Escultura romana de Cleopatra con una diadema real, de mediados del siglo i a. C. (época de sus visitas a Roma en 46-44 a. C.) encontrada en una villa italiana en la Vía Apia, actualmente expuesta en el Altes Museum.123n 1
En 58 a. C. presuntamente acompañó a su padre, Ptolomeo XII, durante su exilio en Roma tras una revuelta en Egipto (para entonces un Estado cliente de Roma), lo que permitió que su hermana mayor, Berenice IV, reclamara el trono de Ptolomeo. Berenice murió en batalla en 55 a. C., cuando su padre volvió a Egipto con ayuda militar romana. Cuando Ptolomeo murió en 51 a. C., Cleopatra y su hermano menor, Ptolomeo XIII, accedieron al trono como corregentes, pero la ruptura entre ambos desató una guerra civil.
Tras la derrota sufrida en 48 a. C. en la batalla de Farsalia por parte de su rival Julio César durante la segunda guerra civil romana, el estadista romano Pompeyo el Grande huyó a Egipto. Pompeyo había sido aliado político del padre de Cleopatra, pero a sugerencia de los eunucos de su corte, Ptolomeo XIII ordenó emboscar y asesinar a Pompeyo mientras César ocupaba Alejandría en persecución de su enemigo. Como cónsul de la República romana, César trató de reconciliar a Ptolomeo XIII con su hermana Cleopatra, pero Potino el Eunuco, consejero principal del monarca egipcio, creía que los términos que proponía el cónsul beneficiaban a Cleopatra, por lo que sus fuerzas sitiaron a César y Cleopatra en Alejandría. El asedio se levantó gracias a la llegada de aliados de César a comienzos de 47 a. C. y Ptolomeo XIII murió poco después en la batalla del Nilo. Arsínoe IV, media hermana de Cleopatra que había liderado el asedio, se exilió en Éfeso. César, ya elegido dictador, declaró a Cleopatra y a su hermano menor Ptolomeo XIV cogobernantes de Egipto. Sin embargo, el general romano inició una relación sentimental privada con Cleopatra de la que nació Cesarión. Cleopatra viajó a Roma en 46 y 44 a. C. como reina vasalla y se alojó en la villa de César. Cuando este fue asesinado en 44 a. C., Cleopatra intentó que su hijo fuera designado heredero, pero no pudo debido al ascenso al poder de Octavio (posteriormente conocido como Augusto y que sería el primer emperador de Roma en 27 a. C.). Entonces, Cleopatra ordenó asesinar a su hermano Ptolomeo XIV y elevó a su hijo Cesarión como corregente de Egipto, con el nombre de Ptolomeo XV.
Durante la tercera guerra civil de la República romana (43-42 a. C.), Cleopatra se alió con el Segundo Triunvirato, formado por Octavio (sobrino nieto y heredero de César), Marco Antonio y Lépido. Tras su encuentro en Tarso en 41 a. C., la gobernante egipcia inició una relación con Marco Antonio de la que nacieron tres hijos: Alejandro Helios, Cleopatra Selene II y Ptolomeo Filadelfo. Antonio usó su autoridad como triunviro para ejecutar a Arsínoe IV, cumpliendo el deseo de Cleopatra, y se apoyó cada vez más en la reina egipcia tanto para obtener financiación como ayuda militar durante sus invasiones del imperio parto y del Reino de Armenia. En las Donaciones de Alejandría, los hijos de Cleopatra con Marco Antonio fueron nombrados gobernantes sobre varios territorios bajo la autoridad de Antonio. Este hecho, unido al matrimonio de Marco Antonio con Cleopatra después de su divorcio de Octavia la Menor, hermana de Octavio, desató la cuarta guerra civil de la República romana. Después de iniciar una guerra de propaganda, Octavio forzó a huir a los aliados de Antonio en el senado romano y le declaró la guerra a Cleopatra en 32 a. C. La flota de guerra de Marco Antonio y Cleopatra fue derrotada por la de Octavio, bajo el mando de su general Agripa, en la batalla de Accio en 31 a. C., tras lo cual las tropas romanas de Octavio invadieron Egipto en 30 a. C. y derrotaron a las de Antonio, tras lo cual éste se suicidó. Cuando Cleopatra se enteró de que Octavio pretendía llevarla a Roma para exhibirla durante su procesión de triunfo, también se suicidó tomando veneno, si bien popularmente se cree que lo hizo dejándose morder por una áspide.
