being in me, in verse 13, and have denounced blessedness unto my servants in the Church, verse 14, and reprobation unto the ungodly, verse 15.

Revelation 22:14 The blessedness of the godly set down by their title and interest thereunto: and their fruit in the same.

Revelation 22:16 The second place of confirmation, as I said, is the speech of Christ, ratifying the vocation of S. John, and the authority of his calling and testimony, both from the condition of his own person being God and man, in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen, 2 Cor. 1:20: and also from the testification of other persons, by the acclamation of the holy Ghost, who here is as it were an honorable assistant of the marriage of the Church as the spouse: and of every of the godly as members: and finally from the thing present, that of their own knowledge and accord they are called forth unto the participation of the good things of God, verse 17.

Revelation 22:18 The obtestation of Saint John (which is the third place of the confirmation, as was noted, verse 6) joined with a curse of execration, to preserve the truth of this book entire and uncorrupted, in two verses.

Revelation 22:20 A divine confirmation or sealing of the obtestation: first from Christ avouching the same, and denouncing his coming against all those that shall put their sacrilegious hands hereunto: then from Saint John himself, who by a most holy prayer calleth Christ to take vengeance of them.

Revelation 22:21 The salutation Apostolical, which is the other place of the conclusion, as I said, verse 6, and is the end of almost every Epistle: which we wish unto the Church, and to all the holy and elect members thereof in Christ Jesus our Lord, until his coming to judgment, Come Lord Jesus, and do it. Amen, again, Amen.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2022&version=GNV

Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English retired musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed shortly before the band achieved worldwide fame and is one of several people referred to as a fifth Beatle.

Best's mother, Mona Best (1924–1988), opened the Casbah Coffee Club in the cellar of the Bests' house in Liverpool. The Beatles (at the time known as the Quarrymen) played some of their first concerts at the club. The Beatles invited Best to join the band on 12 August 1960, on the eve of the group's first Hamburg season of club dates. Ringo Starr eventually replaced Best on 16 August 1962 when the group's manager, Brian Epstein, fired Best at the request of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison following the band's first recording session. Over 30 years later, Best received a significant monetary payout for his work with the Beatles after the release of their 1995 compilation of their early recordings on Anthology 1; Best played the drums on 10 of the album's tracks, including the Decca auditions.

After working in several commercially unsuccessful groups, Best gave up being in the music industry to work as a civil servant for 20 years before starting the Pete Best Band.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Best

Temple of Dekka

Location:

This Temple is located about 100 kilometers south of the Aswan High Dam , in what we refer to today as Nubia. It was moved to the site of el-Sebua , about 40 kilometers upstream, between 1962 and 1968, because of the impendent flooding of the region as a result of the High Dam.

Who built it ?

There are many different opinions about this point. Some scholar says that this temple was built in the 18th dynasty , especially Queen Hatshepsute and King Tutmosis III reign, as they found number of blocks referring to God Horus to whom they dedicate this temple .

Other scholar say that it was actually built by the Nubian king, Akamani, who the Greeks called Ergamenes, in about 220 BC, other scholars claim that it dates as earlier as Ptolemy II Philadelphus 282-246

Explanation

El-Dakka was known to the Egyptians as Pselqet and to the Greeks as Pselchis. This Temple nowadays, sits on a small bluff.

It Consists of a facade, pylon, a courtyard and two sanctuaries. It is considered the only Nubian temple with a facade that faces to the north and oriented north-south to parallel the course of the Nile.

The pylon of the temple is now separated from the remainder of the temple due to the missing enclosure walls of the open court. Above the entrance of the pylon, a solar disk with a uraeus extends its wings. On the southern side of the temple, a small entrance leads into the interior of the pylon and to a stairway that communicates with several internal rooms.

After the open courtyard, the facade of the pronaosis adorned with reliefs of a Ptolemaic King sacrificing to various deities. Beyond the pronaos, the temple has two sanctuaries, one built by Arkamani and then a second one added by Augustus.

It contains many reliefs which depicted the Nubian king making offerings to local gods of Aswan . Some of the best of these reliefs portray Anqet, the goddess of Aswan with her elaborate feathered headdress, and the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. Other scenes depict the king making offerings to not only Thoth, but also Isis and Tefnut.

The temple is decorated with many religion scenes and important relief.Like most of the other Nubian monuments it was converted into a church during the Christian era.

It should also be noted that at the modern site of El-Dakka temple, not only do we find the temple of El-Sebua , but also the small Maharraka temple, dating from Roman times and dedicated to Serapis and Isis. Interestingly, this small temple contains the only spiral staircase in any Nubian temple

https://www.memphistours.com/egypt/wikitravel/attractions-aswan/wiki/temple-of-dekka

The Egyptian Scarab Beetle And It’s Meaning

Nestled within the annals of ancient Egyptian history is a creature that transcends the boundaries of entomology and transforms into a potent symbol of profound significance—the scarab beetle. Revered by the Egyptians for its mysterious life cycle and symbolic attributes, the scarab beetle has left an indelible mark on the rich tapestry of Egyptian culture and spirituality.

In this exploration, we journeyed through time, delving into the Egyptian scarab beetle’s symbolism, mythology, and cultural resonance. From its humble origins in the sacred landscapes of the Nile to its elevation as a powerful emblem in art, religion, and daily life, the scarab beetle encapsulates a captivating story that stretches across millennia.

What does the scarab beetle mean in ancient Egypt?

Sometimes when we travel, we can get to know other cultures, or indeed be surprised by traditions and symbols that we have heard about from others that we can’t believe until we see them first hand. This time we want to talk to you about what the scarab means in Egypt and why it has so much symbolism.

The scarab symbol appears very often in hieroglyphs, statues, and sculptures. When visiting monuments in Egypt, the familiar representation of the typical scarab beetle shape is everywhere, whether in drawings, statues, or on stone. But what does it mean, and what is the significance of this symbol? [ Read a full article about the famous ancient Egyptian symbols and their meaning ]

The scarab has been deified during Ancient Egypt. Its shape was related to the god Jepri in the graphic representation (human body and scarab face). However, normally, people referred to the scarab as Ra, the creator of the universe, one of the most important gods in the Egyptian pantheon.

The reason that the scarab is so often depicted in everything from hieroglyphs to jewelry, statues, and engravings is due to the popular belief that it was an amulet of protection against disease and death.

It was also interpreted as a symbol of resurrection. Not only did it protect those who wore it as an amulet while alive from illness, but when placed next to the dead it meant that they could be resurrected and thus attain eternal life.

The scarab beetle and mummification facts in ancient Egypt

During the mummification process, the deceased’s heart was often compared to a granite engraving in which several scarabs were carved. As I have already mentioned, it was a true belief that the protection of this amulet continued after death, when the deceased would meet Osiris. In this way, he could attain eternal life beyond the earthly one.

The scarab symbol is often engraved on the sarcophagi or tomb rooms in the Valley of the Kings and Queens at Luxor, as well as in other tombs around the country. This is a clear example of how the protection of the scarab as an amulet was believed to function.

The cult of this symbol, framed within the cult of death itself, was represented by a scarab that was usually carved in greenstone and placed on the chest of the deceased. The location was not accidental, as in this way the scarab could protect the heart and replace it during mummification.

The purpose of this symbol, also known as the “heart scarab”, was to ensure that the heart would not testify against the deceased at the judgment of the dead. The texts on sarcophagi found with these amulets also state that the souls of the deceased could be reincarnated and thus reborn as humans, gods, or birds.

Even today it is still believed that the scarab functions as a good luck charm. In many markets in Egypt, you can buy small scarabs carved from lapis lazuli or other stones (usually bluish), which are sold to hang around your neck or carry in your wallet.

Significance of the Scarab Beetle in Ancient Egypt

The scarab beetle was significant in ancient Egyptian culture and religion, playing a prominent role in their society. The significance of the scarab beetle can be traced back to the early dynastic period (circa 3100 BCE) and continued throughout ancient Egyptian history. Here are some key aspects of its significance:

Symbol of Regeneration and Rebirth: The scarab beetle was associated with regeneration and rebirth. Ancient Egyptians observed the beetle emerging from dung balls, in which they laid eggs, symbolizing the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. This natural behavior of the scarab beetle influenced its symbolism in Egyptian religious beliefs.

Representation of the Sun God Ra: The scarab beetle was linked to the sun god Ra. Just as the sun was believed to be reborn each day, the scarab beetle’s association with regeneration and rolling dung balls symbolized the sun’s daily journey across the sky. The scarab beetle was sometimes depicted as pushing the sun along its path.

Protective Amulets and Talismans: Scarabs were commonly used as protective amulets and talismans. They were crafted from various materials such as stone, faience, or precious metals. These scarabs often bore inscriptions or images related to protection, blessings, or specific magical spells. People believed that wearing or carrying a scarab would bring good luck, protect against evil forces, and ensure a safe journey into the afterlife.

Funerary Symbolism: Scarabs were frequently placed among the wrappings of mummies or worn as jewelry by the deceased. They were believed to provide protection in the afterlife and assist the deceased in their journey to the realm of the dead. Inscriptions on funerary scarabs often included spells and prayers intended to guide and safeguard the deceased.

Seal Impressions: Scarabs were commonly used as seals. The flat bottom of the scarab beetle was carved with various designs, inscriptions, or symbols, and these could be pressed into clay or other materials to create an impression. These seal impressions were used for administrative, religious, or personal purposes and could serve as a mark of authenticity or ownership.

Political and Personal Statements: Scarabs were sometimes used to commemorate specific events or convey political and personal statements. Pharaohs and other important figures would commission scarabs with inscriptions commemorating victories, building projects, or other significant achievements.

In summary, the scarab beetle was a multifaceted symbol in ancient Egypt, representing life, death, rebirth, protection, and divine power. Its pervasive presence in various aspects of Egyptian life underscores its importance in this ancient civilization’s cultural and religious beliefs.

Types of Egyptian Scarab Beetle

In ancient Egypt, scarab beetles were crafted into various types and forms, each serving different purposes and carrying distinct symbolic meanings. Here are some of the common types of Egyptian scarab beetles:

Heart Scarabs: Heart scarabs were placed on the deceased’s chest during mummification. These scarabs were intended to replace the heart, which was believed to be the seat of intelligence and emotions, during the journey to the afterlife. The inscriptions on heart scarabs often included spells and prayers from the Book of the Dead.

Funerary Scarabs: Funerary scarabs were associated with burial rituals and the afterlife. They were often placed among the wrappings of mummies or worn as jewelry by the deceased. These scarabs typically featured inscriptions or images about protection, resurrection, and guidance in the afterlife.

Amuletic Scarabs: Amuletic scarabs were crafted for protective purposes. They were worn as charms or carried by individuals seeking the beetle’s symbolic protection. Amuletic scarabs could feature various inscriptions or symbols associated with specific protective spells.

Royal Commemorative Scarabs: Pharaohs and other important figures commissioned scarabs to commemorate significant events, victories, or achievements. These scarabs often bore inscriptions or images glorifying the ruler and were distributed as symbols of the ruler’s power and success.

Administrative Scarabs: Scarabs were commonly used as seals for administrative and legal documents. The flat bottom of the scarab was engraved with the owner’s name, titles, or other relevant information. When pressed into clay or other materials, these scarabs left an impression that authenticated the document.

Name Scarabs: Name Scarabs featured the names and titles of individuals. These scarabs served as personal identifiers and were often used by officials and members of the elite to mark their possessions or as a form of personal branding.

Transformational Scarabs: Some scarabs featured the motif of a beetle pushing a solar disk, symbolizing the sun’s daily journey and transformation. These scarabs were associated with the solar aspects of the scarab beetle, linking them to the sun god Ra and the concept of daily renewal.

Sacred Scarabs: Scarabs were also crafted as sacred objects and religious offerings. These scarabs were often placed in temples or tombs as votive offerings to deities, symbolizing the religious significance of the beetle.

These different types of scarabs highlight the versatility of the scarab beetle as a symbol in ancient Egyptian culture. They were not only decorative but also served important functions in religious rituals, funerary practices, and daily life.

https://jakadatoursegypt.com/the-egyptian-scarab-beetle-and-its-meaning/

The pyramid of Cestius (in Italian, Piramide di Caio Cestio or Piramide Cestia) is an ancient Roman pyramid in Rome, Italy, near the Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery. It was built in the style of the Nubian pyramids as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a member of the Epulones religious corporation.[1] It stands at a fork between two ancient roads, the Via Ostiensis and another road that ran west to the Tiber along the approximate line of the modern Via Marmorata. Due to its incorporation into the city's fortifications, it is today one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Rome.

Physical attributes

Detail of the pyramid

The pyramid was built about 18–12 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius, a magistrate and member of one of the four great religious corporations in Rome, the Septemviri Epulonum. It is of brick-faced concrete covered with slabs of white marble standing on a travertine foundation. The pyramid measures 100 Roman feet (29.6 m) square at the base and stands 125 Roman feet (37 m) high.[2]

Pyramid Caius Cestius room inside

In the interior is the burial chamber, a simple barrel-vaulted rectangular cavity measuring 5.95 metres long, 4.10 m wide and 4.80 m high. When opened in 1660, the chamber was found to be decorated with frescoes, which were recorded by Pietro Santo Bartoli. Only scant traces of these frescoes survive, and no trace of any other contents. The tomb had been sealed when it was built, with no exterior entrance, but had been plundered at some time thereafter, probably during antiquity. Until the end of restoration works in 2015, it was not possible for visitors to access the interior,[2] except by special permission typically only granted to scholars. Since the beginning of May 2015, the pyramid is open to the public every second and fourth Saturday each month. Visitors must arrange their visit in advance.

Inscriptions

A dedicatory inscription is carved on both northwestern and southeastern faces,[3] so as to be visible from both sides. It reads:

G · CESTIVS · L · F · POB · EPVLO · PR · TR · PL[3]

VII · VIR · EPVLONVM

Gaius Cestius, son of Lucius, of the Pobilia [voting tribe], member of the College of Epulones, praetor, tribune of the plebs, septemvir of the Epulones[2][4]

Night view from Porta San Paolo (2011)

Below the inscription only on the southeastern face[3] is a second inscription recording the circumstances of the tomb's construction. This reads:

OPVS · APSOLVTVM · EX · TESTAMENTO · DIEBVS · CCCXXX

ARBITRATV

PONTI · P · F · CLA · MELAE · HEREDIS · ET · POTHI · L

The work was completed, in accordance with the will, in 330 days, by the decision of the heir [Lucius] Pontus Mela, son of Publius of the Claudia, and Pothus, freedman[2]

Another inscription on the east face is of modern origins, having been carved on the orders of Pope Alexander VII in 1663. Reading "INSTAVRATVM · AN · DOMINI · MDCLXIII", it commemorates excavation and restoration work carried out in and around the tomb between 1660–62.[2]

At the time of its construction, the pyramid of Cestius would have stood in open countryside (tombs being forbidden within the city walls). Rome grew enormously during the imperial period, and, by the 3rd century AD, the pyramid would have been surrounded by buildings. It originally stood in a low-walled enclosure, flanked by statues, columns and other tombs.[5] Two marble bases were found next to the pyramid during excavations in the 1660s, complete with fragments of the bronze statues that originally had stood on their tops. The bases carried an inscription recorded by Bartoli in an engraving of 1697:

M · VALERIVS · MESSALLA · CORVINVS ·

P · RVTILIVS · LVPVS · L · IVNIVS · SILANVS ·

L · PONTIVS · MELA · D · MARIVS ·

NIGER · HEREDES · C · CESTI · ET ·

L · CESTIVS · QVAE · EX · PARTE · AD ·

EVM · FRATRIS · HEREDITAS ·

M · AGRIPPAE · MVNERE · PER ·

VENIT · EX · EA · PECVNIA · QVAM ·

PRO · SVIS · PARTIBVS · RECEPER ·

EX · VENDITIONE · ATTALICOR ·

QVAE · EIS · PER · EDICTVM ·

AEDILIS · IN · SEPVLCRVM ·

C · CESTI · EX · TESTAMENTO ·

EIVS · INFERRE · NON · LICVIT ·

This identifies Cestius' heirs as Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus, a famous general; Publius Rutilius Lupus, an orator whose father of the same name had been consul in 90 BC; and Lucius Junius Silanus, a member of the distinguished gens Junia. The heirs had set up the statues and bases using money raised from the sale of valuable cloths (attalici). Cestius had stated in his will that the cloths were to be deposited in the tomb, but this practice had been forbidden by a recent edict passed by the aediles.[2]

History

Pyramid of Cestius by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (18th century)

The pyramid was built for Gaius Cestius Epulo, the son of Lucius, of the tribe of Pobilia. The inscription on it mentions that Cestius was a praetor, a tribune of the plebs, and a septemvir of the Epulones. The tomb was completed in 330 days and was one of two pyramid shaped tombs in the city of Rome.[6] Its construction was regulated by sumptuary laws, which limit extreme displays of wealth such as in feasts, clothing, funerals, and tombs. While these laws can be traced back to the mid-5th century BC, they were much more strictly passed and enforced around the time of Cestius’ death.[3]

The sharply pointed shape of the pyramid is strongly reminiscent of the pyramids of Nubia, in particular of the kingdom of Meroë, which had been attacked by Rome in 23 BC. The similarity suggests that Cestius had possibly served in that campaign and perhaps intended the pyramid to serve as a commemoration. His pyramid was not the only one in Rome; a larger one—the "pyramid of Romulus" — of similar form but unknown origins stood between the Vatican and the Mausoleum of Hadrian but was dismantled in the 16th century by Pope Alexander VI and the marble was used for the steps of St. Peter's Basilica.[2][7]

Pyramid of Cestius and environs by Giuseppe Vasi (18th century)

Some writers have questioned whether the Roman pyramids were modelled on the much less steeply pointed Egyptian pyramids exemplified by the famous pyramids of Giza. However, the relatively shallow Giza-type pyramids were not exclusively used by the Egyptians; steeper pyramids of the Nubian type were favored by the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt that had been brought to an end in the Roman conquest of 30 BC. The pyramid was, in any case, built during a period when Rome was going through a fad for all things Egyptian. The fusion of Roman and Egyptian styles is further highlighted by the fact that the exterior is distinctly "egyptianizing", while the interior displays classic Roman fresco paintings and a barrel vaulted ceiling.[8] The Circus Maximus was adorned by Augustus with an Egyptian obelisk,[9] and pyramids were built elsewhere in the Roman Empire around this time.[10]

The pyramid was incorporated into the Aurelian Walls and is close to Porta San Paolo (on the right).

During the construction of the Aurelian Walls between 271 and 275, the pyramid was incorporated into the walls to form a triangular bastion. It was one of many structures in the city to be reused to form part of the new walls, probably to reduce the cost and enable the structure to be built more quickly. It still forms part of a well-preserved stretch of the walls, a short distance from the Porta San Paolo.[11]

The origins of the pyramid were forgotten during the Middle Ages. The inhabitants of Rome came to believe that it was the tomb of Remus (Meta Remi) and that its counterpart near the Vatican was the tomb of Romulus, a belief recorded by Petrarch.[12][13] Its true provenance was clarified by Pope Alexander VII's excavations in the 1660s, which cleared the vegetation that had overgrown the pyramid, uncovered the inscriptions on its faces, tunnelled into the tomb's burial chamber and found the bases of two bronze statues that had stood alongside the pyramid.[2]

Outlines of various pyramids overlaid on top of on another to show relative height

Comparison of approximate profiles of notable pyramidal or near-pyramidal buildings. Dotted lines indicate original heights, where data is available. In its SVG file, hover over a pyramid to highlight and click for its article.

The pyramid was an essential sight for many who undertook the Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was much admired by architects, becoming the primary model for pyramids built in the West during this period.[14] Percy Bysshe Shelley described it as "one keen pyramid with wedge sublime" in Adonaïs, his 1821 elegy for John Keats. In turn the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy saw the pyramid during a visit to the nearby Protestant Cemetery in 1887 and was inspired to write a poem, Rome: At the Pyramid of Cestius near the Graves of Shelley and Keats, in which he wondered: "Who, then was Cestius, / and what is he to me?"[15]

In 2001, the pyramid's entrance and interior underwent restoration. In 2011, further work was announced to clean and restore the pyramid's badly damaged marble cladding, through which water seepage has endangered the frescoes within. The restoration is sponsored by Japanese businessman Yuzo Yagi, whose €1-million donation resulted in a call for tenders to carry out the work issued by the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma[16] whose officials drew up the project and are supervising such an intervention along with Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage.[17] Restoration work started in March 2013.[18]

The pyramid is the namesake of the Piramide station of the Rome Metro.[19]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Cestius

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri; Italian: Basilica di San Pietro [baˈziːlika di sam ˈpjɛːtro]), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initially planned in the 15th century by Pope Nicholas V and then Pope Julius II to replace the ageing Old St. Peter's Basilica, which was built in the fourth century by Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.[3]

Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, and Carlo Maderno, with piazza and fittings by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is one of the most renowned works of Italian Renaissance architecture[4] and is the largest church in the world by interior measure.[note 1] While it is neither the mother church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome (these equivalent titles being held by the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome), St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world",[5] and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom."[4][6]

Catholic tradition holds that the basilica is the burial site of Saint Peter, chief among Jesus's apostles and also the first Bishop of Rome (Pope). Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the high altar of the basilica, also known as the Altar of the Confession.[7] For this reason, many popes, cardinals and bishops have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period.

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year both within the basilica or the adjoining St. Peter's Square; these liturgies draw audiences numbering from 15,000 to over 80,000 people.[8] St. Peter's has many historical associations, with the early Christian Church, the Papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation and numerous artists, especially Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.[9]

St. Peter's is ranked second, after the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, among the four churches in the world that hold the rank of major papal basilica, all four of which are in Rome, and is also one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop.[10]

Overview

A view of Rome on a sunny afternoon looking along the river. A bridge crosses the river and beyond it is a hill on which the grey dome of St. Peter's rises above ancient buildings and dark pine trees.

View from the Tiber on Ponte Sant'Angelo and the Basilica. The iconic dome dominates the skyline of Rome.

St. Peter's is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrian's Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome. The basilica is approached via St. Peter's Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoidal. The façade of the basilica, with a giant order of columns, stretches across the end of the square and is approached by steps on which stand two 5.55-metre (18.2 ft) statues of the first-century apostles to Rome, Saints Peter and Paul.[11][12]

The basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world. The entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the decorated bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door, only opened during jubilees.[11]

The interior dimensions are vast when compared to other churches.[3] One author wrote: "Only gradually does it dawn upon us – as we watch people draw near to this or that monument, strangely they appear to shrink; they are, of course, dwarfed by the scale of everything in the building. This in its turn overwhelms us."[13]

The nave which leads to the central dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them. There are also chapels surrounding the dome. Moving around the basilica in a clockwise direction they are: The Baptistery, the Chapel of the Presentation of the Virgin, the larger Choir Chapel, the altar of the Transfiguration, the Clementine Chapel with the altar of Saint Gregory, the Sacristy Entrance, the Altar of the Lie, the left transept with altars to the Crucifixion of Saint Peter, Saint Joseph and Saint Thomas, the altar of the Sacred Heart, the Chapel of the Madonna of Column, the altar of Saint Peter and the Paralytic, the apse with the Chair of Saint Peter, the altar of Saint Peter raising Tabitha, the altar of St. Petronilla, the altar of the Archangel Michael, the altar of the Navicella, the right transept with altars of Saint Erasmus, Saints Processo and Martiniano, and Saint Wenceslas, the altar of St. Jerome, the altar of Saint Basil, the Gregorian Chapel with the altar of the Madonna of Succour, the larger Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, the Chapel of Saint Sebastian and the Chapel of the Pietà.[11] The Monuments, in a clockwise direction, are to: Maria Clementina Sobieska, The Stuarts, Benedict XV, John XXIII, St. Pius X, Innocent VIII, Leo XI, Innocent XI, Pius VII, Pius VIII, Alexander VII, Alexander VIII, Paul III, Urban VIII, Clement X, Clement XIII, Benedict XIV, St Peter (Bronze Statue), Gregory XVI, Gregory XIV, Gregory XIII, Matilda of Canossa, Innocent XII, Pius XII, Pius XI, Christina of Sweden, and Leo XII.

At the heart of the basilica, beneath the high altar, is the Confessio or Chapel of the Confession, named in reference to the confession of faith by St. Peter, which led to his martyrdom. Two curving marble staircases lead to this underground chapel at the level of the Constantinian church and immediately above the purported burial place of Saint Peter. Pope Gregory XVI granted a "perpetual privilege" in 1836 authorizing any Catholic priest to celebrate Mass at the altar in the chapel.[14]

The entire interior of St. Peter's is lavishly decorated with marble, reliefs, architectural sculpture and gilding. The basilica contains a large number of tombs of popes and other notable people, many of which are considered outstanding artworks. There are also a number of sculptures in niches and chapels, including Michelangelo's Pietà. The central feature is a baldachin, or canopy over the Papal Altar, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The apse culminates in a sculptural ensemble, also by Bernini, and containing the symbolic Chair of Saint Peter.

The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson described St. Peter's as "an ornament of the earth ... the sublime of the beautiful."[15]

Panorama showing the façade of St. Peter's at the centre with the arms of Bernini's colonnade sweeping out on either side. It is midday and tourists are walking and taking photographs.

Panorama of St. Peter's Square

Status

St. Peter's Basilica is one of the papal basilicas (previously styled "patriarchal basilicas")[note 2] and one of the four Major Basilicas of Rome the others (all of which are also Papal Basilicas) being the Basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul outside the Walls. The rank of major basilica confers on St. Peter's Basilica precedence before all minor basilicas worldwide. However, unlike all the other Papal Major Basilicas, it is wholly within the territory, and thus the sovereign jurisdiction, of the Vatican City State, and not that of Italy.[16]

Bishops vested in white are standing in the sunshine in St. Peter's Square. Most wear white mitres on their heads, except for an Eastern Catholic bishop who wears a distinctive embroidered velvet hat.

Bishops at the Second Vatican Council in 1962

It is the most prominent building in the Vatican City. Its dome is a feature of the skyline of Rome and covers an area of 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres). One of the holiest sites of Christianity and Catholic Tradition, it is traditionally the burial site of its titular, St. Peter, who was the head of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and, according to tradition, the first Bishop of Antioch and later the first Bishop of Rome, rendering him the first Pope. Although the New Testament does not mention St. Peter's martyrdom in Rome, tradition, based on the writings of the Fathers of the Church,[clarification needed] holds that his tomb is below the baldachin and the altar of the Basilica in the "Confession". For this reason, many Popes have, from the early years of the Church, been buried near Pope St. Peter in the necropolis beneath the Basilica. Construction of the current basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on 18 April 1506 and finished in 1615. At length, on 18 November 1626 Pope Urban VIII solemnly dedicated the Basilica.[3]

St. Peter's Basilica is neither the Pope's official seat nor first in rank among the Major Basilicas of Rome. This honour is held by the Pope's cathedral, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the mother church of all churches in communion with the Catholic Church. However, St. Peter's is functionally the Pope's principal church, as most Papal liturgies and ceremonies take place there due to its size, proximity to the Papal residence, and location within the Vatican City proper. The "Chair of Saint Peter", or cathedra, an ancient chair sometimes presumed to have been used by St. Peter himself, but which was a gift from Charles the Bald and used by many popes, symbolizes the continuing line of apostolic succession from St. Peter to the reigning Pope. It occupies an elevated position in the apse of the Basilica, supported symbolically by the Doctors of the Church and enlightened symbolically by the Holy Spirit.[17]

As one of the constituent structures of the historically and architecturally significant Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 under criteria (i), (ii), (iv), and (vi).[18] With an exterior area of 21,095 square metres (227,060 sq ft),[19] an interior area of 15,160 square metres (163,200 sq ft),[20][21] St. Peter's Basilica is the largest Christian church building in the world by the two latter metrics and the second largest by the first as of 2016. The top of its dome, at 448.1 feet (136.6 m), also places it as the second tallest building in Rome as of 2016.[22] The dome's soaring height placed it among the tallest buildings of the Old World, and it continues to hold the title of tallest dome in the world. Though the largest dome in the world by diameter at the time of its completion, it no longer holds this distinction.[23]

History

Saint Peter's burial site

Main article: Saint Peter's tomb

A modern conjectural reconstruction of the relative locations of the circus, and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter[24]

After the crucifixion of Jesus, it is recorded in the Biblical book of the Acts of the Apostles that one of his twelve disciples, Simon known as Saint Peter, a fisherman from Galilee, took a leadership position among Jesus' followers and was of great importance in the founding of the Christian Church. The name Peter is "Petrus" in Latin and "Petros" in Greek, deriving from petra which means "stone" or "rock" in Greek, and is the literal translation of the Aramaic "Kepa", the name given to Simon by Jesus. (John 1:42, and see Matthew 16:18)

Catholic tradition holds that Peter, after a ministry of thirty-four years, travelled to Rome and met his martyrdom there along with Paul on 13 October 64 AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. His execution was one of the many martyrdoms of Christians following the Great Fire of Rome. According to Jerome, Peter was crucified head downwards, by his own request because he considered himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus.[25] The crucifixion took place near an ancient Egyptian obelisk in the Circus of Nero.[26] The obelisk now stands in St. Peter's Square and is revered as a "witness" to Peter's death. It is one of several ancient Obelisks of Rome.[27]

According to tradition, Peter's remains were buried just outside the Circus, on the Mons Vaticanus across the Via Cornelia from the Circus, less than 150 metres (490 ft) from his place of death. The Via Cornelia was a road which ran east-to-west along the north wall of the Circus on land now covered by the southern portions of the Basilica and St. Peter's Square. A shrine was built on this site some years later. Almost three hundred years later, Old St. Peter's Basilica was constructed over this site.[26]

The area now covered by the Vatican City had been a cemetery for some years before the Circus of Nero was built. It was a burial ground for the numerous executions in the Circus and contained many Christian burials as for many years after the burial of Saint Peter, many Christians chose to be buried near him.[citation needed]

In 1939, in the reign of Pope Pius XII, 10 years of archaeological research began under the crypt of the basilica in an area inaccessible since the ninth century. The excavations revealed the remains of shrines of different periods at different levels, from Clement VIII (1594) to Callixtus II (1123) and Gregory I (590–604), built over an aedicula containing fragments of bones that were folded in a tissue with gold decorations, tinted with the precious murex purple. Although it could not be determined with certainty that the bones were those of Peter, the rare vestments suggested a burial of great importance. On 23 December 1950, in his pre-Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced the discovery of Saint Peter's tomb.[28]

Old St. Peter's Basilica

Maarten van Heemskerck – Santa Maria della Febbre, Vatican Obelisk, Saint Peter's Basilica in construction (1532)

A black and white engraving of a bird's-eye view of a very large cruciform church. There is a large enclosed forecourt which is fronted by buildings of different dates and styles. There is a tall bell tower and many surrounding structures. A label to the bottom left of the image gives the artist's name and original caption.

