Pope Francis has criticised US bishops for failing to show unity in the face of a sexual abuse crisis, saying internal bickering had to end over the scandal that has damaged the credibility of the American church.

In a long and highly unusual letter sent as US bishops started a week-long retreat to reflect on the spreading crisis, Francis said the handling of the scandal showed the urgent need for a new approach to management and mindset within the church.

The pope wrote: “God’s faithful people and the church’s mission continue to suffer greatly as a result of abuses of power and conscience and sexual abuse, and the poor way that they were handled.” He added that bishops had “concentrated more on pointing fingers than on seeking paths of reconciliation”. Pope Francis has summoned senior Catholic bishops from around the world to the Vatican next month to discuss the protection of minors, in his latest attempt to come to grips with the abuse crisis which first erupted in the United States.

Before that meeting, US bishops gathered on Wednesday near Chicago for seven days of prayer and spiritual reflection. “The church’s credibility has been seriously undercut and diminished by these sins and crimes, but even more by the efforts made to deny or conceal them,” Francis said. The pope said he was so concerned by the situation that he had hoped to attend the US retreat in person, but added that he had been unable to do so “for logistical reasons“.(theguardian)…[+]

HAVANA – On the 60th anniversary of Cuba’s revolution, ruling Communist Party leader Raul Castro blasted the Trump administration for returning to an outdated path of confrontation with the island nation and of intervening in Latin America.

Castro and his late, elder brother Fidel Castro led the rebel band that in 1959 overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator and installed a Communist-run country on the doorstep of the United States, setting the scene for decades of Cold War hostility.

At the time, their revolution inspired leftist movements throughout Latin America, but the celebrations on Tuesday came as the region is shifting rightwards, coinciding with the inauguration of Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Some of Cuba’s closest allies, Venezuela and Nicaragua, are mired in political crises, and U.S. President Donald Trump has tightened the decades-old U.S. embargo on the island, after his predecessor, Barack Obama, had sought to normalize relations.“Once again, the North American government is taking on the path of confrontation with Cuba,” Castro said in the southeastern city of Santiago de Cuba where Fidel Castro proclaimed victory six decades ago.(Reuters)…[+]

Trinidad and Tobago has recorded four homicides in the first two days of 2019. On Wednesday night, a man was shot while reversing his station wagon along a street at Calvary Hill, Arima. His vehicle crashed after the shooting. The man was taken to hospital where he died.  The shooting happened at around 7.40p.m. Police were also called to Woodford Street, Curepe at around 9.56pm. on Wednesday to find the body of a man on the pavement. He was shot multiple times. Fisherman Samuel Sookdeo was shot and killed at his girlfriend’s house in Couva on Tuesday night. On Tuesday morning, homeless Daniel Mahabir, 55, was beaten to death with a rock at a scrap yard in Sealots, Port of Spain.(Trinidad Express)…[+]