Chinese citizen journalist jailed for Wuhan virus reporting

Yahoo – AFP, 28 December 2020 

Authoroties said former Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist
Zhang Zhan had spread "False remarks" online.

A Chinese citizen journalist was jailed for four years Monday for her reporting from Wuhan as the Covid-19 outbreak began, her lawyer said, almost a year after details of an "unknown viral pneumonia" surfaced in the central China city. 

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer who arrived at court in a wheelchair, was sentenced at a brief hearing in a Shanghai court for allegedly "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" during her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak. 

Her live reports and essays were shared on social media platforms in February, grabbing the attention of authorities, who have punished eight virus whistleblowers so far as they curb criticism of the government's response to the outbreak. 

Beijing has congratulated itself for "extraordinary" success in controlling the virus inside its borders, with an economy on the rebound while much of the rest of the world stutters through painful lockdowns and surging caseloads a year on from the start of the pandemic in Wuhan. 

Controlling the information flow during an unprecedented global health crisis has been pivotal in allowing China's communist authorities to reframe the narrative in their favour, with President Xi Jinping being garlanded for his leadership by the country's ruling party. 

But that has come at a serious cost to anyone who has picked holes in the official storyline. 

The court said Zhang Zhan had spread "false remarks" online, according to one of her lawyers Zhang Keke, but the prosecution did not fully divulge its evidence in court. 

"We had no way of understanding what exactly Zhang Zhan was accused of doing," he added, describing it as "a speedy, rushed hearing." 

In return the defendant "didn't respond [to questions]... She refused to answer when the judge asked her to confirm her identity." 

The defendant's mother sobbed loudly as the verdict was read out, Ren Quanniu, another member of Zhang's defence team, told reporters who were barred from entering the court. 

Concerns are mounting over the health of 37-year-old Zhang, who began a hunger strike in June and has been force-fed via a nasal tube. 

Her legal team said her health was in decline and she suffered from headaches, dizziness and stomach pain, and that she had appeared in court in a wheelchair. 

"She said when I visited her (last week): 'If they give me a heavy sentence then I will refuse food until the very end.'... She thinks she will die in prison," Ren said before the trial. 

"It's an extreme method of protesting against this society and this environment." 

China's communist authorities have a history of putting dissidents on trial in opaque courts between Christmas and New Year in an effort to minimise Western scrutiny. 

Example made

The sentencing comes just weeks before an international team of World Health Organization experts is expected to arrive in China to investigate the origins of Covid-19. 

Zhang was critical of the early response in Wuhan, writing in a February essay that the government "didn't give people enough information, then simply locked down the city". 

"This is a great violation of human rights," she wrote. 

Rights groups and embassies have also drawn attention to her case, although diplomats from several countries were denied requests to monitor the hearing. 

"Zhang Zhan's case raises serious concerns about media freedom in China," the British embassy in Beijing said, urging "China to release all those detained for their reporting." 

Authorities "want to use her case as an example to scare off other dissidents from raising questions about the pandemic situation in Wuhan earlier this year", added Leo Lan, research and advocacy consultant at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders NGO. 

A United Nations official following the trial also expressed "deep concern" about the verdict. 

"We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a tweet. 

Zhang is the first of a group of four citizen journalists detained by authorities after reporting from Wuhan to face trial. 

Previous attempts by AFP to contact the other three -- Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua -- were unsuccessful. 

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"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

Former ING chief should face charges over bank’s money laundering scandal: court

DutchNews, December 9, 2020 

Photo: ING.com

Former ING chief executive Ralph Hamers should face charges personally for his role in the money laundering scandal which led the financial services group to reach a €775m out of court settlement in 2018, appeal court judges in The Hague said on Wednesday. 

The case has been brought by campaign group Sobi, which says Hamers should face criminal charges. ‘The facts are serious, no settlement was reached with the management and he has never accepted public responsibility for his actions,’ campaigner Pieter Lakeman said. 

‘Managers who consciously make mistakes should not be able to buy themselves free by agreeing to very high fines while shareholders pick up the bill. It is of great importance that Hamers faces prosecution.’ 

The court said in its ruling that while it supported the public prosecution’s decision to look for a settlement, as CEO, Hammers was authorised and required to take measures to prevent criminal behaviour. ‘However, not only did he fail to do this and thereby promote this behaviour, but he also consciously accepted the risk that it would continue,’ the court said. 

