UK

Labour must avoid nuclear confrontation – Labour CND

29th November 2024Leave a Commenton Labour must avoid nuclear confrontation – Labour CND

“These decisions risk the spread of war across Europe with the potential for nuclear exchange.”

Labour CND statement

As the war in Ukraine intensifies, at the recent G20 Summit in Brazil Keir Starmer failed to address a direct question about the risks of nuclear war with Russia. The Trident nuclear weapons system together with the UK government’s consent for the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Britain makes us a target.

The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary continue to insist that the UK is ‘doubling down’ on support for Ukraine. Britain commits £3 billion a year; we are the third largest donor after the US and Germany. Keir Starmer says the UK will back Ukraine ‘for as long as it is needed’.

The decision by the UK government to allow Ukraine to fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, following a similar decision by the United States, is a reckless escalation in the conflict which has already lasted over 1000 days and cost countless lives. These decisions risk the spread of war across Europe with the potential for nuclear exchange.

President Putin considers an attack by Ukraine using weapons supplied by another state will be viewed by Russia as an attack by that third country. The Russian Ambassador to the UK has said he considers Britain to be ‘directly involved’ in the conflict. Russian nuclear doctrine has recently changed. The nuclear threat must not be underestimated.

While the majority of commentators continue to back the war, downplaying the possibility of its spread across Europe, public opinion is moving in the opposite direction. Support for a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine is growing in both the United States and West Europe.

A large-scale survey in June this year by the US Institute for Global Affairs, for example, found two in every three Americans and Western Europeans wanted their government to avoid escalation and prevent further suffering of the Ukrainian people more than they wanted to deter Russia or see the restoration of Ukraine’s borders.

The dramatic population decline in war-torn Ukraine reveals the extent of their suffering – the combined result of battlefield and civilian deaths, a drop in the birth rate, and the exodus of refugees. In February 2022, the population of Ukraine was 43 million. It is an estimated 35 million today

More than 20,000 men are believed to have fled Ukraine to avoid military service. Conscription has been described as ‘chaotic’ and ‘tarnished by corruption’. In April Ukraine introduced a controversial new law lowering the draft age and introduced stringent penalties for evasion.

The people of Russia have also been hard hit. The Pentagon estimates there are more than 600,000 Russian casualties of war. While sanctions have not had the impact the Nato allies were hoping for, present estimates put the cost of war for Russia at between $500 million to $1 billion. It is reported that Russia spends approximately one third of its GDP on the war effort.

The spread of war across Europe and the potential for nuclear confrontation can only be averted if the war is ended by a negotiated settlement. The outstanding question is how long that will take and how many more deaths there will be in the meantime.

We call on the Government to:

• Take a lead in ending the suffering of the people of Ukraine!
• Stop promoting endless war!
• Support de-escalation, ceasefire, and negotiations now!

---

• Follow Labour CND on Twitter, or for more information, see their website.

UK 

Keep on the Streets for Palestine – 

Peter Leary, PSC

29th November 2024Leave a Commenton Keep on the Streets for Palestine – Peter Leary, PSC

“Let us all – every one of us – escalate our solidarity actions until Palestine is finally free.”

Peter Leary, Palestine Solidarity Campaign spoke at an online briefing to make the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Friday November 29. You can read his full speech published below:

Thank you to Labour and Palestine for inviting me to speak at this important and timely meeting, marking the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

It comes not long after the recent re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States opens a dangerous new period for the planet and all those who believe in the universal values of justice and equality around the world – and poses a threat that is especially acute for the Palestinian people.

And it comes a little more than a week since the International Criminal Court (ICC) finally issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

For decades, 29 November has served as a reminder of the enduring Palestinian struggle against settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, military occupation, and apartheid. This year, it arrives at the darkest moment in Palestinian history as Israel’s genocide continues unabated.

For more than a year, the world has watched in horror as Israel rains destruction upon the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip – obliterating homes, schools, and hospitals, killing many tens of thousands, and maiming many more. So, at the very least, as we are confronted with this ongoing genocidal onslaught, the belated decision of the ICC to issue these arrest warrants offers us a glimmer of hope for justice. Netanyahu is now a wanted man.

Publicly announcing its unprecedented decision, the ICC stated that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both men bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, and the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population. 

The whole world has seen the evidence: hospital patients burnt alive, children decapitated, desperate families repeatedly displaced with nowhere safe to go, and doctors forced to perform operations – including the amputation of limbs – without access to anaesthetic.

More than 4 in every 10 of the Palestinians verified as killed in Gaza in the past year were children, with most of them aged between 5 and 9 years old.  

Having heard Gallant degrade Palestinians as ‘human animals’ and Netanyahu invoke the biblical tribe of Amalek to call for their elimination, there can be little doubt that both men are guilty as charged.

This announcement is a vindication of the millions who have marched and taken action to call for international law to be upheld. But it is also a damning indictment on those who have excused and continue to facilitate Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.

