Extremely online new pope unafraid to talk politics
From pillorying the US vice president to denouncing the death penalty, Pope Leo has proven unafraid to tackle prickly political issues on social media -- making him the first "extremely online" pontiff.
When JD Vance suggested that Christians should love their family, neighbors, community and fellow citizens -- in that order -- one very notable Christian took umbrage.
Robert Prevost, now better known to the world as Pope Leo, quickly took to X to take a theological swipe at the vice president.
"JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others," he wrote, reposting a columnist's searing opinion piece and prompting tens of thousands of likes and a slew of barbed comments.
Pope Benedict may have been the first to tweet under the handle @Pontifex in 2012, but Pope Leo is undoubtedly the first to take the Chair of Saint Peter with the baggage of a long social media history.
In 14 years since his X account was created, he has posted more than 400 times, opining on a range of hot-button issues: racism, sexual abuse by the clergy, Covid-19, the police murder of George Floyd and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for an American who spent decades in Peru and took up its citizenship, immigration is a topic close to his heart.
The new pope has notably amplified criticism of US President Donald Trump's immigration policies, reposting a 2017 article which called refugee bans "a dark hour of US history" and an abandonment of "American values."
He has repeatedly taken Vance to task, challenging a vice president whose religious views show all the zeal of a recent convert to Catholicism.
It is clear from his ample online commentary, interviews and video blogs that retweets are almost always endorsements.
In 2020, days after African American Floyd was suffocated to death under a police officer's knee, he implored fellow members of the clergy to speak up.
"We need to hear more from leaders in the Church, to reject racism and seek justice," he posted.
He has also demanded more action of the church in ousting members of the clergy who sexually abused children.
"If you are a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, report it," he told Peruvian paper La Republica this month.
"We reject cover-ups and secrecy; that causes a lot of harm. We have to help people who have suffered due to wrongdoing."
Embracing another contentious issue, in 2014 he wrote that it was "time to end the death penalty" and has repeated that point over the years in interviews, masses and in public remarks.
"We have to be pro-life at all times" he once told assembled Peruvian journalists in his fluent and modestly accented Spanish.
Still, he is also unafraid to post a joke, including a suggestion that while many people are intelligent, most are asymptomatic.
Like many of us, the tempo of his social media posts appeared to increase during pandemic lockdowns.
It is unclear if he will extend that social media chattiness from inside the Apostolic Palace.
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Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Time Magazine
Trump Wants Rare Earths. But Challenging China's Dominance Will Take More Than Tariffs
When, in December 1953, Dragnet became the first American television show to broadcast in color, few fans knew they had a dusty nook on the California-Nevada border to thank for bringing it to polychromatic life. But every early cathode-ray tube color television owed its screen's red hue to europium, a rare earth element excavated and processed exclusively at the Mountain Pass Mine in San Bernardino County. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Mountain Pass produced practically all known quantities of europium, as well as over 90% across the spectrum of rare earth minerals worldwide. Back then, of course, uses were limited: apart from europium adding vibrancy to L.A. cop procedurals, cerium was used as a glass polishing agent, while lanthanum was—and still is—crucial for oil cracking, or turning crude into gasoline and other lighter fuels. Today, however, the picture is very different. Rare earth materials are vital for myriad industries, from advanced weaponry to wind turbines and robotics. But far from the U.S. having a monopoly on production, now some 96% of rare earth minerals are sourced from China, propelling these arcane materials into center stage in the escalating trade war between the world's top two economies. In response to President Donald Trump imposing tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods, as well as curbing the sale of strategic U.S. technology including semiconductor chips, China hit back by restricting the export of rare earth elements. Auto manufacturers across the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Germany and India have warned the shortages may force factories to halt production. The spat prompted Trump to hit out at China for reneging on a nascent trade deal between the superpowers. Then, last week, Trump revealed a 'framework' struck in London that supposedly will ease U.S. access to China's rare earth minerals and magnets in exchange for setting tariffs on Chinese exports at 55% and a relaxing of curbs on Chinese students' access to U.S. colleges. 'Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China,' Trump posted on Truth Social. But reports from Washington suggest that the deal will expire in just six months, and with U.S.-China relations continuing to spiral, how America and its allies can break itself free of its Chinese rare earth dependency is a geopolitical priority. While it's a question with sweeping economic ramifications, it's also one with no easy answer. 'Everybody wants to just snap their fingers and start producing heavy rare earth elements,' says Mark Smith, CEO of rare earths firm NioCorp, who has worked in the industry for almost four decades. 