ROME – Pope Francis on Tuesday formally inaugurated the 2025 Holy Year, reviving an ancient church tradition encouraging the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome, amid new security fears following a Christmas market attack in Germany. At the start of Christmas Eve Mass, Francis pushed open the Holy Door on St Peter’s Basilica, which will stay open throughout the year to allow the estimated 32 million pilgrims projected to visit Rome to pass through.

The first Holy Year was called in 1300, and in recent times they are generally celebrated every 25 to 50 years. Pilgrims who participate can obtain “indulgences” – the centuries-old feature of the Catholic Church related to the forgiveness of sins that roughly amounts to a “get out of Purgatory free” card.

The last regular Jubilee was in 2000, when St John Paul II ushered in the church’s third millennium. Francis declared a special Jubilee in 2015-2016 dedicated to mercy and the next one planned is in 2033, to commemorate the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ.

According to church teaching, Catholics who confess their sins are forgiven and therefore released from the eternal or spiritual punishment of damnation. An indulgence is designed to remove the “temporal” punishment of sin that may remain – the consequence of the wrongdoing that might disrupt the sinner’s relationships with others. Martin Luther’s opposition to the church’s practice of selling indulgences inspired him to launch the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. He was excommunicated, and the practice of buying and selling indulgences has been illegal since the 1562 Council of Trent. But the granting of them has continued and is an important element in Holy Year pilgrimages. (Jamaica-Gleaner)

Photo: Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. (AP)

Prosecutors filed an application to have embattled Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Calvin Brutus’ bail revoked over alleged breach of his bail conditions. Brutus, who is facing 250 financial crimes charges, is accused of attempting to leave Guyana to Brazil on December 16, 2024 through Lethem Region 9.

The matter was heard by acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court last Tuesday. Lead state prosecutor David Braithwaite along with Brutus’ defence attorneys, Eusi Anderson, Earl Daniels, Darren Wade and Yuborn Allicock made appearances.  Brutus attended court via Zoom. Prosecutor Braithwaite explained that the application for bail revocation stemmed from an incident where Brutus attempted to leave Guyana for Brazil via Lethem, Region Nine without prior court approval.

On December 21, 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement stating that Brutus had been stopped by police officers while attempting to cross the border into Brazil. Braithwaite stated that the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), which had charged Brutus with fraud, was unaware of the incident until the Ministry’s announcement, which prompted the state’s decision to seek the revocation of Brutus’ bail. The prosecution highlighted the urgency of the matter, emphasizing that Brutus had been previously denied permission to leave the country. On October 2, 2024, Brutus had sought permission from the High Court to accompany his pregnant wife to the United States for medical treatment. However, Justice Gino Persaud rejected the request, noting that Brutus had failed to provide the necessary approval from the Permanent Secretary.

Braithwaite stressed that Brutus was also facing over 200 charges related to financial crimes, all of which are indictable and Brutus was granted bail in the said court with conditions to report SOCU and was required to lodge his passport to the court. The prosecution further outlined the events surrounding Brutus’ alleged attempt to flee the country. According to Braithwaite, on December 16, 2024, ACP Brutus entered the Rupununi region via Trans Guyana Airways around 8:58hrs.

“At 9 am that morning police corporal Rodfill Ross and police constable Sherwin Smith and customs CANU (Customs Anti Narcotic Unit) officers were performing routine checks of the vehicles traversing in and out of Lethem from Guyana to Brazil, when they intercepted a red Brazilian motor vehicle bearing registration number NAK 896 heading to the Takatu Bridge. Police corporal Ross signalled the vehicle to pull over and requested the driver to lower his vehicle when he observed a lone passenger in the said vehicle. The passenger who was capped with a black hat lowered his face was asked to removed said cap and identified himself as Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr. Calvin Brutus,” Braithwaite stated. Braitwaite told the court that when questioned, Brutus reportedly stated he was headed to the Takatu Bridge to collect something from a relative. However, when officers informed Brutus that he had not received court permission to leave the country, he was directed to return to Central Rupununi. Superintendent Raphael Rose of Region 9 confirmed that Brutus was not authorized to leave the jurisdiction. Subsequently Brutus boarded a flight back to Georgetown later that day. (Kaieteur News)

Photo: Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Calvin Brutus.                     (Kaieteur News)

MOZAMBIQUE – More than 1,500 prisoners have escaped from a prison in Mozambique, taking advantage of ongoing political unrest triggered by disputed election results, police say. Thirty-three people were killed and 15 injured in clashes with guards, police chief Bernardino Rafael told a press conference. About 150 more fugitives have since been recaptured, he added.

