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Pope urges protection of weakest at French shrine of Lourdes known for miraculous cures
Pope Leo XIV doubled down on his opposition to euthanasia and medically assisted dying during a visit Sunday to Lourdes, the French Catholic shrine associated with miraculous cures and now also a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.Leo denounced the "current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in illness, suffering and old age," during a Mass on the Lourdes prairie before some 150,000 people, many of them in wheelchairs."Here, no one is turned away due to their frailty," Leo said in his homily.Leo traveled to Lourdes in the foothills of the Pyrenees on the second leg of his four-day visit to France, the once staunchly Catholic but officially secular country. The visit has been marked by huge crowds — 800,000 at Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — and his messaging against legislation allowing assisted dying that was recently approved in France and several other countries.Lourdes became a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church officially recognized visions of the Virgin Mary reported here by a young girl in 1858. The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims each year, especially sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto where the visions purportedly occurred.Leo arrived in Lourdes from Paris on Saturday night and immediately prayed inside the Grotto of Apparitions and drank from the spring."He has given a message of hope for France, a message of hope and greatness for France, and renewal for France,” said Paris pilgrim Pierre Caziljc.Pope delivers a message about life while in FranceDuring his four-day visit to France, Leo has repeatedly called for a renewed respect for life in keeping with Catholic teaching that all human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death. The teaching translates into firm opposition to abortion, euthanasia and medically assisted dying.France's National Assembly in 2024 enshrined abortion as a constitutional right and recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication. In Lourdes, where the church has recognized 72 "miraculous" cures as authentic, the question of respecting even the most frail, sick and vulnerable is particularly acute. "Your crutches, your wheelchairs and your hidden tears are not obstacles; instead, they are the very place where you are fully respected and welcomed," Leo said. "Lourdes is blessed as a place for professing the beauty and sanctity of life, for life is welcomed here as a precious gift from God."Survivors visit Lourdes as part of their healing processMore recently, Lourdes has also become a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Leo was to meet with seven survivors on Sunday, including one who was abused as an adult, in recognition of the new frontier of the abuse crisis facing the church.The French church has endured a brutal reckoning with its legacy of abuse. An independent report in 2021 estimated 330,000 children had been abused over 70 years by some 3,000 priests and church workers.Despite criticism of the report's methodology and conclusions, French bishops put in place an independent system of compensation for victims that to date has recommended the church pay out more than 20 million euros.During a meeting with French bishops on Sunday morning, Leo praised their response to victims and urged them to continue. But he also acknowledged that the cratering in priestly vocations in the French church is related to the scandal, given the priesthood is now sometimes viewed with suspicion."For priestly vocations to flourish, the priest must be welcomed, accepted, and loved," Leo said.On the day Leo arrived in Paris, a group of victims wrote an open letter asking him to acknowledge the church's responsibility and criticizing that the seven survivors were chosen by the church, not victims' groups. "The Church must relinquish its position as both judge and party to the proceedings," they wrote in the letter published by French newspaper Liberation.Monsignor Pierre-Antoine Bozo, spokesperson for the bishops' conference, said two of the seven had actually been proposed by victims’ groups and that Leo intentionally wanted to keep the group small to facilitate an intimate encounter."When it comes to listening to them, you can't have 50 people in front of you," he said. "So I think that's really what the pope chose: to listen so that we can act and respond more effectively.”Pope Leo XIV waves to worshippers as he arrives on board of the Papamobile to celebrate a holy mass at the Prairie of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, southwestern France, on September 27, 2026.Mosaics are a painful reminder of alleged abuse In Lourdes, Leo was also be reminded of a prickly abuse case inherited from Pope Francis.The façade of one of the Lourdes basilicas was designed by the Rev. Marko Rupnik, one of the Catholic Church's most famous mosaic artists.Rupnik is currently on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of having psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused them starting in the 1990s, including during the creation of his artworks.His case was covered up for three decades by his Jesuit superiors, and even Francis was suspected of having protected his fellow Jesuit. In response to a media outcry, Francis ordered a canonical trial in 2024, which is ongoing.The Rupnik case posed the question of what to do with his mosaics, which adorn basilicas around the world.In 2024, Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas decided to no longer illuminate the façade of the Notre Dame du Rosaire Basilica at night. He subsequently ordered the decorated doors covered, and more recently decided to cover the façade's mosaics entirely. He reasoned that abuse victims who come to Lourdes for healing shouldn't be forced to see them.In a letter to Leo ahead of his trip, five women who say they were abused by Rupnik praised Micas' decision to cover the mosaics but criticized the Vatican's treatment of their case and the three decades it has taken for them to be heard."This prolonged and loud silence has been experienced by us, the victims, as a further, continuous violence," they wrote.Bozo also praised Micas’ decision to cover the works, though he said the decision was his alone and not that of the entire bishops’ conference."It creates such a heavy symbolic burden for the victims," he said. "For them, I think this had to be done.”___Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.
