Pope Francis's funeral brought the least and the greatest together
Just as he kept things simple then, he opted for a modest wood coffin today rather than the three-casket option made of cypress, lead and oak. Although popes are usually buried with a new mitre, which costs hundreds of pounds, Francis insisted his current mitre would do just fine. No frills. No fuss. He was, as Cardinal Battista Re said earlier, 'a pope among the people' from beginning to end.
Applause rang out as 14 white-gloved pallbearers laid the Pope before the altar this morning in St Peter's Square, with a Book of the Gospels resting on top.
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BBC News
6 days ago
- BBC News
Wrecked English warship's cannon found on seabed off Kent coast
Cannons and coils of rope from an English warship that sank in 1703 have been discovered by Northumberland, a large 70-gun ship built in Bristol in 1679, sank off the Kent coast during high winds in what was known as "The Great Storm". The latest survey to inspect the site, held in July, also revealed wooden chests containing musket balls, swords and wooden Meara, one of the Historic England maritime archaeologists who went on the diver, said: "What we're seeing on the seabed is that big, big element of the ship structure. It's fantastic." Shifting sands means experts were able to see that The Northumberland, built for the Royal Navy by Bristol shipbuilder Francis Baylie, is more complete than previously thought."It's the exact kind of ship you think about when you think of great big warships of the age of sail," Mr Meara told BBC Radio Bristol. He said a long series of investigations and surveys will now take place to "answer more questions of the past".Mr Meara, who dived about 65ft (20 metres) to the ship, said: "On the dives we can see this great big iron cannon, there's large bits of wooden ship structure."But because it's so intact you can see a lot of the organic material you don't normally see - things like coils of rope, smaller wooden objects and organic artefacts like that. "They're all lying on that decking, exactly where they would have been when the ship went down." He added any work to lift the warship out of the sea is very expensive and would take significant restoration work."As soon as you lift it out of the water, it's at risk of decay," he said.
Wales Online
22-05-2025
- Wales Online
Call for 'crisis plan' as hundreds of thousands face disruption on July 1
Call for 'crisis plan' as hundreds of thousands face disruption on July 1 392,000 households are currently in the line of fire A man investigates his fuse box at home - by the light of a candle - in a blackout Energy campaigners have urged Ofgem to draw up a 'crisis plan' for July 1 when the Radio Teleswitching System (RTS) is switched off, saying hundreds of thousands of households remain likely to face considerable disruption. Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, warned MPs that the switch-off is 'doomed to failure', adding that hundreds of thousands of RTS meters will still be in people's homes on the date they are due to be switched off for good. The RTS system, used by older electricity meters to control heating and hot water, uses a longwave radio frequency to switch between peak and off-peak rates. The technology is becoming obsolete and energy companies have a deadline to change their customers' meters by June 30. However, firms have admitted that current rates of replacement mean it is likely that thousands of RTS meters will not have been upgraded before the technology is switched off. Energy UK, which represents firms, said 392,000 households still had the meters as of mid April. Mr Francis told the Work and Pensions Committee: 'The process is doomed to failure. We are not going to see the RTS switch off on the first of July. 'There's still going to be hundreds of thousands of RTS meters in people's homes on the date that they're saying they're going to start winding down the signal. 'We don't know what is going to happen. The risks that have been outlined are either that your hot water and your heating are always on and you're going to be running up a massive bill, or it's always off, and even in the summer that's going to be disastrous for people, especially pensioners, in not having access to hot water, or it's going to fix in to a mode where it's going to start charging you at the higher rate, and again, that's going to be a real problem. Article continues below 'And I don't think we've heard anything from industry about which of those is most likely, indeed, it might be a combination of different factors in different areas.' He added: 'So, it's really concerning and we need the industry and Ofgem to present a crisis plan as to what is going to happen on the first of July, to offset this challenge.' Most homes have standard meters and will not be affected, whether or not they have a smart meter. Ned Hammond, Energy UK's deputy director for customers, told the committee that there was 'a lot of work to do here still'. He said: 'While the replacement rate has increased a lot, it is clearly not at the point it would need to get to, to get down to zero customers by the end of June. We're working incredibly hard as an industry with Ofgem and Desnz (The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) on a carefully managed phase out plan to ensure than we can replace all the RTS meters over time and minimise any of those impacts on customers. 'We're very focused on vulnerable customers in these circumstances, in particular as well, to make sure that we are as much as possible trying to engage with them through different methods to help them through that and also be ready to provide them with any support if there are any of those issues. 'We are working very hard on that plan at the moment and we'll have it in place in time for the end of June.' Industry regulator Ofgem has said the risks associated with not having a functioning meter include heating and hot water left continually on or off, electric storage heaters charging at the wrong time of day, possibly leading to higher bills, and the supplier being unable to confirm electricity usage during peak or off-peak times. Charlotte Friel, director for Retail Pricing & Systems for Ofgem, said: 'We have been continually monitoring the industry's efforts to replace RTS meters as this ageing infrastructure reaches the end of its life. Last year we decided more needed to be done so convened the sector and made clear to suppliers they have to move faster. Following that intervention, the rate of meter replacements has increase from around 1,000 a month to more than 1,000 a day. 'However suppliers need to do more and ensure customers are protected from detriment, which is why industry is putting in place a phased area-by-area shutdown beginning from 30 June. We have made clear that the signal serving a specific area should not be switched off until suppliers have demonstrated that they are ready and able to respond quickly to any issues customers experience. 'While this carefully managed phaseout should reassure customers that they will be protected, it remains crucial that these meters are replaced so I would urge customers to engage with their supplier when offered an appointment – even if it is after the 30 June date that marks the beginning of the process.' The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has written to the watchdog and the Government to raise concerns about the pace and communication of the meter replacement effort. According to Ofgem, you may have an RTS meter if: Article continues below