ING said in a reaction it regretted the court decision. ‘We … regret the decision to order the prosecution of our former CEO, which goes against the assessment of the public prosecutors that, based on the investigation, there are no grounds for a case against ING employees or former employees,’ ING said in a statement. 

Hamers is now chief executive of Swiss bank UBS which, according to Reuters, says it is confident he will be able to remain in the job. 

The public prosecution department reached a €775m out of court settlement with ING for failing to properly monitor money transfers for potential money laundering in September 2018.

The department said between 2010 and 2016, the bank’s clients were effectively able to launder hundreds of millions of euros because ING was not doing its job properly. Banks are required by law to report suspicious transactions.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once),Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

The New Normal - Election Special

Pope says supports civil unions for gay couples

 Yahoo – AFP, October 21, 2020 

In the film "Francesco" by Evgeny Afineevsky, which premiered at the 2020 Rome
Film Festival, Pope Francis says that gay people have "the right to be in a family"

Pope Francis defended the right of gay couples to enter into legally recognised civil unions in a documentary that premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday. 

In the film, "Francesco" by Evgeny Afineevsky, the Argentine pope says that gays have "the right to be in a family." 

"These are children of God, they have the right to a family," Francis says in the film, speaking in Spanish. 

"What we have to create is a law of civil union, they have the right to be legally protected. I have defended that," said Francis. 

But the former Jorge Bergoglio has always voiced opposition to gay marriage, saying that marriage should only be between a man and woman. 

"Since the beginning of the pontificate the Pope has spoken of respect for homosexuals and has been against their discrimination," Vatican expert Vania de Luca told Rainews. 

"The novelty today is that he defends as pope a law for civil unions." 

 'No judgements' 

After becoming pope in 2013, Francis took an unprecedented welcoming tone towards homosexuals, launching his famous phrase, "Who am I to judge?" and welcoming gay couples to the Vatican on several occasions. 

The two-hour documentary traces the seven years of his pontificate and his travels. 

Among the most moving moments of the film is the Pope's phone call to a gay couple, parents of three young children, in response to a letter they sent him saying how ashamed they were to bring their children to the parish. 

Francis invites them to continue to go to church regardless of the Judgments of others. 

Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, an activist against sexual abuse within the church, accompanied the director to the film screening on Wednesday. 

"When I met Pope Francis he told me he was very sorry about what happened. Juan, it is God who made you gay and he loves you anyway. God loves you and the Pope loves you too," says Cruz in the film. 

The Russian-born Afineevsky, who attended the Pope's general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday, was nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy in 2016 for "Winter of Fire" about the 2013-2014 protests in Ukraine. 

In 2018 he received three Emmy nominations for "Cries from Syria" about that country's civil war.

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"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

Pope makes first trip outside Rome in seven months

Yahoo – AFP, Andrea Bernardi with Ella Ide in Rome, October 3, 2020

Pope Francis prays during mass at the tomb of Saint Francis in Assisi,
during his first trip outside Rome in seven months

Pope Francis on Saturday made his first trip since the Vatican's coronavirus lockdown, though it was a solitary affair for the crowd-loving Argentine due to pandemic precautions. 

Francis visited the central Italian town of Assisi, the birthplace of his namesake saint, where he signed his new encyclical -- a document laying out the pope's views on key issues -- called "Fratelli tutti" on the importance of fraternity and social friendship, particularly during the pandemic. 

In the austere tomb of the Saint Francis of Assisi, Francis held a sombre mass for around 20 mask-wearing faithful. 

The text of encyclical will be published on Sunday, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, who lived from 1182-1226 and devoted himself to a life of poverty.

 Francis earlier made a surprise visit to a convent of the Poor Clares -- an order founded by Francis of Assisi and saint Clare -- and simply rang the doorbell. 

He also stopped at the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi, which houses the remains of Clare, the first woman disciple of saint Francis. 

The gesture could be in response to a growing controversy over whether the encyclical's translated title -- "Brothers all" -- excludes women. 

The Vatican's news website published an editorial called "An encyclical for all brothers and sisters" and emphasised that the Italian title, taken from a quote of Saint Francis, "in no way intends to exclude women". 

After Francis signed the encyclical on the altar at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, he expressed his gratitude to three Roman Curia translators, encouraging them to come to his side for applause. 

Francis visiting the town of Assisi, the birthplace of his namesake saint

The pope's lockdown 

The pope's last trip was to the southern Italian port city of Bari on February 23 for a meeting with Mediterranean bishops. 

As the virus began to spread around the world earlier in the year, Francis instead reached out through a live-streamed mass, performed alone on Saint Peter's Square. 