A conjectural view of the Old St. Peter's Basilica by H. W. Brewer, 1891

Main article: Old St. Peter's Basilica

Old St. Peter's Basilica was the fourth-century church begun by the Emperor Constantine the Great between 319 and 333 AD.[29] It was of typical basilical form, a wide nave and two aisles on each side and an apsidal end, with the addition of a transept or bema, giving the building the shape of a tau cross. It was over 103.6 metres (340 ft) long, and the entrance was preceded by a large colonnaded atrium. This church had been built over the small shrine believed to mark the burial place of St. Peter, though the tomb was "smashed" in 846 AD.[30] It contained a very large number of burials and memorials, including those of most of the popes from St. Peter to the 15th century. Like all of the earliest churches in Rome, both this church and its successor had the entrance to the east and the apse at the west end of the building.[31] Since the construction of the current basilica, the name Old St. Peter's Basilica has been used for its predecessor to distinguish the two buildings.[32]

Plan to rebuild

By the end of the 15th century, having been neglected during the period of the Avignon Papacy, the old basilica had fallen into disrepair. It appears that the first pope to consider rebuilding or at least making radical changes was Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455). He commissioned work on the old building from Leone Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino and also had Rossellino design a plan for an entirely new basilica, or an extreme modification of the old. His reign was frustrated by political problems and when he died, little had been achieved.[26] He had, however, ordered the demolition of the Colosseum and by the time of his death, 2,522 cartloads of stone had been transported for use in the new building.[26][note 3] The foundations were completed for a new transept and choir to form a domed Latin cross with the preserved nave and side aisles of the old basilica. Some walls for the choir had also been built.[34]

Pope Julius II planned far more for St Peter's than Nicholas V's program of repair or modification. Julius was at that time planning his own tomb, which was to be designed and adorned with sculpture by Michelangelo and placed within St Peter's.[note 4] In 1505 Julius made a decision to demolish the ancient basilica and replace it with a monumental structure to house his enormous tomb and "aggrandize himself in the popular imagination".[9] A competition was held, and a number of the designs have survived at the Uffizi Gallery. A succession of popes and architects followed in the next 120 years, their combined efforts resulting in the present building. The scheme begun by Julius II continued through the reigns of Leo X (1513–1521), Adrian VI (1522–1523), Clement VII (1523–1534), Paul III (1534–1549), Julius III (1550–1555), Marcellus II (1555), Paul IV (1555–1559), Pius IV (1559–1565), Pius V (saint) (1565–1572), Gregory XIII (1572–1585), Sixtus V (1585–1590), Urban VII (1590), Gregory XIV (1590–1591), Innocent IX (1591), Clement VIII (1592–1605), Leo XI (1605), Paul V (1605–1621), Gregory XV (1621–1623), Urban VIII (1623–1644) and Innocent X (1644–1655).

Financing with indulgences

One method employed to finance the building of St. Peter's Basilica was the granting of indulgences in return for contributions. A major promoter of this method of fund-raising was Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, who had to clear debts owed to the Roman Curia by contributing to the rebuilding program. To facilitate this, he appointed the German Dominican preacher Johann Tetzel, whose salesmanship provoked a scandal and led to the Protestant Reformation.[35]

Digital copies

In the 2020s, the Vatican began seeking to use digital recreations of the Basilica in order to enhance education and allow people to experience it without needing to visit in person. In 2024, the Vatican partnered with Microsoft to create an interactive 3D model of the Basilica. The model was generated with artificial intelligence using over 400,000 high-resolution photographs taken by drones. Microsoft president Brad Smith described the project as "one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued".[36] The Vatican further collaborated with Microsoft in 2025 through the creation of another interactive version of the Basilica, this time recreated in the video game Minecraft.[37] The Minecraft map, titled "Peter is Here", was developed as part of the 2025 Jubilee with the goal of engaging young audiences.[38]

Architecture

Successive plans

Pope Julius's scheme for the grandest building in Christendom[9] was the subject of a competition for which a number of entries remain intact in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. It was the design of Donato Bramante that was selected, and for which the foundation stone was laid in 1506. This plan was in the form of an enormous Greek cross with a dome inspired by that of the huge circular Roman temple, the Pantheon.[9] The main difference between Bramante's design and that of the Pantheon is that where the dome of the Pantheon is supported by a continuous wall, that of the new basilica was to be supported only on four large piers. This feature was maintained in the ultimate design. Bramante's dome was to be surmounted by a lantern with its own small dome but otherwise very similar in form to the Early Renaissance lantern of Florence Cathedral designed for Brunelleschi's dome by Michelozzo.[39]

Bramante had envisioned that the central dome would be surrounded by four lower domes at the diagonal axes. The equal chancel, nave and transept arms were each to be of two bays ending in an apse. At each corner of the building was to stand a tower, so that the overall plan was square, with the apses projecting at the cardinal points. Each apse had two large radial buttresses, which squared off its semi-circular shape.[40]

When Pope Julius died in 1513, Bramante was replaced with Giuliano da Sangallo and Fra Giocondo, who both died in 1515 (Bramante himself having died the previous year). Raphael was confirmed as the architect of St. Peter's on 1 August 1514.[41] The main change in his plan is the nave of five bays, with a row of complex apsidal chapels off the aisles on either side. Raphael's plan for the chancel and transepts made the squareness of the exterior walls more definite by reducing the size of the towers, and the semi-circular apses more clearly defined by encircling each with an ambulatory.[42]

In 1520 Raphael also died, aged 37, and his successor Baldassare Peruzzi maintained changes that Raphael had proposed to the internal arrangement of the three main apses, but otherwise reverted to the Greek cross plan and other features of Bramante.[43] This plan did not go ahead because of various difficulties of both Church and state. In 1527 Rome was sacked and plundered by Emperor Charles V. Peruzzi died in 1536 without his plan being realized.[9]

At this point Antonio da Sangallo the Younger submitted a plan which combines features of Peruzzi, Raphael and Bramante in its design and extends the building into a short nave with a wide façade and portico of dynamic projection. His proposal for the dome was much more elaborate in both structure and decoration than that of Bramante and included ribs on the exterior. Like Bramante, Sangallo proposed that the dome be surmounted by a lantern which he redesigned to a larger and much more elaborate form.[44] Sangallo's main practical contribution was to strengthen Bramante's piers, which had begun to crack.[26]

On 1 January 1547, in the reign of Pope Paul III, Michelangelo, then in his seventies, succeeded Sangallo the Younger as "Capomaestro", the superintendent of the building program at St Peter's.[45] He is to be regarded as the principal designer of a large part of the building as it stands today, and as having brought the construction to a point where it could be carried through. He did not take on the job with pleasure; it was forced upon him by Pope Paul, frustrated at the death of his chosen candidate, Giulio Romano and the refusal of Jacopo Sansovino to leave Venice. Michelangelo wrote, "I undertake this only for the love of God and in honour of the Apostle". He insisted that he should be given a free hand to achieve the ultimate aim by whatever means he saw fit.[26]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica

The city of Rome harbours thirteen ancient obelisks, the most in the world. There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks; there was also until 2005 an ancient Ethiopian obelisk in Rome.

The Romans used special heavy cargo carriers called obelisk ships to transport the monuments down the Nile[clarification needed] to Alexandria and from there across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome. On site, large Roman cranes were employed to erect the monoliths.

Obelisk of Axum

The Obelisk of Axum in Rome in 2002

There was also an Ethiopian obelisk in Rome, the Obelisk of Axum, 24 m, placed in the Piazza di Porta Capena. It had been taken from Axum by the Italian Army during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1937. It was struck by lightning in May 2002. After being restored, it was returned to Ethiopia in April 2005.

Modern obelisks

The Marconi obelisk, in the centre of the EUR district

There are five well-known modern obelisks in Rome:

Villa Medici, 19th century copy of the original, found in the gardens and taken to Florence.

Two obelisks in the Villa Torlonia, 1842, Baveno granite

Foro Italico, 1932, 17.5 m, Carrara marble, originally dedicated to Benito Mussolini, and inscribed Mussolini Dux

Marconi, 1959, 45 m, in the centre of the EUR district, dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi, built for the 1960 Summer Olympics. 92 panels in white marble contain illustrations of Marconi's career and allegorical scenes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_obelisks_in_Rome

Scarab with Prometheus creating man

Roman Republican Period

About 100 B.C.

Medium/Technique

Carnelian

Dimensions

Legacy dimension: Diameter (max.): 14 mm.

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Henry Lyman

Accession Number

62.184

NOT ON VIEW

Collections

Jewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome

Classifications

Jewelry / Adornment – Scarabs and scaraboids

Description

Intaglio, in modern gold swivel pendant setting. Prometheus, nude and bearded, stands to left, wearing a cloak (chlamys) over his right shoulder. Both hands support a human skeleton. Hatched border.

Provenance

1962, Elizabeth Cabot (Mrs. Henry) Lyman (b. 1880 - d. 1982), Boston; 1962, gift of Mrs. Henry Lyman to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 14, 1962)

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/267729

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid034r847RJW692omnM1f8MuvAjzMCdq7t1drcgcnv6NqA6zyVNZuumPb2JXdacaMXgUl

George Harrison[nb 1] MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001)[nb 2] was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work.[2] Although the majority of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include "Taxman", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; subsequent influences were Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry.

By 1965, he had begun to lead the Beatles into folk rock through his interest in Bob Dylan and the Byrds, and towards Indian classical music through his use of Indian instruments, such as the sitar, which he had become acquainted with on the set of the film Help![3] He played sitar on numerous Beatles songs, starting with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". Having initiated the band's embrace of Transcendental Meditation in 1967, he subsequently developed an association with the Hare Krishna movement. After the band's break-up in 1970, Harrison released the triple album All Things Must Pass, a critically acclaimed work that produced his most successful hit single, "My Sweet Lord", and introduced his signature sound as a solo artist, the slide guitar. He also organised the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh with Indian musician Ravi Shankar, a precursor to later benefit concerts such as Live Aid. In his role as a music and film producer, Harrison produced acts signed to the Beatles' Apple record label before founding Dark Horse Records in 1974. He co-founded HandMade Films in 1978, initially to produce the Monty Python troupe's comedy film The Life of Brian (1979).

Harrison released several best-selling singles and albums as a solo performer. In 1988, he co-founded the platinum-selling supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. A prolific recording artist, he was featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger, Ronnie Wood, and Billy Preston, and collaborated on songs and music with Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and Tom Petty. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 31 in their 2023 list of greatest guitarists of all time.[4] He is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee – as a member of the Beatles in 1988, and posthumously for his solo career in 2004.[5]

Harrison's first marriage to model Pattie Boyd in 1966 ended in divorce in 1977. In the following year he married Olivia Arias, with whom he had a son, Dhani. A lifelong cigarette smoker, Harrison died of numerous cancers in 2001 at the age of 58, two years after surviving a knife attack by an intruder at his home, Friar Park. His remains were cremated, and the ashes were scattered according to Hindu tradition in a private ceremony in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in India. He left an estate of almost £100 million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Harrison

Why didn't George Harrison wear a suit on the Abbey Road album cover?

Steve Beebe

Machine Operator at Dometic (2011–present)Author has 111 answers and 77.6K answer views4y

Back in 1966 a rumor began that Paul McCartney was killed in a car accident. The Beatles decided to take advantage of this publicity by giving clues to Paul's alleged death. This includes putting verbal clues in songs and visual ones on albums. The fab four crossing the road was suppose to represent a funeral precession. John was in white, like an angel. Ringo, the preacher, in a suit. Paul was the corpse because people are not buried with shoes in much of Europe. George is the Undertaker hence wearing jeans instead of a suit.

https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-George-Harrison-wear-a-suit-on-the-Abbey-Road-album-cover

Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].

It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]

The Latin form Georgius had been rarely given in Western Christendom since at least the 6th century. The popularity of the name however develops from around the 12th century, in Occitan in the form Jordi, and it becomes popular at European courts after the publication of the Golden Legend in the 1260s.

The West Iberian form Jorge is on record in Portugal as the name of Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (1481–1550).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge

Jumped to the WWF, wrestling as "The Giant Gonzales", managed by Harvey Wippleman, and feuded with Mark Calaway (aka "The Undertaker").

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327854/trivia/

Mark William Calaway Age 49

AKA The Undertaker

March 24, 1965

Born: Houston, TX

Resides: Austin, TX

Height: 6' 10"

Weight: 229 lbs

Picture

Undertaker's Theme Song

"Rest In Peace"

Picture

Jorge Gonzalez

AKA Giant Gonzalez

Jan. 31, 1966

Born: El Colorado, Argentina

Died: San Martin, Argentina

Height: 8' 2"

Weight: 460

Picture

Giant Gonzalez's Theme Song

"Unknown"

Picture

The match at WrestleMania 9 was quite slow and lethargic. Not due to the ability of Undertaker, but to the frequent miscues and awkwardness of Giant Gonzalez. What made matters worse was that the finish of the match resulted in Undertaker winning by disqualification due to Gonzalez using chloroform. To this date, the match at WrestleMania 9 has been the only disqualification victory of Taker's 21-win streak.

Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez shows how two people with over-the-top gimmicks can go two totally opposite ways. Undertaker is one of the most successful superstars in WWE history. Giant Gonzalez, on the other hand - gimmick gone wrong. Totally wrong. I figured he would have learned from El Gigante.

Giant Gonzalez enters standing very tall in the outdoor arena. The Undertaker once again follows the late great Paul Bearer, but this time with a vulture by his side. The bird of death glided down the ramp as The Deadman comes for the Giant. Gonzalez had manhandled The Undertaker which was a first and it included eliminating him from the 1993 Royal Rumble to catapult the feud. The feud would be about the morality of both characters. Could the giant be beaten, or could the Deadman be laid to rest? The match was big because someone could finally overpower The Undertaker.

The match would be completely about this idea. The ring bell would start the match and the two men would trade giant blows to one another. In the early going, Taker would have to stand on the ropes to wrap his hand around Gonzalez’s throat. For the first time at Wrestlemania, we would see The Undertaker perform old school. It would connect, but Gonzalez wouldn’t fall to the mat. The match would continue to be a series of punches and haymakers from both men until Gonzalez would ground The Undertaker with a reverse chinlock and would utilize the steel steps on the outside to hurt the Deadman. The end of the match would be the war of punches between both men, but the Undertaker has long been considered one of the best strikers in wrestling history and he would haymaker Giant Gonzalez to one knee. Gonzalez manager, Harvey Wippleman would throw a rag with apparent chloroform to Gonzalez and create enough of a distraction for Gonzalez to use it on The Undertaker. It would technically give The Undertaker the match victory, but in wrestling sometimes what happens outside the rules of the match matter more.

https://ultimatedeadman.weebly.com/undertaker-vs-giant-gonzalez.html

WrestleMania IX was the ninth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The event took place on April 4, 1993, at Caesars Palace in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. It was the first WrestleMania event held outdoors.

WrestleMania IX was built around two main storylines. The first was the seemingly unstoppable Yokozuna challenging Bret Hart for the WWF Championship in the main event, a right he earned by winning the 1993 Royal Rumble. The other major storyline was the return of Hulk Hogan, who had departed the WWF following WrestleMania VIII but returned to team with Brutus Beefcake against the WWF Tag Team Champions, Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster). Hogan and Beefcake lost the tag team match, but Hogan later faced Yokozuna for the title in an impromptu, unadvertised 22-second match after Yokozuna defeated Hart to win the championship. In addition, Shawn Michaels retained the Intercontinental Championship, though he lost his match against Tatanka.

The event has been panned by critics and fans alike. The most frequent criticism has been related to the match between The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez, Hulk Hogan's title win, and the Roman togas worn by announcers. Both the pay-per-view buyrate and the attendance for the event dropped from the previous year's WrestleMania.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_IX

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

PARTICULAR AND DAILY EXAMEN It contains in it three times, and two to examine oneself. The first time is in the morning, immediately on rising, when one ought to propose to guard himself with diligence against that particular sin or defect which he wants to correct and amend. The second time is after dinner, when one is to ask of God our Lord what one wants, namely, grace to remember how many times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect, and to amend himself in the future. Then let him make the first Examen, asking account of his soul of that particular thing proposed, which he wants to correct and amend. Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make in the first line of the G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make. The third time: After supper, the second Examen will be made, in the same way, hour by hour, commencing at the first Examen and continuing up to the present (second) one, and let him make in the second line of the same G------- as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect. FOUR ADDITIONS FOLLOW TO RID ONESELF SOONER OF THAT PARTICULAR SIN OR DEFECT First Addition. The first Addition is that each time one falls into that particular sin or defect, let him put his hand on his breast, grieving for having fallen: which can be done even in the presence of many, without their perceiving what he is doing. Second Addition. The second: As the first line of the G------- means the first Examen, and the second line the second Examen, let him look at night if there is amendment from the first line to the second, that is, from the first Examen to the second. Third Addition. The third: To compare the second day with the first; that is, the two Examens of the present day with the other two Examens of the previous day, and see if he has amended himself from one day to the other. Fourth Addition. The fourth Addition: To compare one week with another, and see if he has amended himself in the present week over the week past. Note. It is to be noted that the first (large) G------- which follows means the Sunday: the second (smaller), the Monday: the third, the Tuesday, and so on.

GGGGGG

"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

TRANSLATED FROM

THE AUTOGRAPH

FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.

I.H.S.

NEW YORK

P.J. KENEDY & SONS

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE

https://ia801306.us.archive.org/8/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

Pope Paul VI (Latin: Paulus VI; Italian: Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, Italian: [dʒoˈvanni batˈtista enˈriːko anˈtɔːnjo maˈriːa monˈtiːni]; 26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. In January 1964, he flew to Jordan, the first time a reigning pontiff had left Italy in more than a century.[9]

Montini served in the Holy See's Secretariat of State from 1922 to 1954, and along with Domenico Tardini was considered the closest and most influential advisor of Pope Pius XII. In 1954, Pius named Montini Archbishop of Milan, the largest Italian diocese. Montini later became the Secretary of the Italian Bishops' Conference. John XXIII elevated Montini to the College of Cardinals in 1958, and after his death, Montini was, with little opposition, elected his successor, taking the name Paul VI.[10]

He re-convened the Second Vatican Council, which had been suspended during the interregnum. After its conclusion, Paul VI took charge of the interpretation and implementation of its mandates, finely balancing the conflicting expectations of various Catholic groups. The resulting reforms were among the widest and deepest in the Church's history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_VI

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness of pneumonia and cysts, he was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina. The administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.[2]

Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[3][4] He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBT community, and has stated that while blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals can be blessed, as long as the blessings are not given in a liturgical context.[5] Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[6] he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[7] Widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil,[8] he has termed it "an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", "inadmissible", and committed the Church to its abolition,[9] saying that there can be "no going back from this position".[10]

In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality (though still considering same-sex acts as sinful),[11] called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises, calling on the Western World to significantly increase immigration levels.[12][13] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian indigenous peoples.[14] On 4 October 2023, Francis convened the beginnings of the Synod on Synodality, described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[4][15][16] In October 2024, it was revealed that Pope Francis would be the first sitting pope to publish a memoir, Hope, which is set to be published in January 2025.[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

295 In the elaboration and expression of our theogical views and in our choice of pastoral options, we must always actively seek to understand the mind of the hierarchical Church, having as our goal the Society s objective to help souls. At the same time we must try to articulate the sensus fidelium and help the magisterium discern in it the movements of the Spirit in accord with the teaching of Vatican II.[125]"

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Last Pope: The Decline and Fall of the Church of Rome : The Prophecies of St. Malachy for the New Millennium Hardcover – January 1, 1998

by John Hogue (Author)

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 51 ratings

See all formats and editions

According to the prophecies of St. Malachy, only two popes remain before the Holy Church will go through an Apocalypse. In this controversial and definitive study Hogue examines St. Malachy and other gifted saints, popes, monks, and nuns who have been responsible for a covert tradition of prophecy that the Vatican has never officially acknowledged. "The Last Pope" is a unique prophetic examination of papal history--past and future.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Pope-Decline-Prophecies-Millennium/dp/1862042020

https://www.facebook.com/HisHolyChurchofAnonymous/posts/pfbid02T1xrA66Dz2oLU6KZpP59nBNvK9AbsFkWYCPebacWqB8paXjc23x26UjJkqBPDs66l

WATCH: Dennis Rodman's wacky ad about his buddy Kim Jong Un

The Worm cashes in on his friendship with a rogue dictator

By Harold Maass, The Week US

last updated January 8, 2015

Dennis Rodman wants world peace. He wants the world to be nice to his new pal, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. He wants a Nobel Prize. Oh, and he also wants you to eat lots of pistachios.

Yes, the neon-haired, heavily tattooed basketball hall-of-famer has decided to follow up his controversial trips to North Korea by making a commercial for Wonderful Pistachios.

In the ad, Rodman — his hair dyed a bright pistachio green — sits next to a Kim impersonator, and says the secret to world peace is pistachios. Then the Kim character pushes a red button, and Rodman goes kaboom, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

The tagline might be the only part of the commercial that makes sense: "Dennis Rodman does it because he's nuts."

Rodman, aka The Worm, has insisted that his two trips to North Korea this year, the latest coming earlier this month, were sincere efforts at "basketball diplomacy." He says his new friend Kim is really a "good guy," despite his threat to rain nukes on Hawaii.

He swears that his foray into global politics is no gimmick, and that he is interested in getting President Obama and Kim to work out their differences. If that's the case, making light of nuclear destruction and trying to cash in on his relationship with his new buddy is a funny way to do it.

"And Rodman wonders why Obama hasn't called," notes the Chicago Sun-Times.

Perhaps even more surprising is that Wondeful Pistachios thought this was a good idea.

"I don't really like pistachios, even under the best of circumstances," says Alexandra Petri at The Washington Post, "and I'm not sure why Wonderful Pistachios thinks associating them with all my least favorite public figures will increase sales, but I guess they know something I don't?"

https://theweek.com/articles/459850/watch-dennis-rodmans-wacky-ad-about-buddy-kim-jong-un

Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Renowned for his defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history". Nicknamed "the Worm",[2] he played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rodman played at the small forward position in his early years before becoming a power forward.

He earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships. On April 1, 2011, the Pistons retired Rodman's No. 10 jersey,[3] and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later that year.[4] In October 2021, Rodman was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.[5]

Rodman experienced an unhappy childhood and was often described as shy and introverted in his early years. After aborting a suicide attempt in 1993, he reinvented himself as a "bad boy" and became notorious for numerous controversial antics. He repeatedly dyed his hair in artificial colors, had many piercings and tattoos, and regularly disrupted games by clashing with opposing players and officials. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his 1996 autobiography Bad as I Wanna Be. Rodman also attracted international attention for his visits to North Korea and his subsequent befriending of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2013.

In addition to being a former professional basketball player, Rodman has appeared in professional wrestling. He was a member of the nWo and fought alongside Hulk Hogan in the main event of two Bash at the Beach pay-per-views. In professional wrestling, Rodman was the first-ever winner of the Celebrity Championship Wrestling tournament. He had his own TV show, The Rodman World Tour, and had starring roles in the action films Double Team (1997) and Simon Sez (1999). He appeared in several reality TV series and was the winner of the $222,000 main prize of the 2004 edition of Celebrity Mole.

Early life

Rodman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Shirley and Philander Rodman, Jr., an Air Force enlisted member, who later fought in the Vietnam War. When he was young, his father left his family, eventually settling in the Philippines.[6] Rodman has many brothers and sisters: according to his father, he has either 26 or 28 siblings on his father's side. However, Rodman has stated that he is the oldest of a total of 47 children.[6][7][8]

After his father left, Shirley took many odd jobs to support the family, up to four at the same time.[9] In his 1996 biography Bad As I Wanna Be, he expresses his feelings for his father: "I haven't seen my father in more than 30 years, so what's there to miss ... I just look at it like this: Some man brought me into this world. That doesn't mean I have a father".[6] He would not meet his father again until 2012.[10]

Rodman and his two sisters, Debra and Kim,[11] grew up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas,[12] at the time one of the most impoverished areas of the city.[13] Rodman's mother gave him the nickname "The Worm" for how he wiggles while playing pinball.[14] Rodman was so attached to his mother that he refused to move when she sent him to a nursery when he was four years old. According to Rodman, his mother was more interested in his two sisters, who were both considered more talented than he was in basketball and made him a laughingstock whenever he tagged along with them. He felt generally "overwhelmed" by the all-female household.[15] Debra and Kim would go on to become All-Americans at Louisiana Tech and Stephen F. Austin, respectively. Debra won two national titles with the Lady Techsters.[11]

While attending South Oak Cliff High School, Rodman was a gym class student of future Texas A&M basketball coach Gary Blair.[16] Blair coached Rodman's sisters Debra and Kim, winning three state championships.[17] However, Rodman was not considered an athletic standout. According to Rodman, he was "unable to hit a layup" and was listed in the high school basketball teams but was either benched or cut from the squads. Measuring only 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) as a freshman in high school,[9] he also failed to make the football teams and was "totally devastated".[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rodman

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.

Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests."

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143

As a former soldier, Ignatius paid particular attention to the spiritual formation of his recruits and recorded his method in the Spiritual Exercises (1548). In time, the method has become known as Ignatian spirituality. He was beatified in 1609 and was canonized as a saint on 12 March 1622. His feast day is celebrated on 31 July. He is the patron saint of the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as of the Society of Jesus. He was declared the patron saint of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola

The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community (/bæsk, bɑːsk/),[4] also officially called Euskadi ([eus̺kadi]), is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa. It surrounds two enclaves called Treviño (Burgos) and Valle de Villaverde (Cantabria).

The Basque Country was granted the status of nationality, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The autonomous community is based on the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, a foundational legal document providing the framework for the development of the Basque people on Southern Basque Country. Parallelly, Navarre, which narrowly rejected a joint statute of autonomy in 1932,[5] was granted a separate chartered statute in 1982.

Currently there is no official capital in the autonomous community, but the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the province of Álava, is the de facto capital as the location of the Basque Parliament, the headquarters of the Basque Government, and the residence of the President of the Basque Autonomous Community (the Palace of Ajuria Enea). The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country has its headquarters in the city of Bilbao. Whilst Vitoria-Gasteiz is the largest municipality in area, with 277 km2 (107 sq mi), Bilbao is the largest in population, with 353,187 people, located in the province of Biscay within a conurbation of 875,552 people.

The term Basque Country may also refer to the larger cultural region (Basque: Euskal Herria), the home of the Basque people, which includes the autonomous community.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately 9.4 inches (24 cm) in diameter) through the defender's hoop (a basket 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter mounted 10 feet (3.048 m) high to a backboard at each end of the court), while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (overtime) is mandated.

Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or by passing it to a teammate, both of which require considerable skill. On offense, players may use a variety of shots – the layup, the jump shot, or a dunk; on defense, they may steal the ball from a dribbler, intercept passes, or block shots; either offense or defense may collect a rebound, that is, a missed shot that bounces from rim or backboard. It is a violation to lift or drag one's pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling.

The five players on each side fall into five playing positions. The tallest player is usually the center, the second-tallest and strongest is the power forward, a slightly shorter but more agile player is the small forward, and the shortest players or the best ball handlers are the shooting guard and the point guard, who implement the coach's game plan by managing the execution of offensive and defensive plays (player positioning). Informally, players may play three-on-three, two-on-two, and one-on-one.

Invented in 1891 by Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States, basketball has evolved to become one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports.[1][2] The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most significant professional basketball league in the world in terms of popularity, salaries, talent, and level of competition[3][4] (drawing most of its talent from U.S. college basketball). Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the EuroLeague and the Basketball Champions League Americas. The FIBA Basketball World Cup and Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament are the major international events of the sport and attract top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for national teams, like EuroBasket and FIBA AmeriCup.

The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and women's Olympic basketball tournament feature top national teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA (NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship is also popular), whereas the strongest European clubs participate in the EuroLeague Women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball

The Order of Assassins (Arabic: حَشّاشِین, romanized: Ḥaššāšīyīn; Persian: حشاشين, romanized: Ḥaššāšīn) were a Nizari Isma'ili order that existed between 1090 and 1275 AD, founded by Hasan al-Sabbah.

