New Vatican manual advises bishops to report sex abuse claims to police

Yahoo – AFP, by Ella IDE, 16 July 2020

The Roman Catholic Church has admitted to abuses by predator priests from
Australia to Chile, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States

The Vatican released guidelines Thursday for bishops and other senior officials on dealing with clerical child sex abuse claims, clarifying rules on tackling a decades-old scandal plaguing the church.

The manual, which includes a form to be filled out detailing the alleged crime against minors, does not include any new laws but was drawn up after Pope Francis called for the procedures to be laid out step-by-step, it said.

It strengthened advice to officials on reporting claims to civil authorities, saying they "should" do so, even if not obliged to by law in the country in question, especially if necessary to protect the person involved or other minors.

Previous official guidelines have told clerics to follow local laws on whether claims should be reported to police.

Critics of the church have long insisted bishops and others should be ordered, not merely urged, to report crimes.

"While this language is incrementally stronger than the Vatican's usual rhetoric, the difference doesn't matter. This is merely a manual -- it carries no weight under church law," said Anne Doyle, co-director of the abuse tracking site Bishop Accountability.

"If Pope Francis is serious about waging an 'all-out battle' against child sexual abuse, he should order every church official to report allegations to civil authorities," she added.

'Practical handbook'

The Roman Catholic Church has admitted to abuses by predator priests from Australia to Chile, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.

The Argentinian pope, who has made the fight against sexual abuse and its cover up one of the priorities of his pontificate, held a special summit on the thorny topic in February 2019.

He called for "a practical handbook indicating the steps to be taken by authorities at key moments when a case emerges".

The Vatican said this was "Version 1.0", which could be updated if and when necessary.

"The real novelty... is that for the first time the procedure is described in an organised way -- from the first report of a possible crime to the definitive conclusion," Archbishop Giacomo Morandi said in an interview with Vatican News.

'Cases still emerging'

Morandi, the deputy of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which is responsible for processing clergy sex abuse complaints, said clerical assault of minors was "present on all continents".

"We are still witnessing reports emerge of old cases, sometimes many years later. Certainly, some crimes are also recent," he said.

The pope's efforts to combat silence surrounding paedophilia in the Church include the passing of a landmark measure last year to oblige those who know about sex abuse to report it to their superiors.

But a top expert in the Church's battle against sex abuse warned in June that the coronavirus pandemic had increased the risks to minors as the world's priorities shift.

Bishops all over the world had been "getting a bit lost" as they tried to keep abreast of updates to the law in disparate texts, Nicholas Seneze, the Vatican correspondent for French Catholic daily La Croix, told AFP.

The manual advises against simply "transferring the accused cleric" from one parish to another -- a solution repeatedly adopted in the past, enabling paedophile priests to prey on more than one congregation.

All reports of abuse, even anonymous ones, "should be appropriately assessed and... given all due attention".

It repeats the controversial rule that any crime discovered during confession is subject to "the strictest bond of the sacramental seal", and therefore secret, but says the confessor should try and convince the penitent to tell someone else.

And it warns against any attempt to try and silence those reporting a crime, but also urges officials to be careful not to sully the good name of those involved or create "a scandal" which could further damage the centuries-old institution.

The Roman Catholic Church has admitted to abuses by predator priests from Australia to Chile, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.

Pope Francis issues sweeping sex abuse legislation

DW, 29 March 2019

At the Vatican, Pope Francis has issued wide-ranging new sex abuse legislation that covers all Vatican personnel as well as those who work for the Vatican diplomatic corps. It aims to be a model for the church globally.

   

Pope Francis issued sweeping new sex abuse legislation on Friday for Vatican personnel and diplomats that requires the immediate reporting of abuse allegations to Vatican prosecutors.

For the first time, the law provides an explicit Vatican definition for "vulnerable people," who are entitled to the same protections as minors under church law.

The Vatican amended its canon law covering sex abuse to include "vulnerable adults" in 2010, but never defined it.

It is a policy shift aimed at being a model for the Catholic Church around the world.

