India court rules temple must allow all women entry

Yahoo – AFP, Abhaya SRIVASTAVA, 28 September 2018

The Supreme Court in India has overturned a rule that forbade the majority
of women from entering one of the holiest temples for Hindus

India's top court on Friday revoked a ban on women entering a famous Hindu temple following a decades-long legal battle, ruling that patriarchy cannot be allowed to trump faith.

The decision is the latest by the Supreme Court in recent weeks to reflect a more liberal outlook in the largely conservative and traditional society of 1.25 billion people.

Women in India have been intensifying campaigns in recent years to be allowed to enter Hindu temples and other religious sites.

The Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala -- the subject of Friday's ruling and considered one of the holiest for Hindus -- has traditionally barred all women of menstruating age, between 10 and 50.

The temple's rule emanated from the still widely held belief in India that menstruating women are impure. In rural pockets of the country, many women are still made to sleep and eat separately during menstruation.

The custom in the temple in the southern state of Kerala was challenged by a clutch of petitioners who argued that women cannot be denied the constitutional right to worship.

"To treat women as children of a lesser god is to blink at the constitution itself," said Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, part of the five-judge bench that gave a majority verdict on Friday.

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said banning the entry of a large section of women was discriminatory and violated their rights.

"Prohibiting women (from entering the temple) violates the right of a woman to worship and practise religion," he said.

Celibate deity

While most Hindu temples don't allow women to enter when they are menstruating, the temple, commonly known as Sabarimala, was one of a few that did not allow any woman of menstruating age.

Indu Malhotra, the only woman judge on the bench, dissented with the majority verdict, saying courts must not interfere with issues concerning "deep religious sentiments".

The case made headlines last month when a regional newspaper editor blamed devastating floods in Kerala on women wanting to enter Sabarimala.

Millions of devotees visit the temple every year to seek the blessings of Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity who is believed to be celibate.

According to the temple website, pilgrims have to observe celibacy for 41 days before entering the shrine. Some worshippers take an arduous forest route to reach the hilltop temple, located some 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) above sea level.

Friday's verdict was welcomed by India's Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi and other prominent women's rights activists.

"It opens up the way forward for Hinduism to become even more inclusive and not a property of one caste or one sex," Gandhi said.

In 2016, hundreds of women campaigned in Maharashtra state to successfully end a ban on women entering the Shani Shingnapur temple.

Women were also prevented from entering Mumbai's Haji Ali Dargah mausoleum until the high court scrapped the rule in 2016.

Rahul Easwar, one of the main activists who backed the Sabarimala ban, said he would appeal to the Supreme Court for a review before the temple reopens next month. The revered shrine only opens for certain auspicious days each year.

"We will go ahead with the fight as it (the verdict) affects the very core and belief of temple systems," Easwar told reporters.

"Deities have certain rights and their rights should be protected," he said.

Earlier this month the Supreme Court scrapped a ban on gay sex dating back to 1861, and on Thursday it said adultery would cease to be a crime.

Abused Hong Kong maid Erwiana 'rises again'

Yahoo - AFP, Agus Purwanto, 28 September 2018

Erwiana now works on behalf of migrant workers

She was once the face of abused maids in Hong Kong -- imprisoned, starved and beaten so badly she lost control of her bodily functions.

But four years after her horrific ordeal made global headlines, Indonesian Erwiana Sulistyaningsih is a university graduate and fighting for the rights of domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city and beyond.

Erwiana completed a degree in economics this month -- the culmination of a dream that brought her to Hong Kong in 2013 before her life was turned upside down.

"Before I went to Hong Kong, I had been dreaming I could make enough money to study," the 27-year-old told AFP from her home in Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta.

"After the incident, I thought I might have to give up on that dream."

Erwiana's employer Law Wan-tung was jailed after pictures of her extensive injuries went viral in 2014.

Widespread media coverage of Erwiana's torture had one unexpected benefit -- she was offered scholarships to study.