During that time, they lived in the mountains of Persia and the Levant, and held a strict subterfuge policy throughout the Middle East, posing a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority, and killing several Christian leaders. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds who were considered enemies of the Nizari Isma'ili state. The modern term assassination is believed to stem from the tactics used by the Assassins.[1]

Contemporaneous historians include ibn al-Qalanisi, Ali ibn al-Athir, and Ata-Malik Juvayni. The former two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya, an epithet widely accepted by Isma'ilis themselves.[2][3]

Overview

The Assassins were founded by Hassan-i Sabbah. The state was formed in 1090 after the capture of Alamut Castle in the Alborz mountain range of Persia, which served as the Assassins' headquarters. The Alamut and Lambsar castles became the foundation of a network of Isma'ili fortresses throughout Persia and Syria that formed the backbone of Assassin power, and included Syrian strongholds at Masyaf, Abu Qubays, al-Qadmus and al-Kahf. The Western world was introduced to the Assassins by the works of Marco Polo[4] who understood the name as deriving from the word hashish.[5][6][7]

While Assassins typically refers to the entire group, only a group of disciples known as the fida'i actually engaged in conflict. The preferred method of killing was by dagger, nerve poison or arrows.[citation needed] The Assassins posed a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority. Over the course of nearly 200 years, they killed hundreds – including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem and several Muslim and Christian leaders.[8]

Notable victims of the Assassins include Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs, (1103), Mawdud ibn Altuntash, atabeg of Mosul (1113), Fatimid vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah (1121), Seljuk atabeg Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi (1126), Fatimid caliph al-Amir bi-Ahkami’l-Lah (1130), Taj al-Mulk Buri, atabeg of Damascus (1132), and Abbasid caliphs al-Mustarshid (1135) and ar-Rashid (1138). Saladin, a major foe of the Assassins, escaped assassination twice (1175–1176). The first Frank known to have been killed by the Assassins was Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, in 1152. The Assassins were acknowledged and feared by the Crusaders, losing the de facto King of Jerusalem, Conrad of Montferrat, to an Assassin's blade in 1192 and Lord Philip of Montfort of Tyre in 1270. The Ismaili Assassins were created to revive the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, which had been destroyed by the Sunni Seljuks. Their primary tactic was to kill the Sunni leaders in as public a place as possible - usually at Friday prayers.

Accounts of the Assassins were preserved within Western, Arabic, Syriac, and Persian sources where they are depicted as trained killers, responsible for the systematic elimination of opposing figures. European orientalists in the 19th and 20th centuries also referred to the Isma'ili Assassins in their works, writing about them based on accounts in seminal works by medieval Arab and Persian authors, particularly ibn al-Qalanisi's Mudhayyal Ta'rikh Dimashq (Continuation of the Chronicle of Damascus), ibn al-Athir's al-Kāmil fit-Tārīkh (The Complete History), and Juvayni's Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror).

The Order would finally come to an end during the rule of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah when the Isma'ili State was eventually destroyed as Khurshah surrendered the castles after the Mongol invasion of Persia. Khurshah died in 1256 and, by 1275, the Mongols had destroyed and eliminated the order of Assassins.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Assassins

Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس, romanized: al-ʾAndalus)[a] was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim[1][2] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[3][4][5] as well as Septimania under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[1][2][6][7][8] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16, 1966, and played its first game during the 1966–67 NBA season.[10] The Bulls play their home games at the United Center, which they share with the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks; both teams previously played at the now-demolished Chicago Stadium.

The Bulls saw their greatest success during the 1990s when they played a major part in popularizing the NBA worldwide. They are known for having one of the NBA's greatest dynasties, winning six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998 with two three-peats. All six of their championship teams were led by Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and coach Phil Jackson. The Bulls are the only NBA franchise to win multiple championships while never losing an NBA Finals series in their history.[11] The Bulls won 72 games during the 1995–96 season, setting an NBA record that stood until the Golden State Warriors won 73 games during the 2015–16 season. The Bulls were the first team in NBA history to win 70 games or more in a single season, and the only NBA franchise to do so until the 2015–16 Warriors.[12]

Since 1998, the Bulls have failed to regain their former success. The franchise struggled throughout the 2000s but showed promise in the early 2010s led by Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, culminating in back-to-back seasons above .732 in 2010–11 and 2011–12. An ACL tear suffered by Rose and subsequent trades of key players triggered a rebuild, culminating in different lineups throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s. Jordan and Rose won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award while playing for the Bulls, for a total of six MVP awards. The Bulls share rivalries with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, and the New York Knicks. The Bulls' rivalry with the Pistons was highlighted heavily during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Bulls

The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors (as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem) to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valor and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution, which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-coordinated and more effective.In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law 312, paragraph 1:1.

https://eohsjeastern.org/a-brief-history/

The Priory of Sion is an initiatory Order of chivalry, founded on July 15 1099 in Jerusalem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the Abbey "Our Lady of Mount Sion" as "Order of our Lady of Mount Sion."The Order, after being registered for the first time in history, in 1956, and then being dissolved in 1993, was newly registered in 2015, perpetuating the legitimate Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair's lineage, through the actual Grand Master, Marco Rigamonti.The Priory of Sion is characterized by a gnostic and rosicrucian influence, who sets himself the task of supporting and nurturing personal growth, moral and spiritual, with respect and in harmony with the personal objectives that each of us, by nature, has to carry through in life experience.It's also our purpose the esoteric research as the study and experience related to the transcendent and mystical in an environment of communion with our Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Order.The Priory of Sion today inherits a tradition of esoteric, philosophical, spiritual and cultural legacy, which favors the cultivation of values and principles that offers the way to live a more aware and noble personal dimension.We work through symbols, ancient rituals, theurgic practice and traditions, in order to live a personal and collective sprirituality in communion with our Brothers and Sisters.The Order is apolitical and forbids its members to be made a place of political debate, or even worse, to be exploited for such purposes."

http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/

The equites (/ˈɛkwɪtiːz/; lit. 'horse' or 'cavalrymen', though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques (Latin: [ˈɛ.kʷɛs]).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equites

Horses: the extent to which they can be possessed in our houses [575, 576]; the extent to which they can be used on missions [574, 625]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."

The Messianic Legacy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing

Rosicrucianism and the Bohemian War

If one wants to understand how the group around Simon Studion gained in influence, the political context of the 1590s must be carefully calibrated with the hopes set out at Tubingen in 1610. The Rosicrucian ideas were published in a period when political activities were set in motion to form an evangelical union in Germany, a union that (according to Studion in 1604) sought support in France, Britain, and Denmark. The rise of Johannes Bureus in Sweden, on

the other hand, confirms Frances Yates’ hypothesis that political initiatives in the Thirty Years’ War were influenced by Rosicrucian types of eschatology both before 1610 and after 1620. This notwithstanding that the year of the defeat at Prague in most of the recent literature has been transformed into a Rosicrucian anno non post quern,

underlined by such writings as Paul Nagel’s Cursus Quinqumali Mundi oder Wundergeheime Offenbarung (Halle, Saxonia, 1620) stating that the whole course of history would repeat itself within the course of four years before the bitter end: “ 1624 nec plus ultra.” Of course, Nagel was immediately attacked by a Jesuit author claiming that his doctrine of compressed repetition was a mere stage-play, falsely transposed to the scene of reality."

Rose Cross Cross Over The Baltic The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe

by Susanna Akerman

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing

Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to).

This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing

The oldest written evidence of rose cultivation comes from a tablet discussing the Akkadian king Sargon I’s military campaign to the west. Sargon brought rosebush saplings with him on the campaign so rose cultivation could begin in these newly acquired territories soon after his conquest. It was an act of supreme confidence and evidence of roses’ importance to Akkadian culture.

https://deathscent.com/2022/02/18/rosalia/

Roses and ancient Roman rituals

During the Roman Empire, Rosalia or Rosaria was a festival of roses celebrated on various dates, primarily in May, but scattered through mid-July. The observance is sometimes called a rosatio (rose-adornment) or the dies rosationis, ‘day of rose-adornment’.

Flowers were traditional symbols of rejuvenation, rebirth, and in Greece and Rome, wreaths and garlands of flowers and greenery were worn by both men and women for festive occasions. They were offered to deities, particularly the goddesses Venus, Persephone and Flora, the goddess of Spring.Venus received roses at her ritual cleansing (lavatio) on April 1st and at the wine festival (Vinalia). And, in Athens, roses and violets could be adornments for Dionysian feasts.

The Roman army celebrated the Rosaliae signorum, rose festivals at which they adorned the military standards with garlands. The rose festivals of ancient times are recorded in at least forty-one inscriptions in Latin and sixteen in Greek, where the observance is often called a rhodismos.

An Imperial-era business letter, written on papyrus, documents that 4,000 narcissus flowers were sent from a florist to a wedding. We know too, that men wore a garland of flowers more than women. First century AD Roman poet Statius describes a groom as wearing a wreath of roses, violets, and lilies.

“When the Emperor made a formal arrival – an adventus- at a city, garlands of flowers might be among the gestures of greeting.”

And then, of course, early Christian writers transferred the imagery of garlands and crowns of roses and violets to the cult of the saints. Blood and flowers are linked in divine metamorphosis in mythology.

And in fact every year, at the Pantheon, a place of Christian worship, which was converted from a pagan temple, to the Basilica of Mary and the Martyrs, celebrate Pentecost by dropping rose petals through the roof. Like many pagan rituals, they were continued in Christian times, but with a different meaning.

https://www.italysbestrome.com/roses-and-ancient-roman-rituals/

Fulcanelli’s main strategy, the key to unraveling the mystery, lies in an understanding of what he calls the “phonetic law” of the “spoken cabala,” or the “language of the birds.” This punning, multilingual wordplay can be used to reveal unusual and, according to Fulcanelli, meaningful associations between ideas. “What unsuspected marvels we should find, if we knew how to dissect words, to strip them of their bark and liberate the spirit, the divine light which is within,” Fulcanelli writes. He claims that in our day this is the natural language of the outsiders, the outlaws and heretics at the fringes of society. (See appendix A, “Fulcanelli on the Green Language,” for the complete text of this chapter.) 6 This spoken cabala was also the “green language” of the Freemasons (“All the Initiates expressed themselves in cant,” Fulcanelli reminds us) who built the art gothique of the cathedrals. “Gothic art is in fact the art got or art cot —χοτ—the art of light or of the spirit,” Fulcanelli informs us. Ultimately the “art got,” or the “art of light,” is derived from the language of the birds, which seems to be a sort of Ur-language taught by both Jesus and the ancients."

The Mysteries of the Great Cross

by Jay Weidner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vrxcBcn4h7RRM2SA3X1SS1DsooSxfitI/view?usp=sharing

How to Speak Ignatian: Common words and phrases of the Society of Jesus

Adapted from “How to Speak Loyola,” a glossary developed by the Office of Mission &

Identity, Loyola University, Chicago.

Microsoft Word - How to Speak Ignatian.doc (jesuithighschool.org)

https://www.jesuithighschool.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_speak_ignatian_0.pdf

Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something.[1] Sarcasm may employ ambivalence,[2] although it is not necessarily ironic.[3] Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection with which it is spoken[4] or, with an undercurrent of irony, by the extreme disproportion of the comment to the situation, and is largely context-dependent.[5]

Etymology

The word comes from the Ancient Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmós) which is taken from σαρκάζειν (sarkázein) meaning "to tear flesh, bite the lip in rage, sneer".[6]

It is first recorded in English in 1579, in an annotation to The Shepheardes Calender by Edmund Spenser:

Tom piper, an ironicall Sarcasmus, spoken in derision of these rude wits, whych ...[7]

However, the word sarcastic, meaning "Characterized by or involving sarcasm; given to the use of sarcasm; bitterly cutting or caustic", does not appear until 1695.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Sargon of Akkad (/ˈsɑːrɡɒn/; Akkadian: 𒊬𒊒𒄀, romanized: Šarrugi; died c. 2279 BC),[3] also known as Sargon the Great,[4] was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.[2] He is sometimes identified as the first person in recorded history to rule over an empire.

He was the founder of the "Sargonic" or "Old Akkadian" dynasty, which ruled for about a century after his death until the Gutian conquest of Sumer.[5] The Sumerian King List makes him the cup-bearer to King Ur-Zababa of Kish before Sargon became a king himself.[6]

His empire, which he ruled from his archaeologically as yet unidentified capital, Akkad, is thought to have included most of Mesopotamia and parts of the Levant, Hurrian and Elamite territory.

Sargon appears as a legendary figure in Neo-Assyrian literature of the 8th to 7th centuries BC. Tablets with fragments of a Sargon Birth Legend were found in the Library of Ashurbanipal.[7][8]

Name

The Akkadian name is normalized as either Šarru-ukīn or Šarru-kēn. The name's cuneiform spelling is variously LUGAL-ú-kin, šar-ru-gen6, šar-ru-ki-in, šar-ru-um-ki-in.[12] In Old Babylonian tablets relating the legends of Sargon, his name is transcribed as 𒊬𒊒𒌝𒄀𒅔 (Šar-ru-um-ki-in).[13] In Late Assyrian references, the name is mostly spelled as LUGAL-GI.NA or LUGAL-GIN, i.e. identical to the name of the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II.[14] The spelling Sargon is derived from the single mention of the name (in reference to Sargon II) in the Hebrew Bible, as סַרְגוֹן, in Isaiah 20:1.

The first element in the name is šarru, the Akkadian (East Semitic) for "king" (c.f. Hebrew śar שַׂר). The second element is derived from the verb kīnum "to confirm, establish" (related to Hebrew kūn כּוּן).[15]

A possible interpretation of the reading Šarru-ukīn is "the king has established (stability)" or "he [the god] has established the king". Such a name would however be unusual; other names in -ukīn always include both a subject and an object, as in Šamaš-šuma-ukīn "Shamash has established an heir".[14] There is some debate over whether the name was an adopted regnal name or a birth name.[16][17] The reading Šarru-kēn has been interpreted adjectivally, as "the king is established; legitimate", expanded as a phrase šarrum ki(e)num.[18]

The terms "Pre-Sargonic" and "Post-Sargonic" were used in Assyriology based on the chronologies of Nabonidus before the historical existence of Sargon of Akkad was confirmed. The form Šarru-ukīn was known from the Assyrian Sargon Legend discovered in 1867 in Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. A contemporary reference to Sargon thought to have been found on the cylinder seal of Ibni-sharru, a high-ranking official serving under Sargon. Joachim Menant published a description of this seal in 1877, reading the king's name as Shegani-shar-lukh, and did not yet identify it with "Sargon the Elder" (who was identified with the Old Assyrian king Sargon I).[19] In 1883, the British Museum acquired the "mace-head of Shar-Gani-sharri", a votive gift deposited at the temple of Shamash in Sippar. This "Shar-Gani" was identified with the Sargon of Agade of Assyrian legend.[20] The identification of "Shar-Gani-sharri" with Sargon was recognised as mistaken in the 1910s. Shar-Gani-sharri (Shar-Kali-Sharri) is, in fact, Sargon's great-grandson, the successor of Naram-Sin.[21]

It is not entirely clear whether the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II was directly named for Sargon of Akkad, as there is some uncertainty whether his name should be rendered Šarru-ukīn or as Šarru-kēn(u).[22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_of_Akkad

In Egyptian history, the Upper and Lower Egypt period (also known as The Two Lands) was the final stage of prehistoric Egypt and directly preceded the unification of the realm. The conception of Egypt as the Two Lands was an example of the dualism in ancient Egyptian culture and frequently appeared in texts and imagery, including in the titles of Egyptian pharaohs.

The Egyptian title zmꜣ-tꜣwj (Egyptological pronunciation sema-tawy) is usually translated as "Uniter of the Two Lands"[1] and was depicted as a human trachea entwined with the papyrus and lily plant. The trachea stood for unification, while the papyrus and lily plant represent Lower and Upper Egypt.

Standard titles of the pharaoh included the prenomen, quite literally "Of the Sedge and Bee" (nswt-bjtj, the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt)[2] and "lord of the Two Lands" (written nb-tꜣwj). Queens regnant were addressed as pharaohs and male. Queens consort might use the feminine versions of the second title, "lady of The Two Lands" (nbt-tꜣwj), "mistress of the Entire Two Lands" (hnwt-tꜣwy-tm), and "mistress of the Two Lands" (hnwt-tꜣwy).[3]

Structure

Pschent, the double crown of Egypt

Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions, namely Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt, where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta. To the south was Upper Egypt, stretching to Aswan. The terminology "Upper" and "Lower" derives from the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa northwards to the Mediterranean Sea.

The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united c. 3000 BC, but each maintained its own regalia: the hedjet or White Crown for Upper Egypt and the deshret or Red Crown for Lower Egypt. Thus, the pharaohs were known as the rulers of the Two Lands, and wore the pschent, a double crown, each half representing sovereignty of one of the kingdoms. Ancient Egyptian tradition credited Menes, now believed to be the same as Narmer, as the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt. On the Narmer Palette, the king is depicted wearing the Red Crown on one scene and the White crown in another, and thereby showing his rule over both Lands.[4]

Sema Tawy and symbolism

Hapi tying the papyrus and reed plants in the sema tawy symbol for the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt

The union of Upper and Lower Egypt is depicted by knotted papyrus and reed plants. The binding motif represents both harmony through linkage and domination through containment. The duality is an important part of royal iconography. Sometimes, the duality is further extended by having the knotted plants extend and bind foreign foes (both from the North and the South) as well.[4]

During the first dynasty, dualistic royal titles emerge, including the King of Upper and Lower Egypt (nswt bjtj) title which combines the plant representing Upper Egypt and a bee representing Lower Egypt. The other dualistic title is the Two Ladies name or Nebty name. The two ladies are Nekhbet, the vulture goddess associated with Nekhen in Upper Egypt, and Wadjet, the cobra goddess associated with Buto in Lower Egypt.[4]

There are many depictions of the ritual unifications of the Two Lands. It is not known if this was perhaps a rite that would have been enacted at the beginning of a reign, or merely a symbolic representation. Many of the depictions of the unification show two gods binding the plants. Often the gods are Horus and Set, or on occasion Horus and Thoth. There are several examples of Barque stands from the reigns of Amenhotep III (Hermopolis), Taharqa (Jebel Barkal), and Atlanersa (Jebel Barkal) that show two river gods performing the rite. This matches a scene from the Temple at Abu Simbel from the time of Ramesses II.[5]

There are only a handful of scenes that show the King himself performing the ritual. All of these are from barque stands and date to the reigns of Amenhotep III, Seti I and Ramesses III. The latter two may be copies of the first one.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_and_Lower_Egypt

Beelzebub or Baʿal Zebub (/biːˈɛlzəbʌb, ˈbiːl-/[1] bee-EL-zə-bub, BEEL-; Hebrew: בַּעַל־זְבוּב‎ Baʿal-zəḇūḇ), also spelled Beelzebul or Belzebuth, and occasionally known as the Lord of the Flies, is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron. In some Abrahamic religions he is described as a major demon. The name Beelzebub is associated with the Canaanite god Baal.

In theological sources, predominantly Christian, Beelzebub is another name for Satan. He is known in demonology as one of the seven deadly demons or seven princes of Hell, Beelzebub representing gluttony and envy. The Dictionnaire Infernal describes Beelzebub as a being capable of flying, known as the "Lord of the Flyers", or the "Lord of the Flies".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelzebub

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Matthew 4:8-11

Vanessa Beeley (born 1963/1964[1]) is a British activist and blogger[2][3][4] known for sharing conspiracy theories[5] and disinformation[2][6] about the Syrian civil war and about the Syrian volunteer organisation the White Helmets.[3][5][7][6][8]

Early life and career

Beeley is the daughter of former British diplomat Harold Beeley.[9][10][11] Initially, she worked as a consultant to a waste management company in the Middle East.[2][12]

Activism

Beeley has travelled to Palestine where she lived through Israeli bombardments.[13] In 2014, she started her blog titled The Wall Will Fall in which she supported the Palestinian cause.[14]

Since 2015, Beeley has focused her activism on the Syrian civil war. She first visited Syria in July 2016.[9] That year, she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus as part of a US Peace Council delegation, describing it as her "proudest moment".[1][2][9] According to Bellingcat, Beeley was on the steering committee for the Syria Solidarity Movement.[15] After visiting Syria, Beeley went to Moscow to meet Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and director of information and press Maria Zakharova.[2] An article by Janine di Giovanni in The New York Review of Books described Bogdanov as "Putin's point man on Syria".[2]

Beeley has frequently appeared on the Russian government-owned networks RT and Sputnik commenting on the Syrian war.[4][6][2]

In 2019, two of Beeley's planned talks at universities in Canada, organised by the Hamilton, Ontario chapter of the Stop the War Coalition, were cancelled after a backlash. The Université de Montréal said the room booked for the event was too small and it was concerned that the "event would not go off peacefully".[6]

Journalism

Beeley has been an associate editor of the conspiracy website 21st Century Wire.[3][9][16][11] She has also written articles for MintPress News.[17]

In 2019, she received the "Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism" from the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, which Bellingcat describes as a "pro-Assad lobby group".[15]

Beeley has claimed to have been a finalist for the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, however, according to James Fox, a member of the prize committee, there are no finalists for the Gellhorn Prize, and only winners or special commendations are published.[18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Beeley

Rabbinic tradition equates Baʿal Berith with Beelzebub, "the lord of flies," the god of Philistine Ekron (2 Kings 1:2).[12] He was worshipped in the shape of a fly; and Jewish tradition states that so addicted were the Jews to his cult that they would carry an image of him in their pockets, producing it, and kissing it from time to time. Baʿal Zebub was called Baʿal Berith because such Jews might be said to make a covenant of devotion with the idol, being unwilling to part with it for a single moment.[13] According to another conception, Baʿal Berith was an obscene article of idolatrous worship, possibly a simulacrum priapi.[14] This is evidently based on the later use of the word "berit" to refer to circumcision.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal_Berith

Smith's Bible Dictionary - Baal

Baal, [N] [B] [E] [H]

the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female divinity. Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. There can be no doubt of the very high antiquity of the worship of Baal. It prevailed in the time of Moses among the Moabites and Midianites, ( Numbers 22:41 ) and through them spread to the Israelites. ( Numbers 25:3-18 ; 4:3 ) In the times of the kings it became the religion of the court and people of the ten tribes, ( 1 Kings 16:31-33 ; 1 Kings 18:19 1 Kings 18:22 ) and appears never to have been permanently abolished among them. ( 2 Kings 17:16 ) Temples were erected to Baal in Judah, ( 1 Kings 16:32 ) and he was worshipped with much ceremony. ( 1 Kings 18:19 1 Kings 18:26-28 ; 2 Kings 10:22 ) The attractiveness of this worship to the Jews undoubtedly grew out of its licentious character. We find this worship also in Phoenician colonies. The religion of the ancient British islands much resembled this ancient worship of Baal, and may have been derived from it. Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian Bel, ( Isaiah 46:1 ) or Beaus, as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some modified form. The plural, BAALIM, is found frequently, showing that he was probably worshipped under different compounds, among which appear--

BAAL-BERITH (the covenant Baal ), ( Judges 8:33 ; 9:4 ) the god who comes into covenant with the worshippers.

BAAL-ZEBUB (lord of the fly ), and worshipped at Ekron. ( 2 Kings 1:2 2 Kings 1:3 2 Kings 1:16 )

BAAL-HANAN. a. The name of one of the early kings of Edom. ( Genesis 36:38 Genesis 36:39 ; 1 Chronicles 1:49 1 Chronicles 1:50 ) b. The name of one of Davids officers, who had the superintendence of his olive and sycamore plantations. ( 1 Chronicles 27:28 )

BAAL-PEOR (lord of the opening , i.e. for others to join in the worship). We have already referred to the worship of this god. The narrative (Numb 25) seems clearly to show that this form of Baal-worship was connected with licentious rites.

[N] indicates this entry was also found in Nave's Topical Bible

[B] indicates this entry was also found in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary

[E] indicates this entry was also found in Easton's Bible Dictionary

[H] indicates this entry was also found in Hitchcock's Bible Names

Bibliography Information

Smith, William, Dr. "Entry for 'Baal,'". "Smith's Bible Dictionary". . 1901.

Smith's Bible Dictionary - Baal

Baal, [N] [B] [E] [H]

geographical. This word occurs as the prefix or suffix to the names of several places in Palestine, some of which are as follows:

BAAL a town of Simeon, named only in ( 1 Chronicles 4:33 ) which from the parallel list in ( Joshua 19:8 ) seems to have been identical with BAALATH-BEER.

BAALAH (mistress ). a. Another name for KIRJATH-JEARIM, or KIRJATH BAAL, the well-known town now Kuriet el Enab . ( Joshua 15:9 Joshua 15:10 ; 1 Chronicles 13:6 ) b. A town in the south of Judah, ( Joshua 15:29 ) which in Josh 19:3 is called BALAH, and in the parallel list, ( 1 Chronicles 4:29 ) BILHAH.

BAALATH (mistress ), a town of Dan named with Gibbethon, Gath-rim-mon and other Philistine places. ( Joshua 19:44 )

BAALATH-BEER (lord of the well ). BAAL 1, a town among those in the south part of Judah, given to Simeon, which also bore the name of RAMATH-NEGEB, or "the height of the south." ( Joshua 19:8 )

BAAL-GAD (lord of fortune ), used to denote the most northern, ( Joshua 11:17 ; 12:7 ) or perhaps northwestern, ( Joshua 13:5 ) point to which Joshuas victories extended. It was in all probability a Phoenician or Canaanite sanctuary of Baal under the aspect of Gad or Fortune.

BAAL-HAMON (lord of a multitude ), a place at which Solomon had a vineyard, evidently of great extent. ( Solomon 8:11 )

BAAL-HAZOR (village of Baal ), a place where Absalom appears to have had a sheep-farm, and where Amnon was murdered. ( 2 Samuel 13:23 )

MOUNT MOUNT BAAL-HERMON (Lord of Hermon ), ( Judges 3:3 ) and simply Baal-hermon. ( 1 Chronicles 5:23 ) This is usually considered as a distinct place from Mount Hermon; but we know that this mountain had at least three names ( 3:9 ) and Baal-hermon may have been a fourth in use among the Phoenician worshippers.

BAAL-MEON (lord of the house ), one of the towns which were built by the Reubenites. ( Numbers 32:38 ) It also occurs in ( 1 Chronicles 5:8 ) and on each occasion with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it was Moabite, one of the cities which were the "glory of the country." ( Ezekiel 25:9 )

BAAL-PERAZIM (lord of divisions ), the scene of a victory of David over the Philistines, and of a great destruction of their images. ( 2 Samuel 5:20 ; 1 Chronicles 14:11 ) See ( Isaiah 28:21 ) where it is called MOUNT MOUNT PERAZIM.

BAAL-SHALISHA (lord of Shalisha ), a place named only in ( 2 Kings 4:42 ) apparently not far from Gilgal; comp. ( 2 Kings 4:38 )

BAAL-TAMAR (lord of the palm tree ), a place named only in ( Judges 20:33 ) as near Gibeah of Benjamin. The palm tree (tamar ) of Deborah, ( Judges 4:5 ) was situated somewhere in the locality, and is possibly alluded to.