'But it's a very long, hard process. And the longer we wait, the further China gets ahead.' China has bet on rare earths for a long time. Back in 1992, reformist leader Deng Xiaoping declared: 'The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths.' China accompanied this strategic focus with billions of dollars of investment in mines and processing facilities to monopolize the market. Just like countless strategic industries, China wielded huge state subsidies, and little concern for environmental or safety standards, to produce rare earths at a fraction of the cost of Western competitors. As a result, in 1998, Mountain Pass' separation plant ceased producing refined rare earth compounds. Four years later, a toxic waste spill led the mine to close altogether, and intense Chinese competition impelled the decision not to reopen. At the same time, uses of rare earths were just ramping up. Today, yttrium is used in lighting and flat screens; ytterbium in cancer treatments and earthquake monitoring; erbium in lasers and fiberoptic cables. But particularly important are permanent rare earth magnets, which account for a quarter of total rare earths consumption and are a vital component in actuators, or devices that turn a control signal into mechanical motion. These could be robot arms on assembly lines, the fins of a ballistic missile or stealth bomber, or any of the multiple motors of an electric vehicle. But it's not just EVs that rely on actuators and, by extension, permanent rare earth magnets. Conventional internal combustion engine vehicles are also heavily reliant on these materials. That is how, in 2010, China managed to bring Japan's auto industry to the brink of collapse by halting exports of rare earth materials amid a territorial spat in the East China Sea. In the following year, prices of rare earths soared by 10 times and the incident served as a wake-up call that was only partly heeded. Japan invested in alternative sources, particularly in Australia, though remains heavily dependent on Chinese supplies. That September, the U.S. House passed the Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act to subsidize the revival of the American rare earths industry, including reopening Mountain Pass, which resumed production in 2012 only to fall into bankruptcy three years later. Today, under the new ownership of MP Materials, it remains the only functioning American rare earth mine. Crucially, however, not all rare earths are created equal. What are termed rare earths are in fact a 'basket' of 17 elements with overlapping but ultimately unique properties. Regarding permanent rare earth magnets for actuators, the most common element is neodymium, which can be sourced from Mountain Pass. The problem is that for actuators to work at high temperatures—like those found under a car's hood—the neodymium needs to be mixed with either dysprosium or terbium, distinct rare earth minerals which are not significantly present in the Mountain Pass ore body. In fact, China controls practically 100% of global supply of dysprosium and terbium and added both to export controls on April 4. Tellingly, Beijing didn't bother restricting sales of neodymium, cognizant of alternative sources—and the fact they are largely useless without their heat-resistant siblings. So where can American firms source dysprosium and terbium—and fast? At the Lynas rare earth mine in Mount Weld, Western Australia, yellow diggers scoop the tawny earth and dump it into soot-stained trucks. Following on-site concentration, the semi-refined ore is then taken on a four-hour drive to processing facilities in nearby Kalgoorlie, or loaded on ships to Malaysia, where in the seaside town of Kuantan Lynas operates the world's largest rare earth processing plant. Crucially, in May the Kuantan plant produced its first batch of dysprosium and is expecting its first terbium this month. 'This is an exciting achievement for Lynas and for manufacturers keen to secure a resilient supply of separated rare earths products,' Amanda Lacaze, CEO and managing director of Lynas Rare Earths, tells TIME. 'We have stated our intention to meet the needs of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base on a priority basis.' It's a great start, but given the insatiable global appetite for rare earths, many more sources will ultimately be needed. And other options are years from fruition. It was with great fanfare that Trump signed a deal with Ukraine in March that ostensibly handed half the war-torn nation's future oil, gas, and mineral wealth—including rare earths—to the U.S. The only problem is that Ukraine may have abundant reserves of lithium and titanium, but it doesn't actually have rare earths in any sizable deposits worthy of exploitation. What about Greenland? Trump has repeatedly touted buying or even invading the semi-autonomous Danish province, citing its mineral wealth. In March, Vice President J.D. Vance led a U.S. delegation including National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to Greenland. But while Greenland does boast 18% of the world's total rare earth reserves, accessing them is extremely problematic, owing to freezing temperatures and a thick layer of silica. Chinese, American, and European prospectors have spent decades trying to figure out how to extract these resources without any success. Today, Greenland has no functioning rare earth mines. Other options are more feasible. Brazil has the world's third largest reserves of rare earths and is aggressively exploring this space, while Saudi Arabia also boasts significant deposits and signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. on critical minerals during Trump's visit in May. MP Materials and Saudi Arabia's national mining company, Maaden, also signed a MoU to collaborate on establishing a rare earth supply chain in the Gulf state. Meanwhile, Japan's state-owned energy firm JOGMEC and gas firm Iwatani have unveiled plans to invest up to $120 million in a French rare earths refining project. And with Africa boasting four of the top 10 nations for rare earth exploration last year—namely South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, and Malawi—the continent stands to play a huge role in future supply chains. But there are also options closer to home. Other than Mountain Pass, Lynas has secured $258 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to build a heavy rare earth refinement facility in Seadrift, Texas. 