"I'm happy but it's bittersweet because even though I graduated university there are still many migrant workers who are persecuted and treated badly," she said.

She chose economics partly to understand "why so many people in this world have to migrate" for work.

"People should be able to live peacefully in their own country without having to work abroad unprotected," she said.

Erwiana plans to take that message to demonstrations outside the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Bali next month.

Erwiana's horrific ordeal made global headlines

She now works on behalf of migrant workers, including pushing for the release of former Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso who is on death row in Indonesia for drug smuggling.

Most domestic workers in Hong Kong are from poor communities in Indonesia and the Philippines and are vulnerable to abuse by employers and employment agencies.

Migrants from both countries have also suffered injury -- or worse -- in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

In February, the death of a Filipina maid in Kuwait, whose body was found this year stuffed in a freezer, sparked outrage in the Philippines.

Also this year, Indonesian domestic helper Adelina Sau died in hospital after being rescued from her employer's house in Malaysia's Penang state, with wounds covering her body. Her boss was charged with murder.

It is these stories that prompted Erwiana to fight for workers' rights, and never give up on herself even when she doubted her chances.

"I never imagined I'd be here -- I almost gave up," she said.

"I was so sick, I was a failed migrant worker and my injuries were all over the media.

"But because my family and fellow migrant worker friends gave me strength, I finally had the spirit to rise again."

VIDEO: A former Indonesian domestic helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was imprisoned, starved and beaten so badly she lost control of her bodily functions. But four years later, she now fights for the rights of domestic helpers around the world https://t.co/RYY89JL6rA pic.twitter.com/kn1yXP9R6y

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 28, 2018

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih arrives at the Wanchai Law Courts to begin giving

 evidence against her former employer who is accused of abuse and torture, in

Hong Kong on Monday. (AFP Photo/Isaac Lawrence)

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Jokowi to Scrap ID Card for Indonesian Migrant Workers

India's top court rules adultery no longer a crime

France24 – AFP, 27 September 2018

India's Supreme Court has ruled a century-old adultery law is unconstitutional
and discriminatory against women (AFP)

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's top court Thursday ruled that adultery is no longer a crime, declaring a colonial-era law that punished the offence with jail time unconstitutional and discriminatory against women.

The more than century-old law prescribed that any man who slept with a married woman without her husband's permission had committed adultery, a crime carrying a five-year prison term.

"Thinking of adultery from a point of view of criminality is a retrograde step," unanimously declared the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court.

Women could not file a complaint under the archaic law nor be held liable for adultery themselves, making it solely the realm of men.

The court said the law deprived women of dignity and individual choice, and treated them as the property of men.

It also said that adultery, while valid grounds for divorce, was a private matter.

The court upheld the legality of the crime in 1954, arguing that in adultery "it is commonly accepted that it is the man who is the seducer, and not the women".

A petitioner had challenged the law earlier this year, describing it as discriminatory.

Relief as Maldives strongman concedes defeat

Yahoo – AFP, Amal JAYASINGHE, September 24, 2018

Official results showed opposition Maldives candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (2L)
as the clear winner with 58.3 percent, the biggest margin of victory in any
election since the advent of democracy in 2008 (AFP Photo/Ahmed SHURAU)

Colombo (AFP) - The strongman leader of the Maldives on Monday conceded defeat in the presidential election, easing fears of a fresh political crisis in the archipelago at the centre of a battle for influence between India and China.

"The Maldivian people have decided what they want. I have accepted the results from yesterday," President Abdulla Yameen said in a televised address to the Indian Ocean nation a day after the joint opposition candidate unexpectedly triumphed.

"Earlier today, I met with Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who the Maldivian electorate has chosen to be their next president. I have congratulated him," Yameen said.

He said he would hand over power when his term ends on November 17 and ensure a smooth transition in the 1,200-island nation, popular with foreign tourists for its white sands and blue lagoons.