As it happened: 'Orange Order can wait for weeks,' claims DUP leader as controversial march delayed amid huge protest
DUP's Gavin Robinson says loyalists have 'steadfast determination' to march on Catholic enclave in PortadownNorthern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, at the scene of the counter-protest this morning also spoke alongside Mary Lou McDonald. O'Neill said she had called on Northern Ireland secretary Chris Bryant to intervene. She told reporters: "Does anybody think that this is a good idea? No right-minded person would make this decision. "I still do not know the answer to this question - why, after 28 years of determination to block a march down this road, the Parades Commission thought that this was the right idea today to bring this mess back onto this community?"Local MP Carla Lockhart, from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, posted this morning on X describing the marchers as a "dignified grouping of men, walking silently down Garvaghy Road".She included a photo of the small group in suits, wearing orange silk sashes and black bowler hats and carrying a banner. "There is no threat, no triumphalism, not even music. There is nothing to fear. The rule of law must prevail," she wrote. Continue reading...
Drumcree standoff shows Northern Ireland's troubled past still threatens its peace
Governments will be hoping row over the contentious Orange Order march down Garvaghy Road can be defusedPortadown march: latest updatesLike a ghost from its troubled past, Drumcree has unexpectedly reappeared to remind people how far Northern Ireland has changed in 30 years but also how easily history can undermine the present, if imperfect, peace and stability.Three decades ago parts of Northern Ireland came to an almost annual standstill as Protestant Orange Order protesters blocked roads in support of members wanting to march down what they called its traditional route, the Garvaghy Road, on the Sunday before the annual 12 July parade. Continue reading...
At least 27 dead after two mass shootings in South Africa, police say
Seventeen people killed near Johannesburg in suspected 'illegal goldmining turf war', as 10 killed in separate incident at barbecue venue near Cape TownTwo separate mass shootings near South Africa's two biggest cities killed at least 27 people, as the country grapples with one of the world's highest murder rates amid investigations into corruption and criminality within the police.The South African police service said on Sunday that 17 people were killed on Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, about 50 miles south-west of central Johannesburg. At least 15 other people sustained gunshot injuries in that attack, police said. Continue reading...
Two giant pandas arrive in Atlanta from China after Xi-Trump summit
Ping Ping and Fu Shuang to live at Atlanta zoo in Georgia as part of loan deal between Chinese and US governmentsTwo giant pandas from China arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday morning as part of an agreement between the Chinese and American governments.While in Washington DC for a three-day summit with Donald Trump, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced that the pandas would arrive in Atlanta in the coming days. The loan of the pandas to the Atlanta zoo was one of the few concrete outcomes to come out of Xi's state visit with the US president, which saw expressions of goodwill between the leaders, but no fixes to any of the longstanding differences between the two countries. Continue reading...
Burnham refreshes the parts others can't reach on the Andy and Laura show | John Crace
The PM oozes confidence and easy-going charm as he tells Laura Kuenssberg the hill he'll die on is fixing social careUK politics live – latest updatesIn recent weeks there has been much speculation in some parts of the media that Andy Burnham would call an early general election. Speculation that existed largely in the heads of those writing the stories, as even the most favourable polls suggest Labour would lose its huge majority and become the largest party in a coalition government. But to stop the chatter dominating his party conference, Burnham made it clear there would be no early election. His reward? Headlines in the rightwing press that he had bottled it. By not calling an election he had never planned to call. Sometimes you just can't win.There again, you might call this a first-world problem for the prime minister. This time last year, Burnham had been hanging around the fringes of the conference as he and his allies attempted one of the most half-arsed coups in living memory. One that fizzled out almost before it had started and became the butt of many jokes among Keir Starmer's inner circle. Andy looked to have blown himself up on the runway, leaving Keir safe for the duration of the parliament. Continue reading...
