Pope rails against vaccine 'denier' cardinals

Yahoo – AFP, September 15, 2021 

The pope is a strong advocate of coronavirus vaccines and has previously
expressed his incomprehension with those who refuse to take it (AFP/Tiziana FABI)

Pope Francis on Wednesday spoke out against "denier" cardinals who refused the coronavirus vaccine, in an apparent swipe at his main opponent who recently contracted Covid-19. 

"In the College of Cardinals, there are a few deniers. One of them, the poor man, contracted the virus," the pontiff told reporters as he flew home from a trip to Slovakia. 

The 84-year-old did not name the man he was referring to, but conservative US Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of Francis' fiercest and most vocal critics in the Catholic Church, was recently admitted to hospital in the United States with Covid-19. 

The pope said that in the heart of the Vatican, "everyone is vaccinated, with the exception of a small group". 

"We are studying how to help them," he said during a press conference onboard the papal plane. 

The pope is a strong advocate of coronavirus vaccines and has previously expressed his incomprehension with those who refuse to take it. 

"It's a bit strange because humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines," Francis said, highlighting the jabs that have for decades protected children against measles or polio. 

"We should clarify things and speak calmly," he advised, while also conceding that the debates over the different anti-coronavirus vaccines could create uncertainty or fear. 

The pope made a brief stopover in Budapest on Sunday before visiting Slovakia, and held a private meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 

He is at odds with the populist leader's hardline stance on migration, but said Wednesday they did not discuss the issue. 

Hungarian President Janos Ader did most of the talking during the three-way meeting, the pope said, and they focused on ecology as well as Hungary's support for couples hoping to have children. 

For his part, Orban -- who has claimed Europe is threatened by a Muslim "invasion" -- said on Facebook that he had asked the pope in their meeting "not to let Christian Hungary perish". 

During his press conference, the pope repeated his call for Europe to return to the principles of solidarity on which it was founded, warning of "the danger that it has become just a managerial office. And that is not good."

Doctors start halting support for vegetative Frenchman

Yahoo – AFP, Renaud LAVERGNE, May 20, 2019

Doctors started halting Lambert's life support at the Sebastopol Hospital in the
northern French city of Reims (AFP Photo/FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI)

Reims (France) (AFP) - Doctors in France on Monday began removing life support for a quadriplegic man who has been in a vegetative state for the last decade, in a hugely controversial case that has drawn in Pope Francis.

The dispute over the fate of Vincent Lambert, 42, who sustained severe brain damage in a 2008 traffic accident, has split his own family and become a subject of political tensions in France.

Lambert's parents, devout Catholics, have repeatedly launched court action to keep him alive, putting them at odds with Lambert's wife and six siblings who believe the most humane course is to let him die.

A last-minute request Monday to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, eastern France, to halt the decision pending a review by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was rejected.

The court had already refused a similar request in April and said Monday there was "no new evidence" that would justify a new hearing.

Following a final judicial ruling to end the nutrition and hydration Lambert receives, doctors started halting his life support at the Sebastopol Hospital in the northern French city of Reims.

Medical sources told AFP that Lambert could die within days or a week.

The case has re-ignited a contentious debate over France's right-to-die laws, which allow so-called "passive" euthanasia for severely ill or injured patients with no chance of recovery.

Critics say the decision on Lambert is akin to killing a handicapped person, and Pope Francis weighed in Monday in favour of keeping him alive.

"Let us always safeguard life, God's gift, from its beginning until its natural end. Let us not give in to a throwaway culture," the pontiff said.

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls by Lambert's parents and others to intervene, saying "the decision to stop treatment was taken after a constant dialogue between his doctors and his wife, who is his legal representative."

Lambert's wife Rachel said Monday that "to see him go, is to see him as a freed man."

"Everyone can have their own opinion and convictions... but above all can we now have our privacy," she told RTL radio.

Doctors started halting Lambert's life support at the Sebastopol Hospital in the 

northern French city of Reims (AFP Photo/FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI)

'As peaceful as possible'

Vincent Sanchez, the doctor treating Lambert who has been the target of the parents' anger, said in a message to the family that the "halting of treatments" and "profound and continued sedation" had been initiated.

In the message seen by AFP, he urged everyone to "rally around him (Vincent Lambert) so these moments are as peaceful, intimate and personal as possible."

The family has been torn apart by the case.

"They are monsters! Monsters!" said his mother Viviane, 73, as she came to the hospital on Monday. The day before she had organised a demonstration outside with her husband Pierre, 90.

An emotional video of Viviane comforting her son in his room, telling him not to cry as he appears to blink away tears, was later posted on the website of the conservative Valeurs Actuelles magazine.

The parents returned later Monday accompanied by two Benedictine monks who were family friends.

One of Lambert's cousins, Helen Liaud, told journalists she would start a hunger strike, calling the decision "unacceptable in a country like France."

