China Falsely Denies Disinformation Campaign Targeting Canada’s Prime Minister

Lin Yang

Printed Chinese and Canada flags are seen in this illustration

Chinese Embassy in Canada spokesperson

“Canada was a downright liar and disseminator of false information….Beijing has never meddled in another nation’s domestic affairs.”
Source: Chinese Embassy in Canada website Oct 24, 2023

FALSE

On October 23, Canada’s Foreign Ministry said it had discovered a disinformation campaign, likely tied to China, aimed at discrediting dozens of Canadian politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The ministry said the campaign took place in August and September. It used new and hijacked social media accounts to bulk-post messages targeting Canadian politicians.



A Chinese Embassy in Canada spokesperson dismissed Canada’s accusation as baseless.

“Canada was a downright liar and disseminator of false information… Beijing has never meddled in another nation’s domestic affairs.”

That is false.

The Canadian government's report is based on an investigation conducted by its Rapid Response Mechanism cyber intelligence unit in cooperation with the social media platforms.

The investigation exposed China’s disinformation campaign dubbed “Spamouflage” -- for its tactic of using “a network of new or hijacked social media accounts that posts and increases the number of propaganda messages across multiple social media platforms – including Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Medium, Reddit, TikTok, and LinkedIn.”

Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) Canada is part of the Rapid Response Mechanism set up by G7 countries in 2018 “to identify and respond to diverse and evolving foreign threats to democracy.”

Beginning in early August 2023, a “bot network left thousands of comments in English and French on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts of MPs, claiming a critic of the Chinese Communist Party in Canada had accused the various MPs of criminal and ethical violations,” RRM Canada reported.

FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. (REUTERS/Kacper Pempel)

The bot network was likely part of the network previously identified by the United States Department of Justice and others and known as “Spamouflage,” which technology companies and threat intelligence experts have connected to China. In Canada, its goal was to discredit at least 50 targeted MPs and silence criticism of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed to Polygraph.info that the company was in touch with the Canadian government about this campaign, “much of which was disabled by our automated systems working to find spam and other violations.”

Canada’s Toronto Star news site reported it had independently verified that most of the comments were posted during Chinese business hours and that many of the comments had “grammatical and punctuation errors or used uncommon phrases.”

Albert Zhang, an analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute specializing in foreign cyber interference, told the Toronto Star that the campaign is aimed to “undermine Canadian public trust in their government.”



While the Chinese Embassy in Canada claims that “Beijing has never meddled in another nation’s domestic affairs,” China has in fact repeatedly conducted online disinformation campaigns to swing public opinion abroad.

The RRM Canada report noted that the bot network involved in the Spamouflage campaign was also linked to spreading the false claim that the Hawaiian wildfires earlier this year were caused by a U.S. weather weapon test, as well as disinformation about Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was destroyed in a 2011 earthquake. Polygraph.info has reported on both of those disinformation campaigns.


Meta also told Polygraph.info that it has reported a total of seven covert influence operations from China since 2017, with over half disrupted in the last year.

A Chinese group identified as Dragonbridge has run a series of fake social media grassroots campaigns to influence U.S. public opinion, cybersecurity firm Mandiant reported in 2022. The Chinese government spent millions of dollars on the Dragonbridge disinformation campaigns, including cross-platform posts designed to demoralize voters and sabotage the November 2022 U.S. midterm elections, Mandiant said.

Microsoft reported in September that a network of Chinese-controlled social media accounts was seeking to influence U.S. voters by using artificial intelligence. According to Microsoft, the campaign to create politically charged content in English and “mimic U.S. voters” began in March of this year.

Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations think-tank and author of “Beijing’s Global Media Offensive,” wrote that Beijing has “attempted to intervene in elections through coordinated information and disinformation campaigns designed to promote candidates sympathetic to the Chinese government and its actions.”

It has done so in Australia, New Zealand and, most notably, Taiwan.

On September 28, the U.S. State Department released a report detailing how China is seeking to reshape the global information environment through manipulating information.

“Beijing uses false or biased information to promote positive views of the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At the same time, the PRC suppresses critical information that contradicts its desired narratives on issues such as Taiwan, its human rights practices, the South China Sea, its domestic economy, and international economic engagement,” the report said.

 

The Ideological Role of Post-Maidan Ukrainian Cinema

Elzbieta Olzacka

Elżbieta Olzacka is Assistant Professor in the Center for Comparative Studies of Civilizations at Jagiellonian University working on cultural mobilization and the dynamics of national identity construction in Ukraine during the Russian invasion. 

The article on which this post is based, “The Development of National Cinema in Post-Maidan Ukraine,” appeared in the July 2022 issue of East European Politics and Societies.

Above: Ukrainian film producers onstage during the 2022 European Film Awards. Source

In the wake of the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014, Ukraine experienced a remarkable cultural renaissance. The film industry likewise felt a surge of innovation. Suddenly, Ukrainian filmmakers felt new wind in their sails after years of constant hardship. This creative fervor was fueled by significant state support for cinema at levels unprecedented in independent Ukraine. The Ukrainian State Film Agency (Derzhkino for short) was restructured. New, more democratic standards replaced the old film financing system, which relied heavily on bribery and personal connections. 

Funding for Dzerzhkino has grown significantly. The budget for 2022, before the full-scale Russian invasion, was planned to be UAH 1.6 billion, compared to UAH 63 million in 2014. The outcome was a significant increase in the number of Ukrainian films being made. Finally, efforts to promote and distribute Ukrainian productions in domestic and global markets have led to Ukrainian films being screened in theaters, distributed via international streaming platforms, and recognized at festivals worldwide.

