Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday braved temperatures well below freezing to take a bare-chested dip into icy water in an Orthodox ritual marking the baptism of Jesus.

The Russian leader shed a thick coat and boots, as temperatures hovered at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) and stepped into a pool surrounded by snow and facing a large cross made of ice outside Moscow.

The 68-year-old Russian leader immersed himself three times while crossing himself, in line with tradition.

The Kremlin said in a statement that the tradition “celebrates one of the main Christian holidays — the baptism of the Lord.”

Every year on January 19, tens of thousands of Orthodox believers mark Epiphany by dunking themselves in ponds or rivers.

Russian authorities install wooden steps to facilitate access for worshippers throughout the country wishing to commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ.

While the ritual has become popular among Russian politicians and even foreign diplomats, the Orthodox Church has said the event is not actually a canonical tradition and dismiss it as a fad.

Source: AFP

Both Pope Francis and his predecessor, former pope Benedict XVI, have received the coronavirus vaccine, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The Argentine pontiff, 84, has previously spoken of the importance of the jab in the fight against Covid-19, which has severely curtailed his own love of being among his flock.

Under the Vatican’s vaccination programme launched Wednesday, “the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to Pope Francis and the Pope Emeritus,” spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

It had already been reported that Francis, 84, had received the jab on Wednesday, but officials declined to confirm the news.

The Vatican News portal said Benedict, 93, was given a dose on Thursday morning.

The former pontiff, who stepped down in 2013, lives in a converted monastery in the Vatican gardens.

In an interview broadcast at the weekend, Francis urged people to get the vaccine.

“There is a suicidal denial which I cannot explain, but today we have to get vaccinated,” he told Canale 5.

The Vatican in December said it was “morally acceptable” for Catholics even where the vaccines had been developed using cell lines from aborted foetuses.

In his Christmas message last year, Francis also added his voice to calls for vaccines to be available across the globe, not just in rich countries.

He urged “vaccines for all, especially the most vulnerable and most in need in all regions of the planet”.

– Iraq trip in doubt –

The Argentine has been forced to limit his interaction with the public since the virus first swept Italy early last year, notably switching his weekly Wednesday audiences online.

Francis conceded at the weekend that his historic trip to Iraq planned for March, the first visit by a pope to the Middle Eastern country, could be in doubt.

Recalling how he was forced to cancel his foreign trips last year due to the pandemic, he said: “I don’t know if the upcoming trip to Iraq will happen.”

He added: “I cannot in all conscience encourage gatherings.”

There are serious concerns about how Francis would cope if he himself became infected, given both his age and his history of lung problems.

The pope almost died when he was 21 after developing pleurisy, according to biographer Austen Ivereigh, and had part of one of his lungs removed.

He recalled the incident in a recent book, “Let Us Dream”, saying: “I have some sense of how people with coronavirus feel as they struggle to breathe on ventilators.”

Media reports suggested Pope Francis received the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, which was authorised for use in the European Union on December 21.

Source: AFP

Bethlehem on Thursday ushered in Christmas Eve with a stream of joyous marching bands and the triumphant arrival of the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, but few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown dampened celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Similar subdued scenes were repeated across the world as the festive family gatherings and packed prayers that typically mark the holiday were scaled back or canceled altogether.

On Christmas Eve in Italy, church bells rang earlier than usual. The Italian government’s 10 pm curfew prompted pastors to move up services, with “Midnight” Mass starting Thursday evening in some churches as early as a couple hours after dark. Pope Francis, who has said people “must obey” civil authorities’ measures to fight the spread of Covid-19, fell in line. This year, the Christmas vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica was moved up from 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Normally, seats at the vigil Mass are quickly snapped up, by Romans and by tourists, but the pandemic has reduced tourists in Italy to a trickle. In keeping with social distancing measures, barely 200 faithful — instead of several thousand — spaced out in the basilica’s pews and wearing masks, attended Francis’ celebration of the Mass. A row of fiery red poinsettia plants warmly contrasted with the sumptuous cold marble of the basilica.

