'The common good': The last Pope Leo was a champion of the working poor
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In 2013, when Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio became pope he chose the name Francis, a tribute to one of the most popular saints in the history of Christendom.
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St. Francis of Assisi, who lived in the 13th century, was loved because of his deep devotion to the poor. Indeed, Pope Francis showed a great love for the most marginalized of this world, especially the millions of migrants who are the poorest of the world.
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Pope Leo XIII, who served from 1878 to 1903, has not been declared a saint, but his influence on the Church and the world was immense. He, too, showed a great concern for working people everywhere who slaved away for a mere pittance and had little time for family or even to worship God. They were in many ways the dross of the Industrial Revolution, who, along with poor pay, were subject to the illnesses and diseases spewed out by factories.
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If his new name is something to go by, we might expect our new Pope to also show great concern for those who labour under the dark cloud of exploitation.
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On May 15, 1891, Leo promulgated the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which translates to 'Of New Things.' For Catholics, and any observer of the plight of labour, the encyclical was considered — and still is — a landmark document on worker rights.
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Last month, Fr. Joe Connelly wrote a beautiful essay on the Catholic website Guardian Angels in praise of Rerum Novarum, a document that was not just relevant to conditions in the late 19th century but to many parts of the world today.
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'During an era marked by the rise of capitalism and the exploitation of labor, Pope Leo XIII boldly defended the rights of workers and the sanctity of the family,' he wrote.
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'Rerum Novarum emphasized the importance of just wages, decent working conditions, and the rights of laborers to organize for their mutual benefit. Rejecting the extremes of unchecked capitalism and socialism, the encyclical called for a balanced approach that respects both the rights of workers and the principles of private property.'
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'Rather than relying solely on the state, the encyclical emphasizes the responsibilities of families, local entities, and voluntary associations in caring for the vulnerable and promoting the common good. This principle remains as relevant today as it was in Pope Leo XIII's time, guiding Catholics in their efforts to foster solidarity and build thriving societies.'
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The encyclical urged the owners of capital to give their workers decent pay, shorter workdays and workweeks, so that those who laboured would have time to spend with families and in worship.
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Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Globe and Mail
Gold Reserve Provides Update on CITGO Sale Process Schedule
Gold Reserve Ltd. (TSX.V: GRZ) (OTCQX: GDRZF) (' Gold Reserve ' or the ' Company ') announces that today it submitted a response to the request made by the Venezuela Parties to adjourn the date of the Sale Hearing from July 22, 2025 to the week commencing September 2, 2025. In its response, the Company stated that while it agreed a short extension of the Sale Hearing date was justified, a three-week extension, to the week commencing August 11, 2025, was sufficient, rather than the six-week extension requested by the Venezuela Parties. The Company's response was joined by Koch Minerals Sarl and Koch Nitrogen International Sarl. At the Sale Hearing, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (the ' Court ') will consider the Final Recommended Bid for the purchase of the shares of PDV Holding, Inc. (' PDVH '), the indirect parent company of CITGO Petroleum Corp., and any objections thereto. The Company's Delaware subsidiary, Dalinar Energy Corporation (' Dalinar Energy '), submitted a topping bid to be selected as final bidder on June 3, 2025, as previously announced here. The deadline for submission of topping bids is June 18, 2025, and the Special Master appointed by the Court to oversee the sale process is scheduled to make his Final Recommendation by June 27, 2025. A complete description of the Delaware sale proceedings can be found on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system in Crystallex International Corporation v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1:17-mc-00151-LPS (D. Del.) and its related proceedings. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking statements This release contains 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of applicable U.S. federal securities laws and 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial and territorial securities laws and state Gold Reserve's and its management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions for the future. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. They are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to any bid submitted by the Company for the purchase of the PDVH shares (the 'Bid'). We caution that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other risks that may cause the actual events, outcomes or results of Gold Reserve to be materially different from our estimated outcomes, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the discretion of the Special Master to consider the Bid, to enter into any discussions or negotiation with respect thereto and that the Special Master may reject the Bid at any time; the Special Master may choose not to recommend a Base Bid or Final Bid to the Court; the failure of the Company to negotiate the Bid, including as a result of failing to obtain sufficient equity and/or debt financing; that Bid submitted by the Company will not be selected as the 'Base Bid' or the 'Final Recommend Bid' under the Bidding Procedures, and if selected may not close due to the Sale Process not being completed, including as a result of not obtaining necessary regulatory approval to close on the purchase of the PDVH shares, including but not limited to any necessary approvals from the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control ('OFAC'), the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission or the TSX Venture Exchange; failure of the Company or any other party to obtain any required shareholders approvals for, or satisfy other conditions to effect, any transaction resulting from the Bid; that the Company forfeit any cash amount deposit made due to failing to complete the Bid or otherwise; that the making of the Bid or any transaction resulting therefrom may involve unexpected costs, liabilities