La forma latina de Cleopatra proviene del griego antiguoKleopátrā (en griego: Κλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ), que significa «gloria de su padre» en la forma femenina.8 Este se deriva de kléos (κλέος) ‘gloria’ y patḗr (πᾰτήρ) ‘padre’, utilizando el genitivopatros (πατρός).9 La forma masculina se habría escrito como Kleópatros (Κλεόπᾰτρος) o Pátroklos (Πάτροκλος).9
En cuanto a la acentuación, la bibliografía en español utiliza las formas Filopator, Filópator y Filopátor, optándose a lo largo de este artículo por la última, de acuerdo con la transcripción al español de los nombres propios griegos en Galiano (1969, p. 81).
Cleopatra y su plan de supervivencia con Julio César
ANTIGÜEDAD
La egipcia, consciente de la tentación que para los romanos representaba su reino, intentó preservarlo por todos los medios a su alcance. Contar con el apoyo de César era un paso lógico e imprescindible
Los historiadores romanos dejaron para la posteridad una colección de ardides de femme fatale tan apoteósicos que durante siglos se olvidaría que el papel de Cleopatra como reina de Egipto consistió en mucho más que seducir, sucesivamente, a Julio César y Marco Antonio.
Se ignoró que la suya fue una desesperada lucha por mantener la independencia de su país. Porque, aun herido de muerte a causa de sus ineptos antecesores en el trono, Egipto era el único baluarte del Mediterráneo que aún no estaba en manos romanas.
Sublevada
La entrada de Cleopatra VII en la historia se produce un día indeterminado de 51 a. C., a la muerte de Ptolomeo XII. En el nido de víboras que era el palacio real de Alejandría no resultaba extraño que un soberano fuera declarado muerto cuando aún estaba moribundo o, por el contrario, que se presentara al difunto como todavía vivo mientras se preparaba la sucesión.
Así pues, por la documentación conservada solo puede afirmarse que en algún momento del citado año murió su padre. Como era preceptivo, el sucesor, Ptolomeo XIII, se desposó con una de sus hermanas, en este caso Cleopatra VII, y ella pasó a ocupar el segundo lugar en la jerarquía egipcia.
Representación en caliza de Cleopatra expuesta en el Museo Fitzwilliam de Cambridge.
Propias
Para una muchacha de 18 años, con una cultura e inteligencia que ensalzaron incluso los poco favorables cronistas romanos, no debía de resultar fácil ser la comparsa de un marido de apenas 11. Aproximadamente un año después de la entronización se sublevó contra Ptolomeo XIII. La jugada, al parecer, le salió mal, y tuvo que huir a Siria.
Desde allí reunió un contingente de mercenarios que en 48 a. C. se disponía a entrar por la fuerza en Egipto. La acción, sin embargo, quedó paralizada. Julio César aparecía en escena. Se alzaba el telón del drama que uniría los destinos de Roma y el valle del Nilo.
El episodio de la alfombra
Los romanos acababan de vivir una guerra civil entre los partidarios de Julio César y los de Pompeyo. Este salió derrotado y se refugió en Egipto. Hacia allí se encaminó César para rematar su faena y halló que en Alejandría los cortesanos de Ptolomeo XIII le ofrecían ya la cabeza decapitada de Pompeyo: evitaban así que cayera sobre ellos la ira de César por haber dado cobijo a su enemigo.
El romano no se mostró entusiasmado con el sangriento presente, según relataría él mismo, pero decidió quedarse en Alejandría para calibrar la riqueza de aquel país y encauzarlo hacia su órbita. Se propuso dirimir el conflicto entre la pareja real, pero topó con un problema: Cleopatra se hallaba acampada más allá de Pelusio, y las tropas de su hermano Ptolomeo XIII le impedían avanzar.