The development of new film awards demonstrates domestic cinema’s rising prestige. While presenting the newly founded Kinokolo award in 2014, Serhiǐ Trymbach, head of the National Filmmakers’ Union of Ukraine, disarmingly claimed that had previously been no need to grant an annual award for the greatest Ukrainian film because there were simply too few films. Ukraine also has its own Oscar equivalent, the Golden Dzyga Film Award (Zolota dzyga), presented annually since 2017 by the Ukrainian Film Academy.

At the same time, post-Maidan cinema is made in a country at war, with strong support from a government pursuing a military agenda. Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 and has since backed pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east and south. The so-called “anti-terrorist operation” in the Donbas swiftly morphed into more traditional warfare.

The war affected both the subjects filmmakers chose to tackle, and the film policy pursued by the state. Derzhkino’s head in 2014–2019, Pylyp Illienko, did not try to hide the political motivations behind the government’s decision to raise funds for the growing Ukrainian cinema. “The film industry is even more effective than guns because it’s fighting for the mind,” he said.

In the conditions of the hybrid war Russia has waged against Ukraine since 2014, “tele-decolonization” has risen to the top of the agenda for Ukrainian authorities. The aim is to limit the impact of Russian propaganda promoting Russia’s version of events in Ukraine and to prevent Ukrainians from viewing themselves through Russian eyes.

Bolstering these efforts were actions by activist groups like  Vidsich, which in 2014 called for a boycott of Russian television and movies. Many theaters in Ukraine joined the boycott and stopped showing Russian films. State regulations followed the actions of the activists. Already in October 2014, Derzhkino published its first list of banned films. These movies either featured actors who openly supported Vladimir Putin’s policies or who promoted the power structures of the “aggressor state.” A law that seeks to shield Ukrainian public spaces from “hostile content” went into effect a few months later. All Russian films made after 2013 were included, not just the ones listed above.

The (re)construction of “national cinema” became the second focus of post-Maidan film policy in Ukraine. Derzhkino headPylyp Illienko took this assignment very seriously.  As an activist in Euromaidan and a politician affiliated with the nationalist “Svoboda” party, he felt duty-bound to make Ukrainian cinema more Ukrainian. The March 2017 implementation of the law “On State Support for Cinema in Ukraine” provided the legal framework necessary to make these ambitions a reality.

The new legislation precisely delineates the criteria determining what films count as “national” and are eligible to receive state support. Moreover, it clearly and concisely defines what constitutes a “national film.” Every film that applies for a state subsidy receives a “national film certificate” once the Council for State Support for Cinema has evaluated it. Ukrainian or Crimean Tatar must account for 90% of all dialogue, and the film must have been produced on Ukrainian territory with the cooperation of Ukrainian filmmakers and actors.

In practice, therefore, films made in the Russian language were excluded from the category of “national cinema,” causing significa controversy among filmmakers. Most vocal in their opposition were creators whose first language is Russian, like director Sergei Loznitsa, who called the idea of dubbing his 2018 film Donbas in Ukrainian “strange.” First, he notes that, in the area where the action takes place, people speak Russian, meaning dubbing in Ukrainian would sound unnatural. Second, in his opinion, such a change would be unnecessary because “everyone understands Russian well,” the language being “absolutely clear and accessible to all who live here.”

However, many people responsible for shaping cultural policy in Ukraine now consider this argument irrelevant. They think cinema is a fundamental tool for systematically promoting Ukrainian language and culture. In fact, the new law’s introduction highlighted the shortcomings of Ukrainian film studios, which struggled to provide Ukrainian soundtracks and dubbing or to find actors with sufficient proficiency in Ukrainian.

Some in the film industry also voiced concerns about the growing role of the state in the arts. Illienko made it clear in an interview with “Ukraïns′ka Pravda” that the Derzhkino he managed was eager to fund movies to help Ukrainians develop national pride and a modern identity. Thematic competitions were used to promote films about the Ukrainian national liberation movement of the twentieth century and about the contemporary Russian invasion. In 2018, a special Ministry of Culture program funding  “patriotic films” with a budget equal to Derzhkino’s total budget further fanned the flames.  

Despite these controversies, recent Ukrainian films are worth a look. The new Ukrainian cinema is simultaneously establishing a new cultural milieu in Ukraine and making significant inroads into the European cinematic landscape.

The Taliban’s Quest for Foreign Funding Starts With China

The Taliban are focusing on the countries that are most likely to be interested in investing in Afghanistan, notwithstanding its human rights record or potential for violence.

By Aarish U. Khan

DIPLOMAT 
October 25, 2023

Credit: Depositphotos

While the West is adamant about isolating the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, owing to its human rights record, the latter is having some success in finding alternative avenues of economic cooperation. The most promising support seems to be coming from China.

The Taliban have for some time been looking to formally join the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to benefit from Chinese investment in the mining sector of Afghanistan. Taliban’s Acting Minister for Commerce and Industry Haji Nooruddin Azizi traveled to Beijing to attend the Belt and Road Forum held on October 17-18 to mark the 10th year of the multi-billion-dollar project. Azizi shared with journalists that he had made progress with his Chinese counterparts to bring Afghanistan into the BRI fold and revive investments in projects like the Mes Aynak copper mines and the Qashqari oil field.

