ope Francis has reportedly told a gay man that “God made you that way and loves you as you are,” apparently pushing the pontiff’s acceptance of homosexuality to a new level.Francis made the comments to Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean victim of priestly sexual abuse who recently spent days with the pope at the Vatican to discuss his ordeal as the pontiff moves to tackle decades of coverups and ostracism of victims in the Chilean church, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.Cruz was quoted as having discussed his homosexuality with Francis. “He told me: ‘Juan Carlos, I don’t care about you being gay. God made you that way and loves you as you are and I don’t mind. The pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are.’ “A spokesman at the Vatican on Sunday declined to confirm or deny Francis’ comments, stating, “We don’t normally comment on the pope’s private conversations.”In 2013, Francis famously said, “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with goodwill, who am I to judge?” when asked for his views on homosexuality, signaling a sea change in Catholic views on sexual orientation.That year he also told an interviewer, “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” adding, “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: When God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ “His reported remarks based on Cruz’s account go further, however, by suggesting he believes people are created gay by God — a position likely to anger Catholic conservatives.”This is a big deal, I cannot remember the pope making a comment about gay people being born that way,” said Father James Martin, an American Jesuit priest, whose 2017 book “Building a Bridge” urged greater ties between the church and the LGBTQ community.”Pope Francis has repeated what all reputable biologists and psychologists say — you don’t choose your sexual orientation. And that is a great comfort to many gay and lesbian Catholics who have been told by priests that they have chosen their orientation and are therefore guilty,” he said.The comments do not suggest a change to church teaching, Martin said.The Catholic Church’s catechism currently states the “psychological genesis” of homosexuality “remains largely unexplained.””Basing itself on sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’ ” it states, but adds that gay people “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity” in the church.Martin stressed that the pope’s comments were reported, not announced. “We have to distinguish between something the pope said on the record and a conversation,” he said.Cruz endured sexual abuse as a youth in Chile by prelate Fernando Karadima, who was sentenced by the Vatican in 2011 to a lifetime of penance.The Vatican did not, however, believe his claim that the abuse was witnessed and covered up by Chilean Bishop Juan Barros. Francis appointed Barros bishop of the town of Osorno in 2015, hugged him publicly during his visit to Chile in January and dismissed accounts by Cruz and other victims as “slander.”But as public fury in Chile grew, Francis in February dispatched an abuse investigator to interview the victims, inviting them to Rome, admitting he had made “serious mistakes.”Summoning Chile’s bishops to Rome, he accused them of destroying evidence of abuse and putting pressure on church investigators to downplay accusations.On Friday, all 33 bishops in Chile offered to resign.In his interview with El Pais, Cruz said Francis had been told that Cruz was “deranged” by his detractors before the meeting at Casa Santa Marta, the residence used by the pope at the Vatican.”The pope treated us like kings in Santa Marta and the bishops as children,” Cruz was quoted as saying. “It is clear that he believed us.”Kington is a special correspondent.

Source: Pope’s reported comment to a gay man may indicate a new level of acceptance of homosexuality

POPE Francis has told a gay man that God loves him during a private meeting, it has been claimed.

In a private dialogue, the Pontiff is understood to have told Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, that God loves gay people and it is fine to be homosexual.

Juan Carlos Cruz is a key whistleblower in Chile’s most famous case of clerical sex abuseAP:ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Juan Carlos Cruz is a key whistleblower in Chile’s most famous case of clerical sex abuse
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The comments are the most striking public acceptance about homosexuality ever made by a head of the Roman Catholic Church.

The remarks were made during a private meeting at the Vatican between the pair, in which the Pope offered a heartfelt apology.

Cruz was a victim of Chile’s most notorious paedophile priest Fernando Karadima.

Father Karadima, now aged 87, was found guilty of sexual abuse by the Vatican in 2011.

Chilean sexual abuse victims Jose Andres Murillo (R), James Hamilton (C) and Juan Carlos Cruz (L) in RomeAFP OR LICENSORS
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Chilean sexual abuse victims Jose Andres Murillo (R), James Hamilton (C) and Juan Carlos Cruz (L) in Rome
Cruz claims that his suffering was ignored by a number of Latin American bishops who used his homosexuality to brand him a liar when he spoke out.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País, Cruz said: “He [the Pope] told me, ‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter.