or delays; that, prior to or as a result of the completion of any transaction contemplated by the Bid, the business of the Company may experience significant disruptions due to transaction related uncertainty, industry conditions, tariff wars or other factors; the ability to enforce the writ of attachment granted to the Company; the timing set for various reports and/or other matters with respect to the Sale Process may not be met; the ability of the Company to otherwise participate in the Sale Process (and related costs associated therewith); the amount, if any, of proceeds associated with the Sale Process; the competing claims of other creditors of Venezuela, PDVSA and the Company, including any interest on such creditors' judgements and any priority afforded thereto; uncertainties with respect to possible settlements between Venezuela and other creditors and the impact of any such settlements on the amount of funds that may be available under the Sale Process; and the proceeds from the Sale Process may not be sufficient to satisfy the amounts outstanding under the Company's September 2014 arbitral award and/or corresponding November 15, 2015 U.S. judgement in full; and the ramifications of bankruptcy with respect to the Sale Process and/or the Company's claims, including as a result of the priority of other claims. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of the risk factors affecting the Company's business, see the Company's Management's Discussion & Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2024 and other reports that have been filed on SEDAR+ and are available under the Company's profile at Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Gold Reserve or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Gold Reserve disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subject to its disclosure obligations under applicable rules promulgated by applicable Canadian provincial and territorial securities laws.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Judge says migrants sent to El Salvador prison must get a chance to challenge their removals
Prisoners look out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration must give more than 100 migrants sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador a chance to challenge their deportations. U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg said that people who were sent to the prison in March under an 18th-century wartime law haven't been able to formally contest the removals or allegations that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He ordered the administration to work toward giving them a way to file those challenges. The judge wrote that 'significant evidence' has surfaced indicating that many of the migrants imprisoned in El Salvador are not connected to the gang 'and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations.' Boasberg gave the administration one week to come up with a manner in which the 'at least 137' people can make those claims, even while they're formally in the custody of El Salvador. It's the latest milestone in the monthslong legal saga over the fate of deportees imprisoned at El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center. After Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in March and prepared to fly planeloads of accused gang members to El Salvador and out of the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, Boasberg ordered them to turn the planes around. This demand was ignored. Boasberg has found probably cause that the administration committed contempt of court after the flight landed. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted a taunting message on social media — reposted by some of Trump's top aides — that read 'Oopsie, too late.' The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that anyone targeted under the AEA has the right to appeal to a judge to contest their designation as an enemy of the state. Boasberg, in his latest, ruling wrote that he was simply applying that principle to those who'd been removed. Boasberg said the administration 'plainly deprived' the immigrants of a chance to challenge their removals before they were put on flights. Therefore, he says the government must handle the migrants cases now as if they 'would have been if the Government had not provided constitutionally inadequate process.' The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The administration and its supporters have targeted Boasberg for his initial order halting deportations and his contempt inquiry, part of their growing battle with the judiciary as it puts the brakes on Trump's efforts to unilaterally remake government. The fight has been particularly harsh in the realm of immigration, where Trump has repeatedly said it'd be impossible to protect the country from dangerous immigrants if each one has his or her day in court. 'We cannot give everyone a trial!' the president posted on his social media site, Truth Social, after the Supreme Court intervened a second time in the AEA saga, halting a possible effort to evade its initial ruling by temporarily freezing deportations from northern Texas. Boasberg wrote that he accepted the administration's declaration, filed under seal, providing details of the government's deal with El Salvador to house deportees and how that means the Venezuelans are technically under the legal control of El Salvador and not the United States. He added, while noting there is a criminal penalty for providing false testimony, that believing those representations was 'rendered more difficult given the Government's troubling conduct throughout this case.' He also noted parallels with another case where the Trump administration admitted it mistakenly deported a Maryland man to El Salvador and has been ordered by a judge, appellate judges and the U.S. Supreme Court to 'facilitate' his return. That man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, remains in El Salvador more than two months later. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt welcomed Boasberg's ruling. 'This is a significant step forward to getting these men the chance to show that they should not ever have been removed under a wartime authority,' Gelernt told reporters in San Diego after a hearing in an unrelated case. Boasberg's order is only the latest of a blizzard of legal rulings in the sprawling AEA case. Several judges have temporarily halted deportations under the act in parts of Texas, New York, California, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, finding the administration's 24 hour window that it gave detainees to challenge their designation under the act did not meet the Supreme Court's requirement of providing a 'reasonable' chance to seek relief. Deportations of people in the country illegally can continue in those areas under laws other than the AEA, Some of the judges in those cases have also found that Trump cannot use the act to target a criminal gang rather than a state, noting that the act has only been invoked three prior times in history — during the War of 1812 and during World Wars I and II. The Supreme Court will likely eventually decide those issues. The Trump administration contends that the gang is acting as a shadow arm of Venezuela's government. Riccardi reported from Denver. Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report. Nicholas Riccardi And Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