While limited in scope, the mandatory reporting provision marks the first time the Vatican has put into law requirements for Catholic officials to report allegations of sex crimes to police or face fines and possible jail time.

Vatican City State

Francis also issued child protection guidelines for Vatican City State and its youth seminary. The move comes after the global sex abuse scandal exploded anew last year, and The Associated Press reported that the headquarters of the Catholic Church had no policy to protect children from predator priests.

While the new legislation only covers Vatican City State, affiliated institutions and the diplomatic corps, they were still symbolically significant and were welcomed by a former seminarian whose case helped spark the reform.

"I see this as something positive," Kamil Jarzembowski told the AP.

Vatican's new definition

According to the new definition from the Vatican, a vulnerable person is anyone who is sick or suffering from a physical or psychiatric deficiency, who isn't able to exercise personal freedom even on occasion and has a limited capacity to understand or resist the crime.

The new legislation applies to all who work in the Vatican

The new law covers all personnel who live and work in the Vatican as well as the Holy See's vast diplomatic corps.

The issue of whether adult seminarians, religious sisters or other adults who are emotionally or financially dependent on clergy can be considered "vulnerable people" has come to the fore in the wake of the scandal over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a once high-ranking American cleric accused of molesting seminarians, and revelations of priests and bishops sexually preying on nuns.

Vatican ambassadors have figured in some of the most scandalous cases of sex abuse in recent years, with papal representatives accused of groping, distributing child pornography and sexually abusing minors in their far-flung posts.

Current law

The law currently requires any Vatican public official who learns of an allegation of abuse to report it to Vatican prosecutors "without delay." Failure to do so can result in a fine of up to 5,000 euros ($5,615) or, in the case of a Vatican gendarme, up to six months of prison.

The mandatory reporting provision, however, is significant, since the Holy See for decades has justified not having a binding reporting policy for the universal church by arguing that accused clergy could be unfairly persecuted in places where Catholics are a threatened minority. Since that is not a risk in the Vatican, it is now law.

"With this document the Vatican wants to send a message that it takes these crimes seriously, wants to prosecute them, to avoid cover up, and also to create an atmosphere that prevents these crimes from happening in the first place," said Ulrich Rhode, a canon law professor at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University.

The legislation requires that victims be welcomed, listened to and provided with medical, psychological and legal assistance, and sets the statute of limitations at 20 years past the victim's 18th birthday.

In a statement accompanying the new law, the Vatican's editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, said while very few children actually live in the Vatican City State, Francis decided to make the legislation and accompanying guidelines a model.

Trudeau scandal catapults Canada Tories into lead: poll

Yahoo – AFP, March 5, 2019

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters before Question Period in the
Canadian Parliament in late February 2019 (AFP Photo/Lars Hagberg)

Ottawa (AFP) - Support for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberals has fallen for the first time behind the opposition Tories, according to a poll released Tuesday, after a second minister quit his cabinet in protest.

What started as mere allegations of interference in the criminal prosecution of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin has exploded into a political crisis in just under a month.

And polling that had consistently showed the next election would be the Liberals to lose now appears to favor the Conservatives forming the next government.

A general election is expected in October, but if votes were cast now Trudeau would receive only 31 per cent of the decided popular vote, down three points from a few weeks earlier, according to the Ipsos Reid poll for television's Global News.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, meanwhile, would receive 40 percent.

Former Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould testified about the 

SNC-LAVALIN affair in Parliament on February 27, 2019 (AFP Photo/Lars Hagberg)

'Inappropriate' pressure

The poll of 1,000 Canadians was carried out between March 1 and March 4, on the heels of former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould's resignation from cabinet, followed by Trudeau's top advisor Gerry Butts and most recently Jane Philpott who quit as Treasury Board president on Monday.

"This is the first time we've actually seen the Conservative Party... looking like they could potentially form the government," Ipsos Public Affairs chief executive Darrell Bricker told Global News.