"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities", he said in the historic March address, describing the coronavirus "tempest" as having put everyone "in the same boat", as heavy rain fell around him. 

That, and his lonely walk through the deserted streets of Rome to pray at two churches for the end of the pandemic, captured his isolation, but were also seen by Catholics as signs of solidarity and hope. 

Saturday's pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Francis, a UNESCO World Heritage site, marks a milestone in the pope's slow return to normalcy. 

Francis, 83, showed little fear as the virus broke out in Italy in late February, though he was forced to shun his usual practice of shaking hands. 

Apart from suffering a cold early on, his health has remained good. 

"Everyone works in his office or from his room, using technology. Everyone is working; there are no idlers here," the pontiff said in an interview with papal biographer Austen Ivereigh in April. 

That included Francis, who live-streamed his daily masses from Santa Marta, as well as the weekly Angelus prayers and general audience talks. 

While there will be no papal foreign trips this year -- for the first time since 1979 -- the Assisi outing is hoped to go a small way towards charging the batteries of a man who believes a priest's place is with his flock.

UAE abolishes law boycotting Israel

Straits Times - AFP - August 30, 2020

Protesters wave a United Arab Emirates flag during an anti-government demonstration
 in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem. - Protests demanding that
 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign over several corruption indictments
and his handling of the coronavirus crisis have been mounting in recent weeks, and
the premier has been scathing in his counter-attack. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday it had repealed legislation imposing a boycott of Israel after the two countries struck a US-brokered deal to normalise relations.

UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan issued a federal decree "abolishing the Federal Law No. 15 of 1972 regarding boycotting Israel and the penalties thereof", the official WAM news agency reported.

"It will be permissible to enter, exchange or possess Israeli goods and products of all kinds in the UAE and trade in them."

The UAE will be the first Gulf state and only the third Arab country to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel – a move condemned by the Palestinians as a betrayal.

Companies and individuals in the UAE may now enter into agreements with firms or individuals residing in Israel, WAM reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision in a statement later on Saturday.

"This is an important move to advance prosperity and peace in the region," he said.

The UAE move comes ahead of the arrival of an Israeli-American delegation to Abu Dhabi on the first commercial flight from Israel on Monday.

The delegation, led by top aide and son-in-law to US President Donald Trump Jared Kushner and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat, will seek ways to boost cooperation in areas including aviation, tourism, trade, health, energy and security, according to Netanyahu's office..

Israel and UAE to normalise ties in 'historic' US-brokered deal

Yahoo – AFP, Mohamad Ali Harissi and Sarah Stewart, August 13, 2020

Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world, and a symbol of the oil-rich UAE

Israel and the UAE agreed Thursday to normalise ties in a landmark US-brokered deal, only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab nation, in which it pledged to suspend annexation of Palestinian lands.

The bombshell news was broken by US President Donald Trump, in a tweet hailing a "HUGE breakthrough" and a "Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends".

Establishing diplomatic ties between Israel and Washington's Middle East allies, including the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, has been central to Trump's regional strategy to contain Iran, also an arch-foe of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "historic day" and would launch a "new era" for the Arab world and Israel.

US President Donald Trump announced the agreement between the United 

Arab Emirates and Israel to normalize diplomatic ties

The Palestinians strongly rejected the deal, calling it a "betrayal" of their cause, including their claim to Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

They also announced they were withdrawing their ambassador from the Emirates, and demanded an emergency Arab League meeting.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which runs the coastal Gaza Strip, quickly said the agreement "does not serve the Palestinian cause".

A joint statement by Trump, Netanyahu and UAE's leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan announced that they had "agreed to the full normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates".

It added that Israel would "suspend declaring sovereignty" over occupied Palestinian West Bank areas -- an idea proposed in Trump's controversial earlier plan to resolve the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a "historic day" and 

represented a "new era" for the Arab world and Israel

Sheikh Mohamed quickly stressed in a tweet that "during a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories".

But Netanyahu said shortly afterwards in a national television address that he had only agreed to delay, not cancel, the annexations, that the plans remained "on the table" and that he would "never give up our rights to our land".

The controversial Trump plan, unveiled in January, had offered a path for Israel to annex territory and Jewish West Bank settlements, communities considered illegal under international law.

The Palestinians rejected it outright as biased and untenable, as did Israel's Arab neighbours, and it sparked fears of further escalation in a tense region. 

