Winston Churchill in Downing Street giving his famous 'V' sign, 1943. (photo credit: Imperial War Museums/public domain)
An original letter signed by then-British prime minister Winston Churchill and sent to wellwishers upon the Allied victory in World War II was offered for $200,000 by a US firm Wednesday.
Copies of the letter, marked by the official prime minister’s stamp and his address, 10 Downing Street, was sent to the thousands of people who wrote congratulatory letters to Churchill upon the defeat of the Nazis.
“I have been deeply touched by all the messages of goodwill which have reached me at this time. Thank you so much for your kind thought,” read the short text written in May 1945.
The letter is being sold by the Raab Collection, and is available for purchase on its website along with other letters written by the wartime leader. As of Sunday, the item was still available.
Churchill served twice as prime minister — in 1940-1945 and again in 1951-1955.
Está constituido por tierras denominadas llanos, carentes de formaciones elevadas notorias. Pertenece al región de la pampa húmeda. Sus tierras son aptas para el cultivo y la cría de ganado, como así también para el asentamiento de humanos.
El suelo es rico en minerales y las napas subterráneas se encuentran a poca distancia de la superficie, lo que facilita la extracción de agua. En sus orígenes y hasta ahora, las aguas son aptas para el consumo humano.
La región responde a las subfallas «del Río Paraná», y «del Río de la Plata», y a la falla de «Punta del Este», con sismicidad baja; y su última expresión se produjo el 5 de junio de 1888 (136 años), a las 3.20 UTC-3, con una magnitud aproximadamente de 5,0 en la escala de Richter (terremoto del Río de la Plata de 1888).8
La Defensa Civil municipal debe advertir sobre escuchar y obedecer acerca de
Área de
Tormentas severas, poco periódicas, con Alerta Meteorológico
La denominación del pago de la Magdalena se encuentra documentada por primera vez en un acta del Cabildo de Buenos Aires del 21 de marzo de 1611. A partir de la segunda fundación de Buenos Aires por Juan de Garay el 11 de junio de 1580, comienza la colonización de estas tierras, al distribuir parcelas entre quienes secundaron su empresa. Éstas se repartieron tomando como punto de partida el Valle de Santa Ana, que se encontraba en la actual entrada a la Ciudad de Magdalena.
En épocas prehistóricas, un brazo del mar cubría las costas del distrito: el mar Querandino, hace de 10.000 a 7.000 años, se internaba en el actual río Paraná, hasta la Ciudad de Santa Fe. Al retirarse el mar, dejó en seco grandes bancos de conchas marinas, conformando los yacimientos de conchillas, que a los costados de los caminos, hoy se observan a simple vista.
Siendo ésta, la característica principal del subsuelo de Magdalena. La mayoría de los moluscos marinos poseen un esqueleto duro por lo que este fósil se preserva por muchos años. Los fósiles de caracoles más comunes son: Zidona, Mactra, Tagelus, Erodona, Diodora, Ostrea, entre otros. De esas épocas llamadas del Holoceno (nuestros últimos 10 milenios) son los fósiles de mega fauna que se hallaron en el subsuelo magdalenense, como el toxodón (con aspecto de un toro con joroba), gliptodonte (similar a una mulita o peludo gigante), estegomastodón (es el antepasado del elefante), cuyos restos fósiles podemos ver en el Museo Histórico de Magdalena.
El Pago de la Magdalena se extendía desde el riachuelo hasta el río Salado, comprendiendo los actuales municipios de Avellaneda, Lanús, Lomas de Zamora, Quilmes, Esteban Echeverría, Ezeiza, Alte Brown, Berazategui, Florencio Varela, Ensenada, Berisso, La Plata, Chascomús, San Vicente, Gral Paz, Brandsen, Punta Indio y Magdalena. Más partes de los actuales Cañuelas, Monte y Castelli.
En Magdalena hay deportistas destacados en futbol, cómo Francisco Apaolaza, futbolista argentino que actualmente juega en Carabobo F.C (Venezuela). Guido Carrillo, jugador de Estudiantes de La Plata, Matías Pellegrini, actual jugador de Vélez Sarsfield. Cómo así también en sensei Gustavo Tata, supervisor de IOGKF Sudamérica desde 2008, jefe instructor de Karate Do IOGKF-ARGENTINA, Coordinador en Sudamérica en Goju Ryu-Karate Do IOGKF-ARGENTINA desde el 6 de agosto de 1999 hasta la fecha.