These ICC arrest warrants should mark a turning point.

They place Britain in the disgraceful position of continuing to sell weapons and provide diplomatic support to a regime that is not only on trial for genocide but is led by a fugitive from international justice. Unfortunately, so far, the response from the British government has been woefully inadequate.

Initially, the simple question whether they will be bound to uphold international and domestic law, was dismissed as ‘hypotheticals.’

The debate in the House of Commons earlier this week saw Hamish Falconer repeatedly fail to make the clear statement that is needed: to make clear to Netanyahu and Gallant that they will be arrested if they ever set foot in Britain. Pressed by MPs, he refused to make even the most basic commitments that should automatically flow from this decision by the ICC – a complete end to all arms sales to Israel, a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and further sanctions designed to bring an end to the atrocities against Palestinians.

And, of course, we know that will never happen unless we continue to organise and build the solidarity movement including our campaigns for boycott, divestment and sanctions.

That is why, throughout this week PSC and our coalition partners have been taking action to coincide with the International Day of Solidarity. On Wednesday, nearly 300 activists were in parliament to pressure their MPs to take meaningful steps to end Britain’s complicity with Israel’s crimes. Yesterday, our workplace and student day of action, with backing from the TUC and national trade unions, saw workers and students mobilise to organise a wave of meetings and protests across Britain. Today, we are asking everyone to put up a poster in your home or office window to show your solidarity in every street and community. (You can download the poster here.)

And of course, tomorrow, we will fill the streets of London once again, assembling at 12noon at Park Lane to march to Whitehall in the 22nd national march for Palestine in what already ranks as one of the largest and most sustained protest movements in British history.

This year, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is needed as urgently as ever. Let us use it as a moment to reaffirm our commitment to Palestinian rights. Join us tomorrow as we take to the streets and let us all – every one of us – escalate our solidarity actions until Palestine is finally free.

---

• Peter Leary is Deputy Director of Campaigns at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) – you can follow him on X/Twitter and follow PSC on X/Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 
• Join tomorrow’s (Saturday 30 November) demonstration for Palestine, Assembling at 12PM, marching from Park Lane to Whitehall.

Stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people – Jeremy Corbyn & Independent Alliance MPs statement

29th November 2024Leave a Commenton Stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people – Jeremy Corbyn & Independent Alliance MPs statement

“We reiterate our demands for the government to enforce the ICC arrest warrants, impose sanctions, & end arms sales to Israel.”

The Independent Alliance of MPs have released a statement on the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People calling for the UK Government to end complicity in the genocide in Gaza. You can read the statement published below:

On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we call on our government to end its participation in the genocide in Gaza.

In a just world, we would set aside a day to celebrate the contributions, culture and creativity of the Palestinian people. Instead, year after year, we find ourselves reaffirming our support for their basic humanity, because they are still denied the right to self-determination enshrined in international law.

At first, it was bomb after bomb. Then it was town after town. Now it is generation after generation. Still, the UK government denies there is a genocide in Gaza. Still, the government exports weapons to Israel, whose leader is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity. Still, the government refuses to recognise the state of Palestine.

Today, we reiterate our demands for the government to enforce the ICC arrest warrants, impose sanctions, and end arms sales to Israel.

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, today and every day, until there is a free and independent Palestine.

Adnan Hussain MP
Ayoub Khan MP
Iqbal Mohamed MP                                                                             
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Shockat Adam MP

---

• Join the National Demonstration on 30th November – details

Impose Sanctions on Israel – 60+ MPs and Lords Demand End to UK Complicity

Labour Outlook

Amplifying socialist voices, supporting frontline struggles, building international solidarity.

28th November 2024

28th November 2024
1 Commenton Impose Sanctions on Israel – 60+ MPs and Lords Demand End to UK Complicity

“Our Government has a legal and moral obligation to act. It needs to impose widespread sanctions to get Israel to end its war crimes and stop violating international law. ”

Richard Burgon MP

By Fraser McGuire

Over 60 MPs and Lords from seven political parties have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, calling for sanctions on Israel over its “repeated violations of international law”.

This follows the recent landmark ruling made by the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ ruled that Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestine is unlawful and demanded that it end immediately. The Court also called on all States to not provide aid to Israel or enter into trade dealings that maintain this illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

In the letter coordinated by Richard Burgon MP and Imran Hussain MP, the Parliament state that the ICJ ruling places clear obligations on the UK “to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT”.

The demands include a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements; a suspension of arms transfers to Israel, including licenses for the export of F-35 fighter jet components that go indirectly to Israel; and for the 2030 Roadmap to be revoked, which seeks to deepen UK-Israeli economic, trade and security ties.

This call follows the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Richard Burgon MP stated that “The world’s top court has found that Israel is acting illegally. But the Israeli Government continues to treat international law with utter contempt.

“We cannot allow Israel to tear up the rule book of international law and simply go unpunished. Words alone from our Government are simply not enough. Our Government has a legal and moral obligation to act. It needs to impose widespread sanctions to get Israel to end its war crimes and stop violating international law.”