BAAL-ZEPHON (lord of the north ), a place in Egypt near where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. ( Numbers 33:7 ; Ezekiel 14:2 Ezekiel 14:9 ) We place Baal-zephon on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, a little below its head, which at that time was about 30 or 40 miles northward of the Present head.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/baal/

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

Throughout Zoroastrian history, shrines and temples have been the focus of worship and pilgrimage for adherents of the religion. Early Zoroastrians were recorded as worshiping in the 5th century BCE on mounds and hills where fires were lit below the open skies.[58] In the wake of Achaemenid expansion, shrines were constructed throughout the empire and particularly influenced the role of Mithra, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Verethragna and Tishtrya, alongside other traditional Yazata who all have hymns within the Avesta and also local deities and culture-heroes. Today, enclosed and covered fire temples tend to be the focus of community worship where fires of varying grades are maintained by the clergy assigned to the temples.[59]

The incorporation of cultural and local rituals is quite common and traditions have been passed down in historically Zoroastrian communities such as herbal healing practices, wedding ceremonies, and the like.[60][61][31] Traditionally, Zoroastrian rituals have also included shamanic elements involving mystical methods such as spirit travel to the invisible realm and involving the consumption of fortified wine, Haoma, mang, and other ritual aids.[62][33][63][64][65]

In Zoroastrianism, water (aban) and fire (atar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, water and fire are respectively the second and last primordial elements to have been created, and scripture considers fire to have its origin in the waters (re. which conception see Apam Napat). Both water and fire are considered life-sustaining, and both water and fire are represented within the precinct of a fire temple. Zoroastrians usually pray in the presence of some form of fire (which can be considered evident in any source of light), and the culminating rite of the principal act of worship constitutes a "strengthening of the waters". Fire is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom are gained, and water is considered the source of that wisdom. Both fire and water are also hypostasized as the Yazatas Atar and Anahita, with worship hymns and litanies dedicated to them.[citation needed]

A corpse is considered a host for decay, i.e., of druj. Consequently, scripture enjoins the safe disposal of the dead in a manner such that a corpse does not pollute the good creation. These injunctions are the doctrinal basis of the fast-fading traditional practice of ritual exposure, most commonly identified with the so-called Towers of Silence for which there is no standard technical term in either scripture or tradition. Ritual exposure is currently mainly practiced by Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent, in locations where it is not illegal and diclofenac poisoning has not led to the virtual extinction of scavenger birds. Other Zoroastrian communities either cremate their dead, or bury them in graves that are cased with lime mortar.[citation needed]

The central ritual of Zoroastrianism is the Yasna, which is a recitation of the eponymous book of the Avesta and sacrificial ritual ceremony involving Haoma.[67] Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern Zoroastrianism.[68][69] The Yasna itself descended from Indo-Iranian sacrificial ceremonies and animal sacrifice of varying degrees are mentioned in the Avesta and are still practiced in Zoroastrianism albeit through reduced forms such as the sacrifice of fat before meals.[70] High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be the purview of the Mobads with a corpus of individual and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta.[67][71]

A Zoroastrian is welcomed into the faith through the Navjote/Sedreh Pushi ceremony, which is traditionally conducted during the later childhood or pre-teen years of the aspirant, though there is no defined age limit for the ritual.[31][72] After the ceremony, Zoroastrians are encouraged to wear their sedreh (ritual shirt) and kusti (ritual girdle) daily as a spiritual reminder and for mystical protection, though reformist Zoroastrians tend to only wear them during festivals, ceremonies, and prayers.[73][31][72]

Historically, Zoroastrians are encouraged to pray the five daily Gāhs and to maintain and celebrate the various holy festivals of the Zoroastrian calendar, which can differ from community to community.[74][75] Zoroastrian prayers, called manthras, are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style described in the Gathas and are of a reflectionary and supplicant nature believed to be endowed with the ability to banish evil.[76][77][52] Devout Zoroastrians are known to cover their heads during prayer, either with traditional topi, scarves, other headwear, or even just their hands. However, full coverage and veiling which is traditional in Islamic practice is not a part of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian women in Iran wear their head coverings displaying hair and their faces to defy mandates by the Islamic Republic of Iran.[78]

Late antiquity

As late as the Parthian period, a form of Zoroastrianism was without a doubt the dominant religion in the Armenian lands.[115] The Sassanids aggressively promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism, often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion. During the period of their centuries-long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sassanids made attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes, and it was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus (especially modern-day Azerbaijan).[citation needed]

Due to its ties to the Christian Roman Empire, Persia's arch-rival since Parthian times, the Sassanids were suspicious of Roman Christianity, and after the reign of Constantine the Great, sometimes persecuted it.[116] In 451 CE, The Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in the Battle of Avarayr, making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Church of the East. The acceptance of Christianity in Georgia (Caucasian Iberia) saw the Zoroastrian religion there slowly but surely decline,[117] but as late the 5th century CE, it was still widely practised as something like a second established religion.[118][119]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

The House of El Douaihy (also "Al Douaihy" in some cases Doueihy, Douaihi, Doueihi, Dowaihi, Duayhe, Duwayhi', Dwaihy, Arabic: الدويهي, French: de Douai), is an important Lebanese and Levantine noble family of French origins of which can be traced up until the 7th century. The first prominent feudal northern Lebanese Maronite Sheikhs (Lords) to have governed Zgharta and Ehden, (Zgharta District) in northern Lebanon came from the Douaihy clan.

Throughout history, the Douaihys endowed the community with research, faith, commerce and art. The Douaihys are also a religious family, among whom are recognized four Patriarchs, seventeen Bishops, hundreds of monks and nuns, dating from the 14th century to the present day.

On January 26, 2006 the Congregation of Saints in the Vatican has proclaimed the beginning of the process for Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy’s canonization.[1]

It is a large and well-rooted family in the lands of Ehden, Kadisha and Khazahia, where its roots combine with the history of the Maronites for at least one thousand years. The clan had a substantial presence in the Galilee prior to 1948, but its numbers have dwindled in the Holy Land in general since then, with most Palestinian clan members moving to Europe and South America, as well as Lebanon.

The Douaihy family lineage continues to contribute meaningfully on the national and international scene as professors, academics, artists, diplomats, police and army generals, healthcare representatives, parliament members and minister.The family slogan, known by many as "Ana la min?" (Who am I for?), is being upheld by the rightful heir of the family, Duks III, who carries the torch of this legacy. [2][3][4][5][6][7]

Origins

Genealogy in the Middle East, especially of Christian families in Syria, Lebanon and the Holy Land, is complicated and depends on oral traditions much more than written ones.

In the Middle Ages when Tripoli was governed by the Crusaders, a mixed people lived in the area, a result of the intermarriages between the Christians from Europe and the local Christians (Maronites, Melkites, etc.). It was not unusual for a Tripolitan to be of French origin (but of local Christian culture), married to a local Christian, with a Greek son-in-law and an Armenian or Syriac daughter-in-law.

To this day you can find many people of Crusader origin in Lebanon, the Holy Land, Jordan and Syria. The El Douaihy clan are descendants of the French who came from the northern French city of Douai, the capital of the ancient Frankish Duchy of Ostrevant (the arms of the Douai family are still used as a blason of Ostrevant). In the First Crusade, Count Anselme II De Ribemont d’Ostrevant was the “right hand” of Godfroi de Bouillon in the East, so one would assume that his progenitors were related to the De Ribemont d’Ostrevant family.

If Jeremiah Al-Amshiti had been one of the Douai clan, as Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy claimed, the family progenitors would have been “easternized” just after the First Crusade 1096 -1099. The Douaihy clan spread across the Levant, including to Syria and Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaihy

Istifan al-Duwayhi or Estephan El Douaihy (Arabic: اسطفانوس الثاني بطرس الدويهي / ALA-LC: Isṭifānūs al-thānī Buṭrus al-Duwayhī; French: Étienne Douaihi; Latin: Stephanus Dovaihi; Italian: Stefano El Douaihy; 2 August 1630 – 3 May 1704) was the 57th Patriarch of the Maronite Church, serving from 1670 until his death. He was born in Ehden, Lebanon.

He is considered one of the major Lebanese historians of the 17th century and was known as “The Father of Maronite History”, “Pillar of the Maronite Church”, “The Second Chrysostom”, “Splendor of the Maronite Nation”, and “The Glory of Lebanon and the Maronites”. After his death, he was declared a Servant of God by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.[1] On 3 July 2008 Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable.[2] On August 2, 2024, he was beatified at a ceremony held in Bkerké, Lebanon.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istifan_al-Duwayhi

Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (née Fajardo García; born September 1, 1957) (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡloɾja esˈtefan]) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of the Top 100 greatest artists of all time by both VH1 and Billboard.[2] Estefan's record sales exceed 100 million worldwide, making her one of the best-selling female singers of all time.[3][4] Many of Estefan's songs became international chart-topping hits, including "1-2-3", "Don't Wanna Lose You", "Coming Out of the Dark", "Turn the Beat Around", and "Heaven's What I Feel". Other hits include "Bad Boy", "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You", "Get On Your Feet", and "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)".

A contralto, Estefan started[5] her career as lead singer of Miami Latin Boys, which was later renamed Miami Sound Machine. She and Miami Sound Machine earned worldwide success with their 1985 single "Conga", which became Estefan's signature song and led to Miami Sound Machine winning the 15th annual Tokyo Music Festival's grand prix in 1986. In 1988, she and Miami Sound Machine achieved their first number-one hit with "Anything for You".

In March 1990, Estefan sustained a life-threatening cervical fracture of her spine when her tour bus was involved in a serious accident near Scranton, Pennsylvania. She underwent an emergency surgical stabilization of her cervical spine and post-surgical rehabilitation that lasted almost a year, but made a full recovery. A year later, in March 1991, Estefan launched her comeback with a worldwide tour and album, Into the Light.

Estefan's 1993 Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra, won the first of her three Grammy Awards for Best Tropical Latin Album.[6] The album was also the first Diamond album in Spain. Estefan has been awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame and was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2017 for her contributions to American cultural life. Estefan won an MTV Video Music Award, was honored with the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, and has been named BMI Songwriter of the Year. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has received multiple Billboard Music Awards. She is also a recipient of the 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom.[7]

Billboard has listed Estefan as the third-most successful Latina and 23rd-greatest Latin Artist of all time in the U.S., based on both Latin albums and Latin songs chart.[8] Hailed as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by the media,[9] she has amassed 38 number one hits across Billboard charts, including 15 chart-topping songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart.[10][8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Estefan

Genesis 3:15

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203%3A15&version=DRA

Genesis 3:15

1599 Geneva Bible

15 I will also put enmity between [q]thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall break thine [r]head, and thou shalt [s]bruise his heel.

Genesis 3:15 He chiefly meaneth Satan, by whose motion and craft the serpent deceived the woman.

Genesis 3:15 That is, the power of sin and death.

Genesis 3:15 Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not overcome them.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203&version=GNV

GGGGGG

"The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

TRANSLATED FROM

THE AUTOGRAPH

FATHER ELDER MULLAN, S.J.

I.H.S.

NEW YORK

P.J. KENEDY & SONS

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE

https://ia800303.us.archive.org/3/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

The Douay–Rheims Bible (/ˌduːeɪ ˈriːmz, ˌdaʊeɪ -/,[1] US also /duːˌeɪ -/), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church.[2] The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty-seven years later in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees (spelt "Machabees") plus the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament (Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Esdras, and 4 Esdras), was published in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douay%E2%80%93Rheims_Bible

The former Jesuit College of Reims is a 16th-century building located in Reims in the Marne, a French department in the Champagne area of the Grand Est region. Founded in 1608 by Jesuits, the college was closed in 1762 when the Jesuits were banished from France. The buildings were used for other educational projects during the 19th century. Since 1976 they have belonged to the City of Reims, which has used it to provide a space for various regional and international organisations. Its library and refectory are recognised monuments of Baroque art.

History

Buildings

Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery asked Henri IV for permission for the Jesuits to open a college in Reims. The king authorised, by letters patent of 25 March 1606, the Jesuit fathers to found a college in Reims. His brother François (†. 1630), who was chaplain to the king, bought the Hôtel de Cerny on 12 March 1608 for them to set up there. He donated 3 000 pounds for the fitting out of the establishment.

On 18 October 1608 the Jesuits inaugurated their classes there. They taught Humanities, Philosophy and Mathematics.

In 1610 François Brûlart donated a farm and a priory for the maintenance of a chair of philosophy, then in 1614 an annuity of 1,000 pounds for the opening of a second chair of Philosophy.

In 1615 the Jesuits bought the neighbouring priory of Saint-Maurice to extend the premises and in 1619, François Brûlart made a further donation of 6 600 pounds, which enabled it to be given its present layout: a central chapel with a courtyard surrounded by buildings. The teaching was then completed by theological instruction.

In May 1762, when they were banished from France, the Jesuits' property was seized and the College of Reims was reunited with the Collège des Bons Enfants. In January 1766, the General Hospital took possession of the buildings, which served as a hospice until 1772. The Magneuses, a foundation created by Nicolas Colbert's widow, moved into part of the college in 1791 to take in poor girls aged between 10 and 15 and give them an education. They occupied the college until the middle of the 20th century before it was used to house law students in 1967. The buildings were acquired by the municipality in 1976, and major works were undertaken from 2013 to 2015 to adapt the premises to current teaching.

Conservation

Restored, the building was converted into the multi-activity centre it is today. To protect the architectural and cultural interest of this complex, including its garden, courtyard, refectory, hallway, kitchen, elevations, and interior decoration; the vines that escaped phylloxera are classified[1] as an ancient grape variety,[2] the Verjus;[3] all are under legal protection: this complex has been classified as a historic monument since 2 September 1933, while the 17th century staircase has been classified since 25 December 1921.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_College_of_Reims

https://www.facebook.com/billy.dunn.50767/posts/pfbid0t3DdgbxP5MsJDVk3X1zisrZNfPory5P1hta4FoUPu6mMwWuPXcJJXwjGaR9dcrh9l

8 And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go GAY: so do they take gold and make them up.

Baruch 6:8

Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis[1] following the release of the debut album Village People, which targeted disco's large gay audience. The group's name refers to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, with its reputation as a gayborhood.[2] The characters were a symbolic group of American masculinity[3] and macho gay-fantasy personas.[4] As of January 2020, Willis is the only original member of the group.[5]

The group quickly became popular and moved into the mainstream, scoring several disco and dance hits internationally, including the hit singles "Macho Man", "In the Navy", "Go West", and "Y.M.C.A.", which was their biggest hit. In March 2020, the Library of Congress described "Y.M.C.A." as "an American phenomenon",[6] and added the song to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[7]

History

1977–1979

The original members of the group during the shooting of their debut music video San Francisco in 1977

French musical composer and producer Jacques Morali and his business partner Henri Belolo, known collectively as Can't Stop Productions, were enjoying a successful string of hits in France and Europe. In 1977, they moved to New York City to attempt to break into the American market. Morali had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo tape recorded by singer/actor Victor Willis. After hiring Willis to sing background vocals on the four tracks, Morali approached him and said, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing on the debut album Village People.[8]

Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead wrote the lyrics for the first album (Willis would subsequently take over writing duties in 1978 for the group's biggest hits). The Village People studio band was called Gypsy Lane and was conducted by Horace Ott. Ott also provided many of the musical arrangements for Morali, who did not play any instruments.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_People

4Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you. 5 But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them, say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord. 6 For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of your souls. 7 For their tongue that is polished by the craftsman, and themselves laid over with gold and silver, are false things, and they cannot speak. 8 And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go gay: so do they take gold and make them up. 9 Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads: whereof the priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it on themselves. 10 Yea and they give thereof to prostitutes, and they dress out harlots: and again when they receive it of the harlots, they adorn their gods. 11 And these gods cannot defend themselves from the rust, and the moth. 12 But when they have covered them with a purple garment, they wipe their face because of the dust of the house, which is very much among them. 13 This holdeth a sceptre as a man, as a judge of the country, but cannot put to death one that offendeth him. 14 And this hath in his hand a sword, or an axe, but cannot save himself from war, or from robbers, whereby be it known to you, that they are not gods. 15 Therefore fear them not. For as a vessel that a man uses when it is broken becometh useless, even so are their gods: 16 When they are placed in the house, their eyes are full of dust by the feet of them that go in. 17 And as the gates are made sure on every side upon one that hath offended the king, or like a dead man carried to the grave, so do the priests secure the doors with bars and locks, lest they be stripped by thieves. 18 They light candles to them, and in great number, of which they cannot see one: but they are like beams in the house. 19 And they say that the creeping things which are of the earth, gnaw their hearts, while they eat them and their garments, and they feel it not. 20 Their faces are black with the smoke that is made in the house. 21 Owls, and swallows, and other birds fly upon their bodies, and upon their heads, and cats in like manner. 22 Whereby you may know that they are no gods. Therefore fear them not. 23 The gold also which they have, is for shew, but except a man wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten, did they feel it. 24 Men buy them at a high price, whereas there is no breath in them. 25 And having not the use of feet they are carried upon shoulders, declaring to men how vile they are. Be they confounded also that worship them. 26 Therefore if they fall to the ground, they rise not up again of themselves, nor if a man set them upright, will they stand by themselves, but their gifts shall be set before them, as to the dead. 27 The things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and abuse: in like manner also their wives take part of them, but give nothing of it either to the sick, or to the poor. 28 The childbearing and menstruous women touch their sacrifices: knowing therefore by these things that they are not gods, fear them not. 29 For how can they be called gods? because women set offerings before the gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood: 30 And priests sit in their temples, having their garments rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads. 31 And they roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead. 32 The priests take away their garments, and clothe their wives and their children. 33 And whether it be evil that one doth unto them, or good, they are not able to recompense it: neither can they set up a king nor put him down: 34 In like manner they can neither give riches, nor requite evil. If a man make a vow to them, and perform it not, they cannot require it. 35 They cannot deliver a man from death nor save the weak from the mighty. 36 They cannot restore the blind man to his sight: nor deliver a man from distress. 37 They shall not pity the widow, nor do good to the fatherless. 38 Their gods, of wood, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver, are like the stones that are hewn out of the mountains: and they that worship them shall be confounded. 39 How then is it to be supposed, or to be said, that they are gods? 40 Even the Chaldeans themselves dishonour them: who when they hear of one dumb that cannot speak, they present him to Bel, entreating him, that he may speak, 41 As though they could be sensible that have no motion themselves: and they, when they shall perceive this, will leave them: for their gods themselves have no sense. 42 The women also with cords about them, sit in the ways, burning olive stones. 43 And when any one of them, drawn away by some passenger, lieth with him, she upbraideth her neighbour, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken. 44 But all things that are done about them, are false: how is it then to be thought, or to be said, that they are gods? 45 And they are made by workmen, and by goldsmiths. They shall be nothing else but what the priests will have them to be. 46 For the artificers themselves that make them, are of no long continuance. Can those things then that are made by them be gods? 47 But they have left false things and reproach to them that come after. 48 For when war cometh upon them, or evils, the priests consult with themselves where they may hide themselves with them. 49 How then can they be thought to be gods, that can neither deliver themselves from war, nor save themselves from evils? 50 For seeing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false things, by all nations and kings: and it shall be manifest that they are no gods, but the work of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them. 51 Whence therefore is it known that they are not gods, but the work of men’s hands, and no work of God is in them? 52 They cannot set up a king over the land, nor give rain to men. 53 They determine no causes, nor deliver countries from oppression; because they can do nothing, and are as daws between heaven and earth. 54 For when fire shall fall upon the house of these gods of wood, and of silver, and of gold, their priests indeed will flee away, and be saved: but they themselves shall be burnt in the midst like beams. 55 And they cannot withstand a king and war. How then can it be supposed, or admitted that they are gods? 56 Neither are these gods of wood, and of stone, and laid over with gold, and with silver, able to deliver themselves from thieves or robbers: they that are stronger than them, 57 Shall take from them the gold, and silver, and the raiment wherewith they are clothed, and shall go their way, neither shall they help themselves. 58 Therefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power: or else a profitable vessel in the house, with which the owner thereof will be well satisfied: or a door in the house, to keep things safe that are therein, than such false gods. 59 The sun, and the moon, and the stars being bright, and sent forth for profitable uses, are obedient. 60 In like manner the lightning, when it breaketh forth, is easy to be seen: and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country. 61 And the clouds when God commandeth them to go over the whole world, do that which is commanded them. 62 The fire also being sent from above to consume mountains and woods, doth as it is commanded. But these neither in shew, nor in power are like to any one of them. 63 Wherefore it is neither to be thought, nor to be said, that they are gods: since they are neither able to judge causes, nor to do any good to men. 64 Knowing therefore that they are not gods, fear them not. 65 For neither can they curse kings, nor bless them. 66 Neither do they shew signs in the heaven to the nations, nor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon. 67 Beasts are better than they, which can fly under a covert, and help themselves. 68 Therefore there is no manner of appearance that they are gods: so fear them not. 69 For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so are their gods of wood, and of silver, and laid over with gold. 70 They are no better than a white thorn in a garden, upon which every bird sitteth. In like manner also their gods of wood, and laid over with gold, and with silver, are like to a dead body cast forth in the dark. 71 By the purple also and the scarlet which are motheaten upon them, you shall know that they are not gods. And they themselves at last are consumed, and shall be a reproach in the country. 72 Better therefore is the just man that hath no idols: for he shall be far from reproach.

Baruch 6:4-72

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Baruch%206&version=DRA

The Final Coup

Can anyone doubt that Freemasonry, specifically English Freemasonry, is behind the recent

break-up of the Soviet Union? From the moment Kerensky's democratic government was ousted

by the Bolsheviks, London backed the White Russian counterrevolution. When the atrocities of

the Red Terror were exposed, London was strengthened in her resolve to topple the Soviet

Union.

The seriousness of the situation in the Soviet Union was brought to light by Admiral "Blinker"

Hall, head of British naval intelligence. Hall informed his colleagues at the end of World War I

427

that the "most durable monster Western intelligence has ever faced had surfaced in Moscow....

Therefore, it was not only necessary to discover the other side's secrets but to protect our own

from disciples of communism, one of whom could well be the colleague beside you."135

In the early 1920s, the British Special Intelligence Service (SIS) made its first attempt to break

up the Soviet Union. They nearly succeeded. The plot called for an uprising of the bodyguards of

the communist leaders, who would seize Lenin and Trotsky. (The plot also included the

assassination of Lenin if the occasion arose, which it did, but failed.)

British agents would then establish a provisional anti-communist government. However, agents

loyal to the communists penetrated the operation, and the whole plot fell apart. Phillip Knightley,

author of The Master Spy (1989), said that the CHEKA, realizing a formidable foe in the SIS,

from that moment planned "the long-term.. .Soviet penetration of Western intelligence... "136

When Hitler rose to power, London made a second attempt to destroy the Soviet Union by

pushing Nazi Germany east to war with Russia (see chapter 22). Having failed to topple the

Soviet Union with Hitler, London continued her objective. "The Final Coup" was well thought

out and took 59 years to perfect.

The most brilliant intelligence operation to topple a nation involved English Freemasonry, the

KGB and a man named Kim Philby, one of England's senior intelligence officers in MI-6

(Mission Impossible, department 6). As a young man, Philby was groomed for the task by his

father, Freemason St.-John Philby. The senior Philby was the British intelligence specialist in the

Arabian peninsula for forty years following the Bolshevik Revolution. He assisted in setting up

Masonic Lodges throughout Arabic speaking nations.137 Although there is no record that young

Philby joined Freemasonry (and he stated he had not), his father taught him free-thinking.

Moreover, he was educated at Cam-bridge, a college rife with secret societies, including

Freemasonry. There he learned the politics of the intellectual Left and became a communist

during the Third International, but never joined the Party. When he graduated in June 1933, he

went to Vienna under orders from the French Communist Party, which was headquartered in the

Grand Orient at Paris.138

When Philby knew all there was to know about the enemy, he was hired by British intelligence

as a correspondent and in 1939 sent to Spain to observe the communist revolution in progress

there. No one knows for sure when, or if, he was "recruited" by the KGB, but he did give away

secrets. The secrets he gave to his controller, however, were miniscule compared to those he

never revealed, such as operation "Ultra" during World War II. (Ultra was the code name given

to information gathered through deciphering German signal traffic produced by the radio

enciphering machine known as "Enigma.")139

After the War, Philby was given permission by British intelligence to try the "full double." He

was so instructed: "If an opportunity arises to convince the Russian intelligence service that you

are willing to betray your own service and work for the other side, then you have permission to

428

seize it."140

In 1949 Philby was sent to Washington as Great Britain's SIS representative in the United States,

working in liaison with the CIA and the FBI. By the time he left Washington to return to

London, no other British intelligence officer was as well equipped to perform "The Final Coup"

on Soviet Russia.

When he returned to London, Philby began to develop his cover that would make the KGB

believe he was a Soviet double agent. In 1952 two British SIS agents, Donald Maclean and Guy

Burgess, defected to Russia. Philby was suspected of helping them. In 1955, 33rd degree

Freemason J. Edgar Hoover cleared Philby ofinvolvement.141 After this reprieve, Philby was sent

to the Middle East as a correspondent for the London Observer and The Economist. The real

reason for this transfer was to debrief his father. The senior Philby introduced his son to the

entire range of his Middle East contacts. Together, Philby and Philby traveled the Middle East

from 1955 until September 1960, when SL John Philby died.142 The time had come for Kim

Philby's defection.

In January 1963, Philby disappeared while on his way to a diplomatic party in Beirut. In April he

surfaced in Moscow. Shortly thereafter, Khrushchev fell from power. After 1963 the West heard

nothing of Philby, until 1979. That year Western intelligence discovered that Philby had just

been promoted to the rank of General of the KGB. Then in 1980, shocking news came from

London that Kim Philby had never had a KGB controller, that Sir Anthony Blunt had all along

been Philby's intelligence controller for Britain's Royal Court. Translated, this meant that Philby

was a triple-agent, a British intelligence operative disguised as a Soviet double-agent. 143

In the next few years Brezhnev died and each of the next two Soviet leaders, Yuri Andropov and

Konstantin Chernenko, died suddenly and under mysterious circumstances.

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, Kim Philby granted an unprecedented interview to

Phillip Knightley, author of The Master Spy. Knightley's conclusion was that "the British had let

him [Philby] go."144 In "The Final Coup," the last chapter of his book, Knightley records Philby's

statement: "In Gorbachev I have a leader who has justified my years of faith."145

What did Philby mean? The policies implemented by Gorbachev dismantled the Soviet Union.

Was Philby involved in this process? Was this his assignment? Did he have something to do with

bringing Gorbachev to power?

In 1984, one year before Gorbachev took office, he travelled to the two Masonic headquarters in

London and Paris, to make a "report." Subsequent events suggest that while on that trip he was

initiated into French Freemasonry. The next year, in 1985, Gorbachev was at the helm of the

Soviet Union. A major Paris daily newspaper, Le Figaro, reported on Gorbachev's intense

interest in Freemasonry. By 1989 reports were coming out of France that Gorbachev was

planning to reopen Masonic lodges inside the Soviet Union and its satellite states. According to

429

Floshpoint (September 1990), a monthly newsletter published by Texe Marrs exposing the most

current developments in the conspiracy, "Both of the top masonic [sic] organizations in France,

the Grand Orient.. .and the Grand Lodge.. .are now working on this high priority project."146

When Freemasonry is permitted to operate within a nation, there will be revolution. The peaceful

demise of the Soviet Union in December 1991 can only be attributed to the activity of these new

lodges established inside Russian borders since 1989. We may never know what intrigue took

place to topple communism, but on December 26, 1991, when Gorbachev voluntarily stepped

down from power, he said in true Masonic terminology, "I hereby discontinue my activities at

the post of president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. We're now living in a New

World!" 147

In Conclusion

The Russian Revolution occurred in cooperation with English Masonic Socialists, funded by the

House of Rothschild, and in conflict with Grand Orient Communists, funded by the House of

Warburg. English Masonry wanted the Zionists out of Russia in order to establish a Jewish

homeland in Palestine, while French Grand Orient Masonry desired to keep the Zionists within

Russia. Russian Jews, although covertly manipulated by both Gentile Freemasonries, played a

significant role in the two Russian Revolutions of 1917. Even the wealthy Rothschilds and

Warburgs were pawns in the hands of the Priory of Sion and the Gentile Templars. Jews were

used, then abused as scapegoats. Freemasonry went unscathed.

Indeed, the Russian Revolution, the secret conflict it provoked between English and French

Freemasonry, and the financial competition it generated between the Rothschilds and the

Warburgs, was, and still is, only a manifestation of the thousand-year-old struggle between the

Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar.

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.

§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Jorge González (31 January 1966 – 22 September 2010)[6][7] was an Argentine professional wrestler, basketball player and actor best known for his appearances in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name El Gigante and in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Giant Gonzalez.[8][3] González remains the tallest man to have competed for both companies and the tallest Argentinian to have ever lived.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Gonz%C3%A1lez_(wrestler)

73 22.03.1993 World Wrestling Entertainment Dark: Giant Gonzalez defeats Kamala

WWF Monday Night RAW #10 - Dark Match @ Manhattan Center in New York City, New York, USA

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=668&page=4

James Arthur Harris (May 28, 1950 – August 9, 2020),[4] better known by his ring name Kamala, was an American professional wrestler. Nicknamed "The Ugandan Giant", Kamala portrayed a fearsome and simpleminded Ugandan. He wrestled barefoot, clad only in a loincloth, his face painted with war paint and two stars painted on his chest and a moon painted on his stomach. During his ring entrance, he sported an African mask and wielded a spear and shield. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) over the course of numerous runs in the company between 1984 and 2006.[1][5][12]

World Wrestling Federation (1992–1993)

Kamala returned to the WWF on May 9, 1992, with Lombardi reprising the Kim Chee character and Harvey Wippleman acting as his managers. In June 1992, he unsuccessfully challenged Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Throughout mid-1992, he wrestled primarily in house shows, with his regular opponents including The Undertaker, Bret Hart, The Texas Tornado, and The Ultimate Warrior.[9][18] Kamala lost to The Undertaker by disqualification at SummerSlam in August 1992. Kamala later claimed that he was paid $13,000 for the bout while The Undertaker was paid $500,000. Professional wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer questioned this claim, saying: "I'm not saying he's lying, but that's hard to believe [...] for there to be that big of a disparity wouldn't make any sense."[8][15] In November 1992, Kamala lost to The Undertaker at Survivor Series in the first ever televised casket match.[32][33][34] In January 1993, Kim Chee and Wippleman began mistreating Kamala, leading him to break away from them and align himself with Reverend Slick, turning face for the first time in his WWF career.