Last month, Wilson-Raybould testified before the Commons Justice Committee that Trudeau and his inner circle applied "inappropriate" pressure on her, including "veiled threats," to intervene in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin for allegedly bribing officials in Libya to secure government contracts.

She said that from September to December 2018, officials "hounded" her to ask prosecutors to settle the case out of court.

Andrew Scheer took over as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in 

May 2017 (AFP Photo/Geoff Robins)

Wilson-Raybould refused, and the trial is set to proceed.

But in her resignation letter, Philpott said she has "lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised."

"The solemn principles at stake are the independence and integrity of our justice system," she said.

Trudeau said he "completely disagrees" with his former attorney general's characterization of events, insisting that he and his team were rightly looking to safeguard up to 9,000 Canadian jobs at SNC-Lavalin, which would be banned from bidding on government contracts if convicted.

He also insisted that he made clear to his former attorney general that the "decision around SNC-Lavalin was Wilson-Raybould's and hers alone to make."

A former top aide to Justin Trudeau faced a grilling by Canadian lawmakers over accusations of meddling in the prosecution of a corporate giant that have plunged the prime minister into his worst crisis since taking office https://t.co/SRNwv4KKjU

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 6 maart 2019

China's top court to handle intellectual property appeals

Yahoo – AFP, December 30, 2018

China is mulling a series of steps to strengthen protections against
IP theft (AFP Photo/CHANDAN KHANNA)

China's top court will rule on intellectual property cases for the first time from January 1, the government said, elevating the handling of an issue that has become a key complaint in the trade war with the US.

Washington and Beijing are currently in talks to resolve a bruising trade spat that has spooked markets worldwide. The two sides imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of goods this year, before agreeing to a 90-day truce on December 1.

The United States, along with the European Union, has long complained about lax enforcement of intellectual property rights in China. Forced technology transfers have been another major bone of contention for foreign companies operating in China.

Deputy Chief Justice Luo Dongchuan said Saturday that from the start of 2019 the Supreme Court would begin handling appeals on intellectual property rights cases, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Such cases were previously handled by provincial-level high courts.

The move will "help prevent inconsistency of legal application and improve the quality and efficiency of trials," Luo said.

China is mulling a series of steps to strengthen protections against IP theft. IP includes intangible creations like patents, trademarks and copyrights.

The country's patent law is being amended to increase the compensation amount by up to five times.

Another draft law presented at a recent meeting of China's legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, allows victims of intellectual property theft to sue for damages.

China's legislature also announced it is looking at a new law governing foreign investment that would prevent the forced transfer of technology and give foreign firms the same privileges as Chinese companies.

Chinese courts heard a total of 213,480 IP cases in 2017 -- 40 percent more than in 2016 and double the number heard in 2013, Xinhua reported.

Pope meets with US church leaders over clergy sex abuse

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO and Charles ONIANS, September 13, 2018

Pope Francis meets with leaders from the US church at the Vatican on Thursday
to discuss claims of sexual abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/Handout)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis met with US bishops and cardinals on Thursday to discuss the Vatican's response to a new wave of devastating claims of sexual abuse by clergy.

The pope met Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who leads the US Conference of Bishops, and Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who advises the pope on sex abuse issues.

DiNardo's deputy Jose Horacio Gomez and general secretary Brian Bransfield also attended the closed-door meeting.

The US Catholic Church has been shaken by the publication of a report on sexual abuse by clergy in Pennsylvania and by the resignation in July of US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

McCarrick was accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New York in the early 1970s.

The US Bishops' Conference issued a statement after the talks "regarding the recent moral crisis in the American Catholic Church".

The men told the pope how the US Church "is lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse... It was a lengthy, fruitful, and good exchange," the statement said.

"We look forward to actively continuing our discernment together identifying the most effective next steps."

US Cardinal Daniel DiNardo is presenting a new "action plan" to the pope for 

tackling sex abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS, GABRIEL BOUYS)

Falling popularity

According to a new poll published by the US news channel CNN on Wednesday, Pope Francis's popularity has nosedived in the United States recently.