Y aquí llega el primer episodio que inmortalizaría a Cleopatra como la reina de las puestas en escena. Una noche atravesó las líneas enemigas y consiguió que un barquero la llevara hasta Alejandría. César estaba en sus aposentos cuando se le comunicó que había recibido un regalo: una alfombra. Cuando esta fue desenrollada, ante los ojos de aquel cincuentón apareció una jovencita de 20 años con el grado justo de desaliño. Era la mismísima Cleopatra.
La egipcia y el romano pasaron la noche juntos y probablemente entonces empezaron a ser amantes. Lo que es seguro es que el maduro César no cayó fulminado de inmediato ante los encantos de la reina: a la mañana siguiente llamó a Ptolomeo XIII y dictaminó que la situación volviera a su estado previo. Es decir, el joven se situaba de nuevo a la cabeza del Estado y Cleopatra quedaba relegada al segundo puesto en el escalafón.
Cleopatra, inmortalizada en el cine por Liz Taylor.
Otras Fuentes
Para altos funcionarios de Ptolomeo XIII la presencia de César se había vuelto incómoda. No solo les había impuesto otra vez –aunque en su justo segundo lugar– a Cleopatra, sino que les resultaba difícil discernir hasta qué punto se trataba de un simple mediador en pro de la estabilidad o del verdadero poder a la sombra de la pareja real.
El ministro Potino y el comandante Aquilas lo tenían claro: el intervencionismo de Roma estaba llegando demasiado lejos. Reunieron un ejército y se dispusieron a expulsar al romano. Estalló un conflicto fugaz, de cuatro meses, conocido como las guerras de Alejandría.
En primera línea
Los egipcios salieron derrotados y a César se le planteó un dilema: ¿convertía Egipto en provincia romana? Decidió que no. Aquel territorio estaba demasiado poblado y poseía demasiadas riquezas naturales para confiarlo a un gobernador, que podría envalentonarse contra la metrópolis romana. La mejor solución era que en Egipto todo pareciera seguir como siempre, aunque, eso sí: con una pareja real adepta a César.
Durante las guerras de Alejandría, Ptolomeo XIII había perecido ahogado mientras cruzaba el Nilo en una barca sobrecargada. Así que César buscó un nuevo marido para Cleopatra, otro hermano de esta, Ptolomeo XIV, de 13 años. Ahora, sin embargo, tal como atestiguan las inscripciones de la época, se situaba en primer lugar. Era, en definitiva, la auténtica reina de Egipto porque constituía la apuesta de Julio César.
En 46 a. C., Julio César regresó a Roma y mandó llamar a la pareja real egipcia. El motivo nunca ha estado claro: ¿quería demostrar a ojos de los romanos su poder sobre Egipto?, ¿estaba tan prendado de Cleopatra que no podía tenerla lejos? Ambas razones no eran excluyentes, pero la segunda gozó en su momento de mayor predicamento.
La presencia de la reina en Roma provocó todo tipo de habladurías acerca de su embrujo sobre el dictador, como la de que este planeaba trasladar la capital a Alejandría. Subrepticiamente, el mito de la reina devorahombres empezaba a echar raíces, y es que el escenario no podía resultar más idóneo: César, pese a estar casado con Calpurnia, no se molestó lo más mínimo en ocultar su relación con Cleopatra, desposada con su hermano, también presente en Roma.
Busto de Julio César.
Getty
A finales de 45 a. C. César hacía testamento y nombraba como hijo adoptivo y sucesor a Octavio. Roma suspiraba aliviada: César no había perdido totalmente la cabeza, Cleopatra no era más que su capricho oriental. Sin embargo, en el documento introdujo una extraña cláusula: designaba unos tutores para “el hijo que pudiera nacerle”.
¿Un hijo? ¿De quién? ¿De la estéril Calpurnia? Quizá se refería al retoño que sabía que estaba esperando Cleopatra, aunque los planes que pudiera tener para aquel nonato jamás llegó a escribirlos. Durante los idus de marzo de 44 a. C. César perecía asesinado en uno de los complots más famosos de todos los tiempos.
Muerto su protector, Cleopatra y su séquito abandonaron Roma. Según las últimas hipótesis, fue durante una escala en Grecia cuando dio a luz a Cesarión, el hijo de Julio César y la gran baza política de la reina. Aquel niño podía reclamar algún día los derechos de sucesión de su padre, aunque no sin enfrentarse a la ley romana, que prohibía heredar al hijo de una extranjera.