Solih's victory was a major surprise, with Yameen's main political rivals either in prison or in exile, media coverage of the opposition sparse and monitors and the opposition predicting vote-rigging.

Map of Maldives and profiles of opposition legislator Ibrahim Mohamed Solih 

and incumbent leader Abdulla Yameen (AFP Photo/AFP)

There had been concerns Yameen might not accept the result given what happened after the last election in 2013.

The Supreme Court annulled that result after Yameen trailed former president Mohamed Nasheed -- giving Yameen time to forge alliances and win a second round of voting that was postponed twice.

Results released by the electoral commission showed Yameen on 41.7 percent of the vote, well behind Solih on 58.3 percent -- the only other name on ballot papers.

The final official result will take up to a week to be published.

Yameen stayed quiet overnight after the outcome became clear. But signs grew Monday that he would throw in the towel, with a foreign ministry statement saying Solih had won and state media showing him claiming victory.

Nearly 90 percent of the 262,000 electorate turned out to vote, with some waiting in line for more than five hours.

Celebrations broke out across the archipelago on Sunday night, with opposition supporters waving yellow flags of Solih's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and dancing in the streets.

On Monday the situation was calm.

It was far from certain if Maldives President Abdulla Yameen (C), whose main political 

rivals were either jailed or in exile, would graciously accept defeat in the poll (AFP 

Photo/Ahmed SHURAU)

The US State Department, which had warned of "appropriate measures" if the vote was not free and fair, had called on Yameen to "respect the will of the people".

Regional superpower India said the result marked "the triumph of democratic forces". But China was yet to comment, with Monday being a public holiday there.

Beijing loaned Yameen's government hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure projects like the new "China-Maldives Friendship Bridge" from the airport to the capital Male, which opened in August.

The loans stoked fears among Western countries and India about China's growing influence under its "Belt and Road Initiative" stretching from Asia into Africa and Europe.

Prisoners released

Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen but struggled for visibility, with local media fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

In February Yameen imposed a 45-day state of emergency, alarming the international community, in what was seen as an attempt to block a push by his opponents in parliament to impeach him.

A crackdown saw former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom -- the country's longest-serving leader and Yameen's half-brother -- jailed along with the Chief Justice and another Supreme Court justice.

The US State Department had warned before the election it may take "appropriate 

measures" if the vote was not free and fair (AFP Photo)

Gayoom was among several inmates brought to Male to lodge appeals against their sentences on Monday, after Solih used his victory speech the previous day to call for the release of dissidents incarcerated by Yameen.

The High Court is expected to hear their cases on Tuesday.

Five other political prisoners detained after the crackdown, including opposition lawmaker and former police chief Abdulla Riyaz, were ordered released.

Independent international monitors were barred from Sunday's election and only a handful of foreign media were allowed in to cover the poll.

The government had used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom had been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.

The country's new leader pledged on Twitter before the election that he would open investigations into the disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan, missing since 2014, and the fatal stabbing of blogger Yameen Rasheed in 2017.

He promised also to repeal anti-defamation legislation and "ensure press freedom".

Indian bishop refused bail in nun rape case

Yahoo – AFP, 22 September 2018

The scandal has sparked angry protests by clergy over police inaction

An Indian bishop accused of raping a nun was refused bail Saturday, and ordered to remain in police custody to face questioning in a case that has triggered outrage among clergy.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested in southern Kerala state on Friday after Pope Francis relieved him from duty over the scandal that has sparked days of angry protests by clergy over police inaction.

Mulakkal, who heads the Roman Catholic diocese of Jalandhar in the northern state of Punjab, is accused of raping the nun 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

The nun, who has not been named, first accused Mulakkal in June but police only started formal questioning this month as fury over the case mounted.

Police asked for more time on Saturday to question the 52-year-old, who has denied the accusations.