Slick set out to humanize Kamala, leading to a series of skits in which he introduced him to activities such as ten-pin bowling.[8][32][35][36] Kamala feuded with Kim Chee throughout early 1993. In March 1993, he began a series of matches with Bam Bam Bigelow. The two were scheduled to face one another at WrestleMania IX, but the match was canceled.[8] In May 1993, Kamala lost a King of the Ring tournament qualifying match via countout to Mr. Hughes on an episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge. He went on to compete primarily at house shows until being released by the WWF that July.[18][15] In December 1993, Kamala was announced as a participant in the 1994 Royal Rumble Match. During the bout the announcers noted that Virgil, as an alternate participant, had replaced him.[37]

Semi-retirement (1993–1995)

After leaving the WWF once more, Harris stepped back from professional wrestling. He began working as a truck driver using two semi-trailer trucks he had purchased following his series of matches with Hulk Hogan.[8][21] He only wrestled in independent shows and part-time for USWA. In December 1993, he wrestled in India where he won the vacated IAW Tag Team Titles with Dusty Wolfe defeating Leo Burke and the Mongolian Mauler.[38]

World Championship Wrestling (1995)

Main article: Dungeon of Doom

At Hulk Hogan's suggestion, Kamala joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1995. He was introduced as part of Kevin Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom stable, whose goal was to end Hogan's career. In his first WCW pay-per-view appearance, he defeated "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan at Bash at the Beach. He lost a singles match to Hogan at Clash of the Champions XXXI. He was part of the "Dungeon of Doom" team at Fall Brawl, which lost to Hogan's team, "The Hulkamaniacs".[8]

United States Wrestling Association (1996)

On January 24, 1996, Kamala returned to the USWA for the final time where he teamed with Brian Christopher and PG-13 to defeat Tracey Smothers, Doug Gilbert, Jesse James Armstrong, and Robert Gibson in an Iron Man match.[39]

Late career (2001–2010)

Kamala performing a shoulder claw on Sgt. Slaughter in 2009

Kamala participated in the "Gimmick Battle Royal" at WrestleMania X-Seven and was eliminated by Sgt. Slaughter.[40]

Kamala lost to his nemesis Jerry Lawler at International Wrestling Cartel On July 20, 2002.[41] From 2003 to 2004 he made appearances for Memphis Wrestling.

On July 26, 2004, Kamala made a surprise return to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), participating in a Raw Diva Search segment on RAW, in which the female contestants were instructed to try to seduce him.[42]

Kamala lost to Jim Duggan at WrestleReunion 1 on January 29, 2005.

Kamala faced Randy Orton on the August 11, 2005, edition of SmackDown! (accompanied by Kim Chee) but the match was interrupted by a message from The Undertaker to Orton, and ended in a no contest.[43] Kamala appeared at the 2005 Taboo Tuesday event, as one of the choices for Eugene's tag team partner.[44] He lost the fan vote to Jimmy Snuka, but came to the ring after the match to deliver a big splash to Tyson Tomko.[45] On June 25, 2006, at Vengeance, he accompanied Eugene to the ring (along with Doink the Clown and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan) to take on Umaga. Umaga quickly won, then attacked all three. But before Kamala and Umaga could fight, Umaga's manager, Armando Estrada, intervened.[46] Umaga defeated Kamala in a match the following night on Raw in his last appearance for the promotion.[16]

On September 30, 2006, Kamala wrestled to a non-finish with Bryan Danielson, in a match for the ROH World Championship at a National Wrestling Alliance event in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[47]

In 2007, Kamala defeated Lanny Poffo at Great North Wrestling event Wrestling Supershow at the Ottawa SuperEX in Ottawa, Canada.[48] Kamala appeared at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Slammiversary pay-per-view in June 2008, as a guest at Jay Lethal and SoCal Val's storyline wedding.[49] His last match was on August 15, 2010, at Juggalo Championship Wrestling with the Weedman defeating The Haters (Pauly and Vito Thomaselli).[6]

Professional wrestling style and persona

Writing about his character in March 2021, 411Mania's Ryan Byers called the character "problematic" since it promoted "all sorts of negative stereotypes of Africans and Black people more generally", but praised Harris's performance since "you believed he was what he was portraying, and, more importantly, you believed that he was dangerous".[50]

Personal life

Harris was married twice; his first marriage, to Clara Freeman in 1974, ended in divorce in 2005, while his second, to Emmer Jean Bradley in 2006, lasted until his death.[4] Harris fathered five daughters and a son.[51] Harris lived with his niece Ashley in Senatobia, Mississippi, until moving to Oxford, Mississippi.[16][52]

In July 1993, Harris was called away from a WWF tour after a show in Oakland, California, when his youngest sister and her stepdaughter were shot dead. The killer attempted suicide, but only severely disfigured himself. After his WWF release that August, Harris pushed for the man's arrest and conviction. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and died in 2013. Harris went on to help raise his surviving niece.[15][16]

Beginning in 1993, Harris wrote, performed, and produced his own music. He wrote over 100 songs. Some discuss his frustration with the working conditions he experienced in the wrestling industry, most notably the low pay. He released his debut album, The Best of Kamala Vol 1, through his official website. The album features a ballad dedicated to the memory of Stanley "Tookie" Williams.[16]

In 2015, Harris completed his autobiography along with one of his wrestling managers, Kenny Casanova, to help him offset medical costs. Kamala Speaks was funded on Kickstarter and self-published in December 2014. It tells his life story, of his wrestling career, and the loss of both of his legs to diabetes.[53]

Health issues

On November 7, 2011, Harris had his left leg amputated below the knee due to complications of high blood pressure and diabetes, a condition he had since 1992, which forced him to retire because he did not accept dialysis treatment.[54] In April 2012, his right leg was also amputated below the knee and a campaign was launched seeking donations to cover his financial needs.[55][56] Harris told Bleacher Report in 2014 that he relied on a disability check, sold handmade wooden chairs, and had recently written a book about his life.[53][15][57]

In July 2016, Harris was named as part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE.[58] The lawsuit was dismissed by District of Connecticut judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.[59] Mike Johnson of PW Insider wrote that his involvement in the lawsuit likely prevented WWE from inducting him into their Hall of Fame.[60]

On November 19, 2017, Harris underwent life-saving emergency surgery to clear fluid from around his heart and lungs at a hospital in Oxford, Mississippi.[61][52] He was then on life support due to complications.[61] The next day, his stepdaughter said he showed signs of improvement, but remained on life support.[52] On November 22, it was reported that he was able to breathe on his own yet was unable to talk and remained under intensive care.[62]

Death

On August 5, 2020, Harris tested positive for COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi, and was hospitalized. He likely contracted it from one of his numerous weekly visits to the dialysis center, his wife said. Due to COVID-19, he started to experience complications from his diabetes. He went into cardiac arrest on August 9, 2020, dying later that afternoon at the age of 70.[63][64]

Shortly after his death, a GoFundMe page was started to help Harris's family pay for his funeral expenses. The fundraiser ended up surpassing its original goal of $25,000, raising a total of $32,664. Impact Wrestling executive Scott D'Amore donated $2,500 to the cause[65] and fellow wrestler Chris Jericho made a $5,000 donation.[65] This was not the first time that Jericho had donated to a cause involving Harris – in April 2019, a GoFundMe was started by B. Brian Blair, former WWF wrestler and president of the Cauliflower Alley Club, to raise money to prevent Harris from losing his home due to unpaid taxes. Jericho donated $5,000 to this fundraiser as well, pushing the amount raised substantially past the stated goal of $12,750.[66]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_(wrestler)

It was while investigating the Little Rock integration incident in 1957 that I first learned of Pike’s rapid advance in Freemasonry, and knowing that Weishaupt, using Thomas Jefferson and Moses Holbrook, had infiltrated Illuminists into the Masonic Lodges of America, I decided I would find out if the fact that Pike’s mansion in Little Rock had thirteen rooms had any significance. “Thirteen’ figures prominently in Satanic, Luciferian and Cabalistic rituals, codes, and writings, etc. My investigations produced documentary evidence to show that, because of Pike’s exceptional mental ability, he came under the notice of professors in Harvard who were members of the Illuminati, who developed in his mind the ‘idea that a One World Government, a One World Religion and a One World financial and economic system was the ONLY solution to the world’s many and varied problems. I next discovered that his departure from Harvard was not due to lack of finances, or because of a misunderstanding with the faculty over tuition fees, but because of his ‘radical’ ideas and teachings. When he returned home determined that he would ‘fight’ his way to the top despite all opposition, he was in a suitable frame of mind to be recruited as a ‘Minerval’ or ‘apprentice’ into the lower degrees of the Illuminati."

Satan Prince of This World

by William Guy Carr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view

Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, also known as Adams Field, is a joint civil-military airport on the east side of Little Rock, Arkansas. It is operated by the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission.

The largest commercial airport in Arkansas, it served more than 2.1 million passengers in the year spanning from March 2009 through to February 2010.[6] While Clinton National Airport does not have direct international passenger flights, more than 50 flights arrive or depart at Little Rock each day, with nonstop service to 14 cities.[7] The airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a small-hub primary commercial service facility.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_National_Airport

The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site is located in HOPE, Arkansas.[2] Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, in this house the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life, having been born on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in HOPE, Arkansas.[3][4] The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and they cared for him when his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans.[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_William_Jefferson_Clinton_Birthplace_Home_National_Historic_Site

Tragedy and HOPE: A History of the World in Our Time is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor and historian Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focuses on Western civilization."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_and_Hope

In his first year (1965) in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, Bill Clinton took Quigley's course, receiving a 'B' as his final grade in both semesters (an excellent grade in a course where nearly half the students received D or lower).[1]: 94, 96 In 1991, Clinton named Quigley as an important influence on his aspirations and political philosophy, when Clinton launched his presidential campaign in a speech at Georgetown.[1]: 96 He said he learned from Quigley that “The future can be better than the past, and that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.” Bill Clinton told his audiences, “that is what the new choice is all about....We are not here to save the Democratic party. We are here to save the United States of America.” It was Clinton's most effective speech, and he repeated variations time and time again as the blueprint for his campaign message in winning the Democratic nomination and the general election for President of the United States in 1992.[21][22]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Quigley

Theorists also cite the inclusion of Bill Clinton at the meetings in 1991 before he was president and Tony Blair’s presence in 1993 before he became the British prime minister as examples of the group’s power. Past attendees have included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (who will also be attending this year), former Chase Manhattan chief executive David Rockefeller, and British Prime Minister David Cameron."

Bilderberg Group: What To Know About the Secretive Meetings

https://time.com/4362872/bilderberg-group-meetings-2016-conspiracy-theories/

Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner October 20, 2016 Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Henry Kissinger Gayle King Cardinal Dolan Katie Couric Chuck Schumer Mayor Bill de Blasio"

https://www.facebook.com/MariaBartiromo/posts/alfred-e-smith-memorial-foundation-dinner-october-20-2016-donald-trump-hillary-c/1353937201283479/

HOPE: all hope is to be placed in God, and with what degree of perfection [67]; eternal life alone is to be hoped for as a reward [82]; the extent to which this hope should be of assistance [288]; how hope should be shown by the dying | 595]; hope in the preservation and growth of the Society [812]. See also Faithfulness" The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms pg. 464

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Bill Clinton ‘Encouraged’ Trump to Run

SLICK WILLY

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 10:12AM EDT /

Published Aug. 05, 2015 3:33PM EDT

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/08/05/bill-clinton-encouraged-trump

I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

The university has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in red and blue lights.

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

SCRANTON, Pa. — In preparation for President Joe Biden's visit, a university lit up their lights in his honor.

The University of Scranton has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in blue and red with the number 46 prominently displayed to welcome the 46th president."

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/university-of-scranton-welcomes-president-biden-gateway-lights/523-cdba68b1-822b-4747-94be-4cd7e4de9d67

"His son, Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton PA. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for this university. Senator Biden himself has lectured at the Jesuit University of Scranton, and received an honorary degree from the same university, in 1976."

Codeword Barbelon

by P.D. Stuart

Trump and Harris neck-and-neck as she prepares to announce VP pick after meeting candidates Sunday: Live

Harris met with top running mate contenders Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro at her Washington DC residence

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kamala-harris-vp-pick-trump-polls-news-b2591106.html

San Francisco's 555 California St., co-owned by Trump, on lender watchlist

The beautiful, very great, big league skyscraper, still allegedly 30% owned by Donald Trump, is on a lender watchlist, according to Bloomberg

By Alex Shultz,

Politics editor, SFGATE

Updated Feb 23, 2023 3:40 p.m.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/san-francisco-building-trump-stake-on-watchlist-17801816.php

Early life and education

Harris's childhood home at 1227 Bancroft Way in Berkeley, August 2020

Kamala Devi Harris[a] was born in Oakland, California,[3] on October 20, 1964.[4] Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan (1938–2009), was a biologist who arrived in the United States from India in 1958 to enroll in graduate school in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. A research career of over 40 years followed, during which her work on the progesterone receptor gene led to advances in breast cancer research.[5] Kamala's father, Donald J. Harris (1938–),[6] is an Afro-Jamaican who immigrated to the United States in 1961 and also enrolled in UC Berkeley, specializing in development economics. The first Black scholar to be granted tenure at Stanford University's economics department, he has emeritus status there.[7] Kamala's parents met in 1962 and married in 1963.[8]

The Harris family lived in Berkeley until they moved in 1966, around Kamala's second birthday. The Harrises lived for a few years in college towns in the MIDWEST where her parents held teaching or research positions:[9] Urbana, Illinois (where her sister Maya was born in 1966); Evanston, Illinois; and Madison, Wisconsin.[b][10][9][11] By 1970, the marriage had faltered, and Shyamala moved back to Berkeley with her two daughters;[12][13][9] the couple divorced when Kamala was seven.[8] In 1972, Donald Harris accepted a position at Stanford University; Kamala and Maya spent weekends at their father's house in Palo Alto and lived at their mother's house in Berkeley during the week.[14] Shyamala was friends with African-American intellectuals and activists in Oakland and Berkeley.[11] In 1976, she accepted a research position at the McGill University School of Medicine, and moved with her daughters to Montreal, Quebec.[15][16] Kamala graduated from Westmount High School on Montreal Island in 1981.[17]

Early career

In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up".[27] In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie BROWN, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.[27] In February 1998, San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney.[28] There, she became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases. In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne.[29] Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign.[30]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1]

He is the father of US Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris and lawyer Maya Harris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Harris

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

Trump International, Scotland

@TrumpScotland

Donald J Trump, 45th President of the United States, announced today the start of a new golf venture in Scotland: the MacLeod course, to be built at Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire in honor of his late mother Mary Anne MacLeod.

10:47 AM · May 1, 2023

https://x.com/TrumpScotland/status/1653093764271857666

James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766) [a] was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until his death in 1766. The only son of James II of England and his second wife, Mary of Modena, he was Prince of Wales and heir until his Catholic father was deposed and exiled in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. His Protestant half-sister Mary II and her husband William III became co-monarchs. As a Catholic, he was subsequently excluded from the succession by the Act of Settlement 1701.

Raised primarily in France and Italy, when his father died in September 1701 James claimed the thrones. As part of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1708 Louis XIV of France backed a landing in Scotland on his behalf. This failed, as did further attempts in 1715 and 1719. Led by his elder son Charles Edward Stuart, the 1745 Rising was the last serious effort to restore the House of Stuart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart

The Templars in America

One of the requirements of the Beast empire is that it be a democratic nation born of Templar French Freemasonry, the father of modern democracy.

Michael Baigent, co-author of The Temple and The Lodge, has traced the movement of the Templars to America. He discovered that Sionist English Freemasonry reigned supreme in Boston until a higher degree Templar lodge was warranted in 1756 by Grand Lodge Scotland. "There were thus two rival Provincial Grand Lodges in Boston," says Baigent, "St. John's, under the aegis of the Grand Lodge of England, and St. Andrew's, under the aegis of Grand Lodge of Scotland.... And on 28 August 1769, St. Andrew's conferred, for the first time anywhere in the world, a new Freemasonic degree - specifically called the Knights Templar Degree."23

Shortly thereafter another form of Templar Freemasonry came to America. The quasi-Jacobite Grand Lodge of York warranted lodges in Virginia.24 York Rite Freemasonry created additional degrees in the New World until it reached the 13th and final degree, known as the Knights Templar degree.

Thirteen-degree Templar York Rite Masonry, having ceased operation in England after establishing its base in the New World, exists today only in North America. Michael Baigent was able to trace the westward migration of the Templars by following their esoteric number "13." As you recall, the original Templar order consisted of thirteen degrees. The number "13" also commemorates Friday the 13th, 1307, the day persecution of the Templars began. In 1314, Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake. Only in America, says Baigent, has the Templar Grand Master received his most flattering and lavish public homage, in the form of a youth organization sponsored by Freemasonry, the Order of DeMolay.

Templar Military Lodges

The Templars also stealthily entered America through military lodges. Of particular significance are those chartered by the Irish Grand Lodge, which offered the higher degrees of Jacobite Masonry. Later these lodges incorporated the French Templar Scottish Rite degrees, further dividing colonial America between two rival forms of Freemasonry. While British politics in the colonies was dominated by English Masons in the Northeast, her military was under the influence of French Templar Field Lodges throughout the colonies - not a stable union for governing "13" rebellious colonies.2

European Templars Settle America

Another identifying characteristic of the Beast's revived Roman empire, according to our analysis of Daniel 7:7-8 in chapter 26, is that it must be populated by immigrants from the territory governed by the old Roman empire. Of course colonial America was populated by peoples from a Europe shaped by ancient Rome and later by the Holy Roman Empire. Templar influence in America began after Prince Charles Edward, the Young Stuart Pretender, failed to regain his British throne. As you recall, in 1746 he was soundly defeated, forever dashing the hopes of Scottish Templars recapturing England. As a result, many Irish and Scottish Templar Jacobites who had fought with Charles Stuart fled to America. Those who returned to France with the Prince founded the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

Between 1745 and 1753, the British and European Templar population in the New World had increased dramatically. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin attempted to relieve population pressure by proposing a plan for the union of all 13 colonies. The British government rejected Franklin's proposal, fearing a united America would be difficult to control. Subsequently, the exploding population was forced to move west into French territory, which precipitated the French and Indian War in America, a phase of the Seven Years War on the continent of Europe. During this war the French military brought to the New World the Templar Scottish Rite, first setting up base at Boston, then Charleston, S.C.26 Michael Baigent, in The Temple and The Lodge, explains:

Prior to the Seven Years War, most of the Freemasonry in North America was orthodox pro- Hanoverian, warranted by Grand Lodge [London]. During the Seven Years War, however, "higher degree" [Templar] Freemasonry, by means of regimental field lodges, was transplanted on a large scale to the American colonies and quickly took root. Boston - the soil from which the American Revolution was to spring - exemplifies the process of transplantation and the friction that sometimes arose from it.27

Benjamin Franklin: Templar Spy Master

Benjamin Franklin became a Mason in February 1731 and Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1734, and again in 1749. In 1756 he was inducted into the Royal Society in absensia. (The Royal Society, you may recall, was an English Masonic front organization for the Rosicrucian Priory of Sion.)

Between 1757 and 1762, and again between 1764 and 1775, Franklin spent considerable time in England and France. While in England, he discovered English Freemasonry's "Secret Doctrine" for America. Franklin was in London in 1775 when he was made aware that war between the colonies and Great Britain might break out at any moment, so in March he returned to Philadelphia. Later that year he attended the Second Continental Congress, through which he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 he was sent to Paris where he came in contact with the Illuminati. Franklin learned of the esoteric significance of the number "13" and the Illuminati plan for the "13" American colonies. He stayed in Paris only a short while, returning to America with this important information. On the afternoon of July 4, 1776, he, with two other Masons, were appointed by the Continental Congress to design the Great Seal of the United States of America, which would include the Seal of the Illuminati.

Baigent suggests that Franklin favored the Illuminati plan to create a New World democracy, a "Philosophical Atlantis," over the British plan for an oligarchic expansion of empire. When Franklin was in France, he began to build a spy network in preparation for America's independence from England. Baigent gives us the details:

On 9 November [1777], a special committee - the "Committee of Congress for Secret Correspondence" - was appointed to establish a network of contacts among "our friends abroad." This committee consisted of Robert Morris, John Jay, Benjamin Harrison, John Dickinson and Benjamin Franklin. It was to operate extensively through Freemasonic channels and to lead to the creation of an elaborate spy network. At the same time, and quite coincidentally, it was to overlap a British spy network which ran parallel to it and also operated through Freemasonic channels. Both networks were to be based primarily in Paris, which became the centre for a vast web of espionage, intrigue and shifting allegiances.28

Spying was not foreign to Franklin. As Deputy Postmaster General for the American colonies from the 1750s until 1775, he became particularly friendly with his British counterpart, Sir Francis Dashwood, who moved in Jacobite Masonic circles. Dashwood also had Masonic friends who were staunch supporters of Charles Edward Stuart. While in England Franklin stayed at Dashwood's estate. Michael Baigent gives us more details about the "traditional" role of spymaster incumbent upon Postmasters-General:

Because it afforded access to virtually all letters, all communications, the position of Postmaster-General was also traditionally that of spymaster. And during the American War for Independence, their experience as Postmasters-General was to stand both Dashwood and Franklin in good stead.

In his dual role of spymaster and colonial ambassador to France, Franklin established his centre of operations in Paris. He was accompanied here by two other appointees of the Congressional Committee for Secret Correspondence, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee. Lee's brother was based in London. So, too, was Franklin's sister, who is also believed to have been engaged in espionage.29

Franklin's sister introduced Franklin to the Howe brothers, one a General in the British Army, the other an Admiral, both of whom belonged to Templar military lodges in the colonial theater of operation. As Templars they were favorable to the rebellion. And in fact in 1781 the Howe brothers were accused of "belonging to a 'faction' which conspired to facilitate the colonists' bid for independence."30

Franklin's Templar Masonic friends in the postal service and in the military also had Templar sympathizers in the British Parliament. These traitors to the British Crown clandestinely raised money for the Colonial Continental Army and remitted it to Franklin in Paris. Franklin passed it on to North America, or used it in France to purchase arms and material. In 1778 Franklin joined the Illuminati lodge "Neuf Soeurs" (Nine Sisters), assisting in the initiation of Voltaire. Later he became Grand Master of the Lodge. In 1782 Franklin joined a more elusive and mysterious Freemasonic conclave, the Royal Lodge of Commanders of the Temple West.

As stated earlier, the British spy network in Paris was also Masonic. Its agents had penetrated Franklin's operation by joining his Nine Sisters' Lodge. Thus, "the British government was kept apprised not only of the colonists' activities, but also of French plans for entering the war."31

British knowledge of the impending colonial revolt did not, however, reach ears in America, because the British colonial high command in charge of the Crown's army and navy in the New World (namely the Howe brothers) were Templar Freemasons solidly in the camp of Franklin. To guarantee the success of the American Revolution, the Howe brothers displayed dilatory conduct throughout the war.

A Templar American Revolution

The war for American independence was a continuation of the battle between English and French Freemasonry. The conflict over the control of "New Atlantis" originated in Boston between two adversarial lodges, Sionist St. John's and Templar St. Andrew's. Among the members of St. Andrew's were John Hancock and Paul Revere. To the south in Virginia were two other Templar Masons, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, who in 1769 prompted the Virginia Assembly to formally condemn the British government. Events swiftly accelerated toward open conflict between England and her American colonies. In 1770 the famous Boston Massacre occurred when British sentries killed five rioters. In 1771 thirteen rebels were executed for treason in North Carolina. In 1772 two prominent Freemasons, John Brown and Abraham Whipple, had attacked a customs ship off Rhode Island and burned it. In 1773 the British government increased the tax on tea to keep the British East India Company solvent. In retaliation, Templar Masons from St. Andrew's Lodge dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded the Dartmouth in Boston harbor and dumped its tea overboard. This was the famous "Boston Tea Party" that is said to have triggered the American Revolution.32

It took three months for the news of the "Boston Tea Party" to reach London, whereupon the British Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. Not realizing the significance of the Masonic division in the colonies, the Crown's action was swift and misguidedly drastic. The "Boston Port Bill," which placed an embargo on all trade with Boston, for example, effectively closed the port,33 and stiffened colonial resolve against the Crown.

On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to plan action against the British. The Congress was under the presidency of Templar Freemason Peyton Randolph, a prominent attorney and Provincial Grand Master of Virginia. Boston delegates included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. In February 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met and announced plans for armed resistance. Within a month Templar Freemason Patrick Henry made his famous speech - "Give me liberty, or give me death" - to Virginia's Provincial Assembly. On April 18, 1775, 700 British troops were dispatched outside Boston. Templar Freemason Paul Revere made his famous ride, announcing "The Red Coats are coming!" The Templar bid to take America from Rosicrucian England had begun.34

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Dennis Rodman’s role in the nWo, explained

A weird chapter in NBA and wrestling history, all in one.

By James Dator May 18, 2020, 1:33pm EDT

Depending on your age there was no better era in professional wrestling than the late 1990s, but even if you disagree with that statement it’s undeniable that the nWo (New World Order) was the coolest faction in the business. It transcended wrestling and took over popular culture in a way wrestling hadn’t before, or since.

On Sunday night The Last Dance touched on Dennis Rodman’s involvement in the group, which became so engrossing that he skipped practice during the NBA Finals to ensure he could be ready to perform in the ring in 1998.

What was the nWo?

In the mid-late 1990s a battle was brewing between the incumbent face of professional wrestling the WWF (now WWE) and WCW. Owned by Ted Turner, WCW took its roots from traditional southern wrestling, but largely failed to gain a major foothold in the ratings. In an attempt to make the company successful, Turner and WCW opened its wallet and began giving out absurdly large contracts to some of WWF’s biggest stars to make them jump ship, also making these contracts guaranteed — which was unheard on in the business.

From 1994-98 WCW signed the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man Randy Savage, Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Diesel (Kevin Nash), and countless others. This alone wasn’t enough to propel WCW past WWF, but what came next was.

Hall and Nash jumping ship broke down professional wrestling’s venerated fourth wall, trashing their former company in the process. Arriving like a street gang, the nWo used guerrilla tactics and violence to “take over” WCW, and were so convincing fans were left wondering whether the angle was a reflection of real life. For two months Hall and Nash disrupted WCW, all while teasing the near arrival of a “third man,” an architect working behind the scenes to orchestrate the WCW takeover, which was revealed to be none other than Hulk Hogan.

The image of Hogan leg dropping his long-time friend Macho Man Randy Savage is burned in the minds of wrestling fans. The All-American super hero became the biggest villain in the wrestling world, and this was the catalyst for the nWo’s rise to prominence. Hogan, Nash and Hall were the perfect trio, and made it not only okay to like professional wrestling — but cool.

Numbers have never been officially revealed, but it’s been purported that over 16 million nWo shirts were sold in 1997 alone. This phenomenon was bigger than wrestling, and soon everybody, inside of wrestling and out, wanted to be a part of the nWo.

Dennis Rodman’s role.

With momentum on their side, WCW wanted to capitalize on pushing the nWo into the mainstream as quickly as possible. This included enlisting the help of celebrities to promote the brand, and the nWo’s devil-may-care attitude aligned perfectly with Rodman’s off-court personality.

The summer of 1998 was the perfect time for WCW to pull the trigger on a massive WCW/NBA crossover event. Rodman, who was in the middle of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz, took his role with the nWo so seriously he flew from Chicago to Detroit to appear on Monday Nitro live, in the middle of the series.

Rodman going to a professional wrestling event in the middle of a NBA Finals series seems absolutely ludicrous, but his Bulls teammates knew that was just part of the give-and-take with having Rodman on the team. Steve Kerr explained on The Last Dance that while it wasn’t uncommon for Rodman, it was a sign the Bulls were falling apart:

“We sort of understood he was his own man. He did so much for the team, but to do it during the Finals, that was another indication this was all coming to an end.

It’s unclear if Rodman’s decision to skip practice led to him coming off the bench in Game 4, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Even entering the game in a rotational role Rodman played 30 minutes and finished with 14 rebounds.

After the NBA Finals (which the Bulls won), WCW hyped up the promise of a Rodman/Malone rematch — this time inside a ring. At the Bash at the Beach pay per view in July the pair would face off in a tag team match that featured Hogan and Rodman teaming up to face Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone. The nWo ultimately won in the main event, and Rodman would not appear in a ring for another year, when he returned in 1999 and lost to Macho Man Randy Savage.

While the goal was to make the nWo transcend the world of wrestling and garner more appeal than ever, putting guys like Rodman in the faction is viewed as the moment the nWo “jumped the shark,” and took the luster away from the once-great group.

The downfall of the nWo.

There are numerous factors that led to the demise of the nWo as the premiere wrestling faction, but it ultimately comes down to being crushed until its own weight and mismanagement. WCW used the nWo as a story tool to rotate dozens of stars through to make them popular, eventually splintering the group into multiple rival factions including the red and black of the nWo Wolfpack, and the “Latino World Order,” which was led by legendary wrestler Eddie Guerrero. Eventually fans lost interest, there was too much rapid change and illogical story, with behind the scenes infighting tearing not only the nWo, but WCW as a whole apart.

More bad decisions led to the death of the company, and in 2001 WCW was sold to Vince McMahon and the WWE. Attempts to revive the nWo have been made in the years since, but never managed to capture fans the way the original iteration did. Now a relic of a bygone era, the nWo of 1996-98 remains the most compelling era in professional wrestling, not only in terms of the larger WCW vs. WWF feud — but how it pushed the industry away from the comic book style characters of the 1980s and early 90s, instead putting more “real people” on screens that fans could identify with.

Without the nWo it’s unlikely we ever would have seen the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin and countless others. Dennis Rodman is a part of that legacy, and deciding to skip out of practicing for the NBA Finals allowed it.

https://www.sbnation.com/wrestling/21262448/dennis-rodman-nwo-wcw-bulls-jazz-nba-finals-1998

James Raymond Jordan Sr. (July 31, 1936 – July 23, 1993) was the father of basketball player Michael Jordan.