El pequeño abría a Cleopatra un escenario político más inmediato. Si Ptolomeo XIV fallecía, no precisaba de un nuevo marido para gobernar: podía nombrar rey a Cesarión y ambos erigirse como pareja real. La soberana no esperó a que su marido, de 15 años, muriera por causas naturales. La mayoría de los historiadores coinciden en que mandó asesinarlo.
Cleopatra con Marco Antonio. Grabado de 1881.
Terceros
Aparentemente, Cleopatra logró lidiar con una sucesión de sequías en su reino, pero era consciente de que el acecho de Roma no había terminado. Pronto llegaría su segundo intento de sobrevivir a la arrolladora influencia de la potencia occidental, esta vez por vía de un compañero de César, Marco Antonio.
Este texto forma parte de un artículo publicado en el número 437 de la revista Historia y Vida. ¿Tienes algo que aportar? Escríbenos a redaccionhyv@historiayvida.com.
12 may 2022 — Se propuso dirimir el conflicto entre la pareja real, pero topó con un problema: Cleopatra se hallaba acampada más allá de Pelusio, y las tropas ..
The obelisks and domes at the Vatican and Washington DC are aligned to exactly 88.88 degrees. There’s another city that has a famous dome, can you guess which one it is…?
That’s St Paul’s Cathedral, which stands at the heart of the City of London, England:
So, now that you’ve been introduced to Washington D.C., Vatican City, and the City of London, can you guess what else they all have in common? Here’s a clue: The answer is that they are all independent city-states…
•Vatican City – officially not part of Italy •City of London – officially not part of England •Washington D.C. – officially not part of USA Together, they form a trinity of global control in finance, military, and religion.
Just like Washington DC and Vatican City, London has its very own obelisk too. Cleopatra’s Needle stands on the embankment on the Thames river:
The obelisk is inscribed with hieroglyphs, and comes with its very own sphinx’s too:
This exact obelisk was first erected in Heliopolis, Egypt, before being moved to London on 22/2 1881, as per the plaque on its base:
Imagine the effort required to move a 69ft (21m) statue weighing 224 tons, especially in 1881… there must have been a very important reason for it!
Though they form power centers encompassing finance, military, and religion, London, Washington DC, & the Vatican aren’t the only places showcasing Osiris’s manhood out in the open…A 75ft (23m) obelisk that originally stood in Luxor, Egypt now stands at the center of
of Place de la Concorde in Paris:
It must be pretty important if it gets to stand at the very center of such an important square aligned to the Arc de Triomphe…Note the golden capstone by the way…
For anyone that is wondering, the exact alignment between this obelisk and the Arc de Triomphe is 116.00 degrees.
Not to be outdone by the Brits, Americans, and French, ze Germans got an obelisk too… Schoppenhauserstrasse, Berlin:
The Italians clearly love a good obelisk too it seems… Piazza Navona, Rome:
and so does everybody else around the world…São Paulo, Brazil~ Buenos Aires, Argentina Hyde Park, Sydney Lisbon, Portugal Kofu, Japan, Istanbul, Turkey Stockholm, Sweden Dublin, Ireland Madrid, Spain
So what’s the story behind all these obelisks then? Here’s the the story about Osiris and his phallus…(remember the golden capstone in Paris…)
Clearly, with a story like that it makes perfect sense that every major city wants to have its own version of Osiris’ manhood erected in city squares and plazas… Or not…
Whatever the myth says about Osiris, we can clearly conclude that ancient Egyptian influence and Osiris worship goes far and wide, even in our modern day and age. Now, lets look at another perhaps more modern obelisk…
Might be worth taking a closer look at the new WTC…TBC…
One World Freedom Tower, New York The tower was officially opened on November 3rd, 2014. That date is 11/3 in the US; keep that date/number in mind. Looking at the towers architectural shape, we see its design is that of a square anti-prism:
When viewed from street level the tower resembles a pyramid with a capstone:
You may have seen this pyramid elsewhere, such as on the back of a one dollar bill: One dollar bill… One World Trade Center… both used for trade. Notice the eye at the top of the dollar pyramid?
