"Pope declines to meet Dalai Lama, reports say" New York Times December 13, 2014
LONDON — A gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates opened in Rome on Friday, overshadowed by a dispute with the Vatican over reports that Pope Francis had refused to grant an audience to the Dalai Lama, the 1989 laureate, for fear of offending China.
The pope’s action, reported by news agencies and by the Dalai Lama’s followers, seemed to represent a further success for China in its efforts to isolate the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who is regarded as one of Beijing’s principal political nemeses.
The laureates’ gathering was initially set to take place in Cape Town, South Africa, in October, but the government of President Jacob G. Zuma, which has close economic ties with China, refused to grant the Dalai Lama a visa.
The action provoked a boycott by other Nobel laureates. Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, the winner of the 1984 prize, responded by saying he was “ashamed to call this lickspittle bunch my government.”
I know how he feels when I look towards Washington D.C.
The Vatican spokesman was quoted as saying, “Pope Francis obviously holds the Dalai Lama in very high regard, but he will not be meeting any of the Nobel laureates.”
Was Obama there, and when is he giving the worthless award back?
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Did you know the DL was a creature of the CIA?
"Chinese Nobel laureate sends message from jail" Associated Press December 13, 2014
BEIJING — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who is imprisoned in China, has told an overseas friend that he is relatively healthy and wants the world to pay more attention to other Chinese activists, in a rare message smuggled out of prison.
‘‘The aura around me is enough already. I hope the world can pay more attention to other victims who are not well known, or not known at all,’’ said a message sent by Liu to dissident writer Liao Yiwu, who lives in exile in Berlin.
Liao, who posted the message Thursday on Facebook, did not say how he received it from Liu, who is serving an 11-year sentence on charges of inciting state subversion, but Liu’s friends have said the message is genuine.
?????
He can face from a Chinese prison?
Can they face at Gitmo?
While in prison, Liu was awarded the 2010 Peace Prize for his calls for political reforms. The Nobel committee held Liu’s award ceremony in Oslo with an empty chair to mark his absence. China condemned the award and put his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest.
Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took power two years ago, the stifling of dissent has been on the rise.
Here in AmeriKa the government just doesn't listen.
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Same with the Pope:
"Pope gives Vatican leadership a withering critique" by John L. Allen Jr., Globe Staff December 23, 2014
ROME — At the end of a tumultuous year for the Catholic Church, in which divisions among senior leadership over the direction being set by Pope Francis were at times glaringly apparent, the pontiff on Monday delivered a blistering critique of arrogance, careerism, gossip, and division in the Vatican.
Among other points, the pope denounced what he called “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” meaning “a progressive decline in spiritual faculties,” leading people to “build walls around themselves” and to make “idols” of their personal habits.
After the broadside, some observers wondered if the pontiff might risk alienating the very aides he needs to motivate in order to implement his reform agenda, especially ahead of challenges set for 2015 on which he may need the help.
Next year will also bring the first annual budgeting and accounting cycle under the pope’s new financial regime, meaning that Francis will be counting on departments of the Vatican to cooperate rather than trying to sabotage the process.
Also, a summit of Catholic bishops from around the world devoted to issues pertaining to the family is expected to prompt some tough decisions, and Francis will need key Vatican officials to help manage whatever tumult those decisions may generate.
In other words, this maverick pope may still need help from the system....
There is a time when even Popes may go too far.
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He still gets a thumbs up from the Globe.
I will post any further Pope pieces below if and when I come across them.
2d victim added to pope’s sex abuse commission
Vatican probe ends with an olive branch for American nuns
Who did they abuse?