In its submission to the court in Kerala, police said Mulakkal had illegally confined the victim in a guesthouse and subjected her "to rape and unnatural sex 13 times in the same room," the Times of India newspaper reported.

Mulakkal has called the scandal a conspiracy by those opposed to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholics Bishops' Conference of India has said Mulakkal's arrest was a "sad moment for all of us".

"As said before we expect the law to take its course and for the truth to emerge. At his moment our prayer is for healing," it said in a statement Friday.

Sexual abuse by clergy and the failure of Church officials to take action has been one of the biggest scandals facing Roman Catholicism globally in recent years.

Recently five priests from Kerala, home to India's largest Christian population, were arrested after sexual assault allegations.

Chinese Catholics 'pray for the best' but wary after Vatican deal

Yahoo – AFP, Pak YIU, Elizabeth LAW, September 22, 2018

Across China there was a mixed reaction to what some call a compromise by the
Holy See and a betrayal of Vatican loyalists (AFP Photo/Nicolas ASFOURI)

Beijing (AFP) - Chinese Catholics have mixed feelings about the Vatican's landmark deal with Beijing: Some in the unofficial "underground" church remain suspicious of the government while others "pray for the best".

As parishioners in the capital's Catholic cathedral gathered to celebrate mass on Saturday evening, still others in the pews were unaware of the historic deal aimed at resolving a decades-old dispute over who gets to name bishops.

After the provisional agreement was announced by both sides, the Vatican said Pope Francis recognised seven clergy appointed by the Chinese Communist government -- a move that could lead to a rapprochement for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 1951.

Yet across the country, there was a mixed reaction to what some call a compromise by the Holy See and a betrayal of Vatican loyalists.

Catholics recognise the pope as the head of the church, with the appointment of bishops requiring a nod from the Holy See -- while China's officially atheist government does not tolerate any other power centre and insists on appointing its own bishops.

This split the country's roughly 12 million Catholics between the state-sanctioned church -- which includes the government in its Prayer of The Faithful during mass -- and the underground church which sees the Vatican as the ultimate authority.

At the official South Cathedral in the heart of Beijing, worshippers seemed

unaware of the landmark agreement (AFP Photo/Nicolas ASFOURI)

'Stay apart'

At the official South Cathedral in the heart of Beijing, worshippers seemed unaware of the landmark agreement.

Mass celebrated the baptism of 80 new believers, with bishop Joseph Li -- sanctioned by both the Vatican and Beijing -- delivering a homily touching on the theme of loyalty and faith.

After being told the news by an AFP reporter, many were nonchalant.

"Whatever this means for the church is up to God. As a follower of the church, we pray for the best," said a churchgoer who gave her name only as Magdalene.

Others hoped that government and religion could have their separate spaces.

"Our religion should worship God and support the government's sovereignty, but our church should stay apart from the government," Paul Yu told AFP after mass.

There were similar scenes in Shanghai where worshippers said they had not heard of the deal.

Those with links to the unofficial church say it appears the Vatican is making 

concessions to China in hope of better relations (AFP Photo/Nicolas ASFOURI)

'Spies'

But those with links to the unofficial church say it appears the Vatican is making concessions to China in hope of better relations, which could be a futile effort because Beijing is unlikely to go along with it in the long term.

"Maybe this agreement solves the problem of the seven bishops," said a priest with ties to the underground church.

"But in terms of choosing bishops in the future, it does not resolve the fundamental problem... and it cannot help improve the situation of the church."

While the clergy is appointed by the Communist Party, the Vatican has previously accepted several bishops appointed by the government.

A priest from an underground church in the central Hebei province said the congregation has always been loyal to the Vatican and will continue to be.

"There are some church members and priests that accept this turn in events, and some that cannot completely come to terms (with the situation), because they remain suspicious of the Communist Party," said the priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"They doubt the government's sincerity," he said, noting that some members of his church work for the authorities as "spies".