Imran Hussain MP said “The arrest warrants issued for war crimes must be just the start of renewed efforts to force Israel to abide by international law, stop the war crimes and end its illegal occupation of Palestine.

“By imposing widespread sanctions on Israel as the ICJ ruling demands, our Government would be taking a stance in defence of the international rules-based order and making clear that Israel will no longer get away with trampling all over international law.” 

You can read the letter in full published below.

---

Dear Foreign Secretary,

Re: Call for the UK Government to impose sanctions on Israel following the International Court of Justice’s Landmark Advisory Opinion

We write to urge the UK government to impose sanctions and take other concrete steps to give effect to the landmark Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s continuing illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Findings of the International Court of Justice

The ICJ, the world’s top court, found on 19 July 2024 that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful. It also found that Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the OPT as rapidly as possible and to immediately cease all new settlement activities, amongst numerous other obligations.

The Court also found that all States, including the UK, have obligations to not recognise as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the OPT and to not render any aid or assistance in maintaining this.

Further, amongst the numerous other obligations cited by the ICJ, all State Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention have an obligation to ensure compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that Convention.

Obligations on the UK government

Flowing from these, the ICJ found that the UK and all states must take concrete actions including: to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT; to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the OPT which may entrench its unlawful presence there; and to abstain from entering into any treaty relations with Israel in all cases in which it purports to act on behalf of the OPT.

It has now been four months since this landmark ICJ ruling. Since then, the situation continues to worsen including with Israel’s intensified attacks on civilians and clear violations of international law occurring in Gaza.

The UK Government has acknowledged the central findings of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and stated that Israel should bring an end to its presence in the OPT as rapidly as possible. However, the UK Government is yet to clarify how it intends to respond to this new legal situation and uphold its responsibilities arising from it.

In contrast, the UN General Assembly in September passed a resolution endorsing the ICJ’s opinion and calling on states to comply with their responsibility under international law to enact concrete steps including sanctions to address the ongoing situation.

Sanctions on Israel and other actions

In line with the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion and the obligations on all States, the UK Government should immediately:

• Impose travel bans and asset freezes against all individuals and entities involved in maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT.
• Ban trade with illegal settlements – in so doing, the UK should also support and utilise the UN database of businesses involved in the OPT.
• Suspend arms transfers to Israel including licenses for the export of F-35 components that go indirectly to Israel as well as any other equipment that might be used to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law and/or are used to entrench Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT.
• Revoke the 2030 Roadmap, which seeks to deepen UK-Israeli economic, trade and security ties

The Government should also undertake a comprehensive and thorough review of all of its current and pending trade relations, including the UK-Israel trade agreement, and all its security, military, and diplomatic relations with Israel. This would be to ensure that it does not – directly or indirectly – entrench Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT or otherwise provide aid or assistance in maintaining the unlawful situation created by the continued presence of Israel in the OPT or any of the other violations committed by Israel in the OPT.

The UK Government has repeatedly stated that it is committed to international law. Acting in support of the ICJ Advisory Opinion would be a critical step in demonstrating that commitment. It would also show that the UK Government is striving to do all it can to support the victims of Israel’s repeated violations of international law, and that it is not only speaking about a peaceful and negotiated two-state solution but taking concrete steps to promote this.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Burgon MP and Imran Hussain MP

Diane Abbott MP
Shockat Adam MP
Paula Barker MP
Órfhlaith Begley MP
Apsana Begum MP
Olivia Blake MP
Baroness Christine Blower
Baroness Pauline Bryan
Ian Byrne MP
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti
Ellie Chowns MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Pat Cullen MP
Ann Davies MP
Lord Bryn Davies       
Carla Denyer MP
Neil Duncan-Jordan MP
Colum Eastwood MP
Sorcha Eastwood MP
John Finucane MP
Mary Kelly Foy MP
Barry Gardiner MP
Mary Glindon MP
Claire Hanna MP
Chris Hazzard MP
Lord John Hendy KC
Dáire Hughes MP
Adnan Hussain MP
Kim Johnson MP
Afzal Khan MP
Ayoub Khan MP
Ben Lake MP
Ian Lavery MP
Chris Law MP
Graham Leadbitter MP
Brian Leishman MP
Clive Lewis MP
Baroness Ruth Lister
Seamus Logan MP
Cathal Mallaghan MP
Rachael Maskell MP
Paul Maskey MP
Andy McDonald MP
John McDonnell MP
Llinos Medi MP
Iqbal Mohamed MP
Abtisam Mohamed MP
Grahame Morris MP
Brendan O’Hara MP
Simon Opher MP
Yasmin Qureshi MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Liz Saville Roberts MP
Lord Prem Sikka
Lord Indarjit Singh
Cat Smith MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Jon Trickett MP
Baroness Pola Uddin
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
Nadia Whittome MP
Steve Witherden MP
Lord Tony Woodley

---

• Richard Burgon MP is speaking at an upcoming event marking UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 1pm Friday 29th November – with Hugh Lanning, Labour & Palestine, Louise Regan, Palestine Solidarity Campaign; plus guests from Palestine. Register here.
• This week, Parliamentarians called on the Government to make clear their commitment to international law after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli President Netanyahu. Read our report here.