Could that be Horus/Baal/master again?…
You may also have noticed a rather large pyramid in London, also furnished with its very own capstone…
The Shard is often (jokingly) referred to as Sauron’s all-seeing eye due to its uncanny resemblance to the tower in The Lord of the Rings. Note that the top part of the tower pyramid is frequently lit up at night… like a pyramid with a capstone:
Speaking of Sauron, here’s some quick comic relief for those who need it:  youtu.be
As you can see below those two aren’t the only modern pyramid structures around, but I’ll let you research those further on your own for atlasobscura.com
Now, moving on from obelisks and pyramids… As we’ve had a very brief look at the backside of the one dollar bill, lets do the same on the front shall we!
George Washington must have been a pretty important chap if he’s on the front of the dollar bill… “Freemason… and First President”… nice to see that he got his priorities straight on the statue below! Remember that golden statue at the New York Grand Lodge too.
howed you the 88.88 alignment between the Washington monument (Osiris’s phallus) and the Capitol building (Isis’ womb), which matched the 88.88 alignment at the Vatican. Care to guess which year the Washington Monument was opened?…
The Washington Monument was opened on October 9th, 1888… there are those 8’s again! Incidentally that was exactly one month after Easter Island was annexed (Sept. 9th, 1888).
Also note that the area of the grass surrounding the Washington Memorial is 106.01 acres. Remember the 1,016ft tall Shard and the 116.00 degree alignment in Paris? These are the same digits.
Here’s another coincidence: The river flowing through Vatican City is the Tiber River: Did you know that Washington DC had a creek by the same name until the 1800’s?
Tiber Creek was used as a channel while the city plan was being built. Given that the creek shares the same name as the river at the Vatican, and that the Vatican also lines up to 88.88, it is obvious that the designers of Washington D.C. had a connection to the Vatican.
Drum roll plz…They designed an upside down pentagram, the base of which is at the White House:
The White House itself is at the center of a Templars Cross:
The Templar’s Cross is clearly a key symbol at the Vatican judging by what the Pope is wearing…
The city plan also includes a 6-pointed star (no, this is not the star of David!), with its base at the US Capitol. I will cover this 6-pointed star in great depth in a later post because it is hugely significant.
Do you remember the masonic emblem? Notice the square and compass in the middle:
The square and compass are also included in Washington DC’s street map:
The House of the Temple, the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (i.e. Home of The Supreme Council of the 33°*)?
the One World Freedom Tower opened on 11/3 (i.e. November 3rd)… 11×3=33… Which as you can see by the fact that the Freemasons have 33 degrees is a pretty significant number. You’re going be seeing plenty more of 33 (and 13 for that matter) in the future…
As I can’t help myself, here‘s a quick example for you – pay attention to the date! en.wikipedia.org
The House of the Temple is located exactly 1 mile directly north of the White House:
The Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial also share a special alignment…
… They line up to the Winter Solstice:
And lest we forget there’s also the Pentagon, the military arm of the control trinity:
Here we see it all come together nicely: Note that the US Capitol, White House, Jefferson Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial form an upside down cross.
Want to know where else we can find an upside down cross? Yes, that is the Pope, sitting on a throne with an upside down cross.
And here he is on his (very picturesque) Papal Throne… just lovely isn’t it? Pope Benedict XVI (C) waves to the faithful, flanked by Archbishop James Michael Harvey (L) and his personal secretary Georg Genswein (R), during his weekly Wednesday general audience at Paul VI Hall at
the Vatican August 24, 2005. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi.
As if things couldn’t get any weirder, let me introduce you to… The Owl You may have noticed that there was something funny about the layout around the US Capitol building…
Illustration on the base of the obelisk, showing how it was raised into place in 1836
Hieroglyphs on the obelisk.