S. Korean leader and North's Kim hold summit talks

Yahoo – AFP, Park Chan-kyong, September 18, 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) came to Pyongyang's international airport
to welcome South Korean President Moon Jae-in (C) (AFP Photo)

Seoul (AFP) - South Korea's president and the North's leader Kim Jong Un drove together through the streets of Pyongyang Tuesday past thousands of cheering citizens before opening a summit where Moon Jae-in will seek to reboot stalled denuclearisation talks between his hosts and the United States.

Kim and Moon embraced at Pyongyang's international airport -- where the North Korean leader had supervised missile launches last year as tensions mounted.

The North's unique brand of choreographed mass adulation was on full display as hundreds of people waved North Korean flags and another depicting an undivided peninsula -- while the South's own emblem was only visible on Moon's Boeing 747 aircraft.

Thousands of people, holding bouquets and chanting in unison "Reunification of the country!", lined the streets as Kim and Moon rode through the city in an open-topped vehicle, passing the Kumsusan Palace where Kim's predecessors -- his father and grandfather -- lie in state.

"I am acutely aware of the weight that we bear," Moon told Kim as they opened two hours of formal talks at the headquarters of the ruling Workers' Party, adding that he felt a "heavy responsibility".

At a banquet after the first day of the summit, Moon said the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace" were priorities.

The South Korean leader said there would be challenges ahead but that he and Kim had "trust and friendship".

Graphic showing previous summits between North and South Korea 

(AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

Kim hailed his relationship with Moon, and said the pair would discuss "various issues ... in a frank and open-minded manner".

The North Korean leader declared his backing for the denuclearisation of the peninsula at his Singapore summit with US President Donald Trump in June.

But no details were agreed and Washington and Pyongyang have since sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved.

The US is pressing for the North's "final, fully verified denuclearisation", while Pyongyang wants a formal declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is over and has condemned "gangster-like" demands for it to give up its weapons unilaterally.

A commentary in the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling party, repeated the criticism Tuesday, saying Washington was "totally to blame" for the deadlock. "The US is stubbornly insisting on the theory of 'dismantlement of nukes first'," it added.

Moon will hold another round of formal talks with Kim on Wednesday, as he urges the North Korean leader to make substantive steps towards disarmament that he can present to Trump.

Moon is due to meet Trump later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"I wish this will be a summit that produces abundant results as a gift to the 80 million people of this nation for Chuseok," Moon said, referring to Monday's traditional holiday.

South Korea's Moon (R) has been instrumental in brokering the diplomatic thaw

 that saw a historic summit between Kim Jong Un (L) and US President Donald 

Trump in Singapore in June, where Kim backed denuclearisation of the Korean 

peninsula (AFP Photo)

'Rosy headlines'

The dovish South Korean president is looking to tie the inter-Korean process and the US-Northern talks closer together to reduce the threat of a devastating conflict on the peninsula.

At the same time Kim will look to secure closer inter-Korean co-operation as Seoul and Washington move at increasingly different speeds in their approaches to Pyongyang.

Analysts played down expectations.

The meeting "will probably generate rosy headlines but do little to accelerate efforts to denuclearise North Korea", Eurasia Group said in a note.

Kim would focus on "areas that promise economic benefits for the North", it added.

"Progressives inside and outside Moon's government will have strong incentives to inflate the summit's accomplishments, initially obscuring what will likely be a lack of major deliverables."

There have been many previous rounds of negotiations with the North, but deals have subsequently fallen apart -- Wednesday will mark 13 years to the day since Pyongyang agreed to abandon all of its nuclear weapons and return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It has since carried out six nuclear tests and launched intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching anywhere on the US mainland.

The North's unique brand of choreographed mass adulation was on full display as 

hundreds of people on the tarmac waved North Korean flags and unification ones 

depicting an undivided peninsula (AFP Photo)

'First, second, third'

Moon's own parents fled the North during the Korean War that left the peninsula divided and technically in a state of conflict.