UN ambassador Waltz says Iran was not negotiating 'in good faith' to end war
Waltz says Trump rejected Iran's proposal to end war because they 'were asking for everything up front'The Trump administration's ambassador to the United Nations said the US rejected Iran's proposal to end the ongoing war there because Iranian negotiators "were asking for everything up front".Echoing comments by Donald Trump on Saturday, the president's UN ambassador Mike Waltz told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday that Iran had asked for relief "from billions and billions of sanctions that are going into place" as part of an economic blockade on Iran. The blockade is aimed at putting pressure on Iran to stop its attacks ‌on vessels in the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...
PM Modi recalls 2016 surgical strikes on Mann Ki Baat, says terrorism will get decisive response
During his radio address, Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed key national issues, including the 2016 surgical strikes against terrorism, reaffirming India's strong stance and zero-tolerance policy toward cross-border threats. He called on citizens to contribute to the Census, emphasized cleanliness efforts linked to Mahatma Gandhi, and expressed support for the youth's battle against narcotics.
‘Part of my world flew away to heaven’: Tributes pour in as victims of helicopter crash outside Montreal identified
A day after a helicopter crashe on Montreal’s South Shore killed four people their identities were revealed by family members and friends paying their tributes on social media Sunday. According to the provincial police agency Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the incident happened Saturday around 2:30 p.m. in the Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville municipality, in the Montérégie, about 50 […]
RAF Fairford alert: Several arrested, homes evacuated near US air base - key details
Several men were arrested near RAF Fairford on suspicion of violations under the Explosives Act. Residents of the nearby village of Whelford were evacuated to a leisure center in Cirencester. Police established a cordon around the area while an Army explosive ordnance disposal team assessed several vehicles. Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation but have not confirmed a link to RAF Fairford.
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The Simpsons — 38x1: "The Children's Book Job" (FOX)

A British children's book author comes to Springfield to give a talk at Springfield Elementary School. Homer is tasked with picking her up from the airport, but things go bad from there.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — 13x24: "Episode 24" (HBO)

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The volume of the earth's moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean.

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Today In History
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2008 — Chinese Astronaut Zhai Zhigang Performs First Spacewalk
Chineseastronaut Zhai Zhigangperformed China's first spacewalk
1996 — Taliban Seize Kabul, Declare Islamic State in Afghanistan
In 1996, the Taliban, led by Mohammad Omar, seized control of the capital city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Taliban then declared that all of Afghanistan was now an Islamic state under their rule.
1964 — Warren Commission Releases Findings on JFK Assassination
Following months of investigation into the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Warren Commission released its official findings in 1964.
1962 — Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring published, sparking the modern environmental movement
1954 — The Tonight Show Premieres with Steve Allen as Host
The landmark late-evening talk show and variety program The Tonight Show premiered (as Tonight!), with Steve Allen as host
1918 — British Forces Assault Hindenburg Line in WW1
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1777 — Continental Congress Holds One-Day Session in Lancaster
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress, having fled Philadelphia, held a session in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, making the city the capital of the American colonies for one day
1601 — Birth of Louis XIII, King of France
Louis XIII, king of France from 1610 to 1643, was born. How much do you know about French history?
1590 — Urban VII's Extremely Brief Papacy
Twelve days after being elected pope, Urban VII died, making his papacy the shortest in the history of the Catholic Church.
1540 — Founding of the Jesuit Order Approved by Pope Paul III in 1540
The Jesuitorder, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, was approved by Pope Paul III
1066 — Norman Conquest begun
On this day in 1066, after being delayed by bad weather, William, duke of Normandy, embarked his army and set sail for the southeastern coast of England in what would be known in history as the Norman Conquest

This is today, boiled down to the essentials. The full stash lives at logicalchaos.ca. Go get lost in it.