'Pope Leo visits Pope Francis' tomb and Marian shrine on first trip outside Vatican, World News
VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XIV took his first trip outside the Vatican on Saturday (May 10), heading about an hour's drive east of Rome for a visit to a Catholic shrine and stopping on the way back to pay respects at the tomb of his predecessor Francis.
Leo waved from the passenger side of a Volkswagen vehicle as he arrived at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica. Entering the church to a few shouts of "Viva il papa" (Long live the pope), Leo walked slowly to Francis' tomb, laying a white flower on it.
He then knelt in prayer for a few moments.
Leo made the trip to St. Mary Major after travelling to the small town of Genazzano, where he had earlier visited a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Leo, the former US Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected pope on May 8. He is a member of the Augustinian religious order, which runs the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano.
Leo shook hands and offered blessings to a few people in the crowd before entering the shrine.
At the end of the visit there, the pope told those in the shrine that he wanted to come to pray for guidance in the first days of his papacy, according to a Vatican statement.
The late Pope Francis, who died on April 21, made surprise visits to Catholic sites near Rome quite frequently. He asked to be buried at St. Mary Major in a simple tomb, decorated only with an inscription of the word "Franciscus", his name in Latin.
Francis had a special devotion to the basilica, another Marian shrine. In the first days after his burial, more than 30,000 people packed the church to visit his final resting place.
[[nid:717846]]
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Straits Times
23-05-2025
- Straits Times
Design Cues: Singapore serves up feast of citymaking ideas at Venice biennale
Visitors at the Rasa-Tabula-Singapura exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the Arsenale in Venice. The pavilion is part of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. PHOTO: GIULIO BOEM Visitors at the Rasa-Tabula-Singapura exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the Arsenale in Venice. The pavilion is part of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. PHOTO: GIULIO BOEM SINGAPORE – Pull up a chair at the world's most diverse table at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, where the Singapore Pavilion transforms the act of dining into a celebration of citymaking through food, culture and collective design. To mark Singapore's 60th year of independence (SG60), the pavilion invites the world to experience its Table of Superdiversity, defined by the island's distinctive identity, shaped by centuries of movement, exchange and reinvention. In urban planning, superdiversity refers to the multifaceted nature of diversity in societies, particularly in urban areas, as a result of complex migration patterns. It goes beyond ethnic diversity and considers factors such as legal status, socio-economic conditions and individual identities. The Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 was launched on May 9 and will be open to the public till Nov 23. Called Rasa-Tabula-Singapura, this year's theme combines ancient languages as a play on the architectural term 'tabula rasa', meaning 'blank slate' in Latin. Using local desserts or 'kueh' as a leitmotif, some of Singapore's most distinctive landmarks have been converted into sumptuous desserts, designed as food for thought. Walk around the installation and one will find Housing Board blocks that look like kueh salat ('glutinous rice and custard' in Malay), Golden Mile Complex converted into kueh lapis ('layer cake' in Malay) and the Art Science Museum as huat kueh ('lucky cake' in Hokkien). Housing Board blocks that look like kueh salat ('glutinous rice and custard' in Malay). PHOTOS: DR IMMANUEL KOH, ARTIFICIAL-ARCHITECTURE, SUTD The Venice Architecture Biennale is the world's leading exhibition on architectural ideas and innovation, held every two years in Venice, Italy. The 2025 edition, the exhibition's 19th, features a record 66 national pavilions. The biennale transforms Venice into a living laboratory with exhibitions and installations across the historic Giardini della Biennale, the vast Arsenale and other sites from palaces to public squares. The ArtScience Museum as huat kueh ('lucky cake' in Hokkien). PHOTOS: DR IMMANUEL KOH, ARTIFICIAL-ARCHITECTURE, SUTD The Singapore curatorial team looked at how the idea of 'tabula rasa' is often associated with the tearing down of old buildings. But it is also about expanding, regenerating and recreating. The team reinterpreted it as 'Rasa' ('taste' in Malay), 'Tabula' ('table' in Latin) and 'Singapura', derived from the Sanskrit words 'simha' (lion) and 'pur' (city). The Golden Mile Complex as kek lapis ('layer cake' in Malay). PHOTOS: DR IMMANUEL KOH, ARTIFICIAL-ARCHITECTURE, SUTD The pavilion was commissioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and DesignSingapore Council (DSG), and organised by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The multidisciplinary team of curators includes Professor Tai Lee Siang, Professor Khoo Peng Beng, Professor Erwin Viray, Dr Jason Lim, Assistant Professor Immanuel Koh and Associate Professor Sam Conrad Joyce. The team has curated a 'menu' of architectural and urban planning projects, with 'main courses' highlighting key developments and districts such as Pinnacle@Duxton, an iconic public housing development in Singapore. 