MAGNUS NUNTIUS

Pope Francis enshrines synod's final report as church teaching

(RNS) — Bishops will be asked to report to the pope about how they are implementing synodality in their churches every five years.

Cardinals attend a Mass presided by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Nov. 24, 2024.

 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Claire Giangravé
November 26, 2024


VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In a note released Monday (Nov. 25), Pope Francis reinforced that the final report issued by delegates to the recently ended Synod on Synodality constitutes church teaching.

“Acknowledging the value of the synodal journey that we have made,” the pontiff wrote, “I now hand over the instructions contained in the Final Document to the entire Church, as a restitution of everything that has matured over these years through listening and discernment, and as an authoritative indication for its life and mission.”

“The Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter and thus I ask that it be accepted as such,” he added, using the church’s term for its teaching authority.

The synod was a three-year consultation with Catholics from the parish level to continental assemblies of bishops, and twice brought together bishops and a diverse group of other church leaders in Rome, including male and female religious and lay Catholics, once in October 2023 and again this past October. Working from ideas submitted by Catholic churchgoers, clergy and institutions around the world, the group was asked to discern “a new way of being church,” focused on inclusivity, transparency and welcoming.
RELATED: Pope Francis approves simpler, quicker procedures for papal funerals

Participants in the summit voted on a final document on Oct. 26, and Francis quickly ratified it. It contained a series of suggestions aimed at promoting a more horizontal structure for church leaders, more accountability for bishops and increased lay involvement, which Francis’ note makes clear is official church doctrine.

“The final document is official, magisterial teaching, and so no one can say that following the synodal path is optional,” said Brian Flanagan, an ecclesiologist and senior fellow at the Catholic LGBTQ outreach organization New Ways Ministry, commenting Tuesday on the pope’s note. Flanagan said that local churches are given freedom to implement the synod within their “different ecclesial, cultural, and local contexts.”

Participants attend a session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

But controversial issues raised by many Catholics during the synodal process, particularly the role of women and LGBTQ Catholics, were relegated to 10 study groups formed by theologians, canon lawyers and experts, charged with submitting their findings in 2025. Many, particularly those hoping that the synod would open the diaconate, a form of holy orders, to women were disappointed that the synod did not go further toward approving some reforms.

Commenting the final document, the pope said its teaching needed to be adapted to the realities of ministering to 1.3 billion Catholics. “Local churches and groups of churches are now called to enact, within the various contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document,” the pope said on Monday, stressing that the synodal process did not end with the Vatican synod in October.

“Pope Francis is trying to foster greater freedom of further discernment in a global ‘church of churches’ that is too diverse and complex for a heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all approach,”said Flanagan, who is also a research fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.

Francis said the document offers instruction on enacting its proposals, adding that many of its reforms will be a matter of implementing existing canon law, not rewriting it. When necessary, local churches can “creatively enact new ministries and missionary roles” and submit their experiences to the Vatican.

When the representatives of national bishops conferences meet the pope and Vatican officials at their required “ad limina” visits every five years, the pope said, “each bishop will make sure to report which choices were made at his local church regarding what is contained in the final document, which challenges they faced, and what were the fruits.”

Francis added that the General Secretariat of the Synod, along with other Vatican departments, will ensure that the individual national churches join the synodal journey.

GREEN CATHOLICISM

Pope Francis’ eco-village to promote ecological conversion at 2025 Jubilee

(RNS) — Pilgrims and visitors will walk through an immersive experience of the pope’s zero-waste farm and gardens.

Views of the Borgo Laudato Sì project at the Pontifical Villas’ Gardens

 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. (RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Claire Giangravé
November 29, 2024


VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Francis’ plan to build an eco-village in the historic gardens of Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the popes, will be complete for the 2025 Jubilee, allowing pilgrims and tourists to participate in an immersive experience of “ecological conversion,” organizers said.

In February 2023, after delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis finally launched his “Borgo Laudato Sì” project, which combines sustainable agriculture with environmentally friendly teaching programs aimed especially at vulnerable and marginalized groups. The pope’s ambitious project, inspired by his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Sì,” emphasizes sustainability, a circular economy and integral human ecology, which places the human being at the center and in connection with the environment.

The aim of the Borgo is to become self-sustainable through the use of solar panels and to achieve zero water waste. Pope Francis, who reinforced the care of creation in his 2023 apostolic exhortation “Laudato Deum,” describes water as a fundamental human right in his encyclical, and the Borgo will reflect this principle by using containers to collect rainwater and restructuring the plumbing of the garden’s many fountains to recycle water. Organizers are working to make all intra-garden transport electric. Plastic is banned within the garden.