Hieroglyphs on the upper obelisk. The Pharaoh on his throne is portrayed at the top
The centrepiece of the Place de la Concorde is an ancient Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses II. It is one of two which the Egyptian government gave to the French in the 19th century. The other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult and heavy to move to France with the technology at that time. On 26 September 1981 President François Mitterrand formally returned the title of the second obelisk to Egypt.[16]
The obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. The wali of Egypt, or hereditary governor, Muhammad Ali Pasha, offered the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk as a diplomatic gift to France in 1829. It arrived in Paris on 21 December 1833. Three years later, it was hoisted into place, on top of the pedestal which originally supported the statue of Louis XV, destroyed during the Revolution. The raising of the column was a major feat of engineering, depicted by illustrations on the base of the monument. King Louis Philippe dedicated the obelisk on 25 October 1836.[17]
The obelisk, a yellow granite column, rises 23 metres (75 ft) high, including the base, and weighs over 250 tonnes (280 short tons). Given the technical limitations of the day, transporting it was no easy feat – on the pedestal are drawn diagrams explaining the machinery that was used for the transportation. The government of France added a gold-leafed pyramidal cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998, replacing the missing original, believed stolen in the 6th century BC.[18]
It will be the first visit by a pope to the island in the Mediterranean, which belongs to France.
The 87-year-old will take part in a conference on the topic of religiosity in the Mediterranean region and celebrate mass there.
A meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron is also planned. A meeting between the Pope and the head of state is planned for the afternoon at Ajaccio International Airport.
The Pope will then leave the island at 6.15 pm after a short farewell ceremony. The entire visit will last nine hours.
The bishop of the Corsican regional capital Ajaccio, Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, had already given a press conference on Thursday on the occasion of the possible visit and presented a website for the event.
This will be Francis' third short visit to France - after Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille in 2023.
An official state visit to Paris is still pending.
Cardinal Bustillo as a beacon of hope
Corsica is one of the economically poorest regions in France and is characterised by a relatively strong Catholicism with strong local traditions.
Cardinal Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio since 2021, comes from the Basque Country and studied in Italy. He speaks fluent Spanish, Italian and French, among other languages. For some years now, he has been seen as a new beacon of hope in the crisis-ridden French Catholic Church.
Last autumn, Pope Francis made the cleric, who belongs to the Franciscan order, a cardinal. The Vatican announced his trip to Corsica on Bustillo's 56th birthday. It had been described in Vatican circles as "as good as certain" for weeks.
Dispute over independence from France
According to Bustillo, there were still "protocol-related" problems that had to be resolved first.
The "Femu a Corsica" party, which is in favour of autonomy for the island, has had an absolute majority in the Corsican regional parliament since 2021.
Corsica's political situation has been characterised for decades by the dispute over independence from France.
Between 1976 and 2014, the FLNC liberation movement repeatedly rocked the island with bomb attacks.
In 2022, there were violent clashes between young Corsican nationalists and the French police in Ajaccio.
Just eight months ago, the Corsican regional parliament approved a constitutional reform at the suggestion of President Macron. It is intended to grant the island extensive autonomy within the French Republic.
However, radical Corsican nationalists see the reform as merely a first step on the road to independence.
The official motto of the Pope's trip was written in Corsican and reads "Papa Francescu in Corsica".
Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the Speakers Balcony at the US Capitol, September 24, 2015, in Washington, DC. Pool/Getty Images
If President Barack Obama had delivered the text of Pope Francis’s speech to Congress Thursday as a State of the Union address, he would have risked being denounced by Republicans as a socialist.
While most Republicans chose not to complain, and Democrats tried not to gloat, Francis’s speech to Congress was stunning in the breadth, depth, and conviction of its progressivism. That might not have been fully and immediately appreciated by everyone in the House chamber because the combination of Francis’s sotto voce delivery and his heavily accented English made it difficult, lawmakers said, to grasp everything he was saying.
But there was no mistaking his thrust. He made detailed arguments for openness to immigrants, addressing the human roots of climate change, closing the gap between the rich and the poor, and ending the death penalty — all of which invigorated the Democrats in the room.
“It was pretty progressive. He had a little right-to-life stuff in it,” Rep. James Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, said as he cracked a smile thinking about how Republicans would receive the speech. “That’s enough for them.”
The pope isn’t going to change many hearts and minds in the badly divided Congress, lawmakers said, but the moment provided a brief respite from political warfare. Several presidential candidates, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, as well as Ben Carson, attended.
