(Vatican Radio) Venezuela is being criticised by Washington due to the decision by the Venezuelan Court of Appeals to uphold the 14 year jail sentence of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.Listen to James Blears' report: The US State Department isn't mincing words or using diplomatic tact. It's calling the ruling a miscarriage of justice. On learning he was being sought, Leopoldo Lopez gave himself up to police at a protest rally in February 2014. Held in a military prison, he was tried and convicted in 2015, after a brief behind closed doors trial. Jailed for 14 years, Lopez denies inciting violence leading to deaths. He insists it was the economic policies of the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which caused the crisis leading to nationwide protests which killed 43 people.The United Nations, the European Union, and the United States condemned the judicial process which led to the jailing of Leopoldo Lopez.The opp...
(Vatican Radio) Venezuela is being criticised by Washington due to the decision by the Venezuelan Court of Appeals to uphold the 14 year jail sentence of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
Listen to James Blears' report:
The US State Department isn't mincing words or using diplomatic tact. It's calling the ruling a miscarriage of justice.
On learning he was being sought, Leopoldo Lopez gave himself up to police at a protest rally in February 2014.
Held in a military prison, he was tried and convicted in 2015, after a brief behind closed doors trial.
Jailed for 14 years, Lopez denies inciting violence leading to deaths. He insists it was the economic policies of the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which caused the crisis leading to nationwide protests which killed 43 people.
The United Nations, the European Union, and the United States condemned the judicial process which led to the jailing of Leopoldo Lopez.
The oppostion is trying to gather sufficient votes for a National Referendum on the presidency of Nicolas Maduro.
But Venezuela's electoral authorities say such a vote could not take place until after January 10th.
At that juncture, if the vote went against President Maduro, his Vice President would take charge until the mandate ran out.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks during the signing of the ELVIS Act to Protect Voice & Likeness in Age of AI event at Robert's Western World on March 21, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. / Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Human Artistry CampaignWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).The first English-language translation of the Bible in the United States will become an "official state book" in Tennessee on July 1.Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, signed a bill on Tuesday that names the Aitken Bible and nine other texts as official state books in the Tennessee Blue Book (an official manual on the state government). This is the first time Tennessee has formally recognized any official state books.The Bible translation was published by Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken in 1782 and received an official endorsement from Congress. The American Revolution, which began in 1776, halted trade with Great Britain and cut off the supply of Bibles, which prompte...
Cardinal Wilton Gregory speaks at an interview in Rome on April 11, 2024. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly" screen shotRome Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).As the Catholic Church's first African American cardinal was honored at a U.S. seminary in Rome, he recalled the legacy of faith and perseverance of Black Catholics in America, including at a time when they were not accepted by U.S. seminaries. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, received this year's Rector's Award at an April 11 banquet at the Pontifical North American College, where seminarians from across 99 dioceses in the U.S. live while studying for the priesthood in Rome.In an interview with CNA before the award ceremony, Gregory pointed out that in the 19th century, African Americans who had a vocation to the priesthood were sent to study in Rome and then to serve as missionaries in Africa because at the time they were not allowed to enter U.S. seminaries."Being in Rome reminds me also tha...
Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako presides over the dedication ceremony of the altar of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mosul, Iraq. April 5, 2024. / Credit: Fadi Dinkha/ACI MenaCNA Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).When the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic Church was consecrated earlier this month in Mosul, Iraq, a former parishioner now living in the United States said she was moved to tears."My eyes were filled with tears as I watched my church and my school return to the beautiful picture engraved in my memory," said Georgena Habbaba, who used to attend the parish and study at the parish school with her brothers. Her own children studied there, too, before the family had to flee Mosul amid worsening violence in 2007. (Note: Habbaba also writes for ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner.)"I remembered the wonderful days I spent studying at this school and praying in this church. Very close to my family's house," she t...