Francis in his homily offered reflections on Christmas’ significance. “We often hear it said that the greatest joy in life is the birth of a child. It is something extraordinary and it changes everything,” he said. A child “makes us feel loved but can also teach us how to love.”

“God was born a child in order to encourage us to care for others,” said Francis, who has made attention to the poor and unjustly treated a key theme of his papacy.

Celebrations elsewhere in Europe were canceled or greatly scaled back as Covid-19 infections surge across the continent and a new variant that may be more contagious has been detected.

In Athens, Christmas Eve was eerily silent. In normal times, voices of children singing carols while tinkling metal triangles can be heard all day. The decades-old custom, in which children go house to house and receive small gifts, was banned this year. Groups of children managed to honor the tradition by singing to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis by video link.

Throughout the pandemic, one of the hardest-hit churches in New York City has been Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan. Church leaders say more than 60 members of the congregation — which numbered about 800 before the pandemic — have died of COVID-19, almost all of them part of the community of some 400 who attended services in Spanish.

Despite their own heartbreaks, congregation members — many of them immigrants — donated coats, scarves and other winter clothes for more than 100 migrant minors at a detention center in Manhattan.

While many other New York City churches have resumed in-person services, Saint Peter’s continues to offer its Masses only online. The schedule for Christmas Eve and Christmas day included Masses in English and Spanish, and a bilingual jazz vespers service.

In Bethlehem, officials tried to make the most out of a bad situation.

“Christmas is a holiday that renews hope in the souls,” said Mayor Anton Salman. “Despite all the obstacles and challenges due to corona and due to the lack of tourism, the city of Bethlehem is still looking forward to the future with optimism.”

Raw, rainy weather added to the gloomy atmosphere, as several dozen people gathered in the central Manger Square to greet Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Youth marching bands playing Christmas carols on bagpipes, accompanied by pounding drummers, led a joyous procession ahead of the patriarch’s arrival early in the afternoon.

“Despite the restrictions and limitations we want to celebrate as much as possible, with family, community and joy,” said Pizzaballa, who was to lead a small Midnight Mass gathering later in the evening. “We want to offer hope.”

Thousands of foreign pilgrims usually flock to Bethlehem for the celebrations. But the closure of Israel’s international airport to foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions banning intercity travel in the areas they administer in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, kept visitors away.

The restrictions limited attendance to residents and a small entourage of religious officials. Evening celebrations, when pilgrims normally congregate around the Christmas tree, were canceled, and Midnight Mass was limited to clergy.

The coronavirus has dealt a heavy blow to Bethlehem’s tourism sector, the lifeblood of the local economy. Restaurants, hotels and gift shops have been shuttered.

It was not the usual raucous Christmas eve in Mexico City. The big celebration was a ceremony where the country’s first coronavirus vaccine shots were administered.

On Christmas Eve, parents usually take their kids to a downtown plaza where actors dress up as the Three Wise Men or Santa Claus and pose in front of elaborate backdrops resembling the sets of popular children’s movies.

But this year, the Wise Men and Santas were banned. Mexico’s other grand tradition, Midnight Mass, was canceled in many parishes.

Still, Zoé Robledo, director of Mexico’s social security system, said the start of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine program made it “an unforgettable Christmas.”

Rio de Janeiro’s iconic beaches remained open, but a City Hall decree aimed at limiting gatherings prevented drivers from parking along the shore. Rain also kept beachgoers at home.

Thomas Azevedo and his 9-year-old son braved the bad weather to set up a small stand, selling beer and caipirinhas made from fresh fruit. By early afternoon, he hadn’t sold a thing.

“It’s not so much the rain; in previous years it was full of tourists at Christmas. This year there’s no one,” said Azevedo, 28.

Australians had until recently been looking forward to a relatively Covid-19-free Christmas after travel restrictions across state borders relaxed in recent weeks in the absence of any evidence of community transmission. But after new cases were detected over the past week, states again closed their borders.