Rubio, a Roman Catholic, said in a brief interview that Francis “struck the right tone.” Sanders, a self-described socialist, seemed to like the content even more.
“Pope Francis is clearly one of the important religious and moral leaders not only in the world today but in modern history,” he said in a statement released after the speech. “He forces us to address some of the major issues facing humanity: war, income and wealth inequality, poverty, unemployment, greed, the death penalty and other issues that too many prefer to ignore.”
Democrats were eager enough to present Congress as united that they joined a Republican-led standing ovation when Francis told lawmakers of “our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every state of its development.” Several of them said it was out of respect for the pope. But there was another good reason: It strengthened the perception that the whole speech — most of which they liked — carried unifying themes.
Unity was good for Democrats because the speech favored their policies
Francis was interrupted a few times by whoops from the Democratic side of the chamber — by Steve Cohen, a Jewish Memphis Democrat who got excited about Francis’s mention of the Golden Rule; by New York’s Nydia Velázquez when he called for an end to the death penalty; and by Philadelphia Rep. Chaka Fattah when he mentioned his upcoming visit to that city. The Republicans in the room were a bit more staid. Cruz often appeared unmoved during moments when Rubio, who was sitting nearby, applauded. That was the case when Francis asked whether the greater opportunities sought by past generations of immigrants are “not what we want for our own children?”
It was a home crowd. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) had announced he would boycott the event over climate change, and there was a brief murmur when it became obvious that three conservative Catholic Supreme Court justices — Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas — had not shown up. But it seemed that everyone in attendance just wanted to catch a glimpse of Francis and hear what he had to say.
Big-name guests filed into the public galleries above the House chamber long before the pope’s arrival: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, mega-donor Tom Steyer, and Carson. House members filled the seats in their chamber, followed by the Senate and four Supreme Court justices. At about a minute past 10 am, Francis strode down the center aisle of the House chamber, clad in his familiar white robe and skullcap.
Lawmakers, who had been admonished not to touch the pope, refrained from trying to shake his hand or pat his back. There was no rush to crowd him the way members of Congress try to get into pictures with the president during the annual State of the Union address. When he got to the end of the aisle, he quietly shook hands with Secretary of State John Kerry and then made his way to the rostrum.
Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, pulled out a baby blue iPhone and began snapping pictures. Though she later took to Twitter to commemorate the moment, Power hadn’t posted any of her photos by midday.
For his part, Francis warmed up the audience by describing America as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” He was slow to move into more politically charged territory but unimpeded when he did. There were 10 standing ovations after his initial greeting, and they were bipartisan.
Francis tackled tough issues at the heart of the US political debate and gently admonished lawmakers to build bridges
At times, Francis seemed to be speaking directly into the headlines and newscasts of the day.
Less than a week after Carson said that America shouldn’t elect a Muslim president, Francis warned that “a delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms.”
As Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump promises to build a wall between Mexico and the US, and to prevent Syrian refugees from being admitted to America, Francis compared the current refugee crisis to the one that arose in World War II and said that “we the people of this continent are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners.” That drew a standing ovation. Rubio, who has shifted his emphasis on immigration reform over time, leaped to his feet.
And while Democrats continue to bask in this summer’s Supreme Court decision protecting same-sex marriage, the pope said he was concerned that “fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family.” The issue that caused the biggest stir before the speech — climate change — factored prominently in Francis’s remarks. He spoke of the human roots of global warming and said, “I am convinced we can make a difference.”
But perhaps the most unexpected run in the speech was an admonishment as gentle as it was clear: Politics is about building bridges, not destroying them. Francis never mentioned the international nuclear nonproliferation deal with Iran by name or the gridlock in American politics, but he seemed to be speak to both matters.
“When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue — a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons — new opportunities open up for all,” he said. “A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces.”
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Joe Pitts, speaking about the pope’s limited remarks on abortion and same-sex marriage, said he was displeased that Francis had been “unfortunately politically correct.”
For liberals, though, he was simply correct about politics.
Tema anterior
-600x800.jpg)
keep that date/number in mind. Looking at the towers architectural shape, we see its design is that of a square anti-prism:
roll plz…They designed an upside down pentagram, the base of which is at the White House:
.jpg)
.jpg)