The poll showed that only 48 percent of Americans in general supported the Argentinian pontiff, and his popularity has also plummeted among US Catholics to 63 percent from 83 percent 18 months ago.

A former ambassador to the Holy See, Monsignor Carlo Vigano, has even demanded the pope's resignation, accusing him of covering up for McCarrick.

On Thursday, the pope accepted the resignation of US Bishop Michael Bransfield -- a cousin of the Bransfield attending Thursday's Vatican meeting -- and ordered an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed adults, his Baltimore diocese said in a statement.

'Church's own 9/11'

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, private secretary to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, on Tuesday described sexual abuse against minors by clergy as the Church's "own 9/11".

Cardinal DiNardo said he wanted to present an "action plan" to the pope to facilitate reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops.

Pope Francis has called a meeting of the heads of bishops' conferences worldwide 

next February to discuss the issue of sexual abuse (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Referring to the McCarrick case, DiNardo called for a "prompt and thorough examination... into how the grave moral failings of a brother bishop could have been tolerated for so long and proven no impediment to his advancement."

Police on Tuesday arrested a priest in DiNardo's Texas diocese following allegations he abused a male high school student between 1998 and 2001.

A diocesan statement also referred to allegations the priest, Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, abused a 16-year-old girl in 2001.

Her parents "decided not to pursue the matter" and left the country, and the priest was allowed to resume his duties in 2004 after an internal investigation, the statement said.

In the United States, a group of 5,000 Catholic chief executives have frozen $820,000 (700,000 euros) in funds paid annually to the Holy See pending clarification of the sex abuse cases.

While Pope Francis has refused to respond to Vigano's allegations so far, the Vatican said Monday that he was "formulating the eventual and necessary clarifications".

Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl has said he plans to travel 

to Rome in the near future to discuss his resignation with Pope

Francis (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Cover-up allegations

Among the clergymen targeted by Vigano, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington and formerly a bishop in Pennsylvania, is accused of covering up the sexual abuse in that state.

Wuerl has said he plans to travel to Rome in the near future to meet with Pope Francis to discuss his resignation.

On Wednesday, the pontiff called for a meeting of all the heads of Catholic bishops' conferences worldwide at the Vatican next February to discuss the issue of the "protection of minors".

More cases are coming to light.

The conclusions of a study commissioned by the Church in Germany were leaked to the press on Wednesday.

They included the finding that priests sexually assaulted more than 3,600 children in Germany over nearly seven decades.

Related Articles:

US cardinals defend themselves over cover-up storm

Pennsylvania report lists more than 300 'predator' priests

US cardinal caught up in abuse scandal resigns

Pope accepts resignation of archbishop convicted of abuse cover-up

Australian archbishop gets 12 months for concealing child abuse

Germany's Catholic Church 'ashamed' by child sex abuse 

Part of the painting, said to one of the highlights of the Vatican collection

Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Wrongly jailed 'satanic' daycare couple gets $3.4 mn

Yahoo – AFP, August 24, 2017

The Kellers were freed from prison that year, but not fully cleared of the charges
against them until last June, when prosecutors finally declared them innocent

A US couple wrongly jailed for 21 years on charges of sexually assaulting children as part of a satanic cult, received $3.4 million Wednesday from the state of Texas, months after prosecutors acknowledged their innocence.

Operators of a daycare facility, Dan and Fran Keller were at the center of a sensational case in 1991, accused by children of abuse and dark rituals that included dismembering babies and torturing pets.

Authorities later acknowledged that the children were improperly interviewed, triggering false memories, amid a climate of fear fueled by a belief around the nation that satanists were preying upon children.

The physician who claimed to have discovered physical evidence of abuse also acknowledged in 2013 that he had made a mistake in assessing the source of one of the children's injuries.

The Kellers were freed from prison that year, but not fully cleared of the charges against them until last June, when prosecutors finally declared them innocent.

By Texas law, both are entitled to $80,000 compensation for each year they spent in prison. They picked up a $3.4 million payment on Wednesday, their lawyer Keith Hampton told AFP.