Protestors confront Israeli forces as a structure serving as a home to a 

Palestinian family is demolished in the southern West Bank on August 11

'Things are happening'

Israel has had difficult relations and several wars with its Muslim and Arab neighbours since its founding in 1948, with most states ruling out relations until the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is resolved.

Thursday's deal would make the UAE only the third Arab country to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel, after its peace deals with former enemies Egypt and Jordan.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, which signed a treaty with Israel in 1979 to opposition from across the Arab world, praised the deal on "the halt of Israel's annexation of Palestinian land," and said he hoped it would bring "peace".

The deal marks a major foreign policy achievement for Trump as he heads into a difficult campaign for re-election in November.

The city hall in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv is lit up in the colours of

the United Arab Emirates national flag

His presumptive Democratic challenger for the presidency Joe Biden welcomed the "historic" agreement and called the UAE's move a "badly-needed act of statesmanship".

Trump hinted to reporters that more diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and Arab countries in the region were expected, but gave no further details.

"Things are happening that I can't talk about," he said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as "a historic day and a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East".

"The United States hopes that this brave step will be the first in a series of agreements that ends 72 years of hostilities in the region," Pompeo said, adding that the formal agreement would be signed at the White House at a future date.

Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world, and a symbol of the oil-rich UAE

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP the deal was "a milestone in Arab acceptance of Israel in the region".

It was also be "a brake on annexation, which would jeopardise Israel's peace with Jordan and Israel's own future as a Jewish, democratic state", he said. 

'Annexation trap'

Israeli and UAE delegations will meet in the coming weeks to discuss investment, tourism, direct flights, security and the establishment of embassies, they said.

The trio were confident of further similar deals with other countries, their statement added.

Israeli and UAE delegations will meet in the coming weeks to discuss investment,

tourism, direct flights, security and the establishment of reciprocal embassies

The UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash told a media briefing that "most countries will see this as a bold step to secure a two-state solution, allowing time for negotiations".

Hours after the deal was announced, the Emirati flag was projected onto Tel Aviv's town hall.

Aaron David Miller, a veteran US negotiator on the Middle East peace process and analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called the deal a "win for all".

"(The) UAE says it's prevented annexation; US prevents annexation too and gets big breakthrough and Netanyahu gets enormous win and off hook from the annexation trap," he tweeted.

Pope Francis and other religious leaders at the Vatican. Photograph: AP

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"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

" ..... Abraham, Father of the Jews

I want to honor Abraham [Abram], born in Ur, which is now part of modern Iraq, and I want to honor his sons, not all born of Sara. The one I wish to speak of is Ishmael. Abraham is Jewish... the great Jewish prophet. Ishmael is his son. There's no way that you could say Ishmael was not Jewish, and he is even to this day. Ishmael was born in Hebron. So in addition, he is very Israeli. Ishmael is a Jew.

Now some would argue, due to how the Jewish lineage is computed by men [mother's side]. But Spirit looks at the DNA and the Akashic lineage, so spiritually, Ishmael is a Jew. He came in to be part of the lineage of the Jews.

He fell from favor even with the Jewish people early on for political reasons. Then Ishmael went on to become that which is the ancestor of all Arabs... the father of Arabia. Therefore, you could say that the Arabs are with Jewish blood, that of Abraham flowing through them. But early on, the Jews cast Ishmael out. So although you have the one God and monotheism, and you have the principle of the love of God and the unity of God, there was a split. The truth was mixed with untruths and, even to this day, there would be a billion Human Beings who would say it was Ishmael and not Isaac who was almost sacrificed at the Temple Mount. They would also say that he is not a Jew.

So what is the truth here? Human Beings were not built to unify. In an older energy on the planet from those days, and even the days that you were born in, the energy laid upon you is for you to separate, not unify. And that is why we call it the old energy. Oh, they were wise men and women who knew better, but it is the old energy that separates and divides, and it is the old energy that has created the divisions of hatred within millions of those who are actually "all Jews."

Muhammad's Beautiful Message of Unity

Let me tell you about Muhammad, the prophet. Muhammad is of the lineage of Ishmael, who is of the lineage of Abraham. Therefore, Muhammad had Jewish blood, so that was his lineage but not necessarily his culture. But his Akashic lineage was from Abraham. [Abraham is the founder of Islam, according to the Quran.]