“God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care.

“The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are.”

The Pope’s words signal a much more open and inclusive approach by the often restrictive faith – a move which will likely upset many conservative Catholics.

The Vatican has neither confirmed nor denied the comments the Pontiff’s comments to Cruz.

This is not the first time Pope Francis’ comments have suggested a more open and tolerant attitude toward homosexualityREUTERS
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This is not the first time Pope Francis’ comments have suggested a more open and tolerant attitude toward homosexuality

Pope Francis hit in the face by object thrown through Popemobile window in Santiago, Chile
The Catholic Church teaches that gay sex – and all sex outside of heterosexual marriage – is a sin.

This is not the first time Pope Francis’ comments have suggested a more open and tolerant attitude toward homosexuality.

In July 2013, when responding to a reporter’s question about the existence of an alleged “gay lobby” within the Vatican, Pope Francis said: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

The Pontiff’s most recent remarks come as several high profile members of the clergy have sought to publicly make amends with gay Catholics, many of whom say they feel shunned an d unwelcome in the church.

It is the most striking public acceptance about homosexuality ever made by a Pontiff
Juan Carlos Cruz was one of three former sex abuse victims from Chile who were summoned to Rome to receive an apology from the Pontiff for years of abuse endured by them as children.

The victims described clerical sexual abuse as “an epidemic that has destroyed thousands of lives.”

Initially, the Pope had been slow to realise the gravity of the crisis in Chile, at one point even coming to the defence of a controversial bishop linked to Father Karadima.

However, he swiftly changed his stance after Vatican investigators presented him with a 2,300-page dossier documenting the sexual abuse of minors that had been covered up in Chile for decades.

Last week, Chile’s 34 bishops offered to resign en masse over the abuse scandal, in an unprecedented move in the history of the Catholic Church.

Source: Pope Francis tells gay man ‘God made you like this and loves you like this’

He’s one twisted monster.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis war-whooped “Woo-hoo,” blared a WWII Japanese military anthem on his phone and shouted cruel taunts as he opened fire on his cowering classmates, according to new accounts a day after the Texas high school junior allegedly killed eight students and two teachers.

The admitted gunman even chillingly sang “Another one bites the dust!” as he fired away with his father’s Remington 870 shotgun and .38-caliber handgun.

“My friend Trent was in the classroom and said after [Pagourtzis] would shoot a student he would sing, ‘Another one bites the dust!’” Sante Fe High School sophomore Kole Dixon, 16, told The Post of a classmate, whose last name he asked not be printed.

“He also kept playing a kamikaze song over and over as loud as he could,” on his cellphone, Dixon said of the shooter.

Pagourtzis had the same kamikaze military anthem on his now-deleted YouTube page, Dixon said.

Pagourtzis had earlier bragged of wearing a “Rising Sun” insignia on his black trench coat, explaining it signified “Kamikaze Tactics,” according to a photo and text posted on his also-deleted Facebook page.

New details of the 17-year-old’s sick sense of humor went well beyond the previously reported “Born to Kill” T-shirt he wore, and his taunt of “Surprise!” as he blasted through the walls of an art class supply closet.

“They hear the gunman in the classroom next door yelling Woo Hoo! and firing more shots,” mom Deedra Van Ness said in a Facebook post Friday night, recounting details from her by her daughter Isabelle, who survived unscathed but was covered in blood.

“Surprise, motherf–ker!” the shooter hollered as he fired into the closet wall, instantly killing two of the half-dozen students who had barricaded themselves inside with Isabelle, Van Ness said her daughter told her.

“Are you dead?” he later asked from the other side of the closet.

“Do you think it’s for you?” he also joked, as cell phones left behind in the classroom rang unanswered.