"They are happy," Hampton said.

The couple had been living in poverty since their release, unable to find work in their advanced age and with their past legal troubles, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.

"This means we don't have to worry about pinching pennies on Social Security, and late bills. It means we will actually be free. We can start living -- and no more nightmares," Fran Keller, 67, told the newspaper.

She broke down in tears Tuesday in front of news cameras as she found out on the phone that the state would provide compensation.

"I really would like an apology from the state. But since we're not going to get it verbally, this will be good enough," the American-Statesman reported Fran Keller as saying.

Between 1991 and mid-2016, Texas had paid 101 wrongfully convicted prisoners $93.6 million, according to the Texas Tribune.

Related Article:

US convict granted stay of execution after new DNA evidence

FBI confirms probe of Trump team ties to Russia

Yahoo – AFP, Paul Handley, March 20, 2017

FBI Director James Comey confirmed longstanding reports that his agency is
conducting a counterintelligence probe into the Russian government's covert
effort to steer the 2016 presidential vote (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Washington (AFP) - FBI chief James Comey dealt Donald Trump a double blow Monday by confirming a probe into his election campaign's links to Russia last year while repudiating the president's claim that he was wiretapped by Barack Obama.

In a high-stakes public hearing televised live from the US Congress, Comey took the extraordinary step of confirming that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether Trump campaign aides colluded with a Russian effort to influence the 2016 election.

Comey's bombshell statement undercut a White House effort to dismiss the controversy stalking Trump's young administration -- with the president once more dismissing talk of his team's ties to Russia as "FAKE NEWS" as the hearing got underway.

The FBI chief refused to answer the questions of the House Intelligence Committee about exactly what and who its probe involves, citing the need to protect a sensitive, ongoing counterintelligence investigation.

But he confirmed to lawmakers that it "includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts."

And in a second setback for the Republican president, Comey firmly shot down his tweeted allegation earlier this month that his predecessor ordered a wiretap on Trump Tower, the real estate mogul's Manhattan residence and office.

"The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the Department of Justice and all its components. The department has no information that supports those tweets," he told the hearing.

Trump-Russia connections (AFP Photo/Christopher HUFFAKER, Paz

 PIZARRO, Gillian HANDYSIDE)

Putin's 'clear preference'

At least four separate congressional investigations are underway into Moscow's election meddling, which US intelligence chiefs said in January was directed by President Vladimir Putin and aimed to boost Trump's campaign over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Democrats argue that the interference, in which Russian actors allegedly stole Democratic documents and communications and released them through WikiLeaks, contributed to frontrunner Clinton's defeat.

Confirming longstanding reports that his agency is probing a Russian effort to steer last year's vote, Comey dated the probe back to July last year, when the government became aware of the Democratic party hack.

Until Monday only a small group of legislators has been briefed in secret on this issue by US intelligence and law enforcement, and the public had not heard directly from them.

Comey and Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Administration, confirmed that they believed Moscow aimed to hurt Clinton's campaign and support Trump.

"Putin hated Secretary Clinton so much that the flip side of that coin was he had a clear preference to the person running against the person he hated so much," Comey said.

"They wanted to hurt our democracy, hurt her, help him. I think, all three, we were confident in at least as early as December," he said.

'Nothing has changed'

But Comey's unwillingness to comment on specifics, or on unproven media reports of Trump aides' contacts with Russian intelligence, gave the White House room to defend its position -- which is that the entire controversy was manufactured by opponents to undermine Trump's presidency.

As he testified, a senior administration official said in a written statement: "There is NO EVIDENCE of Trump-Russia collusion and there is NO EVIDENCE of a Trump-Russia scandal."

National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers speaks during the House 

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Russian actions during

the 2016 election campaign on March 20, 2017 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Later, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told journalists: "Following this testimony it's clear nothing has changed. Senior intelligence officials have gone on record to say there is no evidence of a Trump/Russia collusion."

"Investigating and having proof are different thing," he added.