Muhammad had a beautiful meeting, more than one, with an angelic presence. The angels talked to humanity back then in basic 3D ways. But how many of you have put together that most of the angels in that time who spoke to Human Beings talked to those of Jewish lineage? Like Muhammad, like Moses, like Jesus, like Abraham. For this was part of a set-up of history, part of what makes the Jewish lineage important to the core Akash of humanity, and we have spoken before, "As go the Jews, go Earth." Indeed, there is something there to look at which is important, and it is going to change soon. For in our eyes, the "Jews" are all those in the Middle East.

Muhammad's information from the angel was this: "Unify the Arabs and give them the God of Israel." And he did! The information he had was beautiful and was written down later for his followers. It was all about the incredible love of God and the unity of man. Muhammad the prophet was a unifier, not a separatist.

Long before Muhammad, there came Jesus - Jesus the Jew. He became responsible for what you would call Christianity today. All of his disciples were Jewish. The Rock, Peter the fisherman, who started the Christian church, was Jewish. And we tell you these things to remind you that there's a unity here. Perhaps there is a reason, dear ones, why the 12 layers of DNA have Hebrew names? Indeed, it's in honor of the masters and the lineage, including that of Muhammad, of Ishmael, of Isaac, of Abraham and of Jesus. All of them, part of the original spiritual language [Hebrew].

"Oh," you might say, "there was Sumerian and before that there was Lemurian. There was Sanskrit and Tamil, and many other older languages." Correct, but we're speaking of a language of today - one that you can relate to, that has power, and that is spoken today by the pure lineage of the masters who walked the planet.

So what did humanity do with all this? What did they do with all this sacred information from these Jewish masters? They went to war, because Humans separate things. They don't put them together. So here we are with one beautiful God, creator of all there is, and millions who believe that very thing, yet they are going to war with each other over ideology about what God said, which prophet was best, and which group is in God's favor. That's ancient history, thousands of years old. But it shows exactly what the old energy is all about. ..."

In Sweden, female priests now outnumber male ones

France24 – AFP, 22 July 2020

Jonathan NACKSTRAND AFP

Stockholm (AFP) - For the first time in history, Swedish female priests outnumber their male counterparts, sixty years after they were first allowed to don the clerical collar, the Church of Sweden said Wednesday.

Of the 3,060 priests currently serving in Sweden, 1,533 are female, or 50.1 percent, according to Cristina Grenholm, secretary for the Church of Sweden.

"From a historical perspective, this parity happened faster than we earlier imagined. A report from 1990 estimated that women would be half of the total clergy in 2090. And it took thirty years," Grenholm told AFP.

Unlike the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church of Sweden has allowed female priests since 1958 and first ordained three women in 1960.

In 1982 the Swedish parliament also scrapped a "conscience clause" that allowed members of the clergy to refuse to cooperate with a female colleague.

Women have been over-represented on theological courses, especially since the separation of church and state in 2000, and accounted for 70 percent of those training for ordination in a study in 2013.

"Many parishes during the Sunday service try to have both a man and a woman at the altar," Grenholm said.

"Since we believe that God created human beings, both men and women, in God's image, it is essential that we do not only speak about it, but that it is also shown," she added.

However, there is a wage gap between male and female pastors -- averaging 2,200 Swedish kronor ($248 or 215 euros) per month according to the church's newspaper Kyrkans Tidning.

Grenholm said this was due to more men being in higher positions of authority.

In Sweden, ministers in the Church of Sweden have the title of priest, while those serving in parishes outside the former State Church are referred to as pastors.

Representatives of the Amazon rainforest's ethnic groups attended the synod 

with Pope Francis (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God/Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There is a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness.  …”

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“ … Spirituality (Religions)

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation. 

The teachings of the great prophets of the Middle East (all related to each other) are about unity and love. So once the holy words are redefined with new wisdom, the Human changes, not the words of the prophets. In fact, the prophets become even more divinely inspired and their wisdom becomes even more profound.

You're going to lose a pope soon. I have no clock. Soon to us can mean anything to you. The one who replaces him may surprise you, for his particular organization will be in survival mode at that point in time. That is to say that fewer and fewer are interested in starting the priesthood. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in the organization, and the new pope must make changes to keep his church alive. That means that his organization will remain, but with a more modern look at what truly is before all of you in a new energy. It is not the fall of the church. It is instead the recalibration of the divinity inside that would match the worship that goes on. It's a win-win situation. The new pope will have a difficult time, since the old guard will still be there. There could even be an assassination attempt, such is the way the old energy dies hard. That is number one. Watch for it. It's a change in the way spiritual systems work. It's a realignment of spiritual systems that resound to a stronger truth that is Human driven, rather than prophet driven.…”

"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”