County officials revealed that Pagourtzis exchanged “a lot of firepower” with authorities before surrendering. Despite this alleged show of firepower, Pagourtzis purposefully collapsed while giving himself up — so he wouldn’t be shot by his arresting officers. The shooter, “sort of fell to the ground and surrendered,” said Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul.

So-called “explosive devices” found in the school and in Pagourtzis’ car and home were duds — incapable of detonating, Texas officials said. The devices included carbon dioxide canisters tapped together, and a pressure cooker with an alarm clock and nails inside.Source: Texas school shooter taunted victims during rampage: witnesses

A school bus packed with kids on a field trip collided with a dump truck on a New Jersey highway Thursday morning, killing at least two people — including a child, according to sources and a report. The deadly smash-up happened just before 10:30 a.m. on Route 80 near Exit 25 in Stanhope, ripping the undercarriage clean from the bottom of the bus as it came to rest on its side in the roadway’s median, horrifying photos show. At least two people were killed, NBC – New York reported, citing sources. The net

Source: School bus and truck collide on New Jersey highway

Former Federal Prosecutor and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was on Laura Ingraham’s ‘The Ingraham Angle’ on FOX News last night.

Rudy and all of America know there is no collusion between President Trump and Russia and so Rudy encouraged the corrupt Mueller team to wrap it up.

Rudy discussed the corrupt Mueller investigation that has now been going on for a year. At the beginning of the below segment of the interview Rudy stated that the guys on the Mueller team are taking so long because maybe “these guys, you know, figure they can’t get a good job”.

Rudy was outstanding and he never let up. At the end of the interview (at the 9:10 mark in the video below) Rudy addressed the crooked Mueller team straight on –

Ingraham: Timeline, what is your optimal timeline for this to wrap up?

Rudy: They should do it today. I mean as soon as possible. I think that they have the facts from which they can write their report.

If you can write a fair report fine, then write it.

If you’re gonna write an unfair report, write it and we will combat it. We’re ready to rip it apart.

And we’re ready to rip them apart if that’s what they want. We’d rather peacefully settle this and get it over with.Source: Giuliani Puts the Corrupt Mueller Team on Notice: “We’re Ready to Rip Them Apart if that’s What They Want!”

Spike Lee delivered a blistering attack against Donald Trump on Tuesday, refusing to mention the president by name while saying he’d shirked his moral duty to speak out in the aftermath of last year’s deadly riots in Charlottesville.

Appearing at a press conference alongside the stars of “BlacKkKlansman,” which world premiered in Cannes on Monday night, the director said the film was on the “right side of history” while denouncing the president for not taking a firm stance in the wake of violence that erupted following a white nationalist rally, leaving three people dead.

“That motherf—er was given a chance to say we are bout love, and not hate, and that motherf—er did not denounce the motherf—ing Klan, the alt-right, and those Nazi motherf—ers,” he said.

“It was a defining moment, and he could’ve said to the world…that we were better than that.”

“BlacKkKlansman” is based on the incredible true story of black police detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.

Describing it as a “major comeback” for Lee, Variety called the film “as much a compelling black empowerment story as it is an electrifying commentary on the problems of African-American representation across more than a century of cinema.”

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Though set in the ‘70s, Lee said it was “our job as filmmakers and storytellers…to connect this period piece to the present day.” He framed the film in the context of the bloody history of a country he said “was built upon the genocide of native people, and slavery,” calling it “the fabric of the United States of America.”

He added, “What’s happening did not just pop up out of thin air.”

Lee recalled watching the Charlottesville violence unfold on CNN while in Martha’s Vineyard, and recognizing “right away” that the footage “had to be my…coda for the film.”

The director got permission from the mother of Heather Heyer, who was killed when a man drove a Dodge Charger into a crowd of protesters, to use footage of her death in the movie. “I was not gonna put that murder scene in the film without her blessing,” he said.

Focus will be releasing “BlacKkKlansman” in the U.S. on the one-year anniversary of the riots, which Lee described as an “ugly, ugly, ugly blemish on the United States of America.”

