International
Vatican defends ex-pope Benedict’s record on abuse cases
AFP
The Vatican Wednesday defended ex-pope Benedict XVI, who was accused last week of knowingly failing to stop the sexual abuse of minors by four priests in the 1980s when he was archbishop of Munich.
Benedict was “the first pope to meet several times with victims of abuse”, the Vatican’s communications director Andrea Tornielli wrote in an editorial published Wednesday on the Vatican News website.
Benedict XVI, who stood down in 2013, was found by an independent report to have done nothing to stop the clerics — even though in two of the cases they had committed several proven acts of abuse.
The report by law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) was commissioned by the archdiocese of Munich and Freising to examine how abuse cases were dealt with between 1945 and 2019.
The former pope — whose citizen name is Joseph Ratzinger — was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.
Benedict would go on to head up the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation — once known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition — a post which gave him ultimate responsibility to investigate abuse cases.
In that role he had “fought the phenomenon” of clerical sexual abuse, and later as pope “promulgated very harsh norms against clerical abusers, special laws to combat paedophilia,” Tornielli wrote.
Benedict had “upheld… the face of a penitential church, which humbles itself in asking for forgiveness, which feels dismay, remorse, pain, compassion and closeness,” he said.
The report was “not a judicial inquiry nor a final sentence” and the reconstructions within it should not be “reduced to the search for easy scapegoats and summary judgments,” Tornielli wrote.
The former pope on Monday admitted providing incorrect information to the German inquiry about his presence at a 1980 meeting discussing a paedophile priest, blaming an editing “oversight”.
The priest in question, Peter Hullermann, was transferred to Munich from Essen in western Germany where he had been accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy.
Hullermann was reassigned to pastoral duties despite his history and continued to sexually abuse minors for many years.
But Benedict’s office insisted that no decision had been taken at the meeting he attended about reassigning the priest.
International
U.S. sanctions cuban president Díaz-Canel over regime crackdown on protesters
The United States announced on Friday, for the first time, sanctions against Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, citing his role in the regime’s crackdown on the Cuban people as the country marks four years since the historic anti-government protests of July 2021.
The U.S. State Department imposed visa restrictions on Díaz-Canel and other key figures in the Cuban government, including Defense Minister Álvaro López Miera and Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, according to Senator Marco Rubio, who shared the update on social media platform X.
“The United States is capable of imposing migration sanctions on revolutionary leaders and maintaining a prolonged and ruthless economic war against Cuba, but it will not break the will of our people or its leaders,” responded Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.
In addition, the State Department added “Torre K”, a newly inaugurated 42-story hotel in central Havana, to its list of restricted entities in an effort to prevent U.S. dollars from funding repression by the Cuban regime.
The hotel has sparked criticism for representing a massive state investment in luxury infrastructure despite Cuba’s declining tourism sector and worsening shortages of food, medicine, water, and electricity.
“While the Cuban people suffer from shortages of food, water, medicine, and electricity, the regime squanders money,” wrote Rubio.
In another post, Rubio also accused the Cuban government of torturing dissident José Daniel Ferrer and demanded immediate proof of life.
Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), was among the 553 prisoners released in January as part of an agreement between Cuba and the Vatican, following a decision by former U.S. President Joe Biden to temporarily remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
However, Ferrer’s conditional release was revoked in late April, prompting strong protests from Washington. The island has since been returned to the terrorism list after Republican President Donald Trump’s return to power in January.
International
Two missing after torrential rains cause flooding in Catalonia
Two people are missing in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, after torrential rains hit the region on Saturday night, causing flooding and disrupting rail traffic for several hours.
“We are working on the search for two people in Cubelles,” announced the Catalan Fire Department in a message posted on social media platform X. Cubelles is a town of about 17,000 residents located 50 kilometers from Barcelona.
Emergency crews remain active in the affected area, where the heavy rains overwhelmed local infrastructure and forced temporary closures of several transport routes.
International
Trump administration begins downsizing ‘bloated’ state department workforce
The U.S. Department of State issued layoff notices on Friday to more than 1,300 employees both domestically and abroad, marking the start of a workforce reduction aimed at trimming what officials have called a “bloated” staff. The move is part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to restructure the federal government.
According to local media reports, more than 1,100 Civil Service employees and around 250 Foreign Service officers received notifications via email. Those affected will be placed on administrative leave for periods ranging from 90 to 120 days from the date of their dismissal notice.
The job cuts are part of a plan to centralize and streamline the agency’s operations without disrupting its overall functioning. The restructuring was designed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had previously informed Congress in May of his intention to reduce the department’s workforce by 15%. The State Department currently employs about 18,000 people.
According to the top U.S. diplomat, the goal is to optimize what he described as a “bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce resources,” as well as to eliminate remnants of “radical political ideology.”
The reorganization is expected to hit hardest in offices focused on human rights and refugee issues, which will now be handled by regional bureaus, according to The New York Times.
“We inherited a system that needed reform, and we are delivering it,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Thursday, adding that the Administration is committed to a foreign policy that puts U.S. interests first.
U.S. sanctions cuban president Díaz-Canel over regime crackdown on protesters
Two missing after torrential rains cause flooding in Catalonia
Trump administration begins downsizing ‘bloated’ state department workforce
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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