French press review

In the spotlight: this Ukrainian controversy in the Vatican

Audio 04:15

Worshipers wave the Ukrainian flag during Pope Francis' Angelus prayer at the Vatican, March 13, 2022. © AP/Gregorio Borgia

By: Norbert Navarro

3 mins

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During his celebration of Easter urbi et orbi tomorrow, Pope Francis should stick to denouncing the war in Ukraine, without mentioning Russia 

If tomorrow, Easter Sunday, the Roman Easter celebrations will put the accent on the war in Ukraine, during his traditional message, the pope “ 

will not yield to international pressures, which would like (…) that he attacks, him, the Catholic pope, to Russia or to its president, whom he never names

 ,” underlines

Le Figaro

.

Vatican position which gives rise to "

 many misunderstandings, as shown by the controversy around the ceremony of the Stations of the Cross presided over by the Pope 

" last night in Rome, and which we were talking about here, yesterday, by pointing out that, during of this Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, at the Colosseum, the cross, for the time of a station, was going to be carried by a Ukrainian and a Russian.

“ 

Two friends 

”, underlines

Le Figaro

, but a “duo” wanted by the Vatican which “ 

strongly displeased Ukraine

”.

Which officially protested, judging this initiative "

inappropriate

" and "

ambiguous

".

Le Figaro

reports that the Vatican “

 refused to give in, explaining that its only line was “peace

”.

This daily recalls that, last Sunday, during the Palm Sunday, the Pope assured that it was "

Christ

" who was "

again nailed to the cross

" because of "

the madness of war

", calling for a "

 truce for Easter

 " and calling it "

armed aggression (of) contempt of God

”.

Le Figaro

also evokes the possibility of a meeting between Pope Francis and the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, " 

in Jerusalem by the summer 

".

Easter, maybe, but no resurrection, finally, for this garbage collector, who came back to life after being officially declared dead at the end of March near Paris.

He ended up succumbing to a heart attack.

His name was Mohamed, he was 66 years old.

This garbage collector died this week, after, in effect, having been declared dead and then alive again, as revealed by the newspaper

Le Parisien

.

On March 29, Mohamed had a heart attack.

After performing a long cardiac and pulmonary resuscitation on him, the rescuers could only confirm his death.

His body is then " 

placed in a funeral bag

 ", reports

Le Parisien

.

But half an hour later, his heart was beating again.

He was then transported to an intensive care unit “ 

in a desperate state

 ”.

Exorbitant medical event called " 

Lazarus phenomenon 

", in reference to Lazarus of Bethany, resurrected by Christ in the Bible.

Extremely rare, it happens that some pass "from death to life", like Jean-Paul Duc, to whom the same story happened in 2010, which 

Le Parisien

recalls.

He survived and still lives.

A real miracle. 

No miracle, on the other hand for this young woman, princess of Qatar, who accuses her own father of alleged incest

According to the same

Parisian

, a complaint for alleged incestuous sexual assault has just been filed against Abdelaziz Bin Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani, 73, uncle of the Emir reigning over Qatar.

This daily reports that " 

one of his three daughters, aged 17, went (the day before yesterday) to the minors' brigade of the police station in the 17th arrondissement 

" in Paris.

The teenager denounced alleged touching "of 

which she would have been the victim of her 9 to 15 years

 " on the part of her father.

Le Parisien

specifies that the Paris prosecutor's office " 

has only launched an administrative investigation to date 

".

This newspaper ignores

 whether Prince Al-Thani was auditioned.

The man benefits, like his three daughters, from diplomatic immunity and has never appeared when summoned by the family court judge

.

Prince Al-Thani's lawyers "

 did not respond 

" to requests from Le

Parisien

.

Which newspaper recalls that, " 

since the beginning of the case, the entourage of the dignitary virulently denies the slanders that would dictate a mother considered manipulative, allegedly obsessed by the immense fortune of her ex-spouse

 ".

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