The Mes Aynak copper mines, located in Logar province of Afghanistan, are believed to have untapped copper deposits to the tune of $50 billion. A Chinese joint venture named MCC had won a 30-year contract for the extraction of copper from the site in 2008, during the term of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. However, the project could not kick off because of security issues and was abandoned in 2014. Since coming back into power in August 2021, the Taliban have revived efforts to reattract Chinese FDI to the project. While the two sides have been in negotiations over the mines for over a year now, differences over taxation and royalties remain to be addressed.

The Qashqari oil field, on the other hand, is already operational. Daily extraction currently stands at 300 tons per day. The Taliban government, however, is hoping to expand production to 1,000 tons per day. To that end, the Taliban are wooing the Chinese National Oil Company to invest another $162 million this year and $540 million in the next three years.

While human rights concerns remain the main hurdle to international cooperation with the Taliban, Chinese pronouncements and actions suggest that Beijing is not likely to treat them as an obstacle in establishing economic linkages with Afghanistan. In April, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a position paper on Afghanistan, pledged not to interfere in Afghanistan’s internal matters, including religious beliefs and national customs. Then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang added that women’s rights weren’t the “root-cause of Afghanistan’s problems.”

Beijing backed up its statements of sympathy and support toward the Taliban by appointing a full-time ambassador to Afghanistan in September, something no other country has done.

Given the context, Afghanistan under the Taliban could soon be joining the BRI. Becoming part of the BRI will not only open avenues of international economic cooperation for the Taliban but also provide diplomatic validation by a major global power.

Like Beijing, Doha — which mediated the 2021 agreement resulting in the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan — is also economically engaged in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, contracts worth $200 million were signed between the Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, one company from Qatar, and two domestic companies for the development of the Jabal Saraj cement plant in Parwan province. The agreement was the result of 10-month-long negotiations with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, according to the involved Qatari company.

The Taliban are also engaged in economic diplomacy with neighboring Iran and Turkmenistan. The Afghanistan Railway Authority recently signed a contract with the Iranian Railway Consortium for the operation of the Khaf-Herat railway line. The Taliban have also roped in a domestic company to finance the remaining portion of the 500kv transmission line from Turkmenistan to Kabul at a cost of $75 million to import energy from Turkmenistan. The project, which was also started in 2016 with the financial support of the Asian Development Bank, was not completed during former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s term.

Human rights concerns, especially the treatment of women, and the Taliban’s connections with global terrorist networks are going to keep the West wary of economic engagement with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. As a result, the Taliban are starting with the countries that are most likely to be interested in engaging in economic diplomacy and actual investments in Afghanistan notwithstanding its human rights record or potential for violence. The Taliban have achieved a remarkable level of success with the Chinese, which could not only assist in bolstering the domestic and international legitimacy of the regime but could also play a role in improving the lives of Afghans at a time of international isolation.


It is yet to be seen, however, whether China’s economic cooperation with the Taliban is going to save the Afghans from human rights violations and the region and the world from terrorism emanating from Afghanistan – or make matters worse on both counts. 

GUEST AUTHOR
Aarish U. Khan is a research analyst at the Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan.

India resumes issuing visas to Canadians after spat

an hour ago



Photo used for illustrative purpose.India will reopen visa services for Canadians, its embassy in Ottawa announced on Wednesday, a move that could reduce tensions in a bitter dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Relations between India and Canada plunged after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegations New Delhi called "absurd."

Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.


Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation into his death and expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair.

New Delhi expressed outrage, and reacted by taking countermeasures such as shutting down visa services for Canadians.

"After a considered review of the security situation that takes into account some of the recent Canadian measures in this regard, it has been decided to resume visa services," the Indian High Commission said in a statement.

Canada announced last week it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India as a result of the row.

New Delhi was about to revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada's diplomats and their families, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others.

The Indian government had also advised its nationals not to travel to parts of Canada "given the increase in anti-Indian activities."

Nijjar, who emigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple near Vancouver in June.

Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two per cent of the country's population, with a vocal minority calling for creating a separate state called Khalistan.

The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India, where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the state of Punjab in the 1980s.

Hundreds of Sikh protesters rallied outside Indian diplomatic missions in Canada last month, burning flags and trampling on pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Agence France-Presse

Punjab’s ‘Aeroplane’ temple: Where India-Canada tensions meet Sikh anxiety

Thousands of families in Punjab — who have migrated for the Big Canadian Dream for decades — have found themselves left in the lurch by the transnational crisis.

Bringing small toy airplanes to the Sikh temple Talhan Gurdwara has become an urban legend amongst the Sikh community. Visitors bring their small planes as a push for luck in getting Canadian Visa applications approved. 

Photo courtesy Talhan Sahib Instagram

October 16, 2023

RNN

By Yashraj Sharma

JALANDHAR, India (RNS) — Standing near a fragile brick wall of a Sikh temple in the scorching heat, a 23-year-old farmer hovers over the toy airplanes stacked on a wooden plank. Life has taken an unexpected turn in the last few weeks for Tejinder, and he has pinned his last hopes at a Gurdwara on an offering: a mini Boeing 747.

Tejinder, who requested to be identified only by his first name, has had his plans to move thrown into disarray by the diplomatic row between India and Canada. On a video call with his mother, who lives in Toronto with the rest of the family, he told her, “I just don’t know how to get out of here now.”

She replied: “To hell with Trudeau and his useless tongue.”