'The U.S. facility has been designed with the capability to process feedstock from other sources as and when they become available and are qualified,' says Lacaze. Meanwhile, NioCorp has the permits to build a rare earth processing facility at its Elk Creek Mine in Nebraska and is currently waiting on a $780 million financing agreement with the U.S. Export–Import Bank for the $1.2 billion project, which will take around three years to get online. Smith, the NioCorp CEO, says he is currently 2.5 steps through a four-step approval process, which if greenlighted will provide up to 1,500 jobs during construction followed by a 450-strong full-time crew. Although Smith predicts Elk Creek could service all Department of Defense dysprosium and terbium needs, he's under no illusions about the scale of the challenge. 'One thing absolutely for sure is that NioCorp, by itself, is not the whole answer to the problem,' he says. 'So we're rooting for anybody to be an additional part of the solution. We need to put all the parts together to really be formidable against China.' Unfortunately, simply seeding projects in friendly countries doesn't solve the problem. For one, China controls the separation and refining equipment market and placed export controls on those technologies in December 2023. Today, the rare earth refining industry is scrambling to reverse engineer Chinese technologies or innovate entirely new ones. There is also the matter of expertise. Refining rare earths is 'a whole new art unto itself,' says Smith. Heavy rare earth elements are extremely close to each other in terms of their atomic weights, making the process to separate each from the other at sufficient purity levels for commercial or military applications extremely taxing. 'There's chemical engineering involved, there's physics, there's kinetics,' says Smith. 'It takes a whole bunch of knowhow, practice, and art to get heavy rare earths into their final purified oxide form. As well as a big investment.' The cash injections needed keep on growing. Lynas's Texas project, for one, is currently stalled as the firm seeks more government funding on top of the nine figures already pledged. 'Following design changes to accommodate local permitting, additional CAPEX will be required, and Lynas is in discussion with the U.S. government with respect to this funding,' says Lacaze. But even if all these new rare earth projects are realized across the globe, challenging Chinese dominance must still overcome its toughest obstacle: price. China has spent decades building out massive capacity for rare earth minerals, so all other competitors operate at a huge disadvantage. 'The inside China price is used by outside China customers as a benchmark,' says Lacaze. 'We have not observed any intent from the majority of non-Chinese consumers to pay a significant premium to the inside China price.' Moreover, China's massive processing capacity means it just opens the spigot whenever a potential competitor emerges to price them out of the market. The Chinese state has no problem eating any short-term losses to maintain key strategic levers over the global economy. It's a similar dynamic for many different minerals, including cobalt, nickel, and titanium. Today, neodymium oxide costs less than $60 per kilogram—around half its 2023 cost—and is forecast to get even cheaper. 'One of the biggest challenges we face is that rare earth prices are very low,' says Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'And a lot of that has been achieved through market manipulation by China increasing and increasing production.' The cost issue looks frankly impossible to solve. Other than technical challenges, refining rare earth minerals uses a huge amount of water. Back when China was first ramping up its rare earth industry, wastewater was just discharged into the nearest river, although environmental standards have tightened considerably in recent years. In the U.S. or other developed economies, wastewater must be evaporated in huge kilns to isolate and dispose of pollutants—though this is a very energy intensive and thus costly process. 'And it's not something that China has to do,' shrugs Smith. So, the big question is how American—or Saudi or African—rare earths can survive in such a cost-competitive marketplace. Various mechanisms have been considered: One is a Contract for Difference model, which is common in agriculture and says that if prices fall below a certain point the government will pay the difference. Another option is having the government serve as an Offtaker of Last Resort, agreeing to buy minerals at a certain price if nobody wants them on the open market. However, 'in the U.S., at least in an era of DOGE, putting in an indefinite OPEX subsidy is quite politically unpalatable,' says Baskaran. 'But it is what China will do, so how do we compete against a country that's willing to inject fiscal support at any part of the supply chain to retain their dominance?' Another potential solution is one very close to Trump's heart: tariffs. By hiking levies on Chinese rare earths, the U.S. could strongarm firms to source from preferred friendly nations. But this essentially shifts the cost burden from government to businesses, undermining their global competitiveness with unknown ramifications down the line. For Smith, tariffs are merely a stop-gap solution. 'The answer cannot be for President Trump to issue a tariff,' he says. 'We need to be competitive with or without tariffs by increasing our technology, improving our processes, using more robotics. But we must have a legitimate business at the end of the day.'