Protests erupted on Monday in response to Mozambique’s highest court confirming that the ruling Frelimo party, in power since 1975, had won October’s presidential elections. Mr Rafael said groups of anti-government protesters had approached the prison in the capital Maputo on Wednesday. Prisoners used the unrest to knock down a wall and escape, he said.

Mozambique has been rocked by unrest since disputed elections in October. Official results showed the ruling Frelimo’s candidate for president, Daniel Chapo, winning. Fresh protests erupted on Monday, when the constitutional court ruled that Chapo had won the election, while revising his margin of victory downwards. Initial results in October said Daniel Chapo gained a 71% share of the vote to his main rival Venâncio Mondlane’s 20%. The court has now ruled that he won 65% to Mondlane’s’s 24%. (BBC)

Photo: Protesters have clashed with police in the capital Maputo.

GAZA – A newborn baby died from the cold in a tent encampment in Al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza, a health official said Wednesday, highlighting the stark challenges to survival faced by Palestinian children displaced from their homes amid Israel’s ongoing assault on the strip.

Sela Mahmoud Al-Fasih “froze to death from the extreme cold” in Al-Mawasi, Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, posted on X on Wednesday.

In the past week, at least four infants have died of hypothermia from low temperatures and a lack of access to warmth while living in tents, Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, the head of pediatrics and obstetrics at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, said on Thursday. Among them were a three-day-old and a one-month-old who also died in Al-Mawasi, he said.

Staff in the neonatal ICU see at least five cases of hypothermia per day, added Al-Farra. Reduced breastfeeding and limited availability of infant formula has severely compounded the risk of hypothermia among babies, he told CNN. Meanwhile, health workers are struggling to treat young patients due to shortages of electricity, diesel and other fuel. (CNN)

PANAMA CITY – Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday dismissed recent threats made by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to retake control of the Panama Canal, reaffirming that “the sovereignty and independence” of Panama are not “negotiable.” “I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent area belong to Panama, and will continue belonging to Panama,” Mulino posted on social X.

“Every Panamanian, here or anywhere in the world, carries it in their heart, and it is part of our history of struggle and irreversible conquest,” he added. In 2019, the U.S. documentary “Panama Canal” premiered. While the film showcases the canal’s global significance, it skips a key chapter: U.S. intervention in Panama’s secession from Colombia, which secured American control of the canal for nearly a century.

“To build the canal, the United States had helped Panama gain independence from Colombia, thereby dismembering a sister republic to secure a canal treaty that secured U.S. interests,” Panamanian historian Marixa Lasso, wrote in her book “Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal.” In 1821, Panama declared independence from Spain and became part of the Republic of Gran Colombia. By the mid-19th century, its strategic location attracted U.S. interest, particularly as the country sought a transoceanic canal. In 1903, the Herran-Hay Treaty was signed, granting the U.S. rights to construct a canal. However, it was rejected by Colombia’s legislature over sovereignty concerns.

Then U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt hinted backing Panama’s independence in a letter to his friend Alber Shaw, “Privately, I freely say to you that I should be delighted if Panama were an independent state, or if it made itself so at this moment.” On Nov. 3, 1903, U.S. warships supported a revolt that led to Panama’s secession. Within days, the U.S. recognized the new nation and quickly secured the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, granting it “the use, occupation and control” of the canal zone in perpetuity for a modest payment. (Xinhua)

Photo: A drone photo shows a cargo vessel sailing on the Panama Canal near Panama City, Panama. (Xinhua)