On Sept. 18, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking to the House of Commons, accused “agents of the government of India” for the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader and a Canadian citizen, who was slain by masked gunmen in June, near Vancouver, British Columbia. New Delhi dismissed the accusations as “absurd” and lashed out at Canada for offering what it says is a “safe haven” to people India accuses of terrorism, including Nijjar.

In a quickly escalating situation, both countries expelled top diplomats and halted the trade talks; India suspended all visa applications for Canadians, which includes a large Sikh diaspora, and warned of “growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes.”

Since Tejinder’s mother moved to Canada three years ago, he has been scheming to follow her. However, his most recent visa application got rejected again. “I just want to live with her,” he said, standing on the shining marble porch of his two-story home in a village outside Jalandhar, in Punjab. He lives alone here.

Thousands of families in Punjab — who have migrated for the Big Canadian Dream for decades — have found themselves left in the lurch by the transnational crisis. An elder cousin of Tejinder, who lives next door, is supposed to be married in December. While the venues and caterers have been booked, the family that remains in India isn’t very sure of the Canadian bride-to-be’s presence.

On Thursday, Tejinder visited the Talhan Gurdwara, a Sikh temple located outside Jalandhar. As urban legend goes, a toy airplane offered at the 150-year-old Gurdwara, popularly known as the “Visa Temple,” gives flight to the dreams of moving abroad.
RELATED: India’s visa temples attract devotees aspiring to go abroad


Away from the city’s bustle, the Talhan Gurdwara is surrounded by lush fields of wheat and sugarcane, checkered by narrow streams. The shops that line up in front of the temple have Canadian flags in every form: head scarfs, key chains, jute bags, bracelets and, of course, on toy airplanes.

Thousands of devotees line up every morning outside the gurdwara wishing for a divine intervention in their visa applications. Gurdeep Singh, a 40-year-old cloth retailer from Jalandhar, woke up with the sun Thursday to visit the temple with his wife and a close friend. Fourteen members of his family, including his twin sons, age 5, live in Canada.


Mounds of toy airplanes pile up on tables inside Talhan Gurdwara.

 Photo courtesy Talhan Sahib Instagram

“I’m the only person left behind with my wife,” he said, the white hair in his beard flashing in the sunlight. “Our children tell us about the clean cities and a better quality of life there. I’ve also applied for the visa.”

He climbs up a floor and walks toward the main prayer hall of the temple, where the devotees bow down to the holy Scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, and offer mini Boeings — despite a ban on the practice by the head Golden Temple, in Amritsar. In a corner of the hall, lit by low-hanging chandeliers, sits Balwinder Singh, his eyes tightly closed.

“It is my birthday today,” the 22-year-old says later, walking out of the hall. He didn’t wish for a visa. Not today. “My sister moved to Canada two years ago. I prayed for her well being in these circumstances.”

The exodus to Canada has a long history for Sikhs in Punjab, Paramjit Singh Judge, a retired professor with a doctorate in political sociology and former president of the Indian Sociological Society, told Religion News Service. “The migration started toward the end of 19th century, a practice that’s 125 years old,” he says.

“In India, the Sikhs, or Punjab, are not part of the mainstream politics,” he said. India’s 543-member parliament has only 13 representatives from the Punjab state. Whereas, Judge said, in Canada, which is home to the largest Sikh population outside India — roughly 2% of the national population — they are an influential constituency.

An agrarian crisis caused by overuse of soil, controversial farm laws and a rampant drug crisis has paralyzed Punjab’s youth for over a decade. A shot at life abroad is often the brightest possibility for many, said Balwinder Singh, the devotee.

“Last year, I learned to repair the ACs (air conditioners), but nobody is willing to pay me here,” he said. “In Canada, there is money and respect for skilled labor. It is better than corporate jobs in India.”

Singh’s sister works part time at Tim Hortons, a popular Canadian coffeehouse chain. His gallery is full of her photos in well-lit frames. The young man was brought up in a colony designated for retired armed forces personnel in Jalandhar. “It is not the same place anymore,” he said. “Everyone has moved abroad in the last few years. First children, then parents and now grandparents. It is like a ghost town sometimes.”

Talhan Gurdwara, a Sikh temple located outside Jalandhar, is home to a rising tradition involving toy airplanes. 

Photo courtesy Talhan Sahib Instagram

The killing of Nijjar, the Canadian-Sikh leader, and the following reported warnings to Sikh activists globally has swept the diaspora with anxiety. Nijjar, who worked as a plumber, also was an activist at his local gurdwara, organizing for a symbolic referendum for an independent Sikh state in India, known as Khalistan.

In India, the movement goes back decades and is punctuated by several bloody incidents, including the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi after the assassination of India’s then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had ordered the crackdown on Sikh militants in the Golden Temple that left over 400 killed. In 1985, Canada had its own tragedy, when a plane bombing killed 329 people onboard, including 268 Canadian citizens and 24 Indian citizens. A Sikh militant and Khalistani separatist group was implicated in the attack, with one Sikh immigrant from India pleading guilty.

RELATED: Why India fears the Khalistan movement and how Canada became embroiled in diplomatic spat over killing of Sikh separatist

The separatist movement is banned in India, and polls show most Sikhs are proud of their Indian identity. Even so, the Modi government has swiftly clamped down on any hint of the ideology, considering it a threat to its Hindutva politics.

“Our activists, young people who dare to talk, are in jails,” said Tejinder, a devotee at the Talhan Gurdwara. He categorically denies he supports the idea of Khalistan. “India is never going to let that happen. But I want to get out of here at first chance. We don’t even get basic rights.”