The goal of the project “is to share with as many people as possible the beauty that there is in caring for creation,” explained Donatella Parisi, the communication coordinator of the teaching programs offered at the Borgo, speaking to a group of Vatican journalists who previewed the papal gardens on Wednesday (Nov. 27).

The lush gardens, about an hour’s drive south of Rome and extending across 140 acres on the slopes surrounding Lake Albano, were chosen by Roman Emperor Hadrian in 100 C.E. to build his monumental villa, and in the late 1500s, the popes adopted it as their summer residence to escape the bustle and heat of Rome.

The Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. 

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Pope Benedict XVI had a special appreciation for the summer estate and could often be seen walking through its manicured topiaries and shady groves. But Pope Francis made clear once he was elected that he had no intention of spending his time at the estate during the summer, or of taking any vacation time. He decided to restructure the estate, devoting over 60 acres of land to the Borgo project. The rest is UNESCO protected land, and the Vatican will limit itself to improving its sustainability and efficiency.

The Borgo will not impact Vatican finances, Parisi said, relying on partnerships with external companies and organizations to pay for the projects.

The Jubilee celebrations, which will last all of 2025, occur on the 10th anniversary of “Laudato Sì” and the 800th anniversary of the “Canticle of the Sun,” St. Francis of Assisi’s famed song honoring creation. The Borgo will inaugurate its farm and agriculture projects in February and will be among the suggested visits for the 30 million pilgrims expected to visit Rome for the Jubilee.

For decades, the popes oversaw a small farm in the garden that produced dairy products and a vineyard that made a modest “wine of the popes.” The Borgo plans to resume this activity, with an eye for sustainability. “It will adopt the most modern techniques to develop an agriculture system that will waste nothing,” Parisi explained, adding that they will not use pesticides.

The Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. 

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Olive oil will be made from the 1,000 olive trees of the Borgo, and the garden will produce its own honey and tea. The cow farm is set to become an interactive experience for visitors and will produce organic milk, cheese and even ice cream. As visitors walk through the garden, they will encounter 30 signs, each with one word — such as “water,” “silence” or “tree”— followed by a spiritual and environmental reflection, highlighting both the botanical and spiritual significance of the over 3,000 plant species in the garden.

Trees will guide the visitors through the park, Parisi said. They will be greeted by Mathusalem, a 700-year-old oak. “Trees have a lot to teach us about human relations,” she said, pointing to how they communicate in a horizontal model and warn each other of threats.

Mathusalem, a 700-year-old Holm Oak, at the Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. 

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

To highlight the pope’s support for the project, he recently announced that he will make the general director of the Borgo the Rev. Fabio Baggio, a cardinal at the upcoming consistory on Dec. 7. “It was a kind of seal of approval of the assignments that I had been given recently,” Baggio said shortly after the announcement in a video published by the Borgo.

“We want to prove that it’s possible to be stewards of creation today,” he said. “Small changes can lead to big changes, which can address human challenges.”

A large greenhouse will feature symbolic and ancient plants. Nearby, the Borgo will host teaching projects for groups wanting to learn more about the pope’s ecological vision at the Laudato Sì Center for Higher Education. In collaboration with the charitable cooperative Paths to Citizenship, the Borgo will teach vulnerable groups — including migrants and refugees, former prisoners, disabled individuals and victims of human trafficking — how to care for gardens and land in a sustainable way.

Views of the Borgo Laudato Sì project at the Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. (RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

Twenty people from these marginalized groups have already gone through the formation process, and 10 have found stable employment. The 20 experienced gardeners of the Borgo teach the classes. “It’s aimed at people who wish to prove that their vulnerability can be a strength for a community that wants to be welcoming and inclusive,” Parisi said.

Students and children will also be invited to participate in summer schools and projects to raise environmental awareness, and the Borgo will host cultural and artistic events. Businesses that want to be inspired by the principles of “Laudato Sì” will have the chance to participate as well, after passing a rigorous vetting process, Parisi explained.

Pope Francis selected the parish priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Rev. Manuel Dorantes, to become the director of the Borgo’s Center for Higher Education starting Dec. 1. In a statement, Dorantes expressed “humility and gratitude” for the appointment, which will take him away from his urban ministry to serve the marginalized groups welcomed at the Borgo.

Francis’ decision to turn the papal gardens into a sustainable haven has also been met with criticism. Ten families currently live and work on the land and feared, according to recent reports on Italian media, that the pope’s activity would upend their way of living.

The Pontifical Villas’ Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Wed., Nov. 27, 2024. 

(RNS photo/Claire Giangravé)

At least one of the families living and serving in the pope’s garden has decided to find jobs elsewhere. Parisi said the Borgo hopes to begin a “positive dialogue” with everyone involved. “The pope will leave no one on the street,” he said, responding to reports suggesting the families would soon be evicted.