El primer edificio municipal fue construido en 1856 y estaba situado en la esquina de las calles Obligado y Pintos (actualmente Brenan e Yrigoyen). En 1877 se resuelve la construcción del actual Palacio Municipal, realizada por Pedro Cavalli, el edificio cuenta con dos plantas, la planta baja destinada a dependencias administrativas y en la planta alta se encuentra el salón de actos o recepciones, donde se realizaban fiestas y actividades sociales, un balcón terraza con techo sostenido por columnas, al igual que el interior del salón. Actualmente funcionan las dependencias y el recinto del Concejo Deliberante, conservando su mobiliario original, con sillones estilo Luis XVI realizados a fines del siglo xix.
La Primitiva Capilla, se inauguró el 20 de noviembre de 1776. La piedra fundamental del nuevo templo data del 3 de junio de 1860. En el libro de sesiones de la municipalidad de fecha 8 de mayo de ese año menciona que el padrino será el señor Sixto Fernández, elegido por unanimidad en dicha reunión, cuyo acto (el de la colocación de la piedra fundamental), debe realizarse el día 25 de mayo. Este renunció por razones de salud. Acto continuo se nombró al señor Juan F. Escribano. Del mismo libro, sesión del 28 de mayo de 1860. Se armaron cinco comisiones, una por cada cuartel de Magdalena, para levantar suscripciones de animales entre los vecinos a fin de juntar dinero para la obra del Templo. Cada vecino contribuiría con un animal.
El ilustre párroco que tuvo fue Manuel Máximiliano Alberti, en 1790 se lo nombró cura y vicario interino del partido de la Magdalena (Buenos Aires, 28 de mayo de 1763 – 31 de enero de 1811), fue un sacerdote de Buenos Aires, en los tiempos en que la actual ciudad argentina formaba parte del Virreinato del Río de la Plata. Formó parte de la Primera Junta que reemplazó a las autoridades españolas tras la Revolución de Mayo.
Por Ley 11.512 de 1994, sancionada por el Honorable Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, se declara Monumento Histórico Provincial al Templo Parroquial de Magdalena, testimonio arquitectónico del curato de la Magdalena.
La primera «Ciudad de la Divina Misericordia» se encuentra en la Argentina en la localidad de Magdalena, Provincia de Buenos Aires, y fue declarada por el que ahora es San Juan Pablo II (El Papa de la Misericordia y La Familia) fue gracias a los esfuerzos del entonces párroco de la iglesia Santa María Magdalena, Monseñor Ángel Diamante D'Auro; allí se venera la réplica de la imagen original de Jesús Misericordioso que en 1934 pintara Eugeniusz Kazimirowski en Vilnus según las indicaciones de Santa Faustina Kowalska; en un templo de un esplendor maravilloso en el que se respira la espiritualidad y al que se puede llegar fácilmente por la Ruta 11 desde la Ciudad de La Plata, Arquidiócesis a la que pertenece la Parroquia.
El actual cura párroco de Magdalena es el presbítero Alfredo López Morilla.
Inaugurado el 22 de julio de 1899. En realidad es la casa social de la Sociedad Española de Socorros Mutuos. Su primer Presidente fue Pedro Goenaga y en el momento de la construcción del edificio e inauguración la institución fue presidida por Carmelo Egues. La piedra fundamental fue colocada el 1 de enero de 1896, constaba de una caja de hierro que contenía el acta firmada por los padrinos, por la comisión y los socios presentes, más un ejemplar del Correo Español, un periódico local, monedas, medallas, un reglamento y una memoria de la sociedad. Todo esto colocado en otra caja de madera. Esta sociedad se conforma a partir de un grupo de inmigrantes, los que comenzaron a asociarse para “autoformar” la sociedad y reconstruir dos de los más importantes poderes que quedan fuera de la órbita del Estado o del mercado: el poder social que suponen los principios de solidaridad y el mantenimiento de la memoria de los orígenes de la patria que se ha dejado.
Así logran generar, a través de la ayuda mutua entre sus miembros, la reducción de la vulnerabilidad personal, así como paliar la incertidumbre que la inserción en una nueva sociedad ocasiona.
En el momento de la erección de la Capilla (1776), frente a la misma se fue creando un lugar de esparcimiento. Para el año 1826 el Arq. Saubidet realiza el trazado del primer egido, en él la plaza ocupaba dos manzanas, la actual y la que ocupa el Centro Cultural.
Durante la administración de Lázaro Miranda (1869) se colocó una pirámide en alusión a la Pirámide de Mayo.
A comienzos del siglo xx se coloca una fuente de mármol con peces de colores e hipocampos.
Actualmente está rodeada por los principales edificios de la ciudad. Espacio verde con valiosos elementos decorativos como los copones, la fuente, un retoño del olivo de Jerusalén e importante monumento al Gral. José de San Martín inaugurado el 7 de mayo de 1949.