Vinod Kumar, the chairperson of the Punjab University’s sociology department, argues that India’s response to the Canadian accusations was “immature.”

“It was also a show of Hindutva strongmen politics to the Sikh population in India,” he said. And, above all, he adds, it was a move by both sides to secure their next election, with both Trudeau and Modi appeasing their own constituencies.

“The biggest losers in the outcome of this diplomatic crisis would be the Sikh diaspora,” said Kumar, who has expertise in the Sikh diaspora and migration. “The Punjabis who are eyeing to settle in Canada will end up suffering here. This will also lead to discrimination against the diaspora abroad itself.”

The flight of toy airplanes sacrificed at the Gurdwara ends next door at an extravagantly large hall for community lunch. Jagdeep Singh, 45, sits guard at the gate, giving away the airplanes to every kid he can. He has been doing this every day for the last seven years. But he has never offered one for himself, he says. Neither has he ever set a foot outside of Punjab.

His family of four lives off $120 every month and some food allowances from the Gurdwara. “I recently started sending my children to a private school so they can learn English,” he said. He hopes to send his children to Canada — a multi-thousand dollar affair.

“If this Gurdwara wills, my children would take a flight, too, someday.”

Vatican summit tackles women’s ordination with a nod from Pope Francis

The synod on synodality gets the ball rolling on the question of female clergy, but the final decision will be up to Pope Francis

.
Pope Francis poses for a family picture with the participants of the Synod of Bishops' 16th General Assembly in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Pope Francis is convening a global gathering of bishops and laypeople to discuss the future of the Catholic Church. 

(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

October 23, 2023
By Claire Giangravé

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Discussions about women’s ordination to the priesthood have become livelier in the waning days of the synod on synodality, Pope Francis’ month-long summit to discuss pressing issues facing the church. While there’s a consensus that women’s roles need to be promoted, participants remain divided on how to achieve that goal.

The Vatican’s synod, which started on Oct. 4 and goes until Oct. 29, is the result of a two-year-long process engaging Catholics at every level, from faithful at the local parish to continental leaders. Now, the 364 lay and religious participants present at the synod are poised to address questions ranging from sexual abuse to LGBTQ welcoming to hierarchal structures. Few topics have captured the attention of attendants more than the question of women’s roles in the church.

Participants were encouraged to maintain the confidentiality of the small working group discussions taking place at the synod. But speaking to Religion News Service, attendants said the question of the ordination of women remains fairly evenly split, with some bishops leaning against and religious sisters leading the charge in favor.

In many ways, this synod has seen many firsts for women. For the first time a woman, Sr. Nathalie Becquart, is undersecretary of the synod office at the Vatican. Sister Maria de los Dolores Valencia Gomez, a sister of St. Joseph of Lyon, is the first woman to preside over a synod. In the months leading up to the summit, the resources of the Women’s Ordination Worldwide advocacy group were made available for the first time on the synod website.

A record 54 women are participating, and voting, during the synod. In the past, synod events were exclusively attended by bishops and a few priests who acted as secretaries and writers.

Synod discussions so far have addressed the topics of women’s ordination to the priesthood, the female diaconate and the creation of alternative ministries that would allow women to have an equal representation in the traditionally male dominated institution.

Whereas the pope has shut the door to the female priesthood in the past, Francis recently opened an unprecedented opportunity for debate on the topic. Answering a series of questions, or dubia, sent by conservative prelates regarding the synodal discussions, Francis said there is no “clear and authoritative doctrine” on the question of ordination, and it can be “a subject of study.”

Pope Francis created two commissions to study the possibility of the female diaconate, which would allow women to preach at Mass and perform marriages and baptisms but not celebrate the Eucharist or hear confessions. Opponents fear allowing women to the diaconate would open the door to women being ordained as priests.

Some participants at the synod, and Catholics looking in from the outside, have voiced the possibility of finding alternative roles and ministries for women in the church. They argue that if the church is going to defeat clericalism, a term used to describe the special status held by Catholic clergy, then the solution is not to ordain more people. While synod officers, and the pope, have encouraged synod participants to be creative in the search for solutions to the church’s woes, there have so far been few inspired solutions to the much-needed promotion of women’s roles.

For some synod participants, the solution is already there: allowing women to become priests or deacons. A significant push toward this solution came from the religious sisters within the synod. A “cohort” of nuns favoring female ordination, and especially women deacons, has formed at the synod, said participants. The women, mainly from Latin America and some from Europe, are said to have initially bonded because they could all speak Spanish.

Nuns from Italy to India have come forward in recent years to denounce unfair treatment by male clergy who, they claim, often regard them as nothing more than free labor. Cases of nuns being sexually abused by priests or bishops have also emerged in recent books and reports.

Liberal-minded nuns at the synod have embraced the cause for a women’s diaconate with gusto, participants said, with some pushing the envelope further by asking for the elimination of titles reserved for clergy, such as “your eminence” or “your excellency,” which promote clericalism.

But to some, the idea of women being allowed to become priests remains beyond the pale. One synod participant said he felt “violated” by the idea of women priests, while another Eastern Orthodox attendant voiced surprise at the Western “obsession” with female clergy. The argument that the ordination of women would fill the emptying seminaries of Europe was shot down by representatives from Africa and Asia who take pride in their growing number of priests.