Life

Jordan was born on July 31, 1936, in Wallace, North Carolina. While attending Charity High School, he met Deloris Peoples (born September 1941). The two began dating and remained together for the next three years. Upon graduation, Jordan joined the Air Force and was stationed in San Antonio, Texas. In 1956, he transferred to a base in Virginia and married Peoples shortly thereafter. Their first child, son James Ronald "Ronnie" Jr., was born the following year. Jordan left the Air Force and got a job at a textile mill in Wallace. The Jordans had two more children, Deloris and Larry.[1] The Jordans brought up their children in the Methodist faith.[2]

In 1963, the Jordan family moved to Brooklyn so that Jordan could receive mechanic's training on the G.I. Bill. He studied airplane hydraulics, while Peoples found work at a bank. While living in Brooklyn, the Jordans had another child, son Michael. As crime began to increase in Brooklyn in the 1960s, the Jordans moved back to North Carolina to raise their children in a safer environment. Upon completing his 18 months' training, Jordan and his family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. It was there that the couple's fifth child, Roslyn, was born.[1]

A lifelong basketball fan, Jordan played a large role in inspiring his son Michael to become an athlete and traveled the United States to follow his son's career, first at the University of North Carolina and then with the Chicago Bulls.[3]

Nonetheless, Jordan was also a very big baseball fan, having gone semi-pro himself. In his autobiography and in interviews throughout his career, son Michael recounted that it was his father's vision that he become a baseball star. Baseball was, in fact, the first sport Jordan had taught him to play. Michael recounted that this was a major factor in his decision to try baseball after his first retirement from the NBA.[4][5]

In her memoir In My Family's Shadow, Jordan's daughter Deloris accused him of sexually abusing her between the ages of 8 and 16.[6]

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon produced a film called Air about Nike's signing of Michael Jordan and ultimately the Air Jordan brand.[7] Julius Tennon plays Jordan in the film.

Death

On July 23, 1993, while returning home after spending the day playing golf, Jordan, allegedly tired from being on the road so late, pulled his Lexus over to rest about an hour into his drive. He stopped in the parking lot of a Quality Inn at the intersection of U.S. 74 and I-95 south of Lumberton, North Carolina (though some say his car was moved to the parking lot from the side of the road later).[8] Larry Martin Demery would testify that he and Daniel Andre Green spotted the car Michael had recently purchased for him (a red Lexus SC400 with the North Carolina license plate that read "UNC0023").[9] Green shot Jordan to death while he slept in his car and then stole the vehicle. His body was found on August 10 in a swamp in McColl, South Carolina. As his body was in a state of extreme decomposition, Jordan was not identified until August 13 with the help of dental records provided by the family dentist; his body had previously been cremated by the coroner due to lack of storage space, but his jaw and hands were preserved for identification and were later cremated and mailed with the rest of his ashes to Michael Jordan.[10]

Jordan's urn containing his ashes were placed inside a casket and buried at Rockfish African Methodist Episcopal Church in Teachey, North Carolina, on August 15, 1993.[11][12]

Green and Demery took other items from the car, including two NBA championship rings given to Jordan by his son. Green and Demery made several calls from Jordan's cell phone and as a result were quickly captured. After their arrest, Demery said that they had planned only to tie up their victim and that Green pulled the trigger for no reason. Both were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.[13] The accusation was based only on Demery's testimony; Green did not testify. Defense counsel Woodberry Bowen said Demery had everything to gain by lying that Green was the shooter, and that Green's testimony put Demery closer than he earlier admitted.[14]

In 2010, it was revealed the case was one of nearly 200 that were in review after the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation found that laboratory technicians mishandled or omitted evidence.[15] However, the Jordan case was later removed from the list.[16]

On July 23, 2018, Christine Mumma, executive director of the Center on Actual Innocence, said evidence showed Green did not commit the murder. Green claimed Demery merely asked him for help disposing of the body.[17] On August 3, 2018, Superior Court Judge Winston Gilchrist ruled on several motions and set a December date for a hearing.[18] On December 5, 2018, Mumma asked Gilchrist to allow a closer look at evidence that could lead to a new trial, and Gilchrist said he would rule later.[19] Gilchrist said on March 6, 2019, that he would not grant Green a hearing, and Mumma said she would appeal.[20]

In August 2020, Demery was approved for parole by the North Carolina Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission (the Commission), with a scheduled release in August 2023.[21] The scheduled release had already been pushed back by the Commission to August 2024 when – in December 2021 – a review by the Commission resulted in the termination of his scheduled parole release; his next parole review hearing was set for December 2023.[22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Jordan_Sr.

"Rapture" is a song by American rock band Blondie from their fifth studio album Autoamerican (1980). Written by band members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released as the second and final single from Autoamerican on January 12, 1981, by Chrysalis Records. Musically, "Rapture" is a combination of new wave, disco and hip hop with a rap section forming an extended coda.[5]

"Rapture" was another commercial success for the band, shipping one million copies in the United States, where it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, their fourth and last single to reach the top. It was the first number-one single in the United States to feature rap vocals. The single also peaked at number three in Canada, and number five in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Background

Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein were friends with Brooklyn- and Bronx-based hip-hop artists such as Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) in the late 1970s. Brathwaite took Harry and Stein to a rap event in the Bronx one night in 1978, and they were both impressed by the skill and excitement as MCs rhymed lyrics over the beats of spinning records and people lined up for a chance to take the microphone and freestyle rap. Harry and Stein went to a few more such events, before deciding to write a rap song of their own in late 1979. They decided to combine what they had seen and heard in the Bronx with Chic-inspired disco music. Keyboardist Jimmy Destri found some tubular bells in the back of the studio, which added a haunting touch to the song. The title "Rapture" was a pun on "rap", according to Stein.[6]

In an early recording the music was slower and simpler. Stein said that "[t]he slower tape was just bass, drums and guitar doubling the bass, I don’t think much else."[7] This version was put aside and later reworked as "Rapture".[8] For "Rapture", Stein said that "[w]e decided to make it faster."[7] Stein later retrieved the original recording, and Harry and Brathwaite added vocals. The result was released in the UK as "Yuletide Throwdown", as a flexi disc given away with the magazine Flexipop.[8]

Stein loved B-movies and science fiction imagery, so he wrote some surreal verses about a man from Mars. For the chorus, Harry tried to capture the feeling of a crowded hip-hop dance floor in the Bronx: "Toe to toe / Dancing very close / Barely breathing / Almost comatose / Wall to wall / People hypnotized / And they're stepping lightly / Hang each night in Rapture." The rap section references Fab 5 Freddy ("Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly"), as well as Grandmaster Flash ("Flash is fast, Flash is cool").

Record World said that "Debbie's sweet, enticing vocal transforms itself into a streetwise jam," calling the song "infectious" and calling the rhythm "hypnotic."[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture_(Blondie_song)

rapture (n.)

c. 1600, "act of carrying off" as prey or plunder, from rapt + -ure, or else from French rapture, from Medieval Latin raptura "seizure, rape, kidnapping," from Latin raptus "a carrying off, abduction, snatching away; rape" (see rapt). The earliest attested use in English is with women as objects and in 17c. it sometimes meant rape (v.), which word is a close relation to this one.

The sense of "spiritual ecstasy, state of mental transport or exaltation" is recorded by c. 1600 (raptures). The connecting notion is a sudden or violent taking and carrying away. The meaning "expression of exalted or passionate feeling" in words or music is from 1610s.

also from c. 1600

https://www.etymonline.com/word/rapture

Jerusalem Corpus Separatum

...Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)

Corpus Separatum (Latin for "separated body") is a term used to describe the Jerusalem area in the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. According to the plan the city would be placed under international regime, conferring it a special status due to its shared religious importance. The Corpus Separatum was one of the main issues of the Lausanne Conference of 1949, besides the other borders between Israel and Palestine and the question of the right of return of the Palestinian refugees. The plan was adopted by the General Assembly with a two-thirds majority, although its implementation failed and the view that Jerusalem should be the capital of both Israel and Palestine internationally is widely supported now. (wikipedia)

Israel Resource Review, The Vatican's Jerusalem Agenda. Did Shimon Peres make a deal with the Vatican?

Consider the evidence:

On Sept. 10, '93, just three days before the signing of the Declaration of Principles in Washington, the Italian news magazine La Stampa reported that part of the peace deal was an unwritten understanding that the Vatican would receive political authority over the Old City of Jerusalem by the end of the millennium. The newspaper reported that Shimon Peres had promised the Pope to hand over the holy sites of Jerusalem the previous May and that Arafat had accepted the agreement. In March '94, the Israeli newsmagazine Shishi published an interview with Mark Halter, a French intellectual and close friend of Shimon Peres. He said he delivered a letter from Peres to the Pope the previous May, within which Peres offered the Vatican hegemony over the Old City of Jerusalem. The article detailed Peres's offer which essentially turned Jerusalem into an international city overseen by the Holy See. In March '95, the radio station Arutz Sheva announced that it had seen a cable sent by the Israeli Embassy in Rome to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem outlining the handover of the Old City of Jerusalem to the Vatican. Two days later Haaretz published the cable on its front page. The Foreign Ministry explained that the cable was genuine but someone had whited out the word "not." ie We will not transfer authority to the Vatican. Incredibly, numerous Bnei Brak rabbis who had canceled Passover meetings with Peres over the issue of the cable accepted the explanation and re-invited him to their homes. The Foreign Ministry's Legal Affairs Spokesperson, Esther Samilag, publicly complained about "various capitulations" to the Vatican. She was immediately transferred to a post at the Israeli Embassy in Katmandu, Nepal. MK Avraham Shapira announced in the Knesset that he had information that all Vatican property in Jerusalem was to become tax exempt and that large tracts of real estate on Mount Zion were given to the pope in perpetuity. Jerusalem's late Deputy Mayor Shmuel Meir announced that he had received "information that properties promised to the Vatican would be granted extra-territorial status." Beilin was forced to answer the accusations. He admitted, "Included in the Vatican Agreement is the issue of papal properties in Israel that will be resolved by a committee of experts that has already been formed." If so, this committee has not since released any proof of its existence.

With all this in mind, how do we interpret the Vatican's current position on Jerusalem?

The following report, circulated by MSANews may shed some light on that:

Vatican City, Jun 14, 1997 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, apostolic nuncio and Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke June 9 on the status of Jerusalem at the New York headquarters of the Path to Peace Foundation. The archbishop addressed members of this foundation as well as U.S. members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He began by briefly summarizing the "well-known and long-standing position of the Holy See with regard to Jerusalem. He stated that Jerusalem "for us, of course, along with the rest of the Holy Land, is that special link between heaven and earth, that place where God walked and ultimately died among men. And of course we recognize that others revere Jerusalem as the city of David and the prophets and the city known to Mohammed.... It is a spiritual treasure for all of humanity, and it is a city of two peoples, Arabs and Jews, and of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam." Archbishop Martino added that "in recent years it has been increasingly difficult to break through the political and media-imposed stranglehold on the question of Jerusalem." he recounted Jerusalem's recent history, recalling in particular the UN's General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 calling for Jerusalem to be considered a 'corpus separatum' under the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations," a resolution which Israel accepted. He pointed out that, in addressing the gridlock which has resulted from the 1967 Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, "the Holy See has therefore advocated the granting to Jerusalem of an 'internationally guaranteed special statute. That is the phrase used by Pope John Paul II in his 1984 Apostolic Letter 'Redemption is Anno'."

This statute "asks that regardless of how the problem of sovereignty is resolved and who is called to exercise it, there should be a supranational and international entity endowed with means adequate to insure the preservation of the special characteristics of the City, its Holy Places, the freedom to visit them, its religious and ethnic communities, a guarantee of their essential liberties, and its city plan'." The apostolic nuncio recalled the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel in 1993, when both signed the 'Fundamental Agreement." He noted Article 4 of this agreement where "both the Holy See and Israel affirm their continuing commitment to the 'Status quo' in the Christian Holy Places." He also spoke of the problems sparked by Israel's recent authorization of "a project for the construction of settlements in occupied territory in East Jerusalem" for which "there was wide-spread international condemnation." This issue, he reminded those present, was brought before the UN Security Council on March 7 and March 21 of this year, but without resolution "because the sole country on the Security Council which opposed the Resolution was the United States." An Emergency Session of the General Assembly, "organized only nine other times in the history of the United Nations" was held on April 24-25. The Holy See delegation was contacted and asked for suggestions for a Resolution, Archbishop Martino said. And he recounted the meetings, rough drafts of proposals and negotiations which followed. The approved texts of the eventual Resolution, he underlined, contained "those points championed by the Holy See.... The General Assembly has here called for 'internationally guaranteed provisions' - the equivalent of the 'internationally guaranteed special status' called for by Pope John Paul II. This is particularly noteworthy because in this case, the Arab delegations all voted for this Resolution and therefore for this provision." "The Holy Places within Jerusalem," concluded Archbishop Martino, "are not merely museum relics to be opened and closed by the dominant political authority, no matter who that might be at any given moment. They are living shrines precious to the hearts and faith of believers."

DELSS/STATUS JERUSALEM/UN:MARTINO VIS 970616 (640)

Could that supra-national entity which will oversee the international city of Jerusalem be the Vatican just as Peres promised? And how do we react to Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert's recent announcement that he will begin negotiations with the Vatican, but "only over holy sites?"

(used by permission of the author, Barry Chamish,)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Even after Israel pushed it's aggressor enemies beyond Jerusalem's boundaries in 1968, Israel remained compliant to the U.N. recommendation by allowing the Islamic Waqf to maintain control over the Temple Mount. I can think of no other reason why Israel did not move in and destroy the Dome of the Rock and other Islamic edifices to take possession of the Temple Mount other than “the times of the Gentiles” prophetically spoken of by Jesus has not yet been fulfilled. The Daniel chapter two Mystery Babylon Image still stands. For the most part the world refuses to recognize Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem even though the United States Congress in 1995 overwhelmingly passed the "Jerusalem Embassy Act" stating that "Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel and the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999." The provocative nature of this issue continues to prevent the actual move to this day. The facts on the ground ultimately prove that even the United States denies Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem until this very day.

Jerusalem Old City Initiative

The Jerusalem Old City Initiative, was bolstered by the implementation of the Oslo Peace Accord and is a fruit of the peace process and inter faith dialogue. The 2005 formation of The Council of the Religious Institutions of the Holy Land with Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Christians in its governing body has in their statement of faith the declaration of a one world type of religion which contends that all faiths lead to the same god.

Statement of faith:

As religious leaders of different faiths, who share the conviction in the one Creator, Lord of the Universe; we believe that the essence of religion is to worship G-d and respect the life and dignity of all human beings, regardless of religion, nationality and gender.

The Rapture Will Be Cancelled

by Nicklas Arthur

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwvsMLXT7Z35KlbSdXw6x5EH0VLHPZsM/view?usp=sharing

HARRY W. BUNDY Harry W. Bundy was a Mason, a Satanist and the chief adept (9°) of the Colorado part of the SRICF. To clarify to the reader what this all means allow me to inform you about the structures Satan has built. Pure Satanism in order to function easier has set up some branches which are secret, but if the public hears about these branches, they have a veneer of respectability. Dr. Wynn Westcott, a famous Satanist and the Supreme Magus of S.R.I.A. wrote the rare book History of The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. IX. It was privately printed by these Masonic Rosicruclans on Dec. 30, 1900, and later received the Br. Museum Press Mark of 0475 h54. Within this rare book the leader of the S.R.I.A. spells out the purpose of the organization to the Brotherhood, "The aim of the Society...searching out the secrets of Nature; to facilitate the study of the system of philosophy founded upon the Cabala and the doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus ..." Hermes Trismegistus (as many of you know) means "the trice greatest Hermes" who was the Egyptian scribe god who is claimed to be the author of all magical writing. Hermes is credited for the grossly evil Satanicwitchcraft rituals that the ancient Egyptians and modern Satanism continue to practice. For an excellent exposé of the connections between the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Masonic Rituals and modern Satanism, I suggest David Carrico’s book The Masonic Egyptian Satanic Connection. (obtainable from Followers of Jesus Christ, 5220 Ashley Dr., Evansville, IN 47711). As I was just writing, a number of branches of the Illuminati were created with the same pattern as the Bavarian Illuminati, and these branches sometimes refer to themselves as Illuminati-and rightly so since they are integral part of Satanism. One branch has been set up within . Freemasonry called Societas Rosicruciana. They coil themselves Rosicruciana and Christians. How they attach the aame of Christ to Satanism, is beyond my imagination. Perhaps the "Christ consciousness they seek justifies in their minds calling themselves "exclusively Christian." Whatever they want to coil themselves they practice magic and Satanism. A number of daughter organizations have sprung up from the S.R.I.A. such as the Golden Dawn, the Stella Matutina and the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). The S.R.I.A. also worked closely with German Illuminism and the Theosophical Society. In England the Societas Rosicruciana (S.R.) is named S.R. in Anglia, in Scotland it is S.R. in Scotia, in Greece it is S.R. in Graecia, in Canada it is S.R. in Canada, and in the US. it is S.R. in Civitatibus Foederatis. The membership is very exclusive. And my understanding that there are about a dozen US. lodges called "colleges" with about 40 members each, which lends me to guess they have an exclusive membership of about 500 in the United States. Membership in Societas Rosicruciana has included such notable Satanists such as A.L Waite, Eliphas Levi, and Kenneth Mackenzie. It has included that Luciferian Albert Pike too. Within a nation the arena are divided up into provinces, each of which has a "college"-their fancy word for a satanic lodge. On Apr. 20, 1948 Harry W. Bundy became the chief adept of the Colorado college. Two letters by the Supreme Magus of all the S.R. groups Win. Wynn Wescott are photocopied so that the reader can read for himself from the SRIA’s Supreme Magus (lending magician) that they are connected to the Illuminati. See for yourself!! An interesting point in light of what I have printed in other newsletters, the Mass. college in 1393 printed a book by its Supreme Magus Gould (9°) which declares that the Grand Central San of the Universe is Alcyone in the Pliades. Shades of Alice Dailey, and C.T. Russell!! One of the most knowledgeable people to try to expose the New World Order and the Satanic hierarchy behind it said, "It remains for the student to follow evvery line of enquiry to the point of concentration where nil threads are gathered and systematically manipulated for the eventual destruction of Christian civilization. It may lend to the B’nai B’rith, the Universal Israelite Alliance, India or Tibet, but in any case a thorough and complete study of Rosicrucianism embracing a minute one of Rosicruciana in Anglia and its various branches will be a great step taken in the direction of uncovering much of the political and moral chaos of present day history of mankind." p.510) 10 Interesting, that this expert would say this. The threads go buck to 13 Top Families, and wouldn’t you know, several of their people are lenders of the S.R.I.A. including Harry W. Bundy. The Bundy family has been a very powerful family in American history which has managed to keep itself out of the limelight. Often the members d the Bundy’s have had power by virtue of being advisors to those in powerful positions. P.s. Congressman Reece, a real hero tried to go farther & expose the connections between Hiss, tho Carnegie Endowment Found., the Morgan Bank, and the rest of the tax-exempt foundations. The Illuminati moved mightily against Reece. SIMPLIFIED BIBLIOGRAPHY Almanac of Famous People Census Records National Cyclopaedia d American Biography Sutton, Antony. America’s Order of Skull & Bones Voorhis, Harold (Sapreme Magus IX°). Masonic Rosicrucian Societies.

Bloodlines of Illuminati

by:

Fritz Springmeier, 1995

https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/FC/FC2F5371043C48FDD95AEDE7B8A49624_Springmeier.-.Bloodlines.of.the.Illuminati.R.pdf

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

United States v. Hammond was a court case in Oregon, United States, culminating from 20-year-long legal disputes between Harney County ranchers Dwight Lincoln Hammond Jr., 73, his son Steven Dwight Hammond, 46, and federal officials.[1] In 2012, both Hammonds were charged with several counts in relation to two fires in 2001 and 2006, and eventually convicted of two counts of arson on federal land. Knowing they would face the statutory minimum of five years, the men waived their right to appeal these convictions in exchange for dismissal of several unresolved charges. After this mid-trial agreement was entered, the Hammonds were sentenced to a few months in jail, which they served. In 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated these sentences because they were shorter than the statutory mandatory minimum. The Ninth Circuit remanded to the district court for resentencing. The district court subsequently re-sentenced both Hammonds to the mandatory minimum of five years in prison, with credit for time served.

By late 2015, the Hammond case had attracted the attention of Nevada activists Ammon and Ryan Bundy, who planned a protest against the re-sentencing, though the Hammonds rejected their assistance.[2][3] However, the protest still went into effect on January 2, 2016, and resulted in the Bundys and associates staging a 40-day armed occupation of the headquarters area of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

On July 10, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump issued full pardons to Dwight and Steven Hammond.[4]

Background

Location

Main articles: Harney County, Oregon and Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Harney County is a rural county in eastern Oregon. The county seat is the city of Burns.[5][6] Although it is one of the largest counties by area in the United States,[5][6] its population is only about 7,700,[5] and cattle outnumber people 14-to-1.[5] About 75 percent of the county's area is federal land,[5] variously managed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the United States Forest Service (USFS).[7] Besides ranching and farming, forestry and manufacturing are important industries in the county.[6]

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, located in Harney County, was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt, a conservationist.[8] Located in the Pacific Flyway, and currently encompassing 187,757 acres (760 km2), it is "one of the premiere sites for birds and birding in the U.S.," according to the Audubon Society of Portland.[9] Tourism, especially birding, injects US$15 million into the local economy annually.[10]

Cattle ranching tensions in Harney County

Cattle ranching in Harney County predates the 1908 establishment of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, with some cattle trails, including those used by the Hammond family, dating back to the 1870s. Disputes between cattle ranchers and the federal government over management of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have gone on for "generations" and the situation has regularly deteriorated to taunts and threats directed at federal officials from ranchers since at least the early 1970s.[11][12]

In an effort to address concerns of neighboring landowners and interests, the completion of a 15-year management plan for the refuge heavily involved various stakeholders, including ranchers, in its development process. The plan was completed in 2013 and won praise from some area ranchers for its collaborative approach.[13][14]

In June 1994, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge manager, Forrest Cameron, notified Dwight Hammond that his permit to graze his cattle and grow hay on the refuge was revoked. Two months later, Hammond and his son Steven obstructed the completion of a refuge boundary fence intended to keep their cattle out of the refuge's protected marsh and wetland, prompting their arrest by federal agents. The fence was needed to stop the Hammonds' cattle from moving onto the refuge after the ranchers had repeatedly violated the terms of their special permit, which limited those times when they could move their cattle across refuge property.[12][15] Officials also reported that Dwight had made death threats against refuge managers in 1986, 1988, 1991, and 1994, stating, "he was going to tear his head off and shit down his neck," and that Steven Hammond also made incendiary remarks against them, calling the employees and managers, "worthless cocksuckers" and "assholes." After the arrest, locals were given the names and phone numbers of refuge employees, and encouraged to harass them. One caller threatened to wrap the Camerons’ 12-year-old boy in a shroud of barbed wire and stuff him down a well. Other callers warned his mother that she ought to move out before something "bad" happened to her family. She gathered their four children, one wheelchair-bound, and fled to Bend, 135 miles west. The families of three other refuge employees received telephone threats after a meeting held in support of the Hammonds, where the workers' phone numbers were circulated. Businesses in Burns displayed signs warning, "This establishment doesn’t serve federal employees." Voters recalled a pair of Harney County commissioners because they wouldn’t put the county "supremacy" ordinance on the ballot or intervene against the refuge managers.[11][12][15] Oregon's then-Congressional District 2 U.S. Representative, Robert Freeman Smith, protested the arrests to President Bill Clinton's United States Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt.[12] In 1999 Steven started a fire, intending to burn off juniper trees and sagebrush, but the fire escaped onto BLM land. The agency reminded him of the required burn permit and that if the fires continued, there would be legal consequences.[16]

Arson prosecutions

Both Dwight and Steven Hammond later set more fires, one in 2001 and one in 2006, that would lead to eventual convictions of arson on federal land:[17][18] The 2001 Hardie-Hammond fire began after hunters in the area witnessed the Hammonds illegally slaughtering a herd of deer.[19] Less than two hours later, a fire erupted, forcing the hunters to leave the area but also intending to conceal evidence of the deer herd slaughter.[20] Steven's nephew Dusty Hammond testified his uncle told him to "light the whole countryside on fire," and that he was "almost burned up in the fire," having to flee for his life.[16][21] The Hammonds claimed they started the fire to stop invasive plants from growing onto their grazing fields.[22] The 2006 Krumbo Butte fire started out as a wildfire, but several illegal backburns were set by the Hammonds with an intent of protecting their winter feed. The backfires were set under the cover of night, without warning the firefighters they knew were camped on the slopes above.[20][23] The fires threatened to trap four BLM firefighters. One of those later confronted Dwight Hammond at the fire scene after he had moved his crews to avoid the danger.[20][21] Two days later, Steven Hammond threatened to frame a BLM employee with arson if he didn't terminate the investigation.[22] Following their release from jail on their own recognizance, a rally attended by 500 other cattle ranchers was held in Burns, Oregon in support of the Hammonds. Some charges against the Hammonds were later dropped.[11]

Mid-trial pre-sentencing agreement

In 2012, the Hammonds were tried in federal district court on multiple charges. During a break in jury deliberations, a partial verdict was rendered finding the Hammonds not guilty on two of the charges, but convicting them on two counts of arson on federal land.[20] Striking a plea bargain, in order to have the four remaining charges dismissed and for sentences on the two convictions to run concurrently, the Hammonds waived their rights to appeal their convictions. This was with their knowledge that the trial would proceed to sentencing where the prosecution intended to seek imposition of the mandatory five-year minimum sentences.[20][24]

Sentencing hearing, appeals of the sentence, and re-sentencing

At sentencing, the federal prosecutors requested the five-year mandatory minimum under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA).[23][25][26][27] U.S. District Judge Michael Robert Hogan independently decided that sentences of that length "would shock the conscience" and would violate the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. On his last day on the bench before retiring, October 31, 2012, Hogan instead sentenced Dwight Hammond to three months' imprisonment and Steven Hammond to a year and a day's imprisonment, which both men served.[28][29] In what was described by one source as a "rare" action,[30] the government (represented by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, led by U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall) successfully appealed the sentence to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It upheld the mandatory-minimum law, writing that "given the seriousness of arson, a five-year sentence is not grossly disproportionate to the offense." The appeals court vacated the original sentence and remanded the defendants for re-sentencing. The Hammonds filed petitions for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, which the court denied in March 2015.[22][25] In October 2015, Chief Judge Ann Aiken re-sentenced the pair to five years in prison (with credit for time served), ordering that they return to prison on January 4, 2016.[25][29]

Both of the Hammonds reported to Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island in California on January 4, as ordered by the court.[31] A few days earlier, the Hammonds also paid the federal government the remaining balance on a US$400,000 court order for restitution related to the arson fires.[23]

On January 25, it became known that Susan Hammond, the wife of Dwight Hammond, signed a document for participation in a so-called "citizen grand jury" and claimed that the paper would clear her husband of wrongdoing. The author of the paper was Joaquin Mariano DeMoreta-Folch, a Tea Party activist.[32] The self-styled "citizens grand jury" has no legal standing, but is rather linked to the fringe sovereign citizen movement, a movement based upon conspiracy theories about the American government[33] which rejects federal authority.[34][35]

Aftermath of re-sentencing

Bundy in 2014.