Likewise -- in spite of Comey's straightforward rejection of Trump's wiretapping allegations -- the White House continued to cling to those claims.

Asked if Trump would withdraw the accusation and apologize to Obama, Spicer said that investigations are "still ongoing" into the issue.

Independent probe sought

Monday's hearing made clear the question of Russian interference in the election will continue to trouble the Trump administration.

Both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees will hold more public hearings in the coming weeks, as well as closed-door sessions with Comey, Rogers and other intelligence chiefs to discuss classified information on the probes.

But Democrats have expressed concerns that the White House and Republicans would like to stifle the issue, and are calling for an independent probe.

"I believe that we would benefit from the work of an independent commission that can devote the staff and resources to this investigation that we do not have, and that can be completely removed from any political considerations," said Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Related Article:

"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)- (Text version)

".... The Wild Card of 2016

Remember: No emotion now. You have come from another planet and you’re looking at the end of 2016 – and there is the election. Understand without bias.

So for 2016, let’s do the numerology. You add the numbers and get nine. Nine is completion in simple numerology, and when you see a nine it often means the completion of something. Often it is of a time cycle, an energy or the completion of a paradigm. But it’s very strong.

The nines are stronger than many of the other numerological aspects and you feel them. The president-elect (at this writing) is a strong wild card. He is scheduled to become the 45th president. What a coincidence! Forty-five is a nine. A nine and a nine together are more than significant. They tell a story about what is happening. I will tell you something else. This story is not finished yet and there is more coming. You don’t know what you don’t know, so don’t make up your mind in advance about any outcomes. You’re from another planet, remember? There’s no emotion, no bias, no politics and nothing to judge. Look at it for what it is.

A big stick has just been inserted into what is normal and it’s going to be turned. As the big stick turns, other things will respond that never would have responded otherwise. I wish to tell you, dear one, old soul, relax with upcoming wild cards. They do what they do on purpose so that you will have a better civilization in the future. Sometimes they show you what won’t work, and sometimes they change paradigms that would have never changed otherwise. But what you have now is a profound wild card. That is the message.

It’s so common for you to respond certain ways when you are invested in the process. The knee-jerk reaction is expected or you wouldn’t be a Human. However, for this lesson, you’re from another planet and you’re looking down and you’re seeing it. Pretend.

Isn’t that interesting about a nine and a nine together? It means that truly the end of something is here. Perhaps it’s the end of the old way things were done? Perhaps it’s a shake-up of the system so it can correct itself? Don’t dare make up your mind where it’s going, because it’s not finished yet. However, wait a moment. Did you also realize that 2017 is a “one” year? Not only is the energy one of completion with a double nine, but it moves into “a new beginning” (the definition of a one in numerology).

I have more to tell you about numerology, and also something that will be clearer about this whole situation. I will give this to you in the next channelling.

Can you relax in the face of uncertainty when it’s your own country? Can you relax in the face of not knowing what’s next? When you’re so involved, can you disengage from either side of the fray? That is the test of a Lightworker.

There’s something else coming. Dear ones, this is beautiful. No matter what you think and no matter what your reaction is to this channelling, what is happening is correct for your time and needed for your immediate future. I will speak of this later. The beauty is when you step away and see how grand it is, that Spirit cares enough that it would allow a big stick to occur that would stir your complacency at this time. The real reason? The shift is here.

How do you feel? I want you to relax and smile at what the shift has brought you. For those of you who felt all the “shift talk” was nonsense, this may be your wake-up call. It’s real. Here it comes.

This is the message of the day. I am Kryon, in love with humanity, and for good reason.

And so it is.

KRYON

High-profile US police killings of black suspects

Yahoo – AFP, July 7, 2016

A person reads the personal messages written on the wall next to the convenience
 store where Alton Sterling was shot and killed, July 6, 2016 in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana (AFP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)

Washington (AFP) - The United States was coming to terms on Thursday with the latest controversial police shootings of black men.