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump in the Situation Room: What We Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump reportedly directed his national security staff to convene in the Situation Room of the White House as he left the G7 summit in Canada early to return to Washington D.C. on Monday. The president denied on Truth Social that his early departure was connected to a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, saying it was "much bigger than that." Trump said earlier that Iran "CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON," before adding that "everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Trump directed the National Security Council to be prepared in the Situation Room upon his return to the Washington D.C., according to Fox News' Lawrence Jones. CNN confirmed the reporting. A Pentagon spokesman denied that the U.S. had joined Israel in attacking Iran on Monday night. "American Forces are maintaining their defensive posture and that has not changed," Sean Parnell wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "We will protect American troops & our interests." President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, on Monday. President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, on Monday. Mark Schiefelbein/AP This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
2 hours ago
40 hours of violence and fear as gunman stalks Minnesota politicians
MINNEAPOLIS -- Violence and fear swept through towns in an arc around Minneapolis for more than 40 hours over the weekend as a man seemingly intent on sowing political devastation killed one Minnesota state lawmaker and left another bleeding from nine bullet wounds. The attacks sparked the largest manhunt in Minnesota history, with heavily armed officers in full combat gear riding armored vehicles through suburban streets and country roads, ending in the arrest of Vance Boelter, a 57-year-old father of five and sometime Christian pastor known for his deeply conservative beliefs — but whose friends never saw him as an extremist. From a state that has long prided itself on political civility, the attacks rippled across the country as frightened political leaders worried that America's divides could cost them their lives. 'This was a political assassination, which is not the word we use very often in the United States, let alone in Minnesota' acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told reporters Monday. 'It's a chilling attack on our democracy, on our way of life.' The black SUV's emergency lights were flashing when it pulled up to the brick split-level home in the quiet, middle-class Minneapolis suburb. The maple tree in the front yard was lush with summer leaves. The man got out of the car wearing tactical clothing, body armor and what looked like a police badge. He was carrying a 9 mm Beretta pistol. He knocked loudly and repeatedly shouted, 'This is the police, open the door.' Later, even law enforcement officials said they would have believed he was a police officer. The couple who lived at the Champlin home, Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, opened the door to a flashlight shining in their faces. There had been a report of a shooting in the house, Boelter told them. But when he eventually lowered the flashlight, Yvette Hoffman could see he was wearing a realistic mask that covered his entire head. In the confrontation that followed, he shot both repeatedly. The next morning, nine bullet holes could be seen in their front door. Police responded within minutes, after a 911 call from the Hoffman's adult daughter, who also lives in the house. The legislator and his wife were rushed to a nearby hospital. A little more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away, security camera footage showed Boelter, still in his mask and tactical clothing, holding a flashlight as he rang the doorbell at the home of someone who authorities have so far only identified as 'Public Official 1.' 'This is the police. Open the door,' he said loudly. 'We have a warrant.' Boelter was traveling with a list of about 70 names, including prominent state and federal lawmakers, community leaders and abortion-rights advocates, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation. The federal affidavit says the list was composed of 'mostly or all Democrats.' No one was at the Maple Grove home. Boelter soon left. But he had plenty of other targets. Boelter had carefully planned his attacks in advance, making notes about targets' families and conducting surveillance on their homes, Thompson said. 'Boelter stalked his victims like prey,' he said. Roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, in another suburb just north of Minneapolis, Boelter drove to the home of Democratic state Sen. Ann Rest. By then, law enforcement was starting to worry about local legislators and New Hope police dispatched an officer to do a safety check at Rest's home. That officer found what she thought was a police vehicle already doing a check, parked down the street from the house. When the officer tried to speak to Boelter, he stared straight ahead and didn't respond. The officer then drove to Rest's home, and after seeing no trouble waited for backup and returned to where Boelter had been parked. But by then he was gone. An off-duty sergeant with the Brooklyn Park police was leaving the station when he heard about the shooting at Hoffman's house. ''Hey, drive by Melissa Hortman's house and just check on the house, would you?' he told a pair of officers, the city's police chief, Mark Bruley, told reporters. Hortman, 55, the former house speaker, had long been one of the state's leading Democrats. Boelter, his phony police car parked out front with its lights flashing, was standing at the front door of the large brick home when the real Brooklyn Park officers arrived. 