His three-day visit is the first by a South Korean president to Pyongyang in a decade. It is also the two leaders' third meeting this year.

Moon -- whose poll ratings have fallen in the face of economic difficulties -- was accompanied by business tycoons including Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong and the vice chairman of Hyundai Motor.

Moon has been pushing inter-Korean engagement, which is complicated by international sanctions against the North. South Korean media have urged caution, calling for substantial progress towards denuclearisation first.

"Quite a number of people are now fed up with the surprise events between the leaders," the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial Tuesday.

"President Moon must head to Pyongyang with the resolve that the first, second, third agenda of this summit is denuclearisation."

#UPDATE Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in visit the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation for a show of unity after their North-South summit gave new momentum to Pyongyang's negotiations with Washington https://t.co/1d72FjLXF2

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 20, 2018

Standing in front of the flags of their two countries, Donald Trump and
Kim Jong Un made history in Singapore (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Related Articles:

Trump, Kim hail historic summit; questions over way forward

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Predictions - Text version)

".. A few days ago, there was a handshake and that handshake was with the President of the United States and the leader of North Korea. This handshake was something that was far from expected a few months ago. In fact, it's beyond all odds - all odds - that this would ever take place! I want to tell you about this, because you are going to start to understand the mechanics of prediction. The reason? I told you years ago about the potential of the handshake.

"I am a channeller," my partner says. "I channel Kryon," my partner says. But what my partner has really learned to do is to put himself away and dip into the field with purity. This allows him to see differently and contact that who is Kryon, a friend in the field, and then to report to you what's perceived there. Predictions are not magic. Predictions are not future fortune-telling. You can't do that, dear ones; no one can do that. The reason? Because Human nature has free choice. Free choice creates trillions of free decisions daily. There is no "known" future. But there are a vast number of strong potentials based on what free choice is doing at the moment.

I want to take you back to March 2012 in Dallas, Texas. The channellings that I refer to now are documented, printed, available, and ready for you to read and find. [on this very web page] My partner documents them all and places them on his website. Some of you already know that I spoke about two strong potentials in that channeling, which would now seem to be predictions (since they happened). But they weren't. These things were potentials based upon that which was already happening in the field.

The first item: I told you that you would have a new pope soon. Thirteen months later, the planet received one. We told you that new pope would be a wild card in that he would come with unexpected energies. The old pope didn't even die, if you noticed. In fact, he's still with you! Instead, something happened that was beyond expectation, and you heard it from a chair just like the one I'm in now. That's not predicting, dear ones, because that was in the field. It was already something in progress with a potential. Did you hear that? In progress with a potential.

The second thing I told you about was this: There's a 50% chance that the new leader of North Korea, the son, would not follow in the footsteps of his father. I told you there was a 50% chance of this. Then I started itemizing the reasoning why this might make sense, especially to the Korean leader. I then told you it might take a long time if it manifested at all. I told you the problems would be within the old advisors for his father's family. He had to tread slowly and lightly to do something against all odds. This will all come out someday because of the handshake.

Here was the potential or the prediction of what might happen: Those who had the machine guns in the DM zone would drop them, because this North Korean leader would unify the two Koreas. There would be no nuclear weapons in his land and there would be the beginning of abundance for his people. His people and the world would then give him something he had always wanted and was imbued with from birth - the desire for accolades and more accolades. Like his father before him, he was the premier egotist, and this would be the unexpected way to create a world at his feet. That's what I said. Then I said, "Watch for it, but don't be anxious." I talked about that in 2013, and five more times since then. In August 2017, I itemized my advice for him, point by point. The advice that I gave followed the potentials that were there and those were the very points in the handshake this week in June of 2018.