"It means that we can... kill all handicapped people who can't feed themselves," she said.

A march was planned later Monday in Paris towards the Elysee palace "to ask for a presidential pardon," lawyers said, before adding: "There is still time to stop this madness."

Legal wrangling

In 2014 Lambert's doctors, backed by his wife and siblings, decided to stop his nutrition and hydration in line with the law.

But the parents, and his half-brother and a sister obtained a court order to block the move on grounds his condition might improve with better treatment, setting off a complex and wrenching legal saga that lasted half a decade.

Early this year, a French court sided with Sanchez's decision to stop the care keeping Lambert alive.

The ruling was upheld last month by France's State Council which decides on the validity of laws and legal decisions.

The UN committee on disabled rights this month asked France to suspend the decision while it conducts its own investigation, which could take years. The French government has made clear there is no legal obligation to abide by this.

Related Articles:

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... The Ethics of Life

You, as a Human Being, are designed to appreciate and love life. But you put it in a box. You think you live once. You say, life is precious; make it count; keep it going at all costs; make it work. And the underlying thought is that because you only go around one time, all the purpose is wrapped up in one lifetime. Well, I'm going to give you something to think about, something that happened just recently that tens of millions of people all over earth who have the western news media know of.

It was all about one woman's life, and you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Terri [Terri Schiavo]. And I'm going to talk about Terri because, you know, she's here [speaking of the real Terri]! And I'm going to give you a perspective about Terri that perhaps you hadn't thought about before, and as I do it, she's going to watch.

It's very metaphysical, you know? This perspective is one from my side of the veil. Terri leaned into the wind of birth many years ago, just as you did. I was there, too. There were potentials laying in front of her - a track that she could take if she wished. There was no predestination, only predispositions of energy that laid before her: the parents she would have (which she had selected), the man she might meet or marry, the accident waiting to happen. All of these things were in her "potential track," and she could have chosen not to go there.

But like so many of you, she looked at it and examined it. These were the times we spoke to her and said, "Dear one, you're going into another Human lifetime that has a potential that's awesome - grander than most Humans on the planet will ever experience. You'll get to present something to tens of millions of people. You'll make them think about life. You'll change the legal system of your country. You'll awaken peoples' awareness to situations that need to be addressed with respect to morality, integrity, and even intuition. Will you do it?"

And I remember what she said. The grand angel who stood before me, who you now call Terri, smiled broadly and said, "I'm ready for that." And some of you cry in your sorrow and say "Why is this Human dead? How could such a thing be tolerated? Why would such a thing happen? Life is so precious." And I ask you this, as Terri looks on in her joy, would you take this away from her? Would you take that away from humanity, what she showed and did that resulted directly in her passing?

Start thinking of these things, perhaps differently. We've told you before that there are even those Human Beings who come in with a predisposition of suicide! What a horrible thought, you might say. "Kryon, could that even be appropriate?" And we say this: More than appropriate, it's by design! "But why should that be?" You might say. "What a horrible dishonorable death." And if that's your reaction, you're placing the whole grand picture in your own little Human box.

When you start examining it spiritually, without Human bias, you start to see that around a suicide there's this energy that develops. It's all about the family. Is there shame? Is there drama? Does it kick the family in the pants so that perhaps they might study things they never did - or perhaps they might they even look within themselves for spirituality? Blessed is the one that comes in with these tasks [like suicide]. There are so many of them who do. For these are the grease of personal change within families, and provide a gift that is grand!

You see, Spirit looks at these things differently. The curtain goes up, it goes down. You come and you go and there are profound lessons, some of which are taught harshly, by those who teach them through their own deaths.

"Well, what is it Kryon? Don't dodge the question with a diversion to suicide, for this isn't what Terri did. Is it proper or is it improper to have somebody in this vegetative state put to death by others around her?" Our answer: Exactly which Human are you talking about? You want a blanket answer, don't you? For six and half billion souls and paths, you want one answer for all. Well, you won't get one. For Terri, the answer is a solid yes. It was as it should have been. She came in with this grand opportunity to change the world, and she did it while everyone watched.

There is appropriateness in all things and sometimes you create for yourselves what seems to be inappropriate. Yet later you understand what the gift was within the challenge. Celebrate Terri, and don't think of this as a shameful thing that Humans did to her. Think of it instead as a book that was written for you to look at, one which pushes you to a place to ask, "What should we do about this now, personally? What should our legislatures do about this, if anything? How can we approach these things more humanely and with more honor? Is our culture addressing this issue? Are we addressing this issue personally?" Let's put these questions where they belong. It's not about "right to life"; it's about the appropriateness of "this life." Each case is individual, and some are profoundly given for the planet and for those around the individual.