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Hammonds' appeal in March 2015, the Hammonds' case returned to federal district court where they were re-sentenced to the statutory minimum of five years, with credit for time served.[29] Meanwhile, the Oregon Farm Bureau circulated a petition seeking clemency from President Barack Obama;[36] it had gathered more than 2,000 signatures by October 2015.[29] Also, the Oregon Cattleman's Association, a trade group representing cattle ranchers in Oregon, established a fund to defray the Hammond's legal fees.[37]

About this time, the Hammonds' case attracted the attention of Ammon Bundy—a former car fleet manager from Phoenix, Arizona;[38] and the son of anti-government protester Cliven D. Bundy, the central figure of a standoff with the BLM in 2014—and Ryan Payne. In November 2015, Bundy and his associates began publicizing the Hammonds' case via social media.[39][40]

Over the ensuing weeks, Bundy and Payne met for approximately eight hours with Harney County Sheriff David Ward to detail plans for what they described would be a peaceful protest in Burns, as well as also requesting the sheriff's office protect the Hammonds from being taken into custody by federal authorities. Though Ward said he sympathized with the Hammonds' plight, he declined Bundy and Payne's request. Ward then said that he subsequently received death threats by email. Unbeknownst to Ward, Bundy and Payne were simultaneously planning a takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. By late fall, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies had become aware that members of anti-government militias had started to relocate to Harney County, and the USFWS began circulating a photograph of Ammon Bundy with instructions for staff to "be on the lookout."[18][41][42]

Despite several early meetings with Bundy and Payne, the Hammonds eventually rejected their offers of assistance, with Hammond attorney W. Alan Schroeder writing that "neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond family."[2]

By early December 2015, Bundy and Payne had set up residence in Burns. The same month, they organized a meeting at the Harney County Fairgrounds to rally support for their efforts. At the meeting, a "committee of safety" was organized to orchestrate direct action against the Hammond sentences.[18] According to that group's website, the Harney County Committee of Safety considers itself "a governmental body established by the people in the absence of the ability of the existing government to provide for the needs and protection of civilized society"[43] (during the American Revolution, committees of safety were shadow governments organized to usurp authority from colonial administrators).[44]

2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Main article: Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

On January 2, 2016, an armed group affiliated with the private U.S. militia movement held a peaceful march in protest of the Hammonds' prison sentences. Afterwards, several members of the group, consisting of Bundy, Payne, Jon Ritzheimer,[45] and armed associates separated from the protest crowd at some point during the day and proceeded to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles (48 km) away. The militants settled into the refuge and set up defensive positions.[46][47] On January 4, the Hammonds turned themselves in at a California federal prison facility after being convicted of arson on federal land,[48] sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and sought clemency from the U.S. president.[49]

Bundy said he began leading the occupation after receiving a divine message ordering him to do so.[50][51] The militant group demanded that the federal government of the United States cede ownership of the refuge,[52] and expressed willingness to engage in armed conflict.[53] For a time, the government and police did not engage directly with the militia.[54]

Dwight and Steven Hammond disavowed the occupation of the refuge.[55] They voluntarily reported to begin serving the remainder of their respective prison sentences.[56]

On January 26, Bundy and four other militants were arrested on U.S. Route 395 about 48 miles (77 km) north of the occupation. One militant was lightly wounded during the arrest,[57] and another, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers while he was reportedly reaching for his gun.[58][59] Several other arrests followed,[60][61][62] and on February 11, the occupation ended when the last four militants surrendered to police.[63] A total of 26 people, including Bundy and Payne, were charged under federal law with a single count of felony conspiracy, though more charges may be brought in due course.[64][65]

On October 27, 2016, Bundy and 6 other defendants were acquitted in Federal District Court of all charges of conspiracy and weapons violations. In August 2017, two other defendants were acquitted in Las Vegas district court on most charges, and deadlocked on the remaining charges. On January 8, 2018, a federal judge in Las Vegas dismissed all charges against Clive Bundy and his sons, Ammon and Ryan. Judge Gloria M. Navarro of Federal District Court, in a ruling from the bench, said that the government’s missteps in withholding evidence against the three Bundy family members and a supporter, Ryan W. Payne, were so grave that the indictment against them would be dismissed.[66][67][68]

Presidential pardons

2018 pardons for the Hammonds

On June 27, 2018, Oregon's 2nd Congressional District Representative Greg Walden spoke on the House floor, requesting presidential pardons for both Steven and Dwight Hammond. On July 1, 2018, he said he spoke to the president about the case. He remarked that the original trial's federal Judge Michael Robert Hogan said that conferring the mandatory sentence would, "...shock the conscience." The pair had pleaded guilty in a plea bargain after being convicted at trial on two charges, and acquitted on two others, with four charges remaining on which the jury had not come to a unanimous verdict. On July 1, Walden stated that President Donald Trump to whom he had spoken, was considering pardoning the Hammonds.[69] Stephen had been scheduled to be released on June 29, 2019, and Dwight on February 13, 2020.[70]

On July 10, 2018, Trump issued pardons for both men.[4] A release from the White House press office stated, "The Hammonds are...imprisoned in connection with a fire that leaked onto a small portion of neighboring public grazing land," "The evidence at trial regarding the Hammonds’ responsibility for the fire was conflicting, and the jury acquitted them on most (sic) of the charges." According to his spokesperson Sarah Sanders, who read the statement, "The previous administration, however, filed an overzealous appeal that resulted in the Hammonds being sentenced to five years in prison."[4][71]

Almost 4-1/2 years later, in early December 2022, during the Biden administration, members of the House Natural Resources Committee requested documents from the Secretary of the Interior regarding the pardons, citing "significant concerns” of a “potential case of bribery" by an Arizona real estate developer, who donated $10,000 to a Trump-associated PAC[72][73]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond_arson_case

‘The Ted Bundy Tapes’ Can’t Put You in His Head. Be Grateful.

Netflix’s four-part documentary, the latest entry in the booming true-crime genre, draws on more than 100 hours of conversations with the serial killer, but it doesn’t offer much insight into its subject

Netflix/Ringer illustration

By Rob HarvillaJan. 29, 2019, 3:20 am PT • 10 min

So you’ve decided to spend four hours with Ted Bundy. Which requires, of course, spending four hours with his victims, 30-odd young women (that is an estimate) whose photos—all school-yearbook glamour shots in funereal black and white—flit across the screen as a tangle of grim voices intone the grimmest possible words. “Beaten and strangled.” “Abduction, nude body.” “We found the parts of four skulls.” “Bludgeoned, raped.” “Sexually mutilated, by mouth, by teeth.”

It is 90 seconds into Netflix’s four-part Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, which premiered on Thursday and is certainly not, to its credit, trying to trick you with a cutesy tone or a galaxy-brained alternate theory as to who killed all those women. “The truth is terrible, terrible,” a talking-head prosecutor intones late in the game, shortly after an FBI agent has described Bundy as “the Jack the Ripper of the United States.” No, to the show’s detriment, there is nothing much to do here but wallow, and wince, and withstand.

Nor will The Ted Bundy Tapes offer much in the way of insight. “To understand how he thought, you have to be able to project yourself into a sociopath’s brain,” journalist and author Stephen Michaud tells us near the show’s midpoint. “If you can do that, I’m—more power to you.” He laughs. “It’s a point of pride with me that I can’t.”

Unfortunately, Michaud’s the guy with the tapes. The full scale is unknown, but Bundy’s murder spree likely started in Washington state in the mid-’70s, spread to Utah and Colorado (and possibly California and Idaho), and culminated in Florida, where he was apprehended for the third time and sentenced to death in two separate murder trials. On death row, he agreed to speak extensively with a journalist in exchange for his cases being reopened. Bundy, ever the deluded narcissist, figured he’d somehow prove his innocence. And the journalist, a young and green Michaud plucked more or less at random, figured he’d get a hell of a story either way. Which is how he came to record more than 100 hours of audio of Bundy being an evasive, soliloquizing blowhard.

The tapes themselves are worthless. Which does not make The Ted Bundy Tapes worthless, exactly. But even under the direction of Joe Berlinger—an enormously respected documentarian thanks to his Paradise Lost trilogy with Bruce Sinofsky—it doesn’t have much to offer beyond titillation and revulsion, horror-movie prurience dressed up in true-crime pompousness. Ted Bundy was, we are constantly reminded, a handsome and awkwardly charming guy who also happened to be “a piece of garbage in the shape of a human being,” in the words of prosecutor George Dekle, who got Bundy convicted for the abduction and murder of a 12-year-old girl. This show humbly aims to remind us that pure evil sometimes wears a pretty face, or as Bundy himself puts it, “People don’t realize that murderers do not come out in the dark with long teeth and saliva dripping off their chin.”

Perversely, Berlinger’s second 2019 Ted Bundy project—a feature film called Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, with Zac Efron in the starring role—shook up the internet Friday with a campy trailer full of cock-rock riffs and stunt casting and a great deal of implied chin saliva. (John Malkovich plays a judge; just be grateful Greta Van Fleet are not involved.) Early reviews from Sundance are hesitant but, y’know, titillated. Polygon: “The life story of a mass murderer is ... kind of fun?”

That title, by the way, is a quote from the appalled judge in Bundy’s first Florida trial, as relayed in detail in The Ted Bundy Tapes: “The court finds that both of these killings were indeed heinous, atrocious, and cruel, and that they were extremely wicked, shockingly evil, vile, and the product of a design to inflict a high degree of pain, and utter indifference to human life.” This show, to be crystal clear, is not kind of fun.

The true-crime tales that have gone truly viral in this decade, from the blockbuster 2014 debut of the Serial podcast to Netflix’s own 2015 phenomenon Making a Murderer, are presented as mysteries, as potential travesties of injustice, as catnip for Reddit sleuths, as elegant campfire tales of prestige ambiguity. This approach, to put it mildly, comes with its own set of problems. Making a Murderer took a great deal of fire for stacking the deck and inflating its own importance at its human subjects’ expense. (A self-referential second season debuted in October.) And the first season of Sarah Koenig’s Serial, which clearly aimed to exonerate Adnan Syed in the 1999 killing of his Baltimore high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, spun a thoughtful tale but ended in a fog of confusion: “I nurse doubt,” Koenig concluded wanly. The show did play a profound role in getting Syed a retrial, scheduled for 2018 but since delayed. But Serial also turned a very human tragedy into an uneasy pop culture frenzy mired in jokes about vocal fry, a Best Buy parking lot, “the Nisha call,” and fucking Mailchimp.

It should be a relief that The Ted Bundy Tapes doesn’t toy with any of that extravagant uncertainty; it’s not trying to get you to rethink anything or telling you something you don’t already know. But dead certainty, it turns out, is equally poisonous to the true-crime documentary. It’s debilitating to any sense of dramatic tension, sure. But it’s just as debilitating to the soul.

Ted Bundy had an idyllic, all-American childhood, according to Ted Bundy. His early chats with Michaud are painfully, desperately bland. “I was somewhat of a frog man.” “I was one of the boys.” “Not a social outcast in any way.” But by the time Bundy gets around to insisting there’s “nothing in my background to lead one to believe I was capable of committing murder,” the dark-techno soundtrack has swelled, the swirl of idyllic-childhood imagery quickening, darkening, intensifying. Flashes of pornography sneak into the mix later. Berlinger can put on a queasy but effective show, even if neither voice on the tapes can.

There is some pocket sociology here, though not much: The ’70s are described as “an angry era” that birthed such all-American monsters as the Son of Sam, the Hillside Stranglers, and John Wayne Gacy. But the term “serial killer” did not yet exist, and the cops—or for that matter, the feds—had nowhere near the technology or the wherewithal to catch anyone who might earn that term. When a disillusioned and socially inept Bundy gets to law school at the University of Puget Sound and young Washington coeds first start to go missing, the standard blow-by-blow of those various investigations is enlivened somewhat by how hapless the investigators are. Bundy drives a brown VW bug, introduces himself as “Ted” to one victim within earshot of a huge crowd at a state park, and looks more or less exactly like the resulting police sketch no matter how chameleonic everyone insists his handsomeness was. But the police can’t put it all together, and he functionally ices the case simply by fleeing the state.

Part 1 of The Ted Bundy Tapes ends with Stephen Michaud’s big breakthrough, according to Stephen Michaud. Chatting with Bundy on death row in 1980, and flustered by all this inane childhood prattle, he hits on the idea to get the famous serial killer talking in the third person about a hypothetical great-man serial killer, to get Bundy musing on “what kind of person could’ve done this,” to trick him into serving as his own expert witness. There is a pause, and then Bundy grabs the tape recorder, cradles it like a baby, and starts gassing on about a river flowing into the sea, or something. He spends the rest of the show’s runtime either mired in vapid metaphor or mumbling pointless bullshit like “We are dealing with an individual whose primary concern is not to be detected” or “We can make a reasonable guess that this individual was clearly trying to cover up his crimes.”

The usual crime-doc talking heads—the detectives, the lawyers, the media gawkers, the scandalized childhood friends—hit their marks whether they’re aware of their marks or not. Carol DaRonch, who in the fall of 1974 was a bubbly Utah teenager with a Camaro and a boyfriend who also drove a Camaro, gives a harrowing account of how Bundy abducted her at the mall and how she escaped, his handcuffs dangling from her wrist. Its flair for speed-edited melodrama aside, The Ted Bundy Tapes is never trashy or outright insensitive to this story’s many, many victims, but aside from a few brutal glimpses of grieving mothers, it can’t replicate DaRonch’s immediacy or fundamental humanity. You are left grateful for this emotional remove, but a vacuum that’s better left unfilled is still a vacuum.

In a huge improvement, law-enforcement-wise, Bundy is actually arrested for DaRonch’s kidnapping, and here the story takes a quick and startling turn toward outright farce. He escapes custody twice, first by jumping out a second-floor courthouse window during a preliminary hearing and fleeing to an abandoned cabin in the woods for nearly a week, until the cold and hunger overtake him. Recaptured, he escapes again, by shimmying through a hole in the ceiling of his jail cell and sauntering out the front door in a spare set of clothes from a guard’s locker. This time, Bundy remains at large for a month and a half; he’s finally caught in Florida with 21 stolen credit cards, having committed the murders that will land him on death row, including a mortifying rampage with an oak-tree limb through a Florida State sorority. As he initially refuses to give his real name, it takes the police several days to realize who he is, or that he’s on the FBI’s most-wanted list.

Bundy’s 1979 trial for the FSU murders was an old-fashioned media circus that at the time was a disquieting new invention, including the packs of young women outside the courtroom, drawn in by, yes, his handsomeness and animal magnetism. “I’m not afraid,” one girl tells a TV news reporter. “He just doesn’t look like the type to kill somebody.” This echoes, grimly, this month’s Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, and the indignant R. Kelly fans who flocked to the R&B star’s 2008 child-pornography trial, convinced of his innocence. But by and large, Bundy’s admirers weren’t kidding themselves. “Scares me to be in the same room with him, but I know there’s other people in there,” says one, excitedly; “Every time he turns around, I kinda get that feeling, Oh no, you know?” says another with a laugh. “Gonna get me next.”

Both his trials, in fact—first for the double murder of Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy at an FSU sorority house, and then for the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach in nearby Lake City, Florida—were, from a legal perspective, completely absurd. During the Leach trial, he proposes to Carole Ann Boone, one of his character witnesses, while she’s on the stand. (Boone accepts, and gives birth to their daughter, Rosa, after Bundy is imprisoned.)

He is sentenced to death both times, which, after three-plus hours of buildup, should be a relief, but isn’t quite. The fourth episode of The Ted Bundy Tapes is singularly unpleasant, moving swiftly from these trials to his grueling death row endgame, in which his lawyers try and fail to argue his incompetence over his protestations, their appeals and delays finally grinding to a halt in January 1989. The FBI shows up, briefly, to interview him and glean some invaluable intel on how to track other serial killers—echoing Netflix’s fictional and frequently equally unpleasant Mindhunter—and Bundy is apparently gregarious and not unhelpful. But what lingers is his 11th-hour decision to finally confess, yet another cynical delay tactic that finds him on audiotape, whispering about severing a young woman’s head and carrying it up the road to bury it.

Michaud, who got the minor 1989 book Ted Bundy: Conversations With a Killer out of all this, had long since bailed out by this point, mentally if not physically. “I was interested in putting Ted in my rearview mirror,” he tells us in the documentary, not specifying whether Bundy was by then larger or smaller than he appeared. But The Ted Bundy Tapes carries on until the bitter end, to the early-morning scene on Tuesday, January 24, 1989, when he was executed, via electric chair, at Florida State Prison. We are spared no detail, from the T-shirts available for sale amid the raucous roadside crowd outside the prison (slogans ranged from “This buzz is for you” to “The shocking truth is it’s Toasty Teddy Time”) to an eyewitness account of how Bundy’s fists balled up as the electricity coursed through his body.

https://www.theringer.com/2019/01/29/tv/netflix-conversations-with-a-killer-ted-bundy-tapes-true-crime-documentary

Heads Together

In April 2016, the foundation announced the Heads Together campaign, led by Prince William, Catherine, and Prince Harry, aiming to tackle the stigma of mental health and provide supportive resources. The full details of the campaign were released at a launch event in May 2016.[56] The campaign was first envisioned by Catherine earlier that year.[57] Catherine later voluntarily talked about her problems as a mother, and admitted that she suffered a "lack of confidence" and "feelings of ignorance" during certain periods of time.[58] In 2017 the campaign launched #OKtoSay, a film series aimed at encouraging open discussions about mental health. Later that year, Heads Together partnered with the 2017 London Marathon with 750 runners participating in the Mental Health Marathon.[59]

In September 2018, William launched Mental Health at Work, a Heads Together initiative, with aims to change the approach to workplace mental health in the UK.[60] The programme served 100,000 site visitors within the first six months.[61] In May 2019, the prince partnered with The Football Association (FA) to launch Heads Up, a campaign that uses football to influence discussions on mental health.[62] In January 2020, all third-round FA Cup games were delayed by one minute in support of the campaign. That season, all football games in England were dedicated to Heads Up and raising awareness of mental health. Later that month, William and Catherine launched Shout, an affiliate of Crisis Text Line in the U.K. that offers free, confidential mental health support through text in the United Kingdom 24/7.[63][64] In June 2020, Prince William revealed he had been serving as a volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic.[65] As of November 2020, the programme has facilitated over half a million conversations.[66]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Foundation#Heads_Together

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]"

page 463

The CONstitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Revelation 13:18

New International Version

"18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666."

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A18&version=NIV

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex,[fn 2] (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.

Educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College, Harry completed army officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals and served temporarily with his elder brother, William. Harry was separately deployed on active duty to Afghanistan on two occasions; the first was in 2007–2008 for ten weeks in Helmand Province. The second was for twenty weeks in 2012–2013 with the Army Air Corps.

Inspired by the Warrior Games in the United States, Harry launched the Invictus Games in 2014 as founding patron and now remains involved in a non-royal capacity. Two years later, alongside his brother William and sister-in-law Catherine, Harry jointly initiated the mental health awareness campaign "Heads Together".

In 2018 Harry was made Duke of Sussex prior to his wedding to American actress Meghan Markle. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California, and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit (charitable) business organisations. In March 2021, Harry sat for Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicised American television interview with his wife and Oprah Winfrey. The couple filmed Harry & Meghan, a Netflix docuseries, which was released in December 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Harry,_Duke_of_Sussex

Harold

masc. proper name, Old Norse Haraldr, Old Danish, Old Swedish Harald, from Proto-Germanic *harja-waldaz "army commander." For first element, see harry; second element is related to Proto-Germanic *waldan, source of Old English wealdan (from PIE root *wal- "to be strong"). The name shares an etymology with herald (n.).

Entries linking to Harold

harry (v.)

Old English hergian "make war, lay waste, ravage, plunder," the word used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for what the Vikings did to England, from Proto-Germanic *harjon (source also of Old Frisian urheria "lay waste, ravage, plunder," Old Norse herja "to make a raid, to plunder," Old Saxon and Old High German herion, German verheeren "to destroy, lay waste, devastate"). This is literally "to overrun with an army," from Proto-Germanic *harjan "an armed force" (source also of Old English here, Old Norse herr "crowd, great number; army, troop," Old Saxon and Old Frisian heri, Dutch heir, Old High German har, German Heer, Gothic harjis "a host, army").

The Germanic words come from PIE root *korio- "war" also "war-band, host, army" (source also of Lithuanian karas "war, quarrel," karias "host, army;" Old Church Slavonic kara "strife;" Middle Irish cuire "troop;" Old Persian kara "host, people, army;" Greek koiranos "ruler, leader, commander"). Weakened sense of "worry, goad, harass" is from c. 1400. Related: Harried; harrying.

herald (n.)

"messenger, envoy," late 13c. (in Anglo-Latin); c. 1200 as a surname, from Anglo-French heraud, Old French heraut, hiraut (12c.), from Frankish *hariwald "commander of an army" or a similar Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *harja "army" (from PIE root *koro- "war;" see harry) + *waldaz "to command, rule" (see wield). The form fits, but the sense evolution is difficult to explain, unless it is in reference to the chief officer of a tournament, who introduced knights and made decisions on rules (which was one of the early senses, often as heraud of armes, though not the earliest in English).

https://www.etymonline.com/word/Harold

Scientology Recruits for the O.T.O.

In 1967, the O.T.O. in England founded the Process Church of the Final Judgement soon after the rise of The Beatles rock group. In the late sixties and early seventies, the Process set up cells in a number of U.S. cities. Maury Terry says that the Process Church took over the O.T.O. in the United States. The Church of Scientology reverted to the position of Blavatsky's Theosophical Society a century earlier - that of a recruiting agency for the O.T.O. Terry said of Michael Carr, who, before his violent death was one of the leaders in the Process Church and a ranking Scientologist: If he's counselling lost souls for Scientology, allegedly helping them discover themselves, he could certainly be working both sides of the street and plucking a few out for recruitment in the Satan stuff. That Scientology movement is fertile ground for latching onto confused people. He'd have his pick of candidates.41

The O.T.O. and Psychological Warfare

The counterculture, which today has permeated our whole society, provided and still provides recruits to the Church of Scientology which spots and selects the confused and drug addicted candidates for the homicidal O.T.O.-Process Church. One such candidate was found in Charlie Manson, who was first recruited by Scientology before he joined the Process Church. At that time the Process Church in America was led by Robert Moore (alias Robert DeGrimston), who, like Manson, was first a Scientologist. Process members worship both Satan and Christ, as did the Priory of Sion and the Templars in medieval days.42

Charlie Manson taught his "family" that he was Jesus Christ returned to bring judgement on America through a race war. "Helter Skelter" was his plan. He believed his instructions were concealed in the lyrics of songs sung by The Beatles.43 What Manson taught his "family" about hidden messages in rock music may well be true. Aleister Crowley himself taught such a technique to his initiates - that of writing messages backwards as a means of secret communication. William Sutton, in The New Age Movement and The Illuminati 666. states that Manson was also a Freemason. In support of this he writes that "[d]uring the Tate-LaBianca trials - with Susan Atkins testifying to how good it felt when the knife went into Sharon Tate – Manson was flashing Masonic hand signals to the Judge."44 Sutton not only links Manson to Freemasonry, but to Scientology, the Process Church, the O.T.O. and the New Age Movement.45

Likewise, Maury Terry documents that the Charlie Manson murders in California and the David Berkowitz - Son of Sam - murders in New York, were both ordered by the same organization, the O.T.O.- Process Church.46 One of Terry's first clues of this connection was the use of common terms by Berkowitz's "Sam" cult and the O.TO.-Process Church. For example, the term "German shepherds" was used by both as an allusion to their Nazi heritage. Both killers wore the same Nazi symbols - HT and HH for Hitler, the German SS lighting bolts for Satan and 666 for the mark of the beast. Both were white Aryan, anti. Christian, anti-black, and anti-Semitic.47 Berkowitz, whose murders followed some six years after Manson's, often mentioned Manson in his notes.

Berkowitz himself admitted to joining the Process Church in New York in 1975, just six years after Manson's arrest. Process members openly mingling with existing O.T.O. factions were seen in New York City as late as 1973. People such as Berkowitz, Man son and members of the Process Church, and its cells around the United States, make up the current O.T.O. network. All are sub-Masonic and linked as part of an underground web of murder. The "Sam" cult, according to Terry, is headquartered near Los Angeles and has branches in Bismarck, Minot, Houston and New York. These branches shuttle killers and "contracts" back and forth.48

From evidence presented by both Terry and Sutton, there is sufficient documentation to convince the reader that the Ordo Templi Orientis was carried to the United States by English Freemason Aleister Crowley for the express purpose of preparing Christian America for destruction through mass and serial murder, drugs, licentious living, witchcraft, and the psychological terror and social chaos caused by the same. The O.T.O. continues its assault on our society to this day. The O.T.O. is English Freemasonry's psychological warfare unit targeted against Christian America."

Scarlet and the Beast by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

WELCOME

Process Theatre, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, incorporated in 1982, whose primary mission is to provide Media Arts-in-Education to diverse populations.

OUR PURPOSE

1) To provide instruction in theatre, dance, music, digital arts, digital media, video, multimedia, and other art forms.

2) To provide technical assistance and consultation to other organizations and public entities in the performing arts (i.e. theatre, dance, music, digital arts, digital media, video, multimedia, and other art forms)

3) To produce and provide public performances – synchronous & asynchronous – of theatre, dance, music, video, multimedia, digital arts, digital media, and other arts productions.

4) To increase employment and economic opportunities and skills for the artists involved in PROCESS THEATRE.

5) To encourage participants involved to use the “creative process” of PROCESS THEATRE in their everyday lives in order to enhance their well-being and quality of life

6) To provide training for persons serving the general public in the use of the “creative process” of PROCESS THEATRE in their work to enhance other individuals’ well-being and quality of life.

https://www.processtheatre.org/

Remember When? Re-living Queen Elizabeth's 1983 visit to Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —

Updated: 12:14 PM PDT Sep 9, 2022

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip made a visit to Northern California in 1983.

The two were met with huge crowds as they visited Sutter's Fort.

The queen was lauded as being an "excellent visitor" who was knowledgeable and curious. While her majesty was reserved, Prince Phillip obviously enjoyed himself. He was animated and spoke with many of the pioneers.

https://www.kcra.com/article/queen-elizabeth-visit-sacramento-1983/27376900

Queen Elizabeth II went full grandmother when her historic meeting with Pope Francis was taken over by Prince George

By Lydia Starbuck 12th April 2025

Queen Elizabeth II made an historic visit to the Vatican just months after Pope Francis was elected but this meeting between the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the Head of the Catholic Church ended up with another royal taking a starring role. Enter Prince George.

The prince wasn’t yet one when his great grandmother visited the first South American Pope at the Holy See. But as they met in front of the cameras, it was the toddler royal who was on both their minds. For as they exchanged well wishes and diplomatic gifts, there was an extra present on the table – for George.

It was a moment laden with history. Pope Francis chose, for George, an orb, made of lapis lazuli, and topped with the cross of St. Edward the Confessor, King of England between 1042 and 1066 and who was canonised in 1161. It was engraved with the words ”Pope Francis, to His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge”.

Queen Elizabeth II, ever practical, was very grateful before telling the Pope that her new great grandson would be ”thrilled with that – when he’s a little older”.

In return, Pope Francis was given a selection of produce from the royal estates including some honey and some whiskey. The Pope and the Monarch also exchanged photographs, as is customary.

The orb was a significant present. In western cultures, the orb is a symbol of responsibility but also a reminder that this power is given by God. Lapis lazuli signifies wisdom and truth. The cross of St. Edward the Confessor would have been particularly poignant for Queen Elizabeth II who used to send flowers to the tomb of the saint king in Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of his death.

King Charles met Pope Francis at the Vatican during the recent State Visit to Italy. And he may yet return this year – earlier in 2025 it was announced that The King and Queen would make a State Visit to the Holy See this April but that had to be postponed to allow Pope Francis to continue his recuperation following a bout of double pneumonia that led to a hospital stay of several weeks.

The King had said he hoped to be able to celebrate the Jubilee year declared by Pope Francis for 2025 and may hope to return to do just that. Meanwhile, Prince George is about to turn 12 and might just be old enough now to make the most of that special gift that came to dominate another historic meeting between a Monarch and a Pope.

https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/queen-elizabeth-ii-went-full-grandmother-when-her-historic-meeting-with-pope-francis-was-taken-over-by-prince-george-208065/

Did Pope Francis attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral?

Several Catholic leaders were at the queen’s funeral on Monday

Published: Sept 19, 2022, 12:18 p.m. MDT

By Kelsey Dallas

Kelsey is an assistant managing editor for the Deseret News. She covers religion, sports and the Supreme Court.

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday brought together religious and political leaders from across the globe, but Pope Francis was not among them.

The pope sent another Catholic leader in his place: Archbishop Paul Gallagher, who is both a priest and a diplomat.

“Vatican sources confirm that Archbishop Paul Gallagher will represent Pope Francis at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The archbishop is Secretary for Relations with States (equivalent of Foreign Minister), and the most senior Englishman in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State,” tweeted Gerard O’Connell, who covers the Vatican for America magazine, on Thursday.

Queen Elizabeth II’s religious legacy

What King Charles III’s reign means for religion

Archbishop Gallagher was accompanied by several other prominent Catholic leaders, including Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the Holy See’s envoy to Great Britain.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who leads the Catholic Diocese of Westminster, read a prayer during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday.

The presence of so many Catholic leaders at the funeral in Great Britain and beyond is “a tribute to how the Queen helped to bridge the divide between Catholics and Anglicans,” tweeted Christopher Lamb, the Rome correspondent for Tablet magazine.

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Although Pope Francis did not attend the funeral, he sent a message to King Charles II after Queen Elizabeth II’s death. He shared that he was “deeply saddened to learn of the death” and praying for the new king.

“Upon you and all who cherish the memory of your late mother, I invoke an abundance of divine blessings as a pledge of comfort and strength in the Lord,” the pope said on Sept. 8.

Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth II met at the Vatican in April 2014.

“You could see there was a very, very warm feeling between them,” O’Connell said during the Sept. 15 episode of “Inside the Vatican,” the podcast he co-hosts.

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/9/19/23361457/did-pope-francis-attend-queen-elizabeth-funeral/

Liz Truss thought 'why me, why now?' after Queen's death

12 April 2024

Liz Truss has revealed how she thought "why me, why now?" when she was told that Queen Elizabeth II had died.

The former prime minister said she went into a "state of shock" after learning of the Queen's death in September 2022.

She said there "simply wasn't any sense that the end would come as quickly as it did" during their second and final audience two days before.

Ms Truss, who spent 49 days in office, also recalled how the late Queen advised her to "pace yourself".

"Maybe I should have listened," the former Tory leader writes in an extract from her memoir, Ten Years to Save the West, published on Mail+.

Ms Truss was forced to stand down in October 2022 after her mini-budget sparked economic turmoil. Her brief time in power made her the shortest-serving prime minister in Britain's history.

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, died on 8 September 2022, aged 96. She met and appointed Liz Truss to No 10 on 6 September, just two days prior.

Recalling the meeting, Ms Truss writes in her memoir that the monarch was "standing up as she greeted me in her drawing room".

"I was told she'd made a special effort to do so but she gave no hint of discomfort throughout our discussion.

"This was only my second one-on-one audience with her. On the previous occasion, after I'd been removed from a different job in the government, she'd remarked that being a woman in politics was tough.

"For about 20 minutes, we discussed politics - and it was clear she was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty. There simply wasn't any sense that the end would come as quickly as it did."

Ms Truss said the "machine kicked into action" when word reached Downing Street a day later that the Queen would not be available to join via videolink, as planned, a formal swearing in of new ministers.

"My black mourning dress was fetched from my house in Greenwich, south London," Ms Truss writes.

"Frantic phone calls took place with Buckingham Palace. I started to think about what on earth I was going to say if the unthinkable happened.

"On Thursday, we received the solemn news that the Queen had died peacefully at Balmoral. To be told this on only my second full day as prime minister felt utterly unreal. In a state of shock, I found myself thinking: 'Why me, why now?'"

