Monthly Archives: July 2013
The Pope speaks a new language for our age
Pope Francis on saturday night underlined the importance he attaches to grassroots renewal of he Catholic Church by appealing to his young followers to become key players of a fresh and meaningful project of evangelisation. “We are building a church and you must become protagonists of history,” he told a gathering of Wold Youth Day that had grown to overthree million on Rio’s Copacabana beach by today, sunday, the final day. In a scene which has been repeated through the week, the Pope looked relaxad as he engaged with …
The razzmatazz around Pope Francis in Rio
On Friday night there was a rare hush among the crowds-broken only by occasional applause- as Pope Francis spoke from the heart and directly to over one and half million mainly young pilgrims who had packed Rio’s Copacabana beach. Christ’s Crucifiction was not defeat but a victory of good over evil, of hope over despair, the certainty of God’s love for the sinner, and the prospect of redemption, he prayed. Whatever our personal suffering, we know we are not alone, for Jesus is with us, in communion, offering us …
The simple faith of World Youth Day in Rio
I walked for miles today, following the inner streets, tunnels, and coastline that weave their way across Rio- a city that nature invades, but where rampant consumerism and social inequality prevail. Behind and in-front were thousands of youths, from different parts of the world, although mainly Latin America, on their way to Copacabana to see the Pope. I struggled. They had a spring in their step. It was a pilgrimage of sorts. `They’ve been taking cold showers and sleeping rough, but their happiness is undimmed. You can feel Jesus …
The street walking Pope
Pope Francis likes tango because its is the music of the street, of the people, of his neighbourhood. He also has often recalled that Jesus Christ that he believes in spent most of his life walking, meeting people,listening, talking to them, from the heart. Today, his fourth day in Brazil, Francis took to the streets, deep into the depth of Rio’s poor, in the favela of Manguinhos. Earlier, his restored a sense of humanity amidst the suited local authorities and frocked bishops and sports celebrities gathered round him in …
Organisational shortcomings of Papal visit to Brazil
One of the most loved public figures in the world, Pope Francis is in Rio de Janeiro, one of the friendliest and beautiful cities in the world on his first ever trip abroad since being elected. With hundreds of journalists and half a million young pilgrims in town, you would have thought the authorities would have taken steps to make sure than matters are organised well. Such is the good nature …of the Pope and the joy of his faithful youth, neither deserve to be blighted by cock-up, And yet …
Andy Murray y el sentido de un pais
De las muchas imagenes que dominan las paginas de los medios britanicos hoy , pocas resumen con major claridad el sentido de un país en paz con si mismo como la de David Cameron y Alex Salmond, en el mismo palco ejecutivo, mostrándose igualmente estáticos a raíz de la victoria de Andy Murray. La celebración no podía de ser otra que compartida ya que tanto Cameron, el primer ministro Britanico como Salmond, el primer ministro de la Escocia autónoma y líder del partido nacionalista escoces, son lo suficientemente astutos …
Lo poco y lo mucho que tiene que cambiar La Roja de Don Vicente
Vicente Del Bosque es un hombre con sensibilidad política y una buena memoria. Sabe que la mayoría de los españoles no ven al futbol como la solución a su crisis, pero si miran hacia él y su selección- con su colaboración de catalanes, vascos, y otros españoles, como una inspiración que contrasta con la intolerancia, división, y fallos institucionales y de liderazgos que la ciudadanía tiene que sufrir. Sabe el largo y difícil camino que llevo a que España por fin fuese respetada como Campeón Europea (2008 y 2012) …
La Roja : What needs to change
Vicente Del Bosque is a man not only with a sensitive and sensible political mind but with an enduring memory. He knows that a huge majority of Spaniards while not seeing football as a solution to their crisis, do look to him and the national team-with its cooperative of Catalans, Basques, and other Spaniards- as an inspiring contrast to the intolerance, division, and leadership and institutional failures that otherwise mark their existence. He knows the long and difficult road that lead to Spain’s finally becoming widely respected European (2008 …