'Side dishes' showcase innovations in design, policy and community-building , which contribute to the nation's strength as a multicultural powerhouse in the region . The Pavilion's tablescape reflects and applies biennale curator Carlo Ratti's overarching theme of 'Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective'. This explores how different forms of intelligence – drawn from nature, technology (such as artificial intelligence or AI) and collective human effort – can help architecture respond to urgent global challenges such as the climate crisis. Co-curator Prof Khoo relates his own experience designing the 50-storey HDB project Pinnacle@Duxton, completed in 2009, which explored vertical living as a framework for superdiversity – where density, design and innovation came together in the sky . Prof Khoo and his wife, architect Belinda Huang, are the founders of home-grown practice Arc Studio Architecture + Urbanism. They collaborated with RSP Architects Planners and Engineers on the project. 'With Pinnacle@Duxton, we moved from single developments to district-scale planning,' says Prof Khoo, who is also head of the SUTD's Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar. 'Projects like Tengah and Changi Airport demonstrate how Singapore applies the same design sensibility to shaping entire ecosystems of liveability and movement,' he says. 'These ideas continue through our research and teaching at SUTD, where planning for the future means designing for complexity. It's one expression of a city always planning ahead, always becoming.' Another example on display on the dining table is CapitaSpring, a 280m-tall tropical high-rise in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District that illustrates the city's progressive planning. The biophilic spectacle is a showcase of Singapore's Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High-Rises (Lush) policy, requiring developers to replace greenery lost on the ground with vertical landscapes. Over 80,000 plants are woven into the tower's fabric, including a soaring four-storey Green Oasis 100m above ground, one of Singapore's highest publicly accessible gardens within a commercial building. CapitaSpring is home to a four-storey Green Oasis garden 100m above ground. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Ms Yap Lay Bee, co-commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and URA's group director of Architecture and Urban Design, says that through thoughtful urban planning and design, the agency has created environments that inspire and support how Singaporeans live, work, play and connect. 'In land-scarce Singapore, we need to balance density, diversity and design,' she says. Planning policies, cultural values, environmental priorities and community needs are considered and integrated to create and shape spaces that are inclusive, resilient and adaptable. Ms Yap adds: 'Rasa-Tabula-Singapura offers a sensory map of that approach, inviting visitors to experience the thoughtful processes that have shaped our nation's transformation in the last 60 years. 'It is not just a showcase of what we have built, but also a reflection of how we imagine, and continue to reimagine, our future.' Visitors at the Rasa-Tabula-Singapura exhibition at the Singapore Pavilion at the Arsenale in Venice. PHOTO: GIULIO BOEM As a nation by design, Singapore's socio-economic needs, demographics, policies, and spatial negotiations have guided its urban planning, says Ms Dawn Lim, co-commissioner of the Singapore Pavilion and DSG's executive director. 'Such intelligence not only reflects our design-led development for the last 60 years, but will continue to chart the course for our future,' she adds. 'Centring on the concept of superdiversity, this year's Singapore Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale showcases how the convergence of unique multicultural differences, collective histories, design and new technology offers opportunities for more inclusive, adaptive urban futures.' Prof Khoo says the SUTD team of designers envisioned biennale curator Mr Ratti's theme of intelligence as more than just using artificial intelligence to make an installation. They wanted it to also fete Singapore's collective intelligence as a city. The aim was to show how a city's compactness – once regarded as a weakness, due to living in close quarters – has been turned into its strength. 