While many places around the globe were keeping or increasing restrictions for Christmas, Lebanon was an exception. With its economy in tatters and parts of its capital destroyed by a massive Aug. 4 port explosion, Lebanon has lifted most virus measures ahead of the holidays, hoping to encourage spending. Tens of thousands of Lebanese expatriates have arrived home for the holidays, leading to fears of an inevitable surge in cases during the festive season.

Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East — about a third of its 5 million people — and traditionally celebrates Christmas with much fanfare.

“People around us were tired, depressed and depleted, so we said let’s just plant a drop of joy and love,” said Sevine Ariss, one of the organizers of a Christmas fair along the seaside road where the explosion caused the most damage.

Source: AP

Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals on Saturday — including the first African-American — putting his personal stamp on the body that will one day choose his successor.

Under the soaring dome of St Peter’s Basilica, the new “princes of the Church” knelt one by one at the feet of the 83-year-old pontiff, who placed the quadrangular scarlet cap, or biretta, on their heads.

The diverse group — whose members hail from Italy, Malta, the Philippines, Chile, Brunei, Mexico and the United States — reflect not only the changing face of the church of 1.3 billion faithful, but also the Jesuit pope’s belief in priests focused on the world’s poor.

The 72-year-old Archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, told AFP on Friday he was a “symbolic individual” for being made the first African-American cardinal.

Since Francis’ election in 2013, the Argentine pope — the first from the Americas — has created 95 new cardinals in ceremonies known as consistories.

Those named by Francis now make up the majority of those cardinals under the age of 80 who will elect his successor.

That increases the chances that the pope’s efforts to make the Roman Catholic Church more inclusive, transparent, and more focused on defending the most vulnerable members of society, may continue after his death.

During the ceremony, Francis warned the new cardinals not to be seduced by their new “eminence” and stray from being “close to the people”.

“The scarlet of a cardinal’s robes, which is the colour of blood, can, for a worldly spirit, become the colour of a secular ’eminence’,” said Francis. “When you feel that, you will be off the road.”

– Nod to ‘peripheries’ –

Typically, all the world’s cardinals travel to Rome to welcome the newly promoted cardinals during the consistory.

This year, however, many did not attend, and coronavirus restrictions prevented travel for two new cardinals — Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of the Philippines and Cornelius Sim, the Apostolic Vicar of the Muslim-majority nation of Brunei.

Only about 40 current cardinals, all in masks, were in attendance, sitting spaced apart before a limited audience of guests.

Due to the coronavirus, the tradition of exchanging “a kiss of peace” with the pope and all the other cardinals was suspended.

Nine cardinals in the latest group are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to join a conclave to elect the next pope upon the death or resignation of Francis.

Francis’ choices reflect not only a desire to promote non-Europeans within the church, but the pontiff’s personal fight against social inequality and poverty.

The Philippines’ Advincula said he believed the pope chose him to acknowledge Catholics living in far-flung areas from Rome.

“I always thought that the Church has to be closer to the people, especially those that are in the peripheries,” Advincula told Vatican News last month after being named.

Francis also named the archbishop of Washington DC, Wilton Gregory, the first African-American to become cardinal.

– Defence of poor –

The group of cardinals also includes Mexico’s Bishop Emeritus Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, who has worked among the indigenous population of the poor region of Chiapas, and Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Rwanda, who lost most of his family in the 1994 genocide.

Francis also named the Archbishop of Santiago, Celestino Aos Braco, in a nod to the challenges ahead in restoring confidence in the Church in Chile in the aftermath of a widespread sex abuse scandal and coverup.

The group of six new Italian cardinals includes Augusto Paolo Lojudice, the current archbishop of Siena, known for his defence of Roma people, and the Franciscan priest Mauro Gambetti, guardian of the Holy Convent of Assisi, the city of Saint Francis.

On Sunday, Francis will celebrate a traditional mass with exclusively the new cardinals participating.

Source: AFP