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Pope Francis prayed for his predecessor's passage to heaven as he presided over a special New Year's Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday, a day after Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died in his Vatican retreat.The huge basilica will house the coffin of Benedict XVI from Monday. Thousands of worshipers are expected to turn up at the coffin on the first of the three days of the wake.Benedict XVI, 95, died Saturday morning at the Vatican, where he had lived since his retirement. He was the first pope in centuries to resign, citing his growing frailty.Francis looked tired and…

Outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro touched down in Florida on Friday, after tearfully delivering a message to supporters less than two days before his fierce left-wing rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva takes office.An official Brazilian plane landed in Orlando, Florida, late on Friday, the FlightAware flight tracking website showed. Although Bolsonaro's destination has not been officially confirmed, his security personnel were already in Florida.Bolsonaro's departure from Brazil came after he repeatedly said he would not hand over the presidential sash to Lula at Sunday's inauguration, breaking with Brazil's democratic tradition. He may also face legal risks for staying in…

Blizzards are the hurricanes of the north. Both blizzards and hurricanes are unstoppable forces that threaten everyone in their path. To expect Buffalo to withstand a blizzard better because it snows a lot is to believe that Seattle can ignore any hurricane simply because it rains a lot there. Blizzards combine deadly cold snow, sustained winds, and blinding whiteout conditions, turning the familiar into a blank, alien landscape that can kill anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in it. A key to preventing such deaths is early decision-making, so recent events in Buffalo create an important moment to reflect on…

In 2006, Benedict also forced Reverend Marcial Macielthe founder of a conservative Catholic order called the Legionaries of Christ and one of the church's most notorious pedophiles, to retire "to a life of prayer and penance."But eight years after Benedict shocked the church by suddenly retiring in 2013, he faced accusations that he had known for years that Maciel had been taking advantage of the children.“No, this is not correct,” Benedict XVI's personal secretary Georg Gänswein said in a statement to the German newspaper Die Zeit.While Benedict was never personally accused of sexual abuse, a Vatican report released in 2020…