Francis’ changes to the way of life of Castel Gandolfo were not immediately welcomed. The mayor of the town at the time said citizens and shop owners were “in mourning.” But 11 years into this pontificate, the town continues to thrive, attracting visitors who wish to experience its beauty, art and rustic cuisine all year round.

Organizers hope this newest project will attract faithful, especially young people, wishing to be inspired by Pope Francis’ vision for a sustainable, faith-filled and human-centered environment.

India's anti-conversion law is fine-tuned to allow policing of Christians

ARYAN SUPERMACISTS ARE ZIONIST ALLIES

NEW DELHI (RNS) — While they purport to protect poor Hindus from being exploited, anti-conversion laws have been found to have a more demonstrable effect of generating violence against Christians.

Leaders and hundreds of followers from various Christian denominations gather for a protest in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 26, 2024, objecting to what they describe as a mounting pattern of harassment, persecution and violence directed at India's Christian minority. (Photo courtesy United Christian Forum)

Mohammad Ali
November 29, 2024


NEW DELHI (RNS) — In July, more than two years after a Christian prayer service at his home was raided by police, a court in Uttar Pradesh in northern India acquitted Abhishek Gupta, a 41-year-old radiologist, of violating the state’s anti-conversion law.

Legally, his victory was more than a win; it was a rout: The judge in the case cleared Gupta and a co-defendant of trying to recruit Hindus into Utter Pradesh’s tiny Christian minority, but further ruled that the complainant, a member of a Hindu nationalist activist group, was not eligible to file the case and that police investigators were “the real culprits.”

But personally, the case has ruined Gupta, he said. “My entire family is Christian. I pray on Sundays. I don’t know why anyone would think I was converting anyone,” Gupta told RNS by phone from his home village in Gorakhpur, where he moved after he and his wife, a nurse, were asked to resign their jobs for fear their employers would be harassed by vigilantes. “We exhausted our life savings, and our life was turned upside down,” he said.

A study by Article 14, a watchdog group, revealed that in the first year after the original 2021 statute passed, half of the 101 reported violations came from third parties. Most of the third parties were Hindu nationalist outfits that were using the law to harass Christians.

RELATED: The fight against Hindu nationalism in the United States is multifaith, says a newly formed coalition

Gupta plans to file a civil case against the police and the Hindu nationalist group, called Hindu Jagaran Manch, that accused him. But the day Gupta was acquitted, the Uttar Pradesh government passed a series of amendments to the conversion statute, making converting others a crime punishable by life imprisonment, and empowering third parties to file complaints.


In this March 7, 2021, file photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally in Kolkata, India. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, are often accused of advancing Hindutva, a political ideology usually referred to as Hindu nationalism, that seeks to empower the country’s Hindu majority while relegating Muslims and Christians to second-class citizens. The BJP has historically presented Christians as a threat because of their history of missionary work in the country.

The BJP and the Hindutva group RSS that gave birth to the political party have historically accused evangelical Christian missionaries of misusing medical and educational welfare efforts to convert India’s vulnerable tribal and Dalit populations.

Eight of India’s 28 states have passed laws banning conversions, including Modi’s home state of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, whose chief minister, Adityanath, is a prominent yogi and a Hindu nationalist.

While they purport to protect poor Hindus from being exploited, anti-conversion laws have been found to have a more demonstrable effect of generating violence against Christians.

A 2019 paper by Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda, professors of public policy and global affairs at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, showed that the states that enforce anti-conversion laws are statistically more likely to give rise to violent persecution against Christians than states that have no such laws.

In 2003, allegations of conversion led to the brutal murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Stains and his two young sons, Philip and Timothy, who were burned alive by members of Bajrang Dal, an RSS affiliate.

There have been 733 incidents of violence against Christians in the past two years, according to the United Christian Forum, with 585 such incidents through September of 2024 alone. Most have been spurred by false allegations of conversion.

Leaders and hundreds of followers from various Christian denominations gather for a protest in New Delhi, India, on Oct. 26, 2024, objecting to what they describe as a mounting pattern of harassment, persecution and violence directed at India’s Christian minority. (Photo courtesy United Christian Forum)

UCF officials told RNS they are preparing to meet with senior ministers in the Modi government to request that the government issue an advisory to the state governments to repeal the anti-conversion laws.

Pramod Singh of the Christian Legal Association, which has been overseeing the legal defense of hundreds of Christians across India, called the amendments to the UP anti-conversion law “absolute madness.”

“Can a citizen of India be harassed by a mob like this?” he said. “Now, anyone can barge inside your home with the police, accusing you of converting people when you are praying in the privacy of your home.”

He said the law imposes undue limitations on individuals’ ability to choose their faith and puts the onus of proving their innocence on the accused, not the police or the complainants.

But Vivek Premi, a BJP official in Uttar Pradesh, defended the law on religious freedom grounds. “Everyone has a right to pray as per their religious tradition, but it is totally unacceptable to use your way of praying to lure anyone and convert them.”