At the tail end of the synod, the question of whether female ordination will make it in the final document remains uncertain, participants said. The goal of this synod is not to come up with solutions, afterall, but to pose questions and foster a feeling of communion. Attendants will likely vote on an amorphous or scaled-down version of the vibrant debates on women’s ordinations that have filled the Vatican halls this month.

For advocates for female ordination who have looked at this event with hope, the result of this first consultation might be disappointing. For conservatives, the final document might be the latest sign of how this pontificate has exposed the church to an unbridled liberal shift. Debates are likely to evolve ahead of the second part of the synod, when participants will meet again in October of 2024

RELATED: Participants at Vatican synod divided on how to respond to war in the Holy Land

In the end, it will be Pope Francis who will make the final decision on the matter when he publishes the apostolic exhortation born from the synodal discussions. Francis has so far avoided tackling the complexities of dogma directly, opting for his signature pastoral approach instead.

If gestures speak louder than words under Francis, then his meeting with Sr. Jeannine Gramick on Oct. 17 at the Vatican made a clear statement. The Philadelphia-born nun has called for women to become cardinals and is the founder of New Ways Ministries, a Catholic network promoting the welcome and inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics. In 1999, she was banned from pastoral work by the Vatican’s doctrinal office.

The meeting signaled that the pope is welcoming “not just LGBT people but those who have been shunned by society and the church,” Gramick said in an interview with National Catholic Reporter shortly after the audience.

“I think Pope Francis is trying to get us to move forward, to open our eyes and look to the future and to the changes in the world,” she added.

RELATED: Cardinal Hollerich guides synod with a gentle hand

In Kenya, married ex-priests follow Vatican synod’s discussion of clerical celibacy

Former Catholic priests are hoping the prelates gathered for the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican will do away with the ban on marriage for clergy, allowing them to reunite with the church.

Pope Francis meets participants in a session of the 16th General Assembly of the synod of bishops in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

October 25, 2023
By  Fredrick Nzwili

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — As a summit of Catholic bishops in Rome considers allowing priests to marry, a young Kenyan clergyman drew attention to the question of celibate priests on Sunday (Oct. 22) when he married a woman and was ordained in the Catholic Charismatic Church, a splinter tradition, on the same day.

The Rev. Edwin Githang’i Waiguru, a former Roman Catholic missionary who had served in the United States and Haiti, said marriage was a dream come true for him. Before Sunday’s wedding, Waiguru had lived in an African traditional marriage and had become the father of two children. Though never ordained, Waiguru made headlines for publicly celebrating his journey.

“I joined the seminary almost 20 years ago. I am also grateful that God has seen it worth to use me to bring something new to the world,” Waiguru told journalists after wedding in Ikinu, Githunguri area, near Nairobi. “It is possible to serve God, have a family and a lovely wife.”

Other former Catholic priests here are hoping the prelates gathered for the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican get the Waigurus’ message.

RELATED: The synod’s priorities are communion, participation, mission — not who can be priests

Ahead of the nearly monthlong synod, now in its final week, discussions among Catholics in dioceses around the world had put the topic of married priests, along with the prospect of women deacons and blessings for same-sex unions, on the agenda.

“We are following very closely with a lot of surprises,” said the Rev. Peter Njogu, a former Catholic priest who is now a bishop of the Restored Apostolic Church in Kenya, which he formed after leaving the Catholic Church.

“The pope has said there is no celibacy law that is cast in stone,” said Njogu. “They can change the celibacy rule — that mandatory celibacy for all serving clerics. We are following to hear if there is any change that can come, because that is the only way to solve the problems we are having in the church.”


The Rev. Peter Njogu, a former Roman Catholic priest who is now the bishop of Restored Universal Apostolic Church in Kenya, conducts a Mass in the church. Religion News Service photo by Fredrick Nzwili

Like the Charismatic Catholic Church, Njogu’s church uses Catholic Church doctrine and rites, differing only in the rite of ordination marriage. A number of similar splinter denominations have been recognized in Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa and other countries on the continent.


The trend began in 2001 with Emmanuel Milingo, then archbishop of Lusaka, in Zambia, who defied the Vatican to marry Maria Sung, an acupuncturist from South Korea. In 2006 Milingo founded Married Priests Now, an organization advocating for the removal of the Catholic Church’s rules about celibacy.

Local bishops have actively opposed the former priests’ efforts, calling them “traitors” and warning people against joining their churches.

“I think this matter is being handled by our teams at the synod,” said an African Catholic bishop who did not wish to be named, “but I don’t see how one can break the rules and at the same time demand a change.”

The former priests point out that Catholics in many places are expressing support for married priests by moving to their dissenting churches, while still recognizing the supremacy of the pope.

The Catholic Church nonetheless remains the fastest-growing denomination in Africa, with an estimated 8 million new members in 2019.

Njogu, who spent eight years at the Vatican, said he is surprised to see blessings for same-sex unions taken more seriously at the summit than marriage for priests.
“We are going to defy this. … I want to tell them they are wrong. Most of the people here are Christians and are not happy with this,” he said.

In Uganda, the Rev. Anthony Musaala, a popular preacher and gospel music artist who was suspended for two years from the priesthood for advocating for married clergy, said he was not concerned that the celibacy issue was not gaining traction at this synod. “It is a long-standing issue and it will eventually be addressed,” said Musaala.
RELATED: Meet Father Josh: a happily married Catholic priest in a celibate world

In 2013, Musaala published an open letter calling for a realistic dialogue about Catholic priests being allowed to marry and claiming that many Catholic priests and bishops in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa were not practicing celibacy or chastity. He was reinstated in 2017 but has since dedicated himself to his music.