Calling the film a “wake-up call,” he repeatedly returned to the moral failings of President Trump, while adding that the rise in right-wing hate speech and violence had become a global scourge. “We look to our leaders to give us direction, to make moral decisions, and I like to say this is not just something that pertains to the United States of America, this bulls–t is going all over the world,” he said.

“We have to wake up,” Lee added. “And we can’t be silent.”

“BlacKkKlansman” is peppered with digs at the current president – one KKK member talks about embracing an “America first” policy – while drawing parallels between the rise of Trump and the political aspirations of former Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace). After the premiere, the film received a six-minute standing ovation.

Lee walked the red carpet Monday evening wearing the iconic “love” and “hate” brass knuckles from “Do the Right Thing.” Speaking on Tuesday, he said that while he couldn’t predict the outcome of this year’s mid-term elections – “even though my friends call me Negrodamus” – he still remained hopeful about the future.

“I believe in hope, but I’m not blind or deaf,” he said. “I think that you could be hopeful but still be aware of what’s happening. Too many people walking around in a daze.”

Cate Blanchett led female stars in an unprecedented red-carpet protest at the Cannes Film Festival last night to demand equal pay and an end to sexual harassment.

Salma Hayek and Kristen Stewart were also among 82 actresses, female producers and directors who marched arm in arm to demand equality and “a safe workplace” seven months after the fall of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul accused of rape and sexual harassment.

The protest highlighted that only 82 films directed by women have been selected for the festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or competition in its 71-year history, compared with 1,645 directed by men.

Blanchett, who is presiding the jury this year awarding the coveted Palme d’Or award, one of the film industry’s highest honours, said: “We demand that our workplaces are diverse and equitable so they can best reflect the world in which we live.”

Cate Blanchett – Credit: Dominique Charriau /Wireimage
Cate Blanchett made a speech demanding workplace equality Credit: Dominique Charriau /Wireimage
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She said female stars were calling for “a world that allows all of us, in front and behind the camera, to thrive shoulder to shoulder with our male colleagues.”

Jane Campion is the only female director to have won the Palme d’Or, for her 1993 film, “The Piano”.

The march up the red-carpeted steps came before an unprecedented move by the festival to sign “strong commitments” on parity and diversity on Monday.

Thierry Frémaux, the festival director, said he supported the march as a way for women “to affirm their presence”.

82 actresses, female producers and directors who marched arm in arm to demand equality – Credit: Dominique Charriau/WireImage
82 actresses, female producers and directors who marched arm in arm to demand equality Credit: Dominique Charriau/WireImage
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Just hours earlier, Marlène Schiappa, France’s minister for gender equality, revealed that several women attending the event had called a special helpline for women to report sexual harassment at the festival.

“A female responder who took one of the calls escorted an Anglo-Saxon woman to a police station to file a complaint on Friday night,” Ms Schiappa said. The term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ is used in French to mean someone from an English-speaking country. Neither the complainant nor the alleged attacker have been identified.

The line was set up for the first time this year following four alleged attacks at the festival in previous years by Weinstein.

US-Mexican actress Salma Hayek Pinault (C), and Algerian actress Sofia Boutella (2ndR) walk the red carpet in protest of the lack of female filmmakers – Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP
Salma Hayek was among the women at the red carpet protest Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP
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The #MeToo movement has thrown the spotlight on harassment and 40,000 flyers were handed out at this year’s festival reminding guests that sexual harassment can be punished in France by three years in prison and a £40,000 fine.

Cannes has also come under scrutiny over the small number of female directors selected for its competition.

Mr Frémaux insisted that the festival chooses films solely for their quality, but he has promised to make selection committees gender-balanced.

After the march, the festival screened Eva Husson’s “Girls of the Sun,” which tells the story of Kurdish women fighters.

Husson, a French director, is one of only three women whose films are among the 21 selected for the competition this year. The others are Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” and Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro”, which are to premiere next week.c

Source: Cate Blanchett leads 82-woman Cannes red carpet ‘#metoo’ protest

One person was killed in a knife attack in Paris on Saturday and the assailant was shot dead by police, a police source said.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb confirmed there had been an attack in Paris and said there were victims, without giving any details. The attacker had been overpowered by police, he said.

