Feb. 24 Photo Brief: Pope’s last public blessings, Daytona International Speedway crash, topless feminists protest against Berlusconi
Pope Benedict’s last public blessings before he resigns, race carries on after Daytona International Speedway crash, topless feminists protest against former Prime Minister Berlusconi and more in today’s daily brief. | Attention: Several photos might depict injury or death.
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- Pope Benedict XVI’s leads the Angelus prayer on February 24, 2013 at the Vatican. The pontiff celebrates his last Angelus prayer at the end of a week-long spiritual retreat, ahead of his resignation on this week. (Osservatore Romano/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Kazakh hunter watches as his tamed golden eagle is released into the air during an annual hunting competition in Chengelsy Gorge, some 150 km (93 miles) east of Almaty February 22, 2013. Picture taken February 22, 2013. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)
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- Members of the Free Syrian Army pray in a house in Aleppo February 23, 2013. (Hamid Khatib/Reuters)
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- A worker stands among chairs prepared for the inauguration ceremony of South Korea’s incoming president Park Geun-hye at the National Assembly in Seoul February 24, 2013. Park will take office as the country’s 18th president on February 25 and about 70,000 people will participate in the ceremony. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)
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- Malian soldiers look at munitions on display for the press at the Malian airbase where French soldiers are stationed in Gao February 24, 2013. Malian and French army officers said the munitions were captured from radical Islamist groups over the past weeks. (Joe Penney/Reuters)
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- Girls ride a motorcycle at sunset in Gao February 23, 2013. (Joe Penney/Reuters)
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- Ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate Purim at a synagogue on February 23, 2013 in Bnei Brak, Israel.The carnival-like Purim holiday is celebrated with parades and costume parties to commemorate the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to exterminate them in the ancient Persian empire 2,500 years ago, as described in the Book of Esther. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
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- Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Dodge, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #32 Clorox Chevrolet, are involved in an incident at the finish of the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 23, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
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- Girls attend a classic dance class given by teachers from the Royal Opera House to children from Brazilian dance schools and from shantytowns, at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, on February 23, 2013. The Royal Opera House of London landed in Rio this week with educational programs and events that include dance lessons for children living in the city’s shantytowns. (Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Fifteen-year-old orphan Keneuoe joins in games during a visit by Sentebale representatives at St Bernadette’s Centre for the blind on February 24, 2013 in Maseru, Lesotho. Sentebale is a charity founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. It helps the most vulnerable children in Lesotho get the support they need to lead healthy and productive lives. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
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- Hindu priests lift up an oil lamp as they perform an evening prayer ceremony for the victims of the explosions which took place in Hyderabad on Thursday, on the banks of the river Ganges in the northern Indian city of Allahabad February 24, 2013. (Jitendra Prakash/Reuters)
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- A U.S. soldier and Afghan security forces stand alongside the body of a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul on February 24, 2013. Afghan security forces on February 24 shot dead one suspected suicide bomber in a car near a construction site in Kabul’s diplomatic enclave, a police official and an AFP photographer said. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A topless feminist is arrested by riot policemen outside the polling xtation where former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi casted his ballot on February 24, 2013 in Milan. Three topless feminists lunged at Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi as he arrived at a polling station in Milan to vote in a general election on Sunday. The women had the slogan “Basta Berlusconi” scrawled on their backs. (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Chinese blacksmith throws molten metal against a cold stone wall to create sparks, during the Lantern Festival which traditionally marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations, in Nuanquan, Hebei province on February 24, 2013. For over 300 years, the village which is famous for its blacksmith skills, has maintained the tradition which they considered a cheaper alternative than buying fireworks during the Lantern Festival. (Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A student has her face painted as part of her nature-inspired costume before participating in a parade for the Caracol festival in Makati city, metro Manila February 24, 2013. The annual Caracol festival, the “Mardi Gras of Makati”, is held as a tribute to mother nature. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)
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- Polar bears Uslada (L) and Menshikov investigate the contents of a parcel that was delivered into their enclosure for International Polar Bear Day at a Zoo in St.Petersburg February 24, 2013. International Polar Bear day is marked on February 27 to draw attention to the issues endangering polar bears. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)
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- A competitor in the Nordic Combined Team Gundersen Competition uses a lift to reach the start area of the jump at the Nordic Ski World Championships in the northern mountain resort of Predazzo in Val di Fiemme February 24, 2013. (Yves Herman/Reuters)
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- A dog runs in a snow shaft in Ljubljana February 24, 2013. About 15 inches of snow fell on Saturday night, according to local weather forecasts. (Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)
Among pilgrims on pope’s final Sunday, a sense of malaise
Naomi O’Leary | Reuters
10:43 a.m. EST, February 24, 2013
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Many of the Catholics packed into St. Peter’s Square On Sunday expressed a sense of malaise about seeing Pope Benedict give his last weekly blessing before resigning from a position traditionally seen as a commitment until death.
“This is an ill wind blowing,” said midwife Marina Tacconi as a chilly gust blew across the square.
“It feels like something ugly could happen. I’m 58 years old. I have seen popes come and go, but never one resign. I don’t see it as a good thing.”
While many pilgrims held signs thanking the 85-year-old pontiff, who elicited a huge cheer when he appeared at his window over the square for the last time ever, one banner in the crowd read “Pope, we don’t understand you”.
“I feel very emotional and upset, full of gratitude and love and prayer,” said Italian pilgrim Andreina Scuri.
In his final Sunday blessing address before leaving on Thursday for a life of prayer and meditation, Benedict said he was “not abandoning the Church”. But many there to see him said they were confused and upset by his decision.
“The news of his resignation was a blow for everyone. We lack a uniting figure,” said Mirko Ninni, an unemployed 22-year-old who said the abdication added to the sense of unease in Italy which is in deep recession and faces political uncertainty in a general election.
Dressed in rough sack cloth and with blistered bare feet, pilgrim Massimo Coppo drew a crowd as he railed against the Vatican hierarchy, saying it was alienated from the people.
“There is too much money in the Church. We must offer them our hearts, not our money,” shouted the grey-bearded Coppo to applause and shouts of “Make him Pope, immediately!”.
Disunity in the Church is one of many challenges faced by an institution plagued by a series of sexual abuse scandals and allegations of corruption.
“The people are scared and panicked like sheep in the night when they think there is a wolf among them,” Coppo preached to the gathered crowd, who filmed him on mobile phones.
ADVERSITY
“The Church is going through a difficult moment,” said Sara Laurenzano, 20, a Rome student who said Benedict had suffered in comparison to his widely beloved predecessor John Paul II.
The contrast with the adoring crowds who massed in the same square almost eight years ago as John Paul II lay dying was stark. The more charismatic pope had won widespread respect for opposing Soviet communism and for enduring a lengthy illness in the public eye.
“(Benedict) wasn’t a uniting figure,” said Laurenzano. “The new pope will need to lead us out of this adversity, we need someone to unite us.”
The next pontiff, who is expected to take over before the Easter weekend at the end of March, will take up a battle against increasing secularization, cultural change and ever-falling church attendance in many Western countries.
Sister Daniella, 58, said she and her fellow nuns at the order of the Sacred Sacrament based beside the Vatican had been initially stunned at the pope’s decision to become the first pontiff in centuries to resign.
“It was a lightning bolt. But in the end we saw that the decision was done from a wish to serve the Church, ” Sister Daniella said, wearing glasses and a light grey habit.
Other pilgrims also sought to take something positive from Benedict’s decision.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Sarah Ennis, 21, a student from Minnesota who studies in Rome.
“Bitter because we love our Pope Benedict and hate to see him go, but sweet because he is going for a good reason and we are excited to see the next pope.”
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