Premi, a former member of the Hindu nationalist youth organization Bajrang Dal, has used WhatsApp and Facebook to create a network of hundreds of volunteers who alert him of conversion.

The National Council of Churches of India has strongly objected to the new Uttar Pradesh measure, saying it violates the Indian Constitution, which supports religious freedom of Indian citizens.

The Rev. Asir Ebenezer, general secretary of NCCI, said the amendment encroaches on the constitutional right to freely practice and profess religion, a fundamental human right recognized by the Indian Constitution.
RELATED: An anti-Hindutva teach-in spurs debate about Hindu representation on college campuses

The UP government, however, described the ordinance as a “good legislation” necessary to “check cases of deceitful, fraudulent and forceful conversions.”

A senior state official told RNS, “The law does not espouse any motive to single out any religion or faith. Such legislation was necessary to prevent only those marriages that are done with the sole purpose of conversion. The law, in fact, safeguards human rights by preventing fake, fraudulent or deceitful premises of marriage.”

PROTESTANT CAPITALI$M U$A

After exiting the Christian music industry, these artists engage religion on their terms

(RNS) — After interrogating their beliefs, some onetime CCM artists are revisiting faith in some fashion, trying on elements they’d previously discarded and writing music for listeners who might be more spiritual than religious.

People participate in the Mystic Hymnal Songwriter’s retreat, organized by Michael Gungor, at the Glen Eyrie Retreat Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in late Sept. 2024. (Photo by Jason Hogan)

Kathryn Post
October 28, 2024


(RNS) — When former Christian artist Michael Gungor first hosted a new spiritual community in Los Angeles this year, worship began not with an organ blast or sermon series video promo, but with blowing bubbles.

Appropriately dubbed “Play,” Gungor envisioned the event — which featured painting, dancing, corporate singing and meditation, but no religious creed — as a celebration that “redefines worship.”

“I want to be in a room and see each other’s eyes and smell each other and hear each other singing out of key. This is something we’ve always done as a species,” Gungor said. “I think there’s something important, really grounding and human about it.”

Gungor’s idea of worship wasn’t always so experimental. In packed churches and concert venues, thousands once sang along to the band Gungor’s 2010 hit “Beautiful Things,” a song that became a permanent fixture on the setlists of youth group bands. But in 2014, Gungor’s critiques of the Christian music industry — as well as his public musings on Genesis as a poem rather than historic fact — led to his exclusion from the Christian music business. Now, after a long process of wrestling with his inherited evangelical faith — documented on his podcast “The Liturgists” — Gungor says he’s more interested in embracing the current lived moment than being tethered to a set of religious beliefs, though he describes Christianity as his “native tongue.”

Michael Gungor. (Photo by Lily Glass)

For those like him who have “deconstructed” — a popular term today for the process of questioning and sometimes letting go of the teachings of one’s faith tradition — Gungor still sees a desire for ritual and for communal gathering. He recognizes the power of the collective — and aims to write non-dogmatic music for corporate, if not religious, worship.

“We’ve gotten rid of some of the shame-based stuff and some of the dogmas that were oppressing and hurting a lot of us, but now we’re kind of just wandering around alone … What are we missing? Is there anything we can find back here?”

In the last two decades, several Contemporary Christian Music powerhouses — Audrey Assad, DC Talk’s Kevin Max, Hawk Nelson’s Jon Steingard, among several others — have publicly exited the CCM industry. For many of these musicians, questioning the industry’s theological parameters meant becoming unwelcome in mainstream CCM spaces. Years later, after interrogating their beliefs, a handful of these onetime CCM artists are revisiting faith in some fashion, trying on elements they’d previously discarded and writing music for listeners who might be more spiritual than religious. In many ways, these artists’ break from institutional Christianity and hunger for a broader form of belonging exemplifies national religious trends.

One of the earliest CCM artists to publicly depart the industry was Jennifer Knapp, who burst onto the Christian music scene with her debut album “Kansas” in 1998. But while Knapp was drawn to Christianity’s teachings on human dignity and divine love, she soon realized that the Christianity promoted in the CCM world drew hard lines around who belonged, and who didn’t. Her lyrics about the Christ’s humanity and questions about the necessity of substitutionary atonement — the idea that Jesus died as a substitute for humanity — began to draw criticism.

“I was already getting critiqued at the time and being basically told you weren’t a Christian anymore,” said Knapp. “And then I was like, oh, well, I’m wondering what you guys are going to think about my sexual orientation.”


In 2002, Knapp “pushed the eject button” on the Christian music scene and her faith. When she returned in 2010, it was as an openly gay musician no longer publishing music under the Christian banner.

Jennifer Knapp in 2024. (Courtesy photo)

For longtime Bethel Music recording artist William Matthews, it was in part the rigid homogeneity of the Christian Music industry that ultimately led him to walk away. Raised in a Black Church of God context, he came to Christian music by way of spontaneous worship models promoted by Morningstar Ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri. Though skeptical about the existence of hell, Matthews, who spent his evenings watching Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, largely felt at home in the prophetic corner of the Christian music world. In the early 2010s, he led worship at the conferences of charismatic leader Lance Wallnau, now known for his pro-Trump prophecies.

But by 2015, Williams found non-violent Christian theology a more compelling approach. He watched as anti-immigrant rhetoric and opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement reached a fever pitch in evangelical circles and grew frustrated with what he saw as the Christian music industry’s “conservative bias.” After spending nearly 15 years thinking he’d been bridging cultures as one of the only Black people in white-majority evangelical spaces, he was shattered to discover that many of those he’d grown close to seemed ambivalent toward racism.

“That led me to really walk away from Christian music,” said Matthews.

He attributes the CCM industry’s apparent conservative slant to its target audience of “white, suburban, Midwest or Southern moms.” In catering to that demographic, Christian radio executives and Christian bookstores are known to censor songs or albums that cross conservative theological or political boundaries.

The Mystic Hymnal Songwriter’s retreat at the Glen Eyrie Retreat Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in late Sept. 2024. (Photo by Jason Hogan)

“What the CCM industry, or Christian music, is selling is security,” said musician Derek Webb, founding member of the Christian rock band Caedmon’s Call. “The people who run or appear to be gatekeeping the CCM industry are not doing that as a means of holding some kind of moral plumb line.” Webb believes the pushback usually has more to do with a company’s bottom line than personal convictions.

Despite the Christian music industry’s restrictions, exiting the industry often means leaving behind record labels, the Christian music festival circuit and radio play and requires promoting music to a market that’s much less defined. While some boundary-pushing Christian artists like Semler and Flamy Grant, two queer artists who’ve scored top spots on the Itunes Christian charts, have found success via social media and streaming platforms, many onetime Christian artists are labeled “too Christian” for mainstream music spaces and “too secular” for explicitly religious ones.

“It’s this kind of no man’s land, algorithmically,” said Gungor. “I still have more listeners of ‘Beautiful Things,’ than anything else I make.”

Creating music for a more nebulous spiritual audience might not guarantee commercial success, but if it means creating music that feels authentic, for many former Christian artists, it’s worth the tradeoff.
RELATED: Ancient ‘heresies’ set to Gungor’s music in new Pelagius musical

Known for his provocative approach to songwriting, Webb says his lyrics cause him to both “shed” about a quarter or third of his audience every 18 months and gain new listeners. After 30 years in the music industry, he’s comfortable with the ebb and flow. In 2017, three years after his divorce from fellow Christian artist Sandra McCracken, Webb released “Fingers Crossed,” an album documenting his departure from Christianity. But though he still considers himself an agnostic, his latest album, “The Jesus Hypothesis,” grapples more explicitly with Christian themes.


Derek Webb. (Photo by Emily Tingley)

“I wanted to go back into the rubble of where all this was pulled down and burned down, and where I was in here with an ax before, I want to come back in with a scalpel,” he said of the album.

Webb’s return to the debris of his Christian faith coincided with a return to Caedmon’s Call, which recently produced a re-record of its self-titled debut album in honor of its 25th anniversary. The 2022 release is emblematic of the ways several former Christian artists have been coming back to reclaim elements of their religious heritage.

More than a decade since her return to the music world, in May, Knapp offered a re-release of her first album, “Kansas 25.” She graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2018, and now views Christianity as a source of wisdom whose teachings on liberation have fueled her own LGBTQ+ advocacy. The outpouring of support for “Kansas 25,” Knapp said, caused her to see her early music in a new light.

“If ever I had any bitterness about my role inside of evangelical Christianity, or concern that maybe I tied people down, exposed them to too much religious trauma because of the conservative evangelical space that I came from, this was a real joy to be able to witness, that our faith can teach us something, and it can expand beyond some of the harms sometimes that our smaller religious spaces offer to us,” said Knapp.

Gungor’s next project has emerged from his desire to see communal songs that trade religious lyrics for more universal themes, like love and unity. This fall, he gathered with over 20 other songwriters in Colorado for a songwriting retreat to begin writing and recording music for the project, called The Mystic Hymnal.

William Matthews. (Photo by Lina Khatib)

After a long hiatus from Christian music, William Matthews, too, is releasing new, honest songs about spirituality. Earlier this year, he was invited by the evangelical authors of a recent anti-culture war statement to write and produce a corresponding album intended to call the church out of political idolatry. Titled “Return to Love,” the September album was recorded by artists from a range of theological and political perspectives and is designed for those who are “full of faith or struggling to believe.”

“I’m always in the middle of wrestling. Does church even matter to my life?” said Matthews, who leads worship at a progressive LGBTQ-affirming church in Los Angeles where former evangelicals regularly attend. “I will say, in my life, I’ve somehow always managed to come back. Maybe it’s cyclical. You’re always returning home or to a sense of home or to a better expression of home.”

RELATED: CCM industry stays silent on LGBTQ inclusion as queer artists carve inroads