Ms Truss says she was "overcome by a profound sense of sadness" and recalled breaking down in "floods of tears on the sofa" when watching the Queen's coffin depart Balmoral for Edinburgh that weekend.

She adds: "I knew I'd never forget my last meeting with Her Majesty - and especially what she said towards the end of our talk in her drawing room. Being prime minister, she warned me, is incredibly ageing. She also gave me two words of advice: 'Pace yourself.'

"Maybe I should have listened."

Ms Truss stepped down after she and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's £45bn package of tax cuts panicked the markets and brought the pound to a then-record low.

According to Mail+, she defends the plans in her memoir and says the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility - which she describes as a "three-headed hydra" - were "barriers to our plans".

Ms Truss writes how she had been considering whether to "appoint new senior leaders in the Bank of England and Treasury" but admits this would have "amounted to a declaration of war on the economic establishment".

"It would also have taken time we didn't have," she adds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68803610

Sarah Ferguson heads to New York during Prince Harry's week of engagements despite King Charles gesture

By Dorothy Reddin

Published: 25/09/2024 - 11:36

Sarah Ferguson has headed to New York during Prince Harry's week of engagements despite her gesture towards King Charles.

The Duchess of York took to social media to announce she travelled to New York City for climate week, the same reason why the Duke of Sussex is currently visiting the city.

She wrote: "I have the pleasure of being in New York for this year’s Climate Week and want to bring you behind the scenes!

"It was so inspiring to meet so many motivated young people who are looking to make the future a much more positive place to be.

"Can’t wait for day 2!"

Fergie accompanied the caption with a candid video, showing the duchess enjoying a hotdog on the streets of NYC.

Prince Harry, 40, is also in New York to celebrate Climate Week.

He is undertaking a series of engagements to honour the legacy of his late mother, Princess Diana.

It comes as the Duchess of York previously cancelled her trip to Australia, due to take place in October, to not clash with King Charles's royal tour.

A statement was released which read: "With regret, Sarah, Duchess of York has decided to withdraw from the Festival of Fiction, so as not to distract or detract in any way from the tour of Australia by His Majesty the King, which has recently been announced.

"Due to exceptional demand, she will be returning to Perth on November 1st at 6.30pm for a special event at Joondalup Resort and apologises to anyone who is inconvenienced by the change of date."

Climate change is something incredibly close to Sarah's heart, particularly as a grandmother.

https://www.gbnews.com/royal/sarah-ferguson-new-york-prince-harry-king-charles-royal-latest

The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) was a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by FPD officer Darren Wilson. The unrest sparked a vigorous debate in the United States about the relationship between law enforcement officers and Black Americans, the militarization of police, and the use-of-force law in Missouri and nationwide. Continuing activism expanded the issues by including modern-day debtors prisons,[9] for-profit policing,[10] and school segregation.[11]

As the details of the shooting emerged, police established curfews and deployed riot squads in anticipation of unrest. Along with peaceful protests, there was a significant amount of looting and violence in the vicinity of the site of the shooting, as well as across the city. Media criticism of the militarization of the police in Ferguson after the shooting was frequent.[12][13] The unrest continued on November 24, 2014, after a grand jury did not indict Officer Wilson.[14] It briefly flared again on the first anniversary of Brown's shooting.[15] The Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense.[16][17]

In response to the shooting and the subsequent unrest, the DOJ conducted an investigation into the policing practices of the Ferguson Police Department (FPD).[18][19] In March 2015, the DOJ announced that they had determined that the FPD had engaged in misconduct against the citizenry of Ferguson by, among other things, discriminating against African Americans and applying racial stereotypes in a "pattern or practice of unlawful conduct."[20][21][22] The DOJ also found that the Ferguson city council relied on fines and other charges generated by police for funding municipal services.[23]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_unrest

Rubedo is a Latin word meaning "redness" that was adopted by alchemists to define the fourth and final major stage in their magnum opus.[1] Both gold and the philosopher's stone were associated with the color red, as rubedo signaled alchemical success, and the end of the great work.[2] Rubedo is also known by the Greek word iosis.

Interpretation

The three alchemical stages preceding rubedo were nigredo (blackness), which represented putrefaction and spiritual death; albedo (whiteness), which represented purification; and citrinitas (yellowness), the solar dawn or awakening.[3] Some sources describe the alchemical process as three-phased with citrinitas serving as mere extension and takes place between albedo and rubedo.[4] The rubedo stage entails the attempt of the alchemist to integrate the psychospiritual outcomes of the process into a coherent sense of self before its re-entry to the world.[5] The stage can take some time or years to complete due to the required synthesis and substantiation of insights and experiences.[5]

The symbols used in alchemical writing and art to represent this red stage can include blood, a phoenix, a rose, a crowned king, or a figure wearing red clothes. Countless sources mention a reddening process; the seventeenth dictum of the 12th century Turba Philosophorum is one example:

O Turba of Philosophers and disciples, now hast thou spoken about making into white, but it yet remains to treat concerning the reddening! Know, all ye seekers after this Art, that unless ye whiten, ye cannot make red, because the two natures are nothing other than red and white. Whiten, therefore, the red, and redden the white![6]

Psychology

In the framework of psychological development (especially with followers of Jungian psychology), these four alchemical steps are viewed as analogous to the process of attaining individuation or the process that allows an individual to attain the integration of opposites, their transcendence, and, finally, emergence out of an undifferentiated unconscious.[7] In an archetypal schema, rubedo represents the Self archetype, and is the culmination of the four stages, the merging of ego and Self.[8] It is also described as a stage that gives birth to a new personality.[9] Represented by the color of blood in alchemy, the stage indicates a process that cannot be reversed since it involves the struggle of the self towards its manifestation.[10]

The Self manifests itself in "wholeness," a point in which a person discovers their true nature. Another interpretation phrased it as "reunification" which entail the reunion of body, soul, and spirit, leading to a diminished inner conflict.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubedo

In alchemical terms, the body is reduced into a quicksilver water from which the elixir is then made. In other words a vivifying spirit is made. The elixir is the same as the philosopher’s stone, but the alchemists use the term elixir to talk primarily about its energetic and healing properties.

According to some alchemists, the elixir is the second phase in the Great Work, while the tincture is the third phase. As the second phase is albedo, or whiteness, the tincture is also called white tincture. It is the state of cooked or digested matter that has now gained a white color. When it is projected onto metals it changes them into silver. It is a medicine for plants and minerals. We are talking here about a purified spirit (of man) that, although it is only in the second stage, is already healing to body and soul.

The red elixir corresponds with the third phase, rubedo or redness. The red elixir is the perfect stone. The Arab alchemists just called it elixir, meaning ‘yeast’. Yeast makes dough rise, what in the philosophical sense means ‘multiplication’. In relation to the elixir, it makes spiritual energy multiply and therefore it works in a healing way in living beings. The elixir cures all ailments, and makes all imperfect metals (like the organs, cells…) perfect (it makes them healthy again).

The term tincture is used for its penetrating quality. The tincture is the last degree of transmutation of the natural bodies. It brings all imperfect things to their perfection. Paracelsus calls the tincture a very noble substance that colors all metallic and human bodies, and changes them in a much better essence. It penetrates all bodies and let them ‘rise’ as with yeast.

Artephius (12th century) wrote in his ‘Secret Book’ that he had been living for a thousand years due to the elixir. Similar statements were done by other alchemists. It is said that the well-known Comte de Saint-German (17th-18th century) did not age because of the elixir. Remember this is not about a physical substance, but it is the divine energy within the alchemist that has been brought forward and that keeps the body young.

It always has been a strong idea that there was some kind of liquid, or drink that could prolong the life span and give the body a (near) immortality. Unfortunately common man took this often literally and tried to create a physical liquid. This liquid, or water of life, is a symbolic term for what is present within man himself.

In the ancient scriptures of the Hindus (the vedas and the Puranas) one finds the concept of Amrita. Amrita is the drink or food of the gods. It is the food that gives immortality. It was made out of the ocean of milk. The Greek gods drank Ambrosia or Nektar, which had the same characteristics.

The alchemists and cabalists speak of the water of life in terms of for example the Ab-e-Hyat or ‘prickling, fiery essence’. More commonly it is called the ‘alkahest’ or common solvent. The alchemist makes his tincture by purifying his body, his emotions and his thoughts, until he identifies himself with his divine essence. When the divine essence has been realized, the water of life pours forth and takes away all remaining dross, leaving pure gold.

The elixir or tincture makes a new man from the alchemist. He is reborn and immortal. He partakes of divine wisdom and unity with the Source of all. He has become a heavenly king."

http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/alchemy_3.htm

In the religion of Thelema, it is believed that the history of humanity can be divided into a series of aeons, each of which was accompanied by its own forms of "magical and religious expression".[1]

The first of these was the Aeon of Isis, which Thelemites believed occurred during prehistory and which saw mankind worshipping a Great Goddess, symbolised by the ancient Egyptian deity Isis. In Thelemite beliefs, this was followed by the Aeon of Osiris, a period that took place in the classical and mediaeval centuries, when humanity worshipped a singular male god, symbolised by the Egyptian god Osiris, and was therefore dominated by patriarchal values.[2] The third aeon is the Aeon of Horus, controlled by the child god, symbolised by Horus.[2]

In the New Aeon, prophesied by Aleister Crowley during his lifetime throughout his esoteric and occult writings, Thelemites believe that humanity shall leave behind the tyranny of Abrahamic religions and enter a time of greater consciousness and self-actualization.[2] Within the Thelemite religion, each of these aeons is believed to be "characterized by their [own specific] magical formula", the use of which "is very important and fundamental to the understanding of Thelemic Magick".[3]"

Aeon (Thelema) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeon_(Thelema)

Æthelred II (Old English: Æþelræd,[n 1] pronounced [ˈæðelræːd]; Old Norse: Aðalráðr; c. 966 – 23 April 1016), known as Æthelred the Unready, was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death in 1016.[1] His epithet comes from the Old English word unræd meaning "poorly advised"; it is a pun on his name, which means "well advised".

Æthelred was the son of King Edgar the Peaceful and Queen Ælfthryth.[1] He came to the throne at about the age of 12, following the assassination of his older half-brother, King Edward the Martyr.

The chief characteristic of Æthelred's reign was conflict with the Danes. After several decades of relative peace, Danish raids on English territory began again in earnest in the 980s, becoming markedly more serious in the early 990s. Following the Battle of Maldon in 991, Æthelred paid tribute, or Danegeld, to the Danish king. In 1002, Æthelred ordered what became known as the St Brice's Day massacre of Danish settlers. In 1013, King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded England, as a result of which Æthelred fled to Normandy in 1013 and was replaced by Sweyn. After Sweyn died in 1014, Æthelred returned to the throne, but he died just two years later. Æthelred's 37-year combined reign was the longest of any Anglo-Saxon English king and was only surpassed in the 13th century, by Henry III. Æthelred was briefly succeeded by his son Edmund Ironside, but Edmund died after a few months and was replaced by Sweyn's son Cnut. Another of Æthelred's sons, Edward the Confessor, would become king of England many years later.

Name

Æthelred's first name, composed of the elements æðele, "noble", and ræd, "counsel, advice",[2] is typical of the compound names of those who belonged to the royal House of Wessex, and it characteristically alliterates with the names of his ancestors, like Æthelwulf ("noble-wolf"), Ælfred ("elf-counsel"), Eadweard ("rich-protection"), and Eadgar ("rich-spear").[3]

Æthelred's notorious nickname, Old English Unræd, is commonly translated into present-day English as "The Unready" (less commonly but more accurately "The Redeless").[n 2] The Anglo-Saxon noun unræd means "evil counsel", "bad plan", or "folly".[4] It was most often used in reference to decisions and deeds, but once in reference to the ill-advised disobedience of Adam and Eve. The element ræd in unræd is the same element in Æthelred's name that means "counsel" (compare the cognate in the German word Rat and Dutch raad). Thus Æþelræd Unræd is an oxymoron: "Noble counsel, No counsel". The nickname has also been translated as "ill-advised", "ill-prepared", thus "Æthelred the ill-advised".[5]

Because the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after Æthelred's death, it is doubtful that it carries any implications as to the reputation of the king in the eyes of his contemporaries or near contemporaries.[6][n 3]

Early life

Sir Frank Stenton remarked that "much that has brought condemnation of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the circumstances under which he became king."[7] Æthelred's father, King Edgar, had died suddenly in July 975, leaving two young sons behind. The elder, Edward (later Edward the Martyr), was probably illegitimate,[8] and was "still a youth on the verge of manhood" in 975.[9] The younger son was Æthelred, whose mother, Ælfthryth, Edgar had married in 964. Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of Devon, and widow of Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia. At the time of his father's death, Æthelred could have been no more than 10 years old. As the elder of Edgar's sons, Edward – reportedly a young man given to frequent violent outbursts – probably would have naturally succeeded to the throne of England despite his young age, had he not "offended many important persons by his intolerable violence of speech and behaviour."[9] In any case, a number of English nobles took to opposing Edward's succession and to defending Æthelred's claim to the throne; Æthelred was, after all, the son of Edgar's last, living wife, and no rumour of illegitimacy is known to have plagued Æthelred's birth, as it might have his elder brother's.[10]

Both boys, Æthelred certainly, were too young to have played any significant part in the political manoeuvring which followed Edgar's death. It was the brothers' supporters, and not the brothers themselves, who were responsible for the turmoil which accompanied the choice of a successor to the throne. Æthelred's cause was led by his mother and included Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia and Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester,[11][12] while Edward's claim was supported by Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Oswald, the Archbishop of York[13] among other noblemen, notably Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia, and Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex. In the end, Edward's supporters proved the more powerful and persuasive, and he was crowned king at Kingston upon Thames before the year was out.

Edward reigned for only three years before he was murdered by members of his brother's household.[14] Though little is known about Edward's short reign, it is known that it was marked by political turmoil. Edgar had made extensive grants of land to monasteries which pursued the new monastic ideals of ecclesiastical reform, but these disrupted aristocratic families' traditional patronage. The end of his firm rule saw a reversal of this policy, with aristocrats recovering their lost properties or seizing new ones. This was opposed by Dunstan, but according to Cyril Hart, "The presence of supporters of church reform on both sides indicates that the conflict between them depended as much on issues of land ownership and local power as on ecclesiastical legitimacy. Adherents of both Edward and Æthelred can be seen appropriating, or recovering, monastic lands."[8] Nevertheless, favour for Edward must have been strong among the monastic communities. When Edward was killed at Æthelred's estate at Corfe Castle in Dorset in March 978, the job of recording the event, as well as reactions to it, fell to monastic writers. Stenton offers a summary of the earliest account of Edward's murder, which comes from a work praising the life of St Oswald:

On the surface his [Edward's] relations with Æthelred his half-brother and Ælfthryth his stepmother were friendly, and he was visiting them informally when he was killed. [Æthelred's] retainers came out to meet him with ostentatious signs of respect, and then, before he had dismounted, surrounded him, seized his hands, and stabbed him ... So far as can be seen the murder was planned and carried out by Æthelred's household men in order that their young master might become king. There is nothing to support the allegation, which first appears in writing more than a century later, that Queen Ælfthryth had plotted her stepson's death. No one was punished for a part in the crime, and Æthelred, who was crowned a month after the murder, began to reign in an atmosphere of suspicion which destroyed the prestige of the crown. It was never fully restored in his lifetime.

— Stenton 2001, p. 373

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelred_the_Unready

"According to ancient and medieval science, aether (/ˈiːθər/, alternative spellings include æther, aither, and ether), also known as the fifth element or quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.[1] The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain several natural phenomena, such as the propagation of light and gravity. In the late 19th century, physicists postulated that aether permeated space, providing a medium through which light could travel in a vacuum, but evidence for the presence of such a medium was not found in the Michelson–Morley experiment, and this result has been interpreted to mean that no luminiferous aether exists.[2]

The word αἰθήρ (aithḗr) in Homeric Greek means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky".[3] In Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air breathed by mortals.[4] It is also personified as a deity, Aether, the son of Erebus and Nyx in traditional Greek mythology.[5] Aether is related to αἴθω "to incinerate",[6] and intransitive "to burn, to shine" (related is the name Aithiopes (Ethiopians; see Aethiopia), meaning "people with a burnt (black) visage").[7][8]

Aether (classical element) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)

G7: Joe Biden is breath of fresh air, says Boris Johnson

10 June 2021

Boris Johnson has described US President Joe Biden as a "breath of fresh air" after they met for the first time on the eve of the G7 summit in Cornwall.

"There's so much that they want to do together with us, from security, NATO, to climate change," Mr Johnson said.

He also said there was "complete harmony" with Mr Biden over Northern Ireland.

The US, UK and EU all want to protect the Good Friday Agreement, the PM said.

It comes after Mr Biden had earlier warned that the UK-EU dispute over border controls should not risk the peace process in Northern Ireland.

The Good Friday Agreement, a peace deal signed in 1998, helped end decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Mr Johnson said he was "optimistic" the peace process would be kept going and that there is "absolutely common ground" on the issue between the two leaders.

During their meeting, the two men also established a taskforce to re-establish travel across the Atlantic, after the US banned most British people from entering at the start of the pandemic.

And they agreed a deal - labelled the "Atlantic Charter" - which commits the two countries to work together on global challenges.

Mr Johnson said: "It's incredibly important that we should affirm that [relationship] and the talks were great, they went on for a long time, we covered a huge range of subjects, and it's wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and to Joe Biden."

Reuters Joe Biden and Boris Johnson Reuters

Mr Biden said the "Atlantic Charter" would address the "key challenges of this century - cyber security, emerging technologies, global health and climate change".

"We affirmed the special relationship - that is not said lightly - the special relationship between our people and renewed our commitment to defending the enduring democratic values that both our nations share," he added.

Earlier, the leaders posed for photographs with their wives and the four exchanged gifts, with keen cyclist Mr Johnson receiving a US-made bike and helmet.

Mr Johnson gave the president a photo of Frederick Douglass - a former slave who campaigned against slavery in the 19th Century - and a first edition of Daphne du Maurier's The Apple Tree, a collection of short stories, to First Lady Jill Biden.

The G7 summit begins on Friday and will be the first time world leaders have assembled in person since the coronavirus pandemic.

They will be joined by the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who will all attend the G7 leaders' reception on Friday evening.

Afterwards, Prince Charles will host a reception for the G7 leaders and CEOs from the world's largest companies to discuss how the private sector can work with governments to tackle the climate emergency, with Prince William also attending.

Why does the G7 summit matter?

From Air Force One to Beast - Biden's travel kit

Biden to warn PM not to risk NI peace over Brexit

Covid vaccines and climate change will be among the main issues on the G7 agenda.

But the on-going disagreement between the UK and the EU over post-Brexit regulatory checks on goods going into Northern Ireland from Great Britain also look set to feature heavily in diplomatic discussions.

The arrangements were agreed in the 2019 Brexit withdrawal deal, but the UK has since sought more flexibility.

Asked about the dispute on Thursday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "I think it's not serious to want to review in July what we finalised after years of debate and work in December.

"We have a trade deal - it has been painfully discussed for years... if six months later, they say: 'What we negotiated with you, we don't know how to respect it', then that means that nothing is respectable anymore."

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the Northern Ireland protocol - the name for the post-Brexit trading rules - was the "only solution" and should be implemented fully.

Presentational grey line

What is the UK-EU Northern Ireland dispute about?

Northern Ireland was given special status as a result of the 2019 Brexit "divorce" settlement between the UK and the EU.

While England, Scotland and Wales no longer follow EU rules, Northern Ireland still does, because it shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member.

In order to avoid a physical border between the two countries - and thereby protect the peace process - it was agreed that customs checks would take place on goods entering Northern Ireland from elsewhere in the UK.

But unionists say this has effectively put a border down the Irish Sea instead - something they are ideologically opposed to - and business say supply chains have been complicated and disrupted.

Talks on Wednesday between Brexit minister Lord Frost and the European Commission's Maros Sefcovic to try to resolve the standoff ended without a breakthrough.

Presentational grey line

Since becoming president, Mr Biden has frequently stressed the importance of the Good Friday Agreement, which was brokered by the US.

And speaking before the summit, the president's national security adviser told the BBC that Mr Biden has "deep" concerns that a UK-EU trade row could endanger peace in the region.

Asked if Mr Biden made his alarm about the situation in Northern Ireland clear, Mr Johnson replied: "No, he didn't."

Before the meeting, Mrs Biden and Mrs Johnson joined their husbands in Cornwall for a walk in Carbis Bay.

Admiring the view, Mr Biden said: "It's gorgeous - I don't want to go home."

The two women dipped their feet in the sea and later had tea together.

Dr Biden told reporters: "It's really nice to be here in Cornwall. It's my first time. Obviously it's beautiful for those of you who have been here before."

Mr Biden suggested that both he and the prime minister had "married way above our stations" - something with which Mr Johnson agreed.

The prime minister married his partner Carrie in a low-key wedding in Westminster Cathedral, at the end of May.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-57433296

What happened at Vatican II / the Second Vatican Council?

Answer

The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, was convened in 1962 to deal with certain issues facing the Catholic Church. The council was convoked by Pope John XXIII on October 11, 1962, and concluded under Pope Paul VI on December 8, 1965. One of the goals of Vatican II was to provide clarity on the topic of the role of the church in relation to the world at large. Because of changes in culture due to modernism and postmodernism, it was decided that the church needed to update its procedures to become more relevant and accessible to modern people. As Pope John XXIII said, the church needed to “open the windows and let in some FRESH AIR.”

The main issue discussed at Vatican II was ecumenism, that is, the relation of the Catholic Church to other religions and denominations within Christendom. The Second Vatican Council relaxed the attitude of the church toward other communities of faith. Emphasis was placed on reaching out to other religions to create conversation. Furthermore, Vatican II focused on what Catholicism calls the “Paschal Mystery,” which is the passion, death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ. This focus paved the way toward a closer relationship between Evangelical or Protestant churches and the Catholic Church. Other changes included the introduction of modern music to the church service, various changes to the liturgy (for example, the officiant could now face the congregation during Mass, rather than having his back toward them), and the performance of Mass in languages that could be understood by all, rather than in Latin. Vatican II dropped the rules forbidding Catholics from reading a Protestant Bible and from attending a Protestant service. The overall bent of the Second Vatican Council was to make the church more accessible to the layman and friendlier to Jews and others outside the Catholic fellowship.

For all the major changes the Second Vatican Council made to its administrative processes, it was careful not to change its doctrine. Vatican II affirmed the longstanding Catholic claim that the Roman Church is the only true church, although it did give Protestants a friendly overture in admitting that other churches might contain some elements of truth and referring to Protestants as “separated brethren.” Pope Paul VI, who oversaw the latter sessions of Vatican II, put forward a new doctrine that honored Mary as “the Mother of the Church.” In the end, the Vatican II Council updated the liturgy in order to make the church more acceptable to the twentieth-century world, but the result is still Catholicism, with all its false doctrine.

Reformed theologian Loraine Boettner, who lived in the time of Vatican II and studied it closely, wrote that the council “makes it abundantly clear that Rome has no intention of revising any of her basic doctrine, but only of updating her methods and techniques for more efficient administration and to present a more attractive appearance. This is designed to make it easier for the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant churches to return to her fold. There is no indication that she has any intentions of entering into genuine give-and-take church unity negotiations. Her purpose is not union, but absorption. Church union with Rome is strictly a one-way street. The age-old danger that Protestantism has faced from the Roman Church has not diminished; in fact, it may well have increased. For through this less offensive posture and this superficial ecumenicism, Rome is much better situated to carry out her program of eliminating opposition and moving into a position of world dominance. An infallible church simply cannot repent” (from the preface of Roman Catholicism, 1985).

https://www.gotquestions.org/Vatican-II.html

Philippians 2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 1 He exhorteth them above all things, 3 to humility, 6 and that by the example of Christ. 19 He promiseth to send Timothy shortly unto them, 26 and excuseth the long tarrying of Epaphroditus.

1 [a]If there be therefore any consolation in [b]Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any [c]compassion and mercy,

2 Fulfill my joy, that ye be like minded, having the [d]same love, being of one accord, and of one judgment,

3 That nothing be done through contention or vainglory, but that in meekness of mind every man esteem others better than himself.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of other men.

5 [e]Let the same mind be in you that was even in Christ Jesus,

6 Who being in the [f]form of God, [g]thought it no robbery to be [h]equal with God:

7 But he made himself of [i]no reputation, and took on him the [j]form of a servant, and was made like unto men, and was found in shape as a man.

8 He humbled himself, and became obedient unto the death, even the death of the cross.

9 [k]Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, and given him a [l]name above every name.

10 That at the Name of Jesus should [m]every knee bow, both of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

11 And that [n]every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, unto the glory of God the Father.

12 [o]Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed me, not as in my presence only, but now much more in mine absence, so [p]make an end of your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 [q]For it is God which worketh in you both [r]the will and the deed, even of his good pleasure.

14 [s]Do all things without murmuring and reasonings,

15 [t]That ye may be blameless, and pure, and the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a naughty and crooked nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world,

16 Holding forth the [u]word of life, [v]that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither have labored in vain.

17 Yea, and though I be offered up upon the [w]sacrifice, and service of your faith, I am glad, and rejoice with you all.

18 For the same cause also be ye glad, and rejoice with me.

19 [x]And I trust in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of [y]good comfort, when I know your state.

20 For I have no man like-minded, who will faithfully care for your matters.

21 For [z]all seek their own, and not that which is Jesus Christ’s.

22 But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the Gospel.

23 Him therefore I hope to send as soon as I know how it will go with me,

24 And I trust in the Lord, that I also myself shall come shortly.

25 But I supposed it necessary to send my brother Epaphroditus unto you my companion in labor, and fellow soldier, even your messenger, and he that ministered unto me such things as I wanted.

26 For he longed after all you, and was full of heaviness, because ye had heard that he had been sick.

27 And no doubt he was sick, very near unto death: but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

28 I sent him therefore the more diligently, that when ye should see him again, ye might rejoice, and I might be the less sorrowful.

29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and make much of such:

30 Because that for the [aa]work of Christ he was near unto death, and regarded not his life, to fulfill that service which was lacking on your part toward me.

Footnotes

Philippians 2:1 A most earnest request to remove all those things, whereby that great and special consent and agreement is commonly broken, to wit, contention and pride, whereby it cometh to pass, that they separate themselves one from another.

Philippians 2:1 Any Christian comfort.

Philippians 2:1 If any feeling of inward love.

Philippians 2:2 Like love.

Philippians 2:5 He setteth before them a most perfect example of all modesty and sweet conversation, Christ Jesus, whom we ought to follow with all our might: who abased himself so far for our sakes, although he be above all, that he took upon him the form of a servant, to wit, our flesh willingly, subject to all infirmities, even to the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:6 Such as God himself is, and therefore God, for there is none in all parts like to God, but God himself.

Philippians 2:6 Christ, that glorious and everlasting God, knew that he might rightfully and lawfully not appear in the base flesh of man, but remain with majesty meet for God: yet he chose rather to debase himself.

Philippians 2:6 If the Son be equal to the Father, then is there of necessity an equality, which Arrius, that Heretic, denieth: and if the Son be compared with the Father, then is there a distinction of persons, which Sabellius, that heretic, denieth.

Philippians 2:7 He brought himself from all things, as it were to nothing.

Philippians 2:7 By taking our manhood upon him.

Philippians 2:9 He showeth the most glorious event of Christ’s submission, to teach us, that modesty is the true way to true praise and glory.

Philippians 2:9 Dignity and renown, and the matter with it.

Philippians 2:10 All creatures shall at length be subject to Christ.

Philippians 2:11 Every nation.

Philippians 2:12 The conclusion: We must go on to salvation with humility and submission, by the way of our vocation.

Philippians 2:12 He is said to make an end of his salvation, which runneth in the race of righteousness.

Philippians 2:13 A most sure and grounded argument against pride, for that we have nothing in us praiseworthy but it cometh of the free gift of God, and is without us, for we have no ability or power, so much as to will well (much less to do well) but only of the free mercy of God.

Philippians 2:13 Why then, we are not stocks, but yet we do not will well of nature, but only because God hath made of our naughty will a good will.

Philippians 2:14 He describeth modesty by the contrary effects of pride, teaching us, that it is far both from all malicious, and close or inward hatred and also from open contentions and brawlings.

Philippians 2:15 To be short, he requireth a life without fault, and pure, that being lightened with the word of God, they may shine in the darkness of this world.

Philippians 2:16 The Gospel is called the word of life, because of the effects which it worketh.

Philippians 2:16 Again he pricketh them forward, setting before them his true Apostolic care that he had of them, comforting them moreover, to the end they should not be sorry for the greatness of his afflictions, no not although he should die to make perfect their oblation with his blood, as it were with a drink offering.

Philippians 2:17 As if he said, I brought you Philippians to Christ, my desire is that you present yourselves a lively sacrifice to him, and then shall it not grieve me to be offered up as a drink offering, to accomplish this your spiritual offering.

Philippians 2:19 Moreover he confirmeth their minds both by sending back Epaphroditus unto them, whose fidelity towards them, and great pains in helping him, he commendeth: and also promising to send Timothy shortly unto them, by whose presence they shall receive great commodity, and hoping also to come himself shortly unto them, if God wills.

Philippians 2:19 May be confirmed in my joy of mind.

Philippians 2:21 The most part.

Philippians 2:30 He calleth it here the work of Christ, to visit Christ, being poor and in bands in the person of Paul.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202&version=GNV

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