Leader Live
18-05-2025
- Leader Live
Pope Leo XIV formally opens his pontificate with Mass in St Peter's Square
Leo launched the celebration by taking his first popemobile tour through the piazza, a rite of passage that has become synonymous with the papacy's global reach and mediatic draw, used at home and abroad to bring popes close to their flock. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary smiled and waved from the back of the vehicle as the bells of St Peter's Basilica rang. Leo appeared to choke up when the two potent symbols of the papacy were placed on him – the pallium wool stole over his shoulders and the fisherman's ring on his finger – as if the weight of responsibility had just sunk in. He turned his hand to look at the ring and seal and then clasped his hands in front of him in prayer. The crowd cheered and plenty of Peruvian, American and Holy See flags mixed with flags of other nations and banners. Tens of thousands of people had earlier streamed into St Peter's Square. Starting at dawn, civil protection crews in neon uniforms funnelled pilgrims into quadrants in the piazza while priests and patriarchs hurried into St Peter's Basilica to get ready for the Mass. US vice president JD Vance, one of the last foreign officials to see Pope Francis before he died, paid his respects at the Argentine pope's tomb when he arrived in Rome late on Saturday, and was heading the US delegation honouring Chicago-born Leo. Diplomatic protocol also dictated the dress code. While most wore black, the handful of Catholic queens and princesses – Charlene of Monaco and Letizia of Spain among others – wore white in a special privilege allowed them. Three dozen of the world's other Christian churches sent their own delegations, headed by patriarchs, reverends, ministers and metropolitans, while the Jewish community had a 13-member delegation, half of them rabbis. Leo started the day by taking his first tour through the piazza in the popemobile. It was here that Francis made his last popemobile ride on Easter Sunday, and it was on the back of a popemobile that Francis' coffin was taken across Rome last month to its final resting place. Leo seems more timid than Francis. But all eyes will be on how he manages the throngs of pilgrims, tourists and curiosity-seekers, and the babies who will inevitably be passed up to him for a blessing. After the tour in the square, Leo went into the basilica to begin the solemn ceremony to inaugurate his ministry in a series of rites that emphasise the service that he is called to perform in leading the Catholic Church. He prayed first at the tomb of St Peter, considered to be the first pope, under the basilica's main altar, and then processed out into the piazza for the Mass. Peruvian President Dina Boluarte is one of about a dozen heads of state attending, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. US seminarian Ethan Menning, 21, from Omaha, Nebraska, wrapped himself in an American flag to celebrate. 'Rome always felt like home for a Catholic, but now coming here and seeing one of our own on the throne of Peter, it almost makes Jesus himself more accessible,' he said. Kalen Hill, a pilgrim from the US, got to St Peter's soon after the gates opened on Sunday and said he never expected an American would lead the 1.4-billion strong church. 'I would say all the Americans are emotional about it,' he said. 'It is really powerful for American Catholics who sometimes feel separated from the world church to be brought in and included in this community through Pope Leo.' During the Mass, Leo received the two potent symbols of the papacy: the lambswool stole, known as a pallium, and the fisherman's ring. The pallium, draped across his shoulders, symbolises the pastor carrying his flock as the pope carries the faithful. The ring, which becomes Leo's official seal, harks back to Jesus' call to the apostle Peter to cast his fishing nets. The other symbolically important moment of the Mass is the representational rite of obedience to Leo. Whereas in the past all cardinals would vow obedience to the new pope, more recent papal installations involve representatives of cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, married couples and young people participating in the rite. Another change from the past is that Sunday's Mass is not a coronation ceremony, which used to involve the pope receiving a tiara, but is merely known as a 'Eucharistic Celebration for the start of the Petrine ministry of the Bishop of Rome'. In the days since his historic election, Leo has already sketched out some of his key priorities as pope. In his first foreign policy address, he said the Holy See's three pillars of diplomacy were peace, justice and truth. In his first major economics address, he emphasised the Catholic Church's social doctrine and the search for truth. Leo has vowed all efforts to find peaceful ends to the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere. But as a priority, he has also identified the challenges to humanity posed by artificial intelligence, making the parallel to the challenges to human dignity posed by the industrial revolution that were confronted by his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, who was pope from 1878-1903. After the homily and at the end of the Mass, Leo will offer a final blessing and then go into the basilica to greet the heads of the more than 150 official delegations attending. Security was tight, as it was for Francis' funeral on April 26, which drew an estimated 250,000 people. Rome authorities planned for another 250,000 on Sunday. The piazza and main boulevard leading to it, and two nearby piazzas, were set up with giant television screens, and dozens of portable toilets have been erected in a nearby park.
