Latest news with #Rome-born
Edinburgh Reporter
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Jacob bows out of Rome but continues to climb rankings
Jacob Fearnley did enough in a 4-6, 6-7 defeat by Matteo Berrattini in round two of the Italian Open to show that soon he will take a major scalp. The Edinburgh tennis ace served for the second set at 5-3 without being able to get over the line and had he taken two break points at a key stage of the previous set who knows how it would have turned out against the Rome-born home favourite and former Wimbledon finalist? As it is Fearnley's reward will be a career high ranking of 52 – up six places – as a consequences of defeating another Italian, Fabio Fognini, in the previous round. In his previous tournament in Madrid Fearnley also exited on a second set tie-break against Grigor Dimitrov, former ATP Tour finals champion, and once again it seemed he might have paid a price for pushing too hard at a critical stage. That is all part of the learning experience along with not letting concentration slip apparently as he stood 5-3, 30-0 in the second set, a mis calculated drop shot allowing Berrettini to become inspired, reeling off a string of winners. By the end of the tie break Fearnley cut a distraught figure in going down 0-7 having given his absolute all and there was just a hint he might have been concealing an injury of some sort. The French grand slam looms on the horizon now for Fearnley and where better than to put it all together on clay and bring down one of the major players? He certainly looks capable with just a bit more judicious play at key moments as this latest performance was sprinkled with some sheer genius in front of 10,000 spectators solidly behind their home grown talent. Like this: Like Related
New Straits Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Juve hold top-four spot at Bologna as Atalanta close in on Champions League
MILAN: Juventus clung onto their place in Serie A's Champions league positions on Sunday after being held to a 1-1 draw at rivals Bologna. Remo Freuler's deflected strike in the 54th minute cancelled out Khephren Thuram's early opener and gave Bologna a deserved home draw at a packed Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Juve are in fourth on goal difference ahead of Roma, in fifth after beating Fiorentina 1-0, and sixth-placed Lazio with the trio all locked on 63 points. Bologna might sit seventh but they are only a point behind Juve and the Rome clubs and are also in with a chance of their first major trophy since 1974 with the Italian Cup final against AC Milan coming up a week on Wednesday. The draw also created a even more crowded battle for a place in next season's Champions League with another round of crucial match-ups coming up next weekend. Juve, without a host of starters at Bologna, are at Lazio while Roma head to Atalanta who were this weekend's big winners in the tussle for the top four with a 4-0 thumping of relegated Monza. Atalanta are five points ahead of Juve, Roma and Lazio with three matches remaining in the season and are now big favourites to claim one of two remaining spots in Europe's elite club competition. Charles De Ketelaere netted his first league goals since before Christmas in the first half, before Ademola Lookman and Marco Brescianini completed the rout for Atalanta with well-taken strikes after the break. Rock-bottom Monza will play in Serie B next season, ending a three-season run in the top flight for the team owned by the Berlusconi family. Assured of promotion are Sassuolo and Pisa, the latter club securing automatic promotion on Sunday even though they lost 1-0 to Bari as their closest rivals Spezia were beaten 2-1 at Reggiana. Roma briefly held fourth place by beating Fiorentina, Artem Dovbyk nodding home the only goal of the game in stoppage time at the end of the first half to extend his team's unbeaten league run to 19 matches. Edoardo Bove had an emotional reunion with Roma fans after the game, the Rome-born midfielder and Romanista openly bawling in front the supporters who paid tribute to the 22-year-old whose footballing future is in the balance. On loan at Fiorentina until the end of the season, Bove suffered a harrowing on-pitch heart attack in December and hasn't played since being discharged from hospital with a defibrillator installed. Bove will have to try his hand abroad if the defibrillator, which ensures a regular heartbeat, has to remain permanently due to the stringent health regulations which govern sport in Italy. - AFP
The Sun
04-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Juve hold top-four spot at Bologna
JUVENTUS clung onto their place in Serie A's Champions league positions on Sunday after being held to a 1-1 draw at rivals Bologna. Remo Freuler's deflected strike in the 54th minute cancelled out Khephren Thuram's early opener and gave Bologna a deserved home draw at a packed Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. Juve are in fourth on goal difference ahead of Roma, in fifth after beating Fiorentina 1-0, and sixth-placed Lazio with the trio all locked on 63 points. Bologna might sit seventh but they are only a point behind Juve and the Rome clubs and are also in with a chance of their first major trophy since 1974 with the Italian Cup final against AC Milan coming up a week on Wednesday. The draw also created a even more crowded battle for a place in next season's Champions League with another round of crucial match-ups coming up next weekend. Juve, without a host of starters at Bologna, are at Lazio while Roma head to Atalanta who were this weekend's big winners in the tussle for the top four with a 4-0 thumping of relegated Monza. Atalanta are five points ahead of Juve, Roma and Lazio with three matches remaining in the season and are now big favourites to claim one of two remaining spots in Europe's elite club competition. Charles De Ketelaere netted his first league goals since before Christmas in the first half, before Ademola Lookman and Marco Brescianini completed the rout for Atalanta with well-taken strikes after the break. Rock-bottom Monza will play in Serie B next season, ending a three-season run in the top flight for the team owned by the Berlusconi family. Assured of promotion are Sassuolo and Pisa, the latter club securing automatic promotion on Sunday even though they lost 1-0 to Bari as their closest rivals Spezia were beaten 2-1 at Reggiana. Roma briefly held fourth place by beating Fiorentina, Artem Dovbyk nodding home the only goal of the game in stoppage time at the end of the first half to extend his team's unbeaten league run to 19 matches. Edoardo Bove had an emotional reunion with Roma fans after the game, the Rome-born midfielder and Romanista openly bawling in front the supporters who paid tribