July 29 Photo Brief: Aerial view of destruction in Syria, Alpine cattle herding, Red Bull Flugtag
An aerial view of destruction in Syria, Alpine cattle herding in Austria, Red Bull Flugtag Russia 2013 competition and more in today’s daily brief. | Warning: Visual coverage may depict injury and/or death.
- An aerial view of destruction is seen in the al-Khalidiyah neighborhood of the central Syrian city of Homs July 29, 2013. Government forces bolstered by Lebanese Shiite militiamen were poised to retake the largest rebel-held district of Syria’s third city Homs, a watchdog and state media said. (Shaam News Newtwork Handout photo via AFP)
- Anti-Mursi demonstrators gather for a mass rally to show support for the army at Tahrir Square in Cairo July 26, 2013. Egypt’s army is recasting the country’s political drama, giving popular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi the starring role in a change with echoes of the past that could undermine democracy in the Arab world. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
- A worker uses a steamroller to crush thousands bottles of alcoholic drinks as part of a police operation during Ramadan at South Jakarta police headquarters in Jakarta on July 29, 2013. About 10,681 alcohol drinks, mostly local made were destroyed by police after they were seized from vendors who failed to show documents permitting their sale. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)
- Alpine cattle herder Martin Riedmann looks for a herd of Haflinger horses near his alpine dairy Alpe Albona in the Vorarlberg mountain range of western Tyrol on July 25, 2013 near Bludenz, Austria. Riedmann is commissioned by farmers from his home village of Dornbirn to lead cattle and horses up into the mountains every summer, where the animals thrive on the abundant alpine meadows. (Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
- Afghan young men cool off at a river in Herat on July 29, 2013. Western Afghanistan is flat and open with the climate accordingly hot and dry around Herat and temperatures are reaching the early forties. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)
- Indian Hindu devotees representing Potharaju, brother of the goddess Mahankali, dance in the streets during the Bonalu festival at the Sri Ujjaini Mahakali Temple in Secunderabad, the twin city of Hyderabad, on July 29, 2013. The Goddess Kali is honored mostly by women during Bonalu festival by offerings of food and dancing. (Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images)
- Participants race in the famous ‘Ekka’ – horse drawn cart – race, which is organized every year during the Holy month of Shravana in Allahabad on July 29, 2013. Shravan is considered the holiest month of the year and on each Monday of the month, known as Shravan Somvar, worshippers offer prayers for a happy and prosperous life. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images)
- Beachgoers a beach in a truck on the outskirts of Havana July 28, 2013. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters)
- Women sit on a bench as they pray at the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Crowned in the British colony of Gibraltar July 29, 2013. (Jon Nazca/Reuters)
- Pope Francis hugs a boy at Quinta da Boa Vista Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 26, 2013. Pope Francis returned to Rome late Sunday after leading a giant beach mass in Brazil for three million pilgrims, ending his historic trip to reignite Catholic passion with pleas for a humbler Church. (Luca Zennaro/AFP/Getty Images)
- Fielding (on bike), jumps over Zach on July 28, 2013 in Alexander, North Dakota. Fielding’s dad, who works as a mechanic and welder, moved the family to North Dakota from Mexico after learning of work being offered. North Dakota has been experiencing an oil boom in recent years, due in part to new drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
- Pip Andersen, professional free-runner and parkour expert, somersaults on the roof of the Eden’s Rainforest Biome on July 29, 2013 in St Austell, England. Andersen and Tim Shieff who are both members of Storm Freerun, were at the Eden Project to help make a promotional video for the Cornish attraction. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
- Bodies of victims are lined up after a coach crash near the southern town of Avellino July 28, 2013. At least 24 people died on Sunday after the bus plunged more than 15 meters off a viaduct in southern Italy, a spokesman for the fire service said. (Ansa/Cesare Abbate/Reuters)
- A tortoise makes its way through mud in Kfar Kila village near the Lebanese-Israeli border, in south Lebanon July 29, 2013. (Ali Hashisho/Reuters)
- A participant attempts to control his craft during the Red Bull Flugtag Russia 2013 competition on the outskirts of Moscow, July 28, 2013. Enthusiasts competed to fly the longest distance in self-made aircraft in an attempt to win the Flugtag contest. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
- A hippopotamus catches a lettuce with its mouth in Belgrade’s zoo July 29, 2013. Temperatures in Serbia have risen up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), according to official meteorological data. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)
- People walk past underneath an umbrella canopy in downtown Belgrade July 29, 2013. Temperatures in Serbia have risen up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to official meteorological data. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)
- Thai soldiers in white biohazard suits take part in a clean-up operation at Ao Prao Beach on Koh Samet, Rayong July 29, 2013. Crude oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand over the weekend has reached a Thai tourist resort, pipeline operator PTT Global Chemical Pcl said on Monday. Around 50,000 liters of crude oil poured into the sea on Saturday about 12 miles off the coast of Rayong, southeast of the capital Bangkok. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)
- A man carries a bust of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, outside his mausoleum in Caracas, July 28, 2013. Supporters of Chavez gathered in various parts of the country on Sunday to commemorate his 59th birthday, according to local media. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)
RELATED
Pope on gays: ‘Who am I to judge?’
Philip Pullella, Reuters
2:43 p.m. EDT, July 29, 2013
ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis has said gay people should not be marginalized but integrated into society, in some of the most conciliatory remarks by a pontiff on the issue of homosexuality.
In a broad-ranging 80-minute conversation with journalists on the plane bringing him back from a week-long visit to Brazil on Sunday night, he also said he could not judge gay priests, an emotive topic that divides Catholic opinion.
But the 76-year-old Argentine did reaffirm Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin.
Francis stressed the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on women priests was definitive, although he would like them to have more leadership roles in administration and pastoral activities.
And he expressed pain over scandals at the Vatican bank during a remarkably forthright press conference, his first since being elected in March to replace Benedict XVI.
His forthright tone and readiness to field so many questions underlined Francis’ desire to do things differently. He has eschewed many trappings of the papacy, championed the poor and tackled some of the biggest scandals facing the Church head-on.
Francis said there were saints in the Holy See but also “those who are not very saintly”.
The airborne encounter with journalists covered issues as varied as the pope’s insistence on low-key security to his desire to unlock the shackles of the Vatican to go for walks.
The pope arrived back in Rome on Monday after a triumphant tour of Brazil, which climaxed with a huge gathering on Rio de Janeiro’s famed Copacabana beach for a Catholic youth festival that organizers said attracted more than 3 million people.
“WHO AM I TO JUDGE?”
In response to a question about reports of a “gay lobby” in the Vatican, after it suffered a string of scandals over pedophile priests and corruption in the administration of the Holy See, Francis said:
“If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?
“The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worst problem,” he said.
“You see a lot written about the gay lobby. I still have not seen anyone in the Vatican with an identity card saying they are gay,” he joked.
Francis defended all gays from discrimination but also referred to the Catholic Church’s universal Catechism, which says that while homosexual orientation is not sinful, homosexual acts are.
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalized because of this (orientation) but that they must be integrated into society,” he said, speaking in Italian and using the word “gay”, instead of “homosexual” which previous pontiffs mainly used.
Francis also responded to part of a question about Monsignor Battista Ricca, who Francis named to a position overseeing the Vatican bank and who Italian media reports say was involved in gay affairs when he was a diplomat in Latin America.
The pope said a “quick investigation” concluded that the accusations were unfounded.
‘NO’ TO WOMEN PRIESTS IS DEFINITIVE
Addressing the issue of women priests, the pope said, “The Church has spoken and says ‘no’ … that door is closed.” It was the first time he had spoken in public on the subject.
“We cannot limit the role of women in the Church to altar girls or the president of a charity, there must be more …,” he said in answer to a question.
“But with regards to the ordination of women, the Church has spoken and says ‘no’. Pope John Paul said so with a formula that was definitive. That door is closed,” he said, referring to a document by the late pontiff which said the ban was part of the infallible teaching of the Church.
The Church teaches that it cannot ordain women because Jesus willingly chose only men as his apostles. Advocates of a female priesthood say he was acting according to customs of his times.
Many in the Church, even those who oppose a female priesthood, say women should be given leadership roles in the Church and the Vatican administration.
The long session on the plane was highly unusual in the history of the modern papacy for both its candor and breadth.
Unlike his predecessor Benedict, who knew in advance the few questions journalists would be allowed to ask, Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, imposed no restrictions as he fielded 21 questions.
He said his week-long trip to Brazil left him very fatigued but “did me a lot of spiritual good”.
He spoke of reforms he had begun in the Vatican, which has been tarnished by a series of corruption scandals, including at the Vatican bank, which is the target of several Italian money laundering investigations.
Francis said the bank must become “honest and transparent” and that he will listen to the advice of a commission he has set up on whether it can be reformed or should be closed altogether.
Francis referred directly to Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a Vatican prelate arrested last month on suspicion of attempting to smuggle 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland.
“There are many people (in the Vatican) who are saints but there are those who are not very saintly … and it pains me when this happens. There is this monsignor in jail. He didn’t go to jail because he resembled the blessed Imelda,” he said, using a Latin American expression meaning a person is no saint.
Francis, who in Brazil chose to ride in an open-sided popemobile or a simple Fiat, said he was not concerned about the reduced security he has chosen compared to his predecessors.
“Security lies in trusting people. It is true that there is always a danger that a crazy person might try to do something, but there is also the Lord,” he said, adding that he believed it would be even more crazy to be kept away from people.
Vatican security was greatly boosted after Pope John Paul was shot and nearly killed by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca on May 13, 1981 while he was riding in an open jeep in St. Peter’s Square.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; editing by Mike Collett-White)