International

Pope Francis does not read the homily at Palm Sunday Mass

Pope Francis did not read today the homily he had prepared for the Palm Sunday Mass, the Eucharistic celebration that opens the rites of Holy Week and that had gathered more than 60,000 faithful who crowded St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

At the opening of the ceremony, the 87-year-old pontiff had shown a tired voice and at the end of the reading of the Gospel, when the homily was expected, a prolonged silence followed after which he passed directly to the Creed.

The decision of the pope, who preferred not to read the homily to leave a time of personal reflection, was totally unexpected, since it was not planned for him to do so in such a prominent ceremony as Palm Sunday and surprised everyone by not doing so.

More than three weeks ago, Pope Francis had the flu and since then, although he has continued with his agenda, he has not been able to read on many occasions since he gets tired of reading long speeches.

Last Wednesday, during the general hearing, Francisco did not read the prepared catechesis and instead a collaborator did it because, he said: “I still can’t,” in reference to the respiratory problems he carries.

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On this occasion no collaborator read the text and the Vatican did not give any immediate explanation about the cause for which Francis skipped the homily, something very unusual in a ceremony as important as Palm Sunday.

After the Mass, Francis did carry out the weekly Sunday prayer of the Angelus and his subsequent calls and messages
The square was decorated with the branches of olive trees and palms that the faithful, religious and members of the Curia had carried in procession before the mass, remembering the triumphal entry into Jerusalem of Jesus of Nazareth.

Before the mass, the procession took place in the central obelisk of St. Peter’s Square, where the branches were blessed.
Then they moved to the interior of the basilica in one of the oldest rites of Catholicism, which dates from the third century and in which today 30 cardinals, 25 bishops and 350 priests participated.

Pope Francis today condemned the “vile terrorist attack” last Friday in Moscow, which caused at least 133 deaths and which he described as “an inhuman act that offends God” during the Angelus prayer after the Palm Sunday Mass.

“I assure you of my prayers for the victims of the vile terrorist attack perpetrated the other night in Moscow. May the Lord receive them in his peace and comfort their families,” the pontiff said to the more than 25,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

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Francis also showed his hope that he will “convert the hearts of those who protect, who organize and perform these inhuman acts that offend God, who ordered ‘You shall not kill’.”

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.