“There are many people in the church and outside who disagree with (celibacy). When you disagree with the church, there is not much you can do but leave,” he told Religion News Service. “It is unfortunate that people have to leave the church because of this issue.”

How Americans View Future Harms From Climate Change in Their Community and Around the U.S.

63% expect climate impacts to worsen in their lifetime

BY ALEC TYSON AND BRIAN KENNEDY

A monsoon-like storm and flash flood leave homes in Thermal, California, covered in mud on Sept. 2, 2023, days after Tropical Storm Hilary had drenched the area. (David McNew/Getty Images)

How we did this

A new Pew Research Center survey finds a majority of Americans think climate change is causing harm to people in the United States today and 63% expect things to get worse in their lifetime.

When it comes to the personal impact of climate change, most Americans think they’ll have to make at least minor sacrifices over their lifetime because of climate change, but a relatively modest share think climate impacts will require them to make major sacrifices in their own lives.

July 2023 was hotter than any other month in the global temperature record, and the United Nations climate panel has warned of growing impacts from climate change barring major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

The Center survey of 8,842 U.S. adults conducted Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2023, finds that 43% of Americans think climate change is causing a great deal or quite a bit of harm to people in the U.S. today. An additional 28% say it is causing some harm.

Looking ahead, young adults ages 18 to 29 are especially likely to foresee worsening climate impacts: 78% think harm to people in the U.S. caused by climate change will get a little or a lot worse in their lifetime.

About a quarter of Americans (23%) think they’ll have to make major sacrifices in their everyday lives because of climate change. A larger share (48%) expects to make minor sacrifices because of climate impacts and 28% of Americans expect to make no sacrifices at all.

Republicans and Democrats have much different expectations for how climate change will impact their lives. Just under half of all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents expect to make no sacrifices in their everyday lives because of climate change. By comparison, 88% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents expect to have to make at least minor sacrifices.

These partisan gaps are closely tied to differing expectations about national impacts: 86% of Democrats expect harms from climate change in the U.S. to get worse during their lifetime; just 37% of Republicans say the same.

More broadly, the public believes individual Americans can make less of a difference on climate change than other major actors. For example, 55% think the energy industry can do a lot to reduce the effects of climate change and 52% say this about large businesses and corporations. By comparison, far fewer (27%) say individual Americans can do a lot to reduce climate impacts.

Climate change consistently ranks lower than other national issues like the economy, health care and crime on the public’s list of national priorities for the president and Congress. Nonetheless, 74% say the U.S. should participate in international efforts to address the issue and majorities support a number of specific policies intended to reduce the effects of climate change, such as providing a tax credits to businesses for developing carbon capture and storage technologies.

Views on climate activism

Despite widespread concern about future climate impacts there has been a slight decline in participation in forms of climate activism. The survey finds 21% of of U.S. adults say they have participated in at least one of four climate-related activities in the last year, including donating money to a climate organization or attending a climate protest. This is down slightly from two years ago when 24% of Americans said they had participated in a climate-related activity.

Furthermore, Americans are largely skeptical that climate activism builds public support for the issue or spurs elected officials to act. Just 28% think climate activism makes people more likely to support action on climate change and only 11% say it is extremely or very effective at getting elected officials to act on the issue. For more, read Chapter 3 of the report, “Climate activism.”

Consistent with the slight decline in levels of climate activism, there has been no increase in personal concern on the issue in recent years. Overall, 37% say they personally care a great deal about the issue of climate change. This share is down 7 percentage points from 2018 and about the same as it was in 2016, the first time the Center asked the question.

How Americans view the expertise of climate scientists

A related analysis finds only about one-third of Americans think climate scientists understand “very well” whether climate change is happening. An even smaller share says climate scientists understand the causes of climate change very well.

For more, read “Americans continue to have doubts about climate scientists’ understanding of climate change.”

The survey findings are organized into three chapters exploring the following topics in more detail:

• Expectations for future climate change impacts
• What groups Americans think can make a difference on climate change
• Climate activism and engagement

Public expectations of future climate impacts locally and around the U.S.

Experts predict that some regions of the U.S. will face more severe climate impacts than others. Americans also make distinctions when asked to think about future climate impacts on some different places around the country.

Majorities expect that coastal Florida (61%), Southern California (60%) and the Southwest (55%) will become worse places to live over the next 30 years because of the effects of climate change.

Assessments of other areas are less negative. Only around three-in-ten think New England (32%) and the Mountain West (30%) will become worse places to live over the next 30 years because of climate change; 27% say this about the Upper Midwest.

Americans’ assessments of the impact of climate change on their own communities tilt more negative than positive, though a sizable share do not expect much change. Overall, 41% think their own community will become a worse place to live over the next 30 years due to the effects of climate change. Just 7% think climate impacts will make conditions in their community better, while 41% think climate impacts won’t change conditions in their area much.

Democrats (59%), young adults (56%) and Americans living in the Western region of the country (51%) are among the groups most likely to believe conditions in their community will become worse in the next 30 years because of climate change. Read more about these differences in Chapter 1.

Emotional reactions to climate news and information

Seven-in-ten Americans say they’ve felt sad about what is happening to the Earth, when they’ve seen news and information about climate change recently. Half say they’ve felt motivated to do more to address the issue when they saw climate news and information recently.

