Yes, she and her family have finally escaped Sudan.
A mother put on death row for refusing to reject Christianity met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, just hours after she fled Sudan.
Meriam Ibrahim was flown out of the country with her American husband and two young children. She was blessed by the pontiff during a private audience and is expected to fly onto the United States in the next few days.
Good.
Original news via a Ted Cruz press release.
Moe Lane
I gotta agree with @vermontaigne, here: the Independent sounds downright grumpy about Pope Francis I’s continuing refusal of the temporal luxuries that come with his new status.
In his continuing quest to show what an all-round great guy he is, Pope Francis has had a new passport and I.D card produced so that he can travel the world without ‘enjoying any priveleges’ [sic – ML] others might not get.
The head of the Catholic Church has asked his birth country of Argentina to renew his travel documents so he can travel as a regular Argentine rather than as a privileged citizen of the Vatican City, the country’s interior and transportation ministry said on Monday.
I’d wonder what Pope Francis I could do that would please the Independent, only I expect that it would involve the words ‘grease fire.’
Moe Lane
As in, the New York Times thinks that there are only six Jesuits spying internally for their Jesuit pope.
How utterly droll.
After reading the @NYTimes today, we just couldn’t resist! http://t.co/KX77YjQzLi pic.twitter.com/wGNwkDB3ZN
— The Jesuit Post (@TheJesuitPost) January 14, 2014
Not to mention provincial, but then the NYT has always been less sophisticated than it thinks that it is. Continue reading *Six* secret Jesuit spies for the Pope.
He has an affinity for my favorite Saint.
Some people wanted to know why the Bishop of Rome wished to be called Francis. Some thought of Francis Xavier, Francis De Sales, and also Francis of Assisi. I will tell you the story. During the election, I was seated next to the Archbishop Emeritus of São Paolo and Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes: a good friend, a good friend! When things were looking dangerous, he encouraged me. And when the votes reached two thirds, there was the usual applause, because the Pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss, and said: “Don’t forget the poor!” And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we? He is the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man … How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!
Mind you, we undoubtedly have significant differences of political opinion. But I think that Francis’ instincts are sound.