Francis keeps traditional appointment
Pope Francis on Friday made his first public appearance outdoors since being stricken by bronchitis two weeks ago, which forced him to cancel a planned trip to the COP-28 climate conference in Dubai.
The pope has been steadily recovering, and for the Dec. 8 holiday devoted to Mary kept a traditional appointment to pray at the Spanish Steps. He arrived in a black car, and blessed a crowd of onlookers before taking a seat in a chair facing a statue of the Madonna.
The pontiff prayed for Mary’s mercy for “all the people oppressed by injustice and poverty, tried by war,’’ adding a special prayer for “the tormented Ukrainian people,” as well as Palestinians and Israelis “who have fallen back into a spiral of violence.”
Francis also addressed violence against women, a topic that has resonated in Italy in recent weeks following the killing last month of a 22-yearold female student in northern Italy. “Mary, we need you as a woman, to entrust all of the women who have suffered violence and those who are still victims in this city, in Italy and in every part of the world,’’ the pope said.
Before his appointment at the Spanish Steps, Francis went to the St. Mary Major basilica to pray before one of his favorite icons to Mary. He entered the basilica in a wheelchair.
Gasoline poured on MLK birthplace
Atlanta police have arrested a woman who is accused of trying to burn down the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta.
Officers arrested the 26year-old woman around 5:45 p.m. Thursday after responding to a report of vandalism in process at the twostory home in the historic Auburn Avenue Historic District, according to a police statement. Police say a preliminary investigation shows the woman had poured gasoline on the property before people at the site stopped her.
“We believe at this time she was pouring gasoline on the porch and the door of the home. Their quick action saved a jewel of our city, something very important to Atlanta,” Atlanta police Chief Darin Schierbaum told WXIA-TV.
Video shot by a witness and broadcast by local television stations shows a young woman dressed in black pants, a black shirt and a black knit cap holding a large red gas canister standing on the front porch of the house and dousing the home with a liquid. A police report says she was not wearing any shoes
6 juveniles convicted in teacher beheading
A French juvenile court on Friday convicted six teenagers for their roles in the beheading of a teacher by an Islamic extremist that shocked the country.
Teacher Samuel Paty was killed outside his school in 2020 after showing his class cartoons of the prophet of Islam during a debate on free expression. The attacker, a young Chechen who had radicalized, was killed by police.
The court found five of the defendants, who were 14 and 15 at the time of the attack, guilty of staking out the teacher and identifying him for the attacker. Another defendant, 13 at the time, was found guilty of lying about the classroom debate in a comment that aggravated online anger against the teacher.
The teenagers — all students at Paty’s school — testified that they didn’t know the teacher would be killed. All were handed brief or suspended prison terms, and required to stay in school or jobs during the duration of their suspended terms with regular medical checkups.