The Paris prefecture had earlier said a person had carried out a knife attack in the second arrondissement – or district – of the French capital. Paris’ opera and landmark retail stores are located in that area.

The police source said some seven people had been injured. BFM TV said two were in a critical condition.

A judicial source said authorities were looking into whether the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office should be handling the case.

France has been on high alert as a series of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State have hit the country over the past three years in which dozens of people have been killed.

Source: Knife attack reported in Paris, slasher shot by police

The ex-speaker of the New York state Assembly Sheldon Silver was found guilty on Friday of selling his office for $4 million in kickbacks — affirming a 2015 conviction on the same charges that had been overturned on appeal.

A jury of seven women and five men found Silver, 74, guilty of all seven counts against him, including two counts of honest services mail fraud and money laundering.

He faces as much as 130 years in prison when sentenced on July 13.

Silver showed no emotion as the jury read the verdict to the judge.

“Obviously I am disappointed,” the Lower East Side Democrat said outside of court, adding that he will appeal the verdict.

The verdict is a crushing blow to Silver, who was once one of the three most powerful men in New York along with the governor and Senate majority leader.

In 2015 he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, which his lawyers argued was a death sentence for the septuagenarian, who was fighting prostate cancer at the time.

Silver was saved from prison after a federal appeals court ruled that errors in the judge’s jury instructions warranted a new trial.

The jury overseeing the retrial reached their verdict after slightly more than one day of deliberation following a week-and-a-half-long trial that included 26 witnesses and dozens of exhibits.
One jury said “yes” between tears when asked if the jury convicted because the government had a strong case. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I feel very, very sorry.”

Silver was convicted of two schemes that earned him a whopping $4 million in kickbacks over a decade, plus $1 million in profits on the illegal gains.

The first scheme involved favors for a prominent cancer doctor who sent him lucrative referrals of cancer patients looking to sue asbestos companies. The second scheme involved two real estate companies that sent their tax business to a lawyer who then shared his fees with Silver.

Witnesses in the first scheme included the cancer doctor, Robert Taub, who testified that he sent Silver his valuable mesothelioma patients because he wanted the powerful politician to start supporting his research into the rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

Silver gave Taub $500,000 in taxpayer money to support his research, as well as help finding jobs for Taub’s adult children.

Prosecutors argued that Silver knew what he was doing was wrong because when Taub called him in 2014 to tell him the feds were poking around, Silver responded: “Did you tell them anything.”

“‘Did you tell them anything?’ That’s what Silver cared about — making sure Dr. Taub, his golden goose, kept his mouth shut,” prosecutor Tatiana Martins said on closing arguments.

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“Sheldon Silver had abused his office for profit and he knew it,” she said.

Witnesses in the real estate scheme included Silver’s childhood friend Jay Arthur Goldberg, who testified that he split fees he received from two real estate developers with the powerful politician because Silver sent them his way.

Goldberg, who grew up with Silver on the Lower East Side, said his childhood pal assured him their arrangement was aboveboard.

“I said, ‘Is this all right, Shelly?’” Goldberg told the jury.

“Of course,” he said Silver responded. “I’m a lawyer.”

The companies, the Witkoff Group and Glenwood Management, also lobbied Silver over their business interests, including legislation.

Steven Witkoff, founder of real estate firm the Witkoff Group, testified that he didn’t know of Silver’s “unseemly” arrangement with Goldberg until 2015 when Goldberg broke the news to him.

An executive of Glenwood testified that his firm also didn’t know Silver was getting a cut of fees they paid Goldberg until 2011, when a lobbyist pal of Silver’s broke the news.

That prompted Glenwood to demand Silver sign what prosecutors dubbed a “secret side letter” memorializing their arrangement.

“While he was negotiating the rent laws, Sheldon Silver was secretly on retainer to that developer,” prosecutor Martins told the jury.

“Even if there was no other evidence in the real estate scheme — this secret retainer alone tells you that Sheldon Silver is guilty.”

Source: Ex-NY state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver found guilty of all charges