Se inaugura el 27 de septiembre de 1997 la primera etapa que incluía el Museo, la oficina de turismo, sala de exposiciones y talleres. Posteriormente en el año 2004 se traslada al mismo la Dirección de Cultura, Prensa y Deporte de la Municipalidad de Magdalena.
Reserva de Biósfera Parque Costero del Sur y Reserva Natural Provincial El Destino
En el Partido bonaerense de Magdalena está el Parque Costero Sur de administración estatal nacional, una franja de 23500 hectáreas declarada Reserva Mundial de la Biosfera por la UNESCO, porque conserva relictos de lo que fue el ambiente natural del nordeste bonaerense. Tocando el parque costero en su límite sur, se encuentra La reserva Natural El Destino, una reserva de 1500 hectáreas de administración privada.910
Son varias las instituciones sociales y de fomento (Sociedad Italiana, Sociedad Española), deportivas (Club Social Deportivo y Fomento Villa Garibaldi, Club Social Deportivo Unión y Fuerza, Club Sport) y sobre todo folclóricas y tradicionalistas (La Totora y Gauchos de Magdalena) en la ciudad de Magdalena. Otra institución es el Club Social y Deportivo Atalaya, si bien queda en la localidad de Atalaya, es dentro del partido de Magdalena.
Carlos IV de Borbón (Portici, Nápoles, 11 de noviembre de 1748 – Roma, 20 de enero de 1819) fue Rey de España desde el 14 de diciembre de 1788 hasta el 19 de marzo de 1808. Hijo y sucesor de Carlos III y de María Amalia de Sajonia.
Fernando VII de Borbón (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 14 de octubre de 1784 - Madrid, 29 de septiembre de 1833), llamado el Deseado o el Rey Felón, fue rey de España entre marzo y mayo de 1808 y, tras la expulsión del rey intruso José Bonaparte, nuevamente desde diciembre de 1813 hasta su muerte, exceptuando un breve intervalo en 1823, en que fue destituido por el Consejo de Regencia.
Alfonso XII de Borbón, el Pacificador (Madrid, 28 de noviembre de 1857 – El Pardo, 25 de noviembre de 1885), fue rey de España entre 1874 y 1885; era hijo de la reina Isabel II de España y su marido, Francisco de Asís de Borbón. Nacido Alfonso Francisco Fernando Pío Juan de María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo de Borbón y Borbón. Reinó tras la Restauración borbónica, hasta su muerte prematura a los 27 años, víctima de la tuberculosis. Fue sucedido en el trono por su hijo póstumo, Alfonso XIII de España, cuya minoría estuvo encabezada por la regencia de su viuda, María Cristina de Austria.
En la última actividad de la gira del presidente argentino por Europa.
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El presidente Alberto Fernández se reunió este viernes en el Palacio presidencial del Elíseo en París con su homólogo francés Emmanuel Macron, en la última actividad de su gira por Europa.
Fernández llegó acompañado por su comitiva y fue recibido por una guardia de honor en el patio de entrada del Elíseo, ubicado en el corazón de la capital francesa a pasos de la plaza de la Concorde y del Arco del Triunfo, y en minutos ambos mandatarios darán una declaración conjunta.
Al terminar ese encuentro, en una conferencia de prensa conjunta, Fernández afirmó que el éxito electoral de Macron el mes pasado ante la ultraderechista Marine Le Pen trajo mucha tranquilidad al mundo.
"Lo hablamos con Lula y celebramos su éxito electoral que trajo mucha tranquilidad al mundo", señaló el mandatario argentino al referirse a su concordancia en el tema con el ex presidente brasileño Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.
Por su parte, Macron calificó al Fernández como "un actor importante en el tormentoso escenario internacional actual" y destacó "la defensa de los derechos humanos y democráticos como objetivos compartidos entre la Argentina y Francia".
Asimismo, felicitó al jefe de Estado argentino por el acuerdo alcanzado con el FMI y dijo que "ahora es la ocasión para seguir construyendo el vinculo entre ambos países".
Birdmanstarring Michael Keaton, the Best Picture award winner at this year's Oscars (2015), opens and ends with a mysterious sequence involving a big fireball streaking across the sky...
...evoking the real-life Chelyabinsk (Russian) meteor impact back in mid-February 2013 which injured about 1,500 people. Birdman was actually filmed in the spring of 2013 immediately following the Russian meteor. It also coincided with the exit period of Pope Benedict XVI (Feb 11-28, 2013)...
Feb 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI announces resignation Feb 15, 2013 Major meteor impact in Russia Feb 28 Benedict XVI steps down as pope Mar 13, 2013 Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) elected pope
...celestially marked very precisely by a (pentagonal) "Orange/Golden Apple Alignment" or a Venus-Sun-Mercury alignment. (What is a Golden Apple Alignment?)