'Our city is likened to latent space in the world of AI,' says Prof Khoo. Latent space in AI is like a summary that helps computers make sense of complicated data, instead of looking at every tiny detail. This makes it easier to find patterns, understand data and create anew. Prof Khoo adds that latent space captures the essence of the layers of information in a compact way, allowing the decoding of new creative combinations. 'Similarly, our compact city creates a latent space where the essence of various layers of information becomes a source of our creativity and innovation,' he points out. 'This has contributed dramatically to our rapid transformation in just 60 years from a resource-starved nation into a nation with one of the highest gross domestic product per capita and longest life expectancy in the world.' Info: Go to Design Cues is a new column that explores ideas at the intersection of design and art. Designer and lifestyle journalist Chantal Sajan writes on design and architecture. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
11-05-2025
- AsiaOne
Pope Leo visits Pope Francis' tomb and Marian shrine on first trip outside Vatican, World News
VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XIV took his first trip outside the Vatican on Saturday (May 10), heading about an hour's drive east of Rome for a visit to a Catholic shrine and stopping on the way back to pay respects at the tomb of his predecessor Francis. Leo waved from the passenger side of a Volkswagen vehicle as he arrived at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica. Entering the church to a few shouts of "Viva il papa" (Long live the pope), Leo walked slowly to Francis' tomb, laying a white flower on it. He then knelt in prayer for a few moments. Leo made the trip to St. Mary Major after travelling to the small town of Genazzano, where he had earlier visited a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Leo, the former US Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected pope on May 8. He is a member of the Augustinian religious order, which runs the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano. Leo shook hands and offered blessings to a few people in the crowd before entering the shrine. At the end of the visit there, the pope told those in the shrine that he wanted to come to pray for guidance in the first days of his papacy, according to a Vatican statement. The late Pope Francis, who died on April 21, made surprise visits to Catholic sites near Rome quite frequently. He asked to be buried at St. Mary Major in a simple tomb, decorated only with an inscription of the word "Franciscus", his name in Latin. Francis had a special devotion to the basilica, another Marian shrine. In the first days after his burial, more than 30,000 people packed the church to visit his final resting place. [[nid:717846]]
AsiaOne
11-05-2025
- AsiaOne
'Pope Leo visits Pope Francis' tomb and Marian shrine on first trip outside Vatican, World News
VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XIV took his first trip outside the Vatican on Saturday (May 10), heading about an hour's drive east of Rome for a visit to a Catholic shrine and stopping on the way back to pay respects at the tomb of his predecessor Francis. Leo waved from the passenger side of a Volkswagen vehicle as he arrived at Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica. Entering the church to a few shouts of "Viva il papa" (Long live the pope), Leo walked slowly to Francis' tomb, laying a white flower on it. He then knelt in prayer for a few moments. Leo made the trip to St. Mary Major after travelling to the small town of Genazzano, where he had earlier visited a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Leo, the former US Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected pope on May 8. He is a member of the Augustinian religious order, which runs the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano. Leo shook hands and offered blessings to a few people in the crowd before entering the shrine. At the end of the visit there, the pope told those in the shrine that he wanted to come to pray for guidance in the first days of his papacy, according to a Vatican statement. The late Pope Francis, who died on April 21, made surprise visits to Catholic sites near Rome quite frequently. He asked to be buried at St. Mary Major in a simple tomb, decorated only with an inscription of the word "Franciscus", his name in Latin. Francis had a special devotion to the basilica, another Marian shrine. In the first days after his burial, more than 30,000 people packed the church to visit his final resting place. [[nid:717846]]