Now, you tell me what happened. "Kryon, you're going to be famous because you predicted these things!" Dear ones, all I did was look into a field that is being shown to you today [by the scientists at the conference]. And all I did was to show you the potentials that were already there. In other words, he was thinking about these things and talking to others behind the scenes about them. No matter what his advisors told him right up to the brink of sending his missiles, he was always thinking that there might be another way that would gain him ultimate fame. Dear ones, this has been in progress since his father died! Therefore, it was in the field, but not a given, dear ones - a potential.

Next, I want to show you the bias of humanity at this time, something I have spoken of many times. This potential of the handshake is amazing, and it has started to be manifested. What should the reaction be to something that deflects the potential of war, or saves thousands lives? Instead of joy or amazement or celebration, Humans go for the reverse: It can't happen. It's a trick. It's a bad deal.

I want you to start reading the reactions of the press. I want you to read the reactions even from the South Koreans. They said, "Well, we know North Koreans, and that's never going to happen. We know who they are, and we know their nature. Because in the past, they never performed what they said they would. So it's a joke." That is a quote from a South Korean. "It's a joke."

What happened to this comment? "Isn't this a beautiful potential? Look at this amazing thing - against all odds!" Now, your free press, the reporting segment of our culture, has decided not only to report it, but to let you know it's probably not going to happen! They say: "Nay. Maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see. We expect the worse." And this continues and continues, and all it shows you is the monstrous bias of the dark side that wants to pull anything good back to what the past gave to you. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Dallas Texas, Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

Sex abuse claims rock Dutch Catholic Church

Yahoo – AFP, 15 September 2018

People in Australia, Europe, and North and South America have charged they
were sexually abused by clergymen and lay people

More than half of the Netherlands' senior clerics were involved in covering up sexual assault of children between 1945 and 2010, a press report claimed Saturday, further engulfing the Catholic Church in a global abuse scandal.

Over the course of 65 years, 20 of 39 Dutch cardinals, bishops and their auxiliaries "covered up sexual abuse, allowing the perpetrators to cause many more victims", the daily NRC reported.

"Four abused children and 16 others allowed the transfer of paedophile priests who could have caused new victims in other parishes," the Dutch newspaper added.

Church spokeswoman Daphne van Roosendaal told AFP the church could "confirm a part" of the report.

Other elements were based on anonymous information provided by a victims' assistance unit set up by the church.

"The names of several bishops correspond to those named in a report commissioned by the Church in 2010," the spokeswoman said.

Most of the accused clerics have since died, and the statute of limitations has expired in all cases, she added. Those still alive declined to comment, NRC said.

Meanwhile in France, a priest has been charged with sexually abusing four brothers, now aged from three to 17, his lawyer said Saturday.

The family brought the complaint against the 64-year-old priest, whose parish is in the central Cantal region. All four boys were said to be in the church choir.

The lawyer, Komine Bocoum, did not say when the alleged offences were said to have taken place.

Local bishop Bruno Grua said Saturday the his diocese was "shocked by these unspeakable acts".

They are the latest in a slew of assault allegations against the Catholic Church spanning several continents.

People in Australia, Europe, and North and South America have charged they were sexually abused by clergymen and lay people, in what German Archbishop Georg Gaenswein has called the Church's "own 9/11".

In August, Pope Francis declined to comment on a claim that he ignored sexual abuse allegations against a senior clergyman in the United States.

On Wednesday, the German Catholic Church said it was it was "dismayed and ashamed" by decades of child sex abuse by priests.

Pope Francis meets with leaders from the US church at the Vatican on Thursday

to discuss claims of sexual abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/Handout)

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US cardinal caught up in abuse scandal resigns

Pope accepts resignation of 3 Chilean bishops in sex abuse scandal

Australian archbishop gets 12 months for concealing child abuse
Germany's Catholic Church 'ashamed' by child sex abuse 

Part of the painting, said to one of the highlights of the Vatican collection

Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness. …”

Women should play a greater role in the training of priests to fight the child abuse 'crisis' that has engulfed the #CatholicChurch, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said https://t.co/UmGvrcnIZI #MarcOuellet

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 16, 2018