Oh, as all of you came into this planet and leaned into the wind of birth separately, each was unique. Each of you has a different story, a different goal, but all have the same purpose: the elevation of the vibration of the planet. Sometimes it happens to many of you at the same time. We'll get to that before we finish. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Mass infant grave at Irish Catholic home to be excavated

Yahoo – AFP, October 23, 2018

During Pope Francis's August visit to Ireland the so-called "Tuam babies" became
an emblematic issue among protestors (AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

Dublin (AFP) - Ireland's government on Tuesday approved the full excavation of a mass grave of infant and children's remains on the site of a former Catholic home for unmarried mothers.

Significant quantities of baby remains were discovered in an apparent makeshift crypt in the town of Tuam in western Ireland during test excavations between 2016 and 2017.

"I am committed to ensuring that all the children interred at this site can have a dignified and respectful burial," children's minister Katherine Zappone said in a statement.

"It is only by taking the right actions now can we truly demonstrate our compassion and commitment to work towards justice, truth and healing for what happened in our past and, most especially, for those who were previously abandoned."

During Pope Francis's August visit to Ireland the so-called "Tuam babies" became an emblematic issue among protestors, representing historic abuses by the church in Ireland.

Many demonstrators carried infant shoes at events during the Pope's weekend-long visit in a bid to evoke the grave and a silent vigil was held in the town.

In addition to uncovering and re-interring child remains, the investigation will attempt to identify those buried at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home and make provisions for their memorialisation and conservation of the site.

Initial investigations will focus on remains found in at least 17 of the 20 chambers examined so far.

Eight separate areas warranting further investigation have also been identified, the government said in a statement.

"It has taken us more time than first anticipated to examine the unprecedented technical and legal issues which arise in seeking to appropriately respond to the tragic discovery," Zappone added in her statement.

The government-sanctioned commission was set up following research by a local historian, Catherine Corless, who found that 796 babies and children died at the home between 1925 and 1961 but there were no burial records for them.

She has always maintained they had been buried at the site.

Contested reports that infant remains were discovered in sewage chambers have also heightened outrage around the discovery.

Ireland overturns abortion ban in landslide vote

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, Julien LAGACHE, May 26, 2018

Yes campaigners rejoice ahead of the final result of a landmark referendum in which
Ireland voted by 66 percent to ditch its strict abortion laws (AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

Dublin (AFP) - Ireland voted by a landslide to ditch its strict abortion laws in a landmark referendum that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said had finally lifted decades of stigma and shame.

More than 66 percent of voters in what has been a traditionally staunchly Catholic country backed repealing the constitutional ban on terminations, triggering scenes of tearful jubilation in Dublin on Saturday after a divisive and often emotional campaign.

Hugging, celebrating, singing and cheering wildly, thousands crammed into the courtyard of Dublin Castle, where the official result was declared, chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Wonderful, wonderful, today is wonderful!" said 65-year-old Eileen Shields, who had been ostracised for falling pregnant outside of marriage when she was 18.

The crowds cheered and popped champagne corks as the result was announced. Women and men wearing "Repeal" tops and "Yes" badges waved Irish flags and placards reading "Thank you", with love hearts on.

Speaking through tears, Stasia Clancy, 64, said: "This is like an explosion of the repression and the suppression of the last 100 years."

At Dublin's RDS count centre, 40-year-old nurse Ruth Bowie wept at the results.

She told AFP: "I had to leave my country to get the healthcare that I needed when I was told that my baby wouldn't survive outside the womb and I've told my story over and over again just in the hope that this day would come -- and it's finally come."

Key facts on Ireland's abortion law (AFP Photo/Brice LE BORGNE)

'Veil of stigma lifted'

The final results of Friday's referendum showed 66.4 percent voted for removing the constitutional ban, while 33.6 voted against.

Some 1,429,981 votes were cast for Yes. The turnout was 64 percent.

Among the 40 constituencies, the pro-choice vote peaked at 78 percent in Dublin Bay South, while rural Donegal was the only one to vote against liberalising abortion, by 52 percent.

"A quiet revolution has taken place," Varadkar said in a speech at Dublin Castle.

"No more stigma. The veil of secrecy is lifted. No more isolation. The burden of shame is gone."

He said Saturday would be remembered as the day Ireland "stepped out from under the last of our shadows and into the light. The day we came of age as a country."

His government proposes allowing abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

Varadkar said he wanted the law in force by the end of the year and Health Minister Simon Harris told AFP that the cabinet would meet on Tuesday to approve the drafting of legislation.

The crowds cheered and popped champagne corks as the result was 

announced (AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

Crumbling church influence

The result is another hammer blow to the Roman Catholic Church's authority in Ireland, coming three years after referendum voters backed legalising same-sex marriage by 62 percent.

The Church's influence has crumbled in recent years due to a series of child sex abuse scandals.

The referendum comes three months before Pope Francis visits Ireland for the World Meeting of Families.

An exit poll for The Irish Times newspaper suggested 70 percent of women and 65 percent of men voted to overturn the ban.

People over 65 voted 60 percent against. However, all other age groups backed the proposal, with support at 87 percent among voters aged 18 to 24.

Ailbhe Smyth, 71, co-director of the official Together for Yes campaign, said real-life testimonies from women affected by the ban had helped swing the vote.

"The stories, the experiences, women's voices, women's and couples, it was a central part of our strategy," she told reporters.

The Love Both official pro-life campaign said regardless of the result, "our work will continue to protect unborn babies and their mothers".

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed the vote as a "quiet revolution" 

(AFP Photo/Paul FAITH)

"Our campaign does not end with the referendum, but when the government properly supports the mother and child," it said.

Abortion is still banned in some 20 countries worldwide, while others have highly restrictive laws in place. In the European Union, predominantly Catholic Malta is the only country with a total ban.

'The North is next'

Ireland introduced a constitutional ban on abortion following a 1983 referendum. Terminating a pregnancy carries a 14-year maximum jail term.

The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk.

The ban has led to thousands of women travelling each year to neighbouring Britain, where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online.

Since 1983, around 170,000 Irish women have gone abroad for terminations.

In the UK, abortion is legal on the British mainland, but remains outlawed in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein's party leaders from both sides of the border held up a placard at Dublin Castle reading: "The North is next".

Related Articles:

Health minister presses on with abortion pill plans, despite Christian opposition

Pope tells priests to pardon women who have abortions

Seven in 10 Dutch support abortion rights: survey

Campaigning for abortion rights in 1974. Photo: SPAARNESTAD Photo/NA/

Anefo/unknown photographer

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon, thank you for the many communications you have given. They have been enlightening in many ways. I hope this is not a rude question, but it is a subject that I have not seen addressed in the collection of Questions and Answers. I want to know: What is the morality of stopping someone's new life in the physical plane, by abortion? And what is the karma to the person who helps to accomplish an abortion? I think it will depend on when a Human life begins. When life begins is a moment that is very important to those who oppose abortion and those who say it is allowable.

Do you have a decisive response to guide those who receive your words?

Answer: [from Lee Carroll] We have tried to "paint" Kryon into a corner on this many times, since it really is an important issue in our society. Kryon says this: "Human life actually begins when the intent of the entities involved in the planning session is to create it." It's not a biological answer, and it won't please either side.

This places it far before any kind of biological morality decision. Kryon has said that there is no judgement in the choice of Humans... including this one. When it occurs, there is also no horrible karmic payback. But there IS energy created that affects everyone around the event. Sometimes these lives come and go to create lessons for those involved, then these terminated lives return almost immediately, often within the next pregnancy (sometimes changing gender). If there is no next pregnancy, often it's in a very close family group.

God is not in a vacuum concerning these things, and often they are set-ups, and are executed with the agreement of all parties in advance. This is far different than our society wishes to believe. They want to paint a black and white answer to when life occurs, and set rules on what you can and cannot do with it. Instead, Kryon's answer gives honor and validity to the fact that you are not here by accident, and the things that take place in your lives are not random. Not to mention the fact that your free choice is the free choice of God (since you are a piece of God).

So we leave the biological cultural decisions for those who wish to make them, but we have heard the spiritual answers many times... that these things are far more than they appear, and are all part of our spiritual setups, and they are honored.

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

"... I want to define life for you - not biological life, but spiritual life. So for all those intellectuals, just hold on, for many won't like this. Spiritual life, as measured by Spirit, is when a Human has free choice. When is that? It's when they take their first breath. Not in utero. There will be those who will say, "That's wrong, that's wrong. The soul in the woman's body is alive!" Just wait. I'm talking about spiritually. That which Spirit sees, and it's when you come from the other side of the veil and take your first breath.

A child with the mother has no free choice. That child is linked to the choice of the mother until it is born. It is, indeed, a soul in preparation for free choice, and there are many attributes that are spiritual that we have discussed before about how that soul reacts. But now I'm discussing life with polarity [duality], free choice.

But let's discuss that "child inside" for a moment, for there is a process I want you to know about. I want to talk about 240 days into the pregnancy. At about that time, the child has perfect DNA. It hasn't taken its first breath. The DNA hasn't measured the energy of the planet yet, since it is contained. Did you realize that? Inside the womb is a perfect child. The child's DNA has all the attributes of the Akash and also the parent, but it's different in a way you have not been told. The DNA is 100% as designed.

The quantum instructions within the DNA are all talking to the biology of the child,, getting ready for the first breath. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Pope stubs out cigarettes sales in Vatican

Yahoo – AFP, 9 November 2017

Pope Francis has outlawed the sale of cigarettes at the Vatican

Pope Francis has outlawed the sale of cigarettes at the Vatican in a bid to lead by example on healthy living.

"The Holy Father has decided that the Vatican will cease to sell cigarettes to employees as of 2018," the Vatican said in a statement on Thursday.

"The reason is very simple: the Holy See cannot contribute to an activity that clearly damages the health of people," it said, adding that smoking claims more than seven million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization.

"Although the cigarettes sold to employees and pensioners in the Vatican at a reduced price are a source of revenue for the Holy See, no profit can be legitimate if it puts lives at risk," it added.

Francis, who has only one lung, does not smoke. He has let the locals keep their other guilty pleasure, tax-free alcohol.

The cigarettes and booze are sold in a luxury duty-free shop, opened in 2003 in what was once the Vatican's magnificent railway station but is now home to everything from designer handbags and shoes to flat-screen televisions.

Only those with a pass -- Vatican employees or pensioners -- can shop there, and many pick up goods, food and even fuel inside the city for Italian friends on the other side of the tiny state's imposing walls. 

Pope tells women to feel free to breastfeed in church

Yahoo – AFP, January 8, 2017

Pope Francis baptises a baby at the Sistine Chapel on January 8, 2017

Pope Francis encouraged women attending a ceremony in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday to feel free to breastfeed their children in the church.

"The ceremony is a little long, someone's crying because he's hungry. That's the way it is," the pontiff said.

"You mothers, go ahead and breastfeed, without fear. Just like the Virgin Mary nursed Jesus," he told worshippers attending an annual ceremony commemorating the baptism of Jesus.

The Argentine pope on Sunday baptised 28 children -- 15 boys and 13 girls.

He has previously voiced his support for breastfeeding, including in public.

The benefits of breastfeeding include providing optimal nutrition and an immune system boost for babies, while helping mothers bond with infants and speeding maternal weight loss after birth.

In many countries around the world, however, women are still widely discouraged from breastfeeding, especially when they are in public.

Pope gives priests permanent right to pardon abortion

Yahoo – AFP, Ella Ide, 21 November 2016

Pope Francis greets the crowd from the popemobile after a mass marking
the end of the Vatican's jubilee year on November 20, 2016

Pope Francis declared Monday that all priests would have the right to forgive abortion, making permanent a temporary measure put in place for the Vatican's jubilee year.

"I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion," the pope wrote in an apostolic letter marking the end of the "Year of Mercy", which wound up Sunday.

"The provision I had made in this regard, limited to the duration of the Extraordinary Holy Year, is hereby extended," he wrote.

The Argentine, 79, said he had to "restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life".

On Sunday, as he brought the jubilee to an end by closing the bronze-panelled Holy Door in Saint Peter's Square, Francis gave an interview in which he slammed abortion as "a horrendous crime".

But he said Monday that the end of the special year did not mean the end of mercy itself, and so-called sinners must be given a chance to repent. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin.

"I can and must state that there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father," Francis said in the letter.

"May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation."

The forgiveness stretches not only to women who have abortions but those who carry them out or are involved in any way.

'A major gesture'

The watchword of mercy has meant helping the unfortunate, and welcoming outcasts back into the fold.

Francis hopes greater compassion from a more open-minded Church will not only counter xenophobia but also draw people to pews.

"The concession on abortion has had little practical effect in places such as the United States, where many bishops had already delegated permission to priests to forgive the sin," wrote Vatican expert John Allen on the Catholic Cruxnow.com website.

"But symbolically it's been interpreted as a major gesture of outreach to women," he said.

The letter, entitled Misericordia et Misera ("Mercy and Misery"), was signed by Francis at the end of a mass closing the jubilee.

Critics have said his emphasis on mercy reduces the gravity of perceived sins, but the pope said rigidly sticking to "the level of the law is equivalent to thwarting faith and divine mercy".

He also stressed that priests had to help members of their flock on a case by case basis, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach to "sinners", saying: "the works of mercy are 'handcrafted', in the sense that none of them is alike".

Francis has been challenged by traditionalists over his "flexible" attitude to Church teachings, particularly regarding the hot-button issue of whether divorced and remarried couples should be able to receive communion.

The Argentine, who has repeatedly called for "a poor Church for the poor", also said in the letter that he wants the Church to celebrate a World Day of the Poor in November each year.

Related Articles:

Pope tells priests to pardon women who have abortions

Health minister presses on with abortion pill plans, despite Christian opposition

Seven in 10 Dutch support abortion rights: survey

Campaigning for abortion rights in 1974. Photo: SPAARNESTAD Photo/NA/

Anefo/unknown photographer

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon, thank you for the many communications you have given. They have been enlightening in many ways. I hope this is not a rude question, but it is a subject that I have not seen addressed in the collection of Questions and Answers. I want to know: What is the morality of stopping someone's new life in the physical plane, by abortion? And what is the karma to the person who helps to accomplish an abortion? I think it will depend on when a Human life begins. When life begins is a moment that is very important to those who oppose abortion and those who say it is allowable.

Do you have a decisive response to guide those who receive your words?

Answer: [from Lee Carroll] We have tried to "paint" Kryon into a corner on this many times, since it really is an important issue in our society. Kryon says this: "Human life actually begins when the intent of the entities involved in the planning session is to create it." It's not a biological answer, and it won't please either side.

This places it far before any kind of biological morality decision. Kryon has said that there is no judgement in the choice of Humans... including this one. When it occurs, there is also no horrible karmic payback. But there IS energy created that affects everyone around the event. Sometimes these lives come and go to create lessons for those involved, then these terminated lives return almost immediately, often within the next pregnancy (sometimes changing gender). If there is no next pregnancy, often it's in a very close family group.

God is not in a vacuum concerning these things, and often they are set-ups, and are executed with the agreement of all parties in advance. This is far different than our society wishes to believe. They want to paint a black and white answer to when life occurs, and set rules on what you can and cannot do with it. Instead, Kryon's answer gives honor and validity to the fact that you are not here by accident, and the things that take place in your lives are not random. Not to mention the fact that your free choice is the free choice of God (since you are a piece of God).

So we leave the biological cultural decisions for those who wish to make them, but we have heard the spiritual answers many times... that these things are far more than they appear, and are all part of our spiritual setups, and they are honored.

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

"... I want to define life for you - not biological life, but spiritual life. So for all those intellectuals, just hold on, for many won't like this. Spiritual life, as measured by Spirit, is when a Human has free choice. When is that? It's when they take their first breath. Not in utero. There will be those who will say, "That's wrong, that's wrong. The soul in the woman's body is alive!" Just wait. I'm talking about spiritually. That which Spirit sees, and it's when you come from the other side of the veil and take your first breath.

A child with the mother has no free choice. That child is linked to the choice of the mother until it is born. It is, indeed, a soul in preparation for free choice, and there are many attributes that are spiritual that we have discussed before about how that soul reacts. But now I'm discussing life with polarity [duality], free choice.

But let's discuss that "child inside" for a moment, for there is a process I want you to know about. I want to talk about 240 days into the pregnancy. At about that time, the child has perfect DNA. It hasn't taken its first breath. The DNA hasn't measured the energy of the planet yet, since it is contained. Did you realize that? Inside the womb is a perfect child. The child's DNA has all the attributes of the Akash and also the parent, but it's different in a way you have not been told. The DNA is 100% as designed.

The quantum instructions within the DNA are all talking to the biology of the child,, getting ready for the first breath. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, February 18, 2016)

Matthew Ward - February 18, 2016

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. We begin by addressing issues foremost in thoughts around the world. North Korea’s recent successes in rocketry were not unexpected by analysts who have been observing activity in that country; nevertheless, this is of concern because Kim Jong-un is considered unstable, egoistic and ambitious. What none of them knows is that if North Korean scientists attempted to launch a missile bearing a nuclear warhead, crews in spacecraft surrounding Earth will assure its failure just as they have done with more than a dozen Illuminati attempts during the past several years.

Our perspective of “Putin’s aggression in Eastern Europe” is that this is an Illuminati-promulgated implication that he will forcibly bring Baltic countries and others under Russia’s governmental and economic control. That is not his intention, and as a reminder, the Illuminati feed on the energy of fear and resort to any means to engender fear.

With talk of a ceasefire, albeit temporary, it is natural that violence has escalated in Syria, where energy long has been chaotically directed; and, with several diverse contingents at battle in that country and nearby countries, a lasting ceasefire will not come until those energy streamers have run out their course. While Russia is criticized for its air strikes that aid the Assad regime as well as help ground forces regain areas taken over by the Islamic State, President Putin and other influential individuals are working behind the scenes to bring stability throughout the Mideast and North Africa.

Understandably, there is concern about people in war-torn areas continuing to undertake risky transits into countries that are not able to provide adequate housing, schooling, work or healthcare to the millions of refugees already there. In time, violence will end in the villages and cities from which the people fled and those who wish to return can start rebuilding their communities and lives. In the interim, compassion and good will on the part of the host citizenry and the immigrants’ contribution of talents, skills and assimilation efforts can result in compatibility and mutual benefit. In this moment and into the future, financial assistance from all prospering nations is necessary to ease, then end this humanitarian crisis.

According to Nirvana’s monitors of Earth, investigative scientists know that a toxic chemical is causing the many cases of microcephaly associated with the Zika virus, but they don’t know if the source is bites from Aedes mosquitos that were injected with the chemical or bites from those that mutated by absorbing the very toxin used to eradicate them, or if the condition is due to pregnant women drinking water containing the chemical. Thus, to readers who asked if the Illuminati are behind this spreading outbreak of Zika and microcephaly, we say yes, but it may be indirectly as opposed to their concerted but futile efforts to create pandemics by releasing laboratory-designed viruses such as SARS and bird flu.

They deliberately put toxins in chemtrail spray, and others are in industrial pollution, fossil fuel energy usage, soil and underground water contaminated by nuclear waste or chemicals in fertilizer and insecticides. That this proliferation of toxicity is adversely affecting the planet and all of its life forms has been shamefully disregarded by chemical manufacturers abetted by powerful individuals in governments. And, the Illuminati’s amassing of wealth globally contributes in large measure to masses living in the impoverished conditions wherein disease-bearing mosquitos thrive.

No, karma is not involved in all cases of fleeing peoples or babies born with microcephaly and their families. Soul-level petitions are being granted in unprecedented numbers to permit advancement in evolvement status for enduring unchosen experiencing. Still, this honoring of soul requests isn’t consciously known by those persons or the world, and their situations are seen as the grievous hardships they are on the physical level.

The reader who wrote that astrological readers and intuitives have predicted “the rest of this month and March will be extremely delicate on this planet” asked “in what areas will things be ‘delicate’ and challenging?” Certainly the aforementioned situations are delicate and fraught with challenges to the many millions directly affected and unnerving to all of society. Calmness about stock market volatility and reports of banks closing would be a challenge for investors, and confusion as to what is ahead economically very likely is worrisome to many others, too. In numerous countries candidates are vying for office and the citizens are anxious about election outcomes. Then there are predictions anew about catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis as well as World War III imminent, starting in the Mideast. And, in the midst of all those energy streamers with tumultuous attachments, even lightworkers may find it challenging to consistently maintain optimism about Earth’s future. That said, when planetary alignment is more conducive to unsettlement than during periods of less interaction, individuals with negative attitudes and pessimistic outlook will manifest more challenging circumstances for themselves—the law of attraction operates 24/7.

Beloved family, every happening whether perceived as progress or setbacks, tragedies or triumphs, is a reflection of vibrations that are ramping up turmoil so it can run out its course and simultaneously expanding the success of grassroots movements around the world. How we wish that this very moment life on Earth were what you want: peace, truth, kindness, mutual respect and cooperation of all peoples. Ultimately, it will be, and your steadfastness in the light is helping to create in linear time the world you want that already IS in the continuum.

Now then, we shall address the remaining soul-related questions. The first, from a reader in the United States, is much the same asked by others who also tied it to presidential campaigning in that country, but the relevance of this issue is global: “What happens to the souls of unborn children due to an abortion?” Janos, a soul in an eighth density civilization, spoke about this with my mother several years ago, and I asked her to copy that part of their lengthy conversation.

[ The following excerpt is from the chapter “Janos” in Voices of the Universe.]

A soul does not need a body for life itself, as that is inherent in the essence of every soul. It is only for experiencing physically what cannot be without some mass for functioning that souls choose to have a body of some sort.

Among your people, there is great misconception about “life” and the difference between a soul and a body. You have a process called “abortion” that some believe is the destruction of a new life, and there is argument about when a soul enters a body being formed in the womb. No soul’s life ever is destroyed by ending the formation of a developing body. Bodies grow independently of souls through the natural laws of physical mechanisms reproducing in accordance with the cellular programming of each civilization.

Souls are not restricted to incarnating in a specific civilization. A soul’s spiritual evolutionary status automatically puts it within a certain vibratory level, and it chooses a civilization within that sphere that can provide the experiencing needed for its advancement. The greater the spiritual evolvement, the higher the light station within which a soul may choose the civilization for embodying, or living as a free spirit member.
Souls whose spiritual growth needs are within the third density of Earth or other placements of similar vibratory status have a number of choices regarding bodies. They may reside around the parents even before conception takes place, and after conception, they may enter the fetus to experience that growth sensation. If that kind of experience isn’t needed, they may remain “outside” for other kinds of experiencing prior to the birth, but with a soul contract “claim” on the developing body that other souls respect. If a soul enters a developing body and then reverses that decision, the woman experiences a miscarriage. A soul may inhabit a developing body until imminent birth, then decide not to continue in that body and a stillbirth results. Also, a soul may make one of those decisions, experience what it requires emotionally, and in agreement with another soul, will exit and the second soul enters until miscarriage, stillbirth or live birth occurs. A soul with a “claim” on a developing body may permit another soul to reside in the body to experience the growth and birth sensation, then that soul leaves and the first one takes over the physical life.

These various situations always are by agreement with all souls involved, which of course includes the parents and any other family members, and the purpose is to permit chosen experiencing to several souls at the level they need. Abortion, like all the other stages from prior to conception through a viable birth, provides opportunities for the participating souls to experience the attendant emotions that fill voids in their experiences to that moment.