Wednesday's shooting in the state of Minnesota of 32-year-old Philando Castile, came as civil rights investigators probed a similar incident a day earlier in Louisiana in which 37-year-old father of five Alton Sterling was shot to death by police.

Here are a selection of recent killings of US black citizens that have caused outrage -- and sometimes violent protests -- across America.

Mario Woods

On December 2, 2015, in San Francisco, the 26-year-old is shot by police who say he would not hand over a knife.

The scene is filmed on smartphones. At least six police agents take aim at him while he is huddled against a wall.

Freddie Gray

A mural honoring Freddie Gray near 

where he was arrested, on June 23, 

2016 in Baltimore, Maryland (AFP

Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

On April 12, 2015 Baltimore police officers arrest Freddie Gray, 25. He is handcuffed and eventually placed on his stomach in a police van, unsecured by a seatbelt.

While in transit, Gray asks for medical help but none is given. The police van is diverted to assist in an unrelated case, at which point Gray is found unresponsive.

Despite this, an ambulance is not called until after the police van reaches a police station and Gray is found to be in cardiac arrest, having suffered serious spinal injuries in the van.

Gray dies on April 19, leading to rioting in Baltimore and protests in other US cities. State prosecutor Marilyn Mosby calls the arrest illegal. Six officers are later charged over the incident. One trial ends in a hung jury, and two others in acquittal. The fourth trial started on Thursday.

Walter Scott

On April 4, 2015 in the state of South Carolina, a video shows police officer Michael Slager gunning down a fleeing black man, 50-year-old Walter Scott, after a traffic stop.

The video seems to show Slager in an altercation with Scott. Slager then draws his gun and shoot seven to eight shots in Scott's back as he flees. Slager was charged with murder in June 2015. His trial is due to open on October 31.

A memorial site setup near where Walter Scott was killed on April 11, 2015

in North Charleston, South Carolina (AFP Photo/Joe Raedle)

Tamir Rice

On November 22, 2014, in Cleveland, Ohio, a video emerges of US police officers shooting dead Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy carrying a replica gun, just seconds after confronting him.

Surveillance video showed Rice was killed within seconds of the patrol car arriving on the scene in a park.

In December 2015, the US authorities announce that the police officers concerned will not be prosecuted.

Akai Gurley

On November 20, 2014 an unarmed black man, Akai Gurley, 28, is shot by an Asian-American officer who opens fire in a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn, New York apartment block.

On the day of his funeral on December 7, New Yorkers take to the streets to denounce the spate of police killings. The police officer, Peter Liang, is in April 2016 given five years probation.

Laquan McDonald

On October 20, 2014 in Chicago a white police officer pumps 16 bullets into the 17-year-old adolescent, who was not showing threatening behavior.

Images of the incident shown in November 2015 during the indictment for premeditated murder of the police officer shock the country, right up to President Barack Obama.

The shockwaves lead to the chief of police in Chicago being fired and a federal probe which embarrasses Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff.

Michael Brown

On August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a white police officer shoots dead 18-year-old Brown, unleashing sometimes violent protests.

A subsequent decision not to indict the officer, Darren Wilson, prompts riots in Ferguson and raises tensions from New York to Seattle, with thousands taking to the streets.

In March 2015, the US Justice Department publishes a scathing report into the shooting, condemning Ferguson's city hall, police department and municipal court for targeting the city's African American majority. A black man subsequently takes over as head of Ferguson's police.

Eric Garner

On July 17, 2014, African American Eric Garner, 43, dies after being held in a police chokehold while he is being arrested for selling individual cigarettes illegally in New York.

In an amateur video which is viewed around the world, as police wrestle him to the ground, Garner is heard repeating: "I can't breathe."

A coroner declares the death a homicide. But a grand jury opts not to charge the white officer involved, sparking demonstrations in several cities.

Trayvon Martin

The 17-year-old unarmed adolescent is killed on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in 2013 by a jury which found that he had acted in self defence.

Map of the United States locating recent controversial police shootings of black men https://t.co/ICLQz9ifHr pic.twitter.com/gIVLdXh9Kd

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 8, 2016