Another similarly pentagonal Orange/Golden Apple Alignment pinpointed this years' Oscars (Feb 22, 2015) where Birdman was a big winner. (See here for more on this Golden Apple Alignment.)
The Theory of Everything, a story about the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, was another big winner at the Oscars. "Stephen" means "crown" and "Hawking" is "hawk-king". That would be Horus, a hawk/falcon-headed ancient Egyptian deity, the son of Osiris and Isis, who was embodied by ancient Egyptian kings.
And look, Horus is... "Birdman"!
In this context the lowercase "i" in the otherwise uppercase BiRDMAN logo stands out and becomes meaningful, as putting together "Horus" and "i" gives us "i of Horus" or "Eye of Horus". You may also know it (more or less) as the notorious "All-Seeing Eye"...
Now, unbeknownst to most, the Eye of Horus was subtly present in the mission patch of NASA's Deep Impact mission (2005). As I decoded it before:
It was a comet mission, actually impacting Comet Tempel-1, thus the name "Deep Impact" which alludes to the 1998 comet doom movie...
...thereby resonating back with Birdman/Oscars and Russian meteor impact. Quite ominous stuff. And there is a time sequence involved as well...
[For the rest see Super Torch Ritual Underground - subscribe now]
Neda: - Killed on June 20, day before Prince William's BD - 'Neda' means 'divine message' ('angel' means 'messenger')
Following her heart-breaking death captured on video, Neda became the face of the protests raging at the time in Iran following the June 12 presidential election (starting on June 13).
Etymology: The first part, wer, translates as "man"... The second half, wulf, is the ancestor of modern English "wolf"; in some cases it also had the general meaning "beast."
His was an unnatural evolution (plastic surgeries, etc.). What about ours? Is human evolution natural? If not, has the Moon had a hand in it?
We can almost hear the whisper: 'Human evolution is a hoax':
August 15, 2008 St. Anthony of Padua birthday Bigfoot hoax...
..from December 14-16, 2008 with love. (See 'Whisper of the Fifth Sun' for more on this predicted quake.)
Bigfoot, giant foot, giants... Genesis 6, the Nephilim, heaven-earth interbreeding, i.e. human genetic manipulation ('guided evolution'):
Book of Genesis chapter 6: And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. [...] There were giants [Nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
A monstrous Sin deemed irreversible, Earth had to be cleansed by a Great Flood.
Sin is the name of a Sumerian (and Minaean) god of the Moon... Still standing after the Flood as 'Noah'.
A forbidden 'lunar strain' of mankind... A 'Diana bloodline'.
Diana = Bigfoot = Nephilim = Noah
Argentina is both a moon...
'Argentina' means 'silver' traditionally represented by symbol for Moon
...and a Bigfoot:
Argentina is geographically Patagonia meaning 'land of the big feet'
...making headlines the day before Michael Jackson's death:
For all intents and purposes a missing person from June 18 until 24 (i.e. around Prince William's birthday), Governor Sanford spent five days 'crying in Argentina' with 'Maria'...
...in 'Evita' (1996), playing Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952, a Diana-like beloved female figure who died young at the age of 33 (Diana was 36 when she died).
She is essentially Lady Liberty standing gracefully with her torch in New York and Paris very near where Princess Diana was killed marked by a torch.
She is interchangeable with Columbia - the feminine personification of the United States. It was in the South Carolina state capital Columbia that Gov. Sanford revealed his Argentine affair... echoed by a train collision in the District of Columbia (Washington DC) on June 22:
Timeline: June 18-24: Gov. Sanford missing/crying in Argentina June 21: 'Impact' Part 1 on ABC; Prince William birthday June 22: DC Metro Red Line trains in collision June 23: US Moon probes (LRO/LCROSS) reach Moon June 24: Gov. Sanford reveals Argentine affair June 25: Death of Michael Jackson & Farahh Fawcett
'Metro' means 'meter' in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc. The meter is historically defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the North Pole and the equator through Paris, or in other words the Paris Meridian between the North Pole and the equator. The Paris Meridian is also the 'Rose Line' (an esoteric concept popularized by The Da Vinci Code) i.e. a 'Red Line'...
DC Metro Red Line = French/Columbian Rose Line
...traditionally implying the Blood Royal/Sangraal or the Marian/Columbian Bloodline of the Holy Grail.
In Bloodline of the Holy Grail Laurence Gardner writes of the House of Stuart, the royal bloodline to which Princess Diana and her children belong (pp. 344-5):
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.
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.
Assunto anterior
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Werewolf = man-beast = Bigfoot