Bodies have a life force independent of a soul, and while it is an unusual situation that a body lives without a soul, this can happen. Souls have the choice to enter a cloned body or not, and if not, the clone still seems like anyone else because the brain and all senses and motor abilities are functioning. Another example is when injured or ill people are comatose. The soul may choose to remain with the body or not, and if not, as long as nourishment is given, that body continues to live in a vegetative state until it dies from deterioration of cells.

Thank you, Mother. If all Earth’s peoples could know that every one of you is a soul having a physical experience and the many choices souls have, abortion would not a political, social or religious issue. When you are living in the fullness of Earth’s Golden Age, there will be no abortions or divisiveness of any kind—life will be loving, peaceful and in harmony with all of Nature.

“Is the 'soul' the essence of a person, or was it created to support the 'fundamental essence' as a storage unit for experiences? In other words, are we really the 'essence' ... with a 'soul'.... 'mind' and 'body' as functional instruments only to support our true self, which is the 'essence' - which would suggest that the 'soul' is a spiritual function located in-between our 'fundamental essence' and our 'mind.'”

Your true self is a soul—an independent, inviolate, eternal Being whether living in a physical or a spirit world or as a free spirit anywhere in this universe. Your essence, or composition,is the pure love-light energy of Creator—the source of everything in existence throughout the cosmos—and in this universe is of God. Using Creator’s energy and Its gift of free will with its component power of manifestation, you design a mind and a body that will enable you to function in accordance with what you want to experience after incarnating. You endow this person with a repository, or storage unit, of soul-level knowledge of The Beginnings in Creator and the collective wisdom and memories of your other lifetimes. It may be helpful to read a prior message that offers more extensive information about preparing for a new physical lifetime. [ February 3, 2014 ]

Thank you, Mother, for adding the date, and we add that a lifetime as a free spirit has nothing whatsoever to do with personality traits or behavior. It is a special kind of experiencing that may or may not require a body, not even an etheric body, whereby the soul communicates directly with God and knowledgeably accomplishes its pre-birth chosen mission. Jesus and other messengers of God are examples of souls that needed a body to accomplish their free spirit lifetime mission.

“Why is it that some deceased souls remain attached to the Earth plane and not ascend to the light? How come they have that choice? Don't we all have to go to Nirvana or another realm to account for our lives here, and assess whether we need to return or not?”

It isn’t quite accurate to ascribe “choice” to the rare occasions when persons don’t go to Nirvana or another spirit world directly after physical death. The soul, which is pure love-light energy, is liberated from the person’s etheric body and psyche, and it is the psyche that is reluctant to leave. The power of belief is mighty indeed, and some of those people believe they still are alive and carrying on, maybe preparing for a loved one’s return or caring for their young children or consummating a new business venture. Others do know they had died but want to stay on Earth until they have completed something of utmost importance—perhaps explain to families how to handle personal business affairs or continue fighting alongside their comrades or let police know who killed them.

Whatever the reason, it is of such vital significance to people in either of those categories that the energy they exert enables their etheric bodies to linger nearby. Eventually, often with the assistance of angels, spirit guides or a proficient energy worker, all of those souls realize that they cannot do what they desire and willingly move on to a spirit world. If to Nirvana, they experience life review and take advantage of all the opportunities that wondrous realm offers as they plan their next embodiment.

Then there is the considerably different situation that you call “possession,” which also is a very infrequent occurrence on Earth. A darkly-inclined soul purposefully lingers to look for a body to enter during sleep time and remain henceforth. When it enters a body, a struggle ensues until one of the souls manages to oust the other. If the intruder soul takes possession, an experienced energy worker can perform what you call exorcism; when that is successful, the intruder is assisted to the light and the original occupant returns. If exorcism is not performed or is unsuccessful, the original soul goes to Nirvana or the spirit world of its civilization and the intruder remains in the body and causes considerable changes in the person’s behavior.

“What happened to the Soul when someone committed suicide?” First we say, there is NO punishment for suicide as some religions teach. Just as in cases where physical death is by any other cause, the soul is liberated from the etheric body and psyche. Someone who takes his or her life does so in mental and emotional anguish, and the psyche enters Nirvana in that traumatized state. After a healing process of tender, customized care and constant attentiveness, the person joins the realm’s population and experiences life review just as all others do. When another incarnation is planned, it includes the karmic lessons that had been chosen but not experienced in the life cut short. Mother, please add the date of the message that covers this topic more comprehensively. [ September 23, 2014 ]

Thank you, and yes, I see that we have reached preferred space limits. I also see more questions about the soul on your list, but I feel that the information we have provided is the most relevant for the greatest number of readers.

So, with the assurance that never are you alone in your Earth journey, we bid you loving farewell for this moment.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com