'Moments after their arrival on scene, Boelter fired several gunshots as he moved forward, entering the Hortmans' home,' the federal affidavit states. Moments later, he fired a second set of shots. The officers moved to the house and found a gravely injured Mark Hortman in the doorway. Inside the house, they found Melissa Hortman. She had also been badly shot. Both soon died. Left behind, though, was Boelter's car, with the list of targets and at least five weapons. Nearby, police found the mask Boelter had worn along with the pistol he'd carried. Law enforcement believed he was on foot. 'Dad went to war last night,' said a message Boelter sent on a family group text, which his wife eventually shared with authorities. Police had found her by tracking her cellphone. They found her in a car with her children, along with two handguns, about $10,000 in cash and passports, the affidavit said. Boelter had apparently urged her to leave. 'Words are not going to explain how sorry I am,' he said in another message. 'there's gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don't want you guys around.' He also reached out to two roommates with whom he sometimes stayed in Minneapolis. 'May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn't gone this way,' Boelter wrote, according to Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years. Friends said Boelter had been struggling financially in recent years. In 2023, he began working for a transport service for a funeral home, mostly picking up bodies from assisted-living facilities. That job ended about four months ago. Within hours of the Hortman shooting, hundreds of police officers, sheriff deputies and FBI agents were roaming the streets near the scene. Cellphones in the area pinged an alert, urging people near the Hortmans' neighborhood to take shelter. 'Police are still looking for a suspect in multiple targeted shootings who is armed and dangerous," the alert said, giving a description of Boelter. 'Do not approach.' A series of roadblocks was also set up, with law enforcement searching every vehicle as it left, fearing Boelter could try to escape by hiding in a car. Carrying two duffel bags, Boelter approached a man he didn't know at a Minneapolis bus stop roughly 7 miles (11 kilometers) from the Hortmans' home and asked to purchase his electric bike. After taking the bus together to the man's home, Boelter agreed to buy the bike and the man's Buick sedan. They then drove the Buick to a bank branch in nearby Robbinsdale, where Boelter, who can be seen in security footage wearing a cowboy hat, withdrew $2,200, emptying his bank account. He paid the man $900. Law enforcement received a report of someone riding an e-bike on a country road outside the small town of Green Isle, about an hour from downtown Minneapolis. The cyclist was not found, but Boelter's family lives not far away, in a sprawling 3,800-square-foot house they bought in 2023 for more than $500,000. The Buick was found, abandoned, near where the cyclist had been spotted. Worried about explosives, law enforcement initially used a robot to check the car. Inside, they found the cowboy hat that Boelter appeared to be wearing in the bank. There was also a handwritten letter addressed to the FBI in which Boelter said he was 'the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the 2 shootings.' Law enforcement set up a large perimeter near Green Isle after a police officer thought he'd seen Boelter running into the woods. Twenty tactical teams were called in for an intensive search. For hours, heavily armed men, some with dogs, walked the roads and fields of rural Sibley County. A helicopter was called in to help. Boelter was spotted shortly before nightfall, and officers surrounded him. He soon surrendered, crawling to officers who handcuffed him and took him into custody. Boelter now faces a series of state charges, including murder and attempted murder. Federal prosecutors announced they had charged him with murder and stalking, which could result in a death sentence if he is convicted. At a federal court hearing Monday in St. Paul, Boelter said he could not afford an attorney. A federal defender was appointed to represent him. He was ordered held without bail ahead of a court appearance next week. Across the U.S., local and state politicians rushed to scrub home addresses from websites and began debating whether security should now be provided for politicians like state senators. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared a text from Yvette Hoffman, whose recovery came quicker than her husband's. 'John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,' Yvette Hoffman said Saturday in a text that Klobuchar posted on social media. 'He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive. We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark.' ___ Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Biesecker, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington; Jim Mustian in New York; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Giovanna Dell'Orto in Champlin; Obed Lamy in St. Paul and Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report. ___