Nili Kaplan-Myrth exits OCDSB, blaming 'toxicity' on and off the board
Social Sharing A high-profile member of Ottawa's largest school board has resigned, alleging the organization is "entrenched in internal toxicity" and "driven by external forces with a goal to undo human rights and social justice work." Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth is a family physician who rose to public prominence while advocating for vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, she was elected to a four-year term as the Capital/Alta Vista trustee for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). That tumultuous tenure came to an end at the tail end of the board's committee-of-the-whole meeting on Tuesday, with Kaplan-Myrth announcing her exit from the organization. "We need people to stand up for public education," she said, reading out from her letter of resignation, "but nobody should have to do so in the face of the kind of harassment I have experienced." After Kaplan-Myrth's remarks, trustee Cathryne Milburn asked the board chair, Lynn Scott, if she had any response. "I don't wish to have remarks from the chair," Kaplan-Myrth cut in. "It's not her who has the final word. That is my resignation." Kaplan-Myrth then rose from her seat and placed her letter in front of Scott. The board chair said Kaplan-Myrth's resignation must be accepted at the board's next regular board meeting. The board then has 90 days to find a replacement. "I'm disappointed, frankly," Scott told CBC after the meeting. "When we have trustees who have been with us for a while and when we have seen that there are good things that they can do, it's always a sense of loss." Pino Buffone, the board's director of education, acknowledged Kaplan-Myrth received "a lot of vile, unacceptable comments from the public more broadly, irrespective of her position or her perspective on various issues." Days before Tuesday's meeting, Kaplan-Myrth sent a statement to CBC News outlining her reasons for leaving the board despite having more than a year left in her term. Before the meeting, she'd informed at least one other trustee of her plan to resign, according to her statement. Kaplan-Myrth said the board failed to support her when she faced threats and hateful messages because of her progressive views and her being an outspoken member of Ottawa's Jewish community. "That's the reality of politics, you're no doubt thinking," she wrote in her statement. "[But] it discourages decent people from putting their hands up as candidates at all levels of government." "What made matters much worse," she added, "was the toxicity within the school board." 'The final straw' Among Kaplan-Myrth's other specific allegations against the board was the "weaponization" of code-of-conduct complaints she says were designed to silence or punish her. Since being elected in October 2022, Kaplan-Myrth has faced three code-of-conduct complaints. One failed to gain enough traction among other trustees, while another resulted in Kaplan-Myrth being disciplined in December 2023. A third, "vexatious" complaint was filed against Kaplan-Myrth this past April and concerned comments she made during a meeting that month, according to a letter her lawyer sent the Ministry of Education. Kaplan-Myrth also shared that letter with CBC. At the April meeting, Kaplan-Myrth spoke against a member of the board's equity committee wearing a keffiyeh, calling it an "act of aggression." The National Council of Canadian Muslims called Kaplan-Myrth to task, saying her statement was "an unfair and dangerous conflation of Palestinian culture and identity with aggression and violence." That third code-of-conduct complaint was "the final straw," Kaplan-Myrth wrote. "I cannot continue to participate on a board like this. It is driven by external forces with a goal to undo human rights and social justice work, [and it] is entrenched in internal toxicity." 'Vile Jew hate' Some of Kaplan-Myrth's concerns date back to the start of her term, when she called for a return to masking in classrooms. At one board meeting in late 2022, security and police had to remove some attendees for disrupting the proceedings. "Within a few days of that meeting, I had to quarantine my email and give up my OCDSB cell phone because of vile Jew hate and threatening messages," Kaplan-Myrt wrote. "When I approached the director and chair of the OCDSB, they failed to make an internal or a public statement that harassment would not be tolerated. My fellow trustees were silent." Kaplan-Myrth pointed to March 2023, when she said she was threatened for planning to wear a rainbow T-shirt, in support of transgender rights, at a board meeting. "My own family was murdered because they were Jews. These kinds of threats are more real to me because of intergenerational trauma," she wrote in her statement. "I nevertheless showed up to that meeting and continued to show up to meeting after meeting, asking repeatedly for my colleagues to understand the trauma of having to scan the room for threats. The only safety plan that was put into place was a process whereby I was supposed to send a text message to staff or to a friend when I arrived at the OCDSB building, to ask someone to walk out to my car to meet me." Scott told CBC she believes staff did everything reasonable to the reduce the amount of online vitriol Kaplan-Myrth was exposed to. "I think from both [a] physical standpoint in terms of a security plan and also online to the greatest extent that we possibly could, [we] gave our very best attempts to support the trustee," Buffone added. Kaplan-Myrth also criticized the board for what she said was a failure to distinguish between "legitimate" constituents and "nefarious actor[s]." Scott said that while there have been campaigns of disinformation and misinformation aimed at the board, she's not so sure they have actually shaped trustees' decisions, as Kaplan-Myrth has alleged. "We have a good group of trustees who for the most part do their homework, consider a lot of different potential points of view, a lot of different information and we have a first-rate staff who provide us with all of the internal information that we need," Scott said. Asked if there was anything the board could have done differently to ensure Kaplan-Myrth stayed on, Scott said it's always difficult to know. "Hindsight sometimes gives you hints, but it's hard to point out specific things that would have made a difference. I mean, anytime when you're dealing with people — and we deal with a lot: members of the public, members of our staff and each other — there are often times when you look back and say I could have done that differently, except if you did it differently, maybe the same thing would still have happened.