A sense of optimism about progress is not widely held: 38% say they’ve felt optimistic we can address climate change when they’ve seen news and information on the topic. A June 2023 Center survey found just 33% of Americans think the U.S. and other countries around the world will do enough to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Americans’ most common emotional reaction to climate news is feeling frustrated that there is so much political disagreement on the issue; 79% say they’ve felt this way recently.

A sense of skepticism toward climate advocates also registers with a sizable share of the public: 53% of Americans say they’ve felt suspicious of the groups and people pushing for action on climate change when they’ve seen climate news and information recently. An August Pew Research Center study used qualitative interviews to explore the views of those who do not see urgency on climate change; the analysis found that crisis language on climate change often drove suspicion and deeper mistrust among participants who see climate change as a lower-tier priority.

Republicans and Democrats have starkly different emotional responses to news and information on climate change.

Among Democrats and Democratic leaners:

• 88% say they felt sad about what is happening to the Earth.
• 73% felt anxious about the future.
• 72% felt motivated to do more to address the issue.

Still, fewer than half of Democats (45%) say they felt optimistic about addressing the issue when they’ve seen climate news and information recently.

Among Republicans and Republican leaners:

• 78% felt suspicious of the groups and people pushing for action on climate change.
• 58% felt annoyed there is so much attention on the issue of climate change.
• 51% felt confused about all the information out there about climate change.

Despite broad skepticism within the GOP toward groups pushing action on climate change, half of Republicans say they felt sad about what is happening to the Earth when they recently came across climate news and information.

One sentiment that registers with large shares of Republican and Democrats alike is frustration that there is so much political disagreement over climate change: 86% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans express this feeling.

Americans continue to have doubts about climate scientists’ understanding of climate change

BY GIANCARLO PASQUINI AND BRIAN KENNEDY

Only about one-third of Americans think climate scientists understand very well whether climate change is happening, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. And only about a quarter or less say climate scientists understand very well the effect climate change has on extreme weather, its causes and the best ways to address it.

How we did this

Americans rate climate scientists’ understanding of aspects of climate change slightly lower than they did two years ago and the same or lower than in 2016.

The share of Americans who say climate scientists understand very well whether climate change is occurring decreased from 37% in 2021 to 32% this year.

Similarly, the share of Americans who say climate scientists understand the causes of climate change very well decreased slightly from 28% in 2021 to 24% today. And only 13% of Americans now say climate scientists understand very well the best ways to address climate change, down from 18% in 2021.

Analysis of recent scientific publications finds widespread agreement among climate scientists that human activity is the primary cause of climate change. The Center recently conducted in-depth interviews to better understand the views of adults who say climate change is not an urgent issue and are unconvinced human activity is its main cause.

Partisan differences in views of climate scientists

Democrats continue to rate climate scientists’ understanding much higher than Republicans do.

When asked how well climate scientists understand whether climate change is happening, 52% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say climate scientists understand this very well. In comparison, 51% of Republicans and Republican leaners say climate scientists understand this not too or not at all well.

Democrats are also four times as likely as Republicans to say climate scientists understand very well how climate change affects extreme weather events (40% vs. 10%). Scientific studies have found that extreme weather events will become more frequent and intense with climate change.

When it comes to the causes of climate change, 41% of Democrats say climate scientists understand this very well, compared with 7% of Republicans. About six-in-ten Republicans (59%) say climate scientists understand this not too or at all well.

Small shares of both Democrats and Republicans say climate scientists understand very well the best ways to address climate change, though Democrats are more likely to say this (23% vs. 4%, respectively). Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say climate scientists understand this not too or at all well (71% vs. 24%).

Differences by education level and party

Democrats with more education rate climate scientists’ understanding higher than Democrats with less education. But how Republicans rate scientists’ understanding of aspects of climate change does not differ by education level. For example:

• 72% of Democrats with a postgraduate degree say climate scientists understand very well whether climate change is occurring. In comparison, 36% of Democrats with a high school degree or less say this – a 36 percentage point difference.
• Small shares of Republicans across education levels think climate scientists understand very well whether climate change is happening: 13% of Republicans with a postgraduate degree say this, as do 10% of Republicans with a high school degree or less.

These patterns also hold when Democrats and Republicans are asked about climate scientists’ understanding of the causes of climate change and its effect on extreme weather.

Past Center surveys have found that views about the role of human activity also vary by education level among Democrats but not Republicans.

Views of climate scientists’ influence on policy

When asked about climate scientists’ role in policy debates about climate change, half of Americans say they have too little influence. This share is down 4 points from 2021.

Smaller shares say climate scientists have too much (26%) or about the right amount of influence (22%) in policy debates.

In keeping with the wide partisan differences in ratings of climate scientists’ understanding of aspects of climate change, Democrats and Republicans are deeply divided about the appropriate role of climate scientists in policy debates.

Three-quarters of Democrats say climate scientists have too little influence in policy debates about climate change, while one-quarter of Republicans say the same – a difference of 50 points. About half of Republicans (49%) think climate scientists have too much influence.

There are also ideological divides within the GOP on climate scientists’ policy influence. Conservative Republicans are about twice as likely as moderate and liberal Republicans to say climate scientists have too much influence in public policy debates (60% vs. 29%).

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.

Giancarlo Pasquini is a research associate focusing on

 science and society research at Pew Research Center.

Brian Kennedy is a senior researcher focusing on

 science and society research at Pew Research Center.



Next: 1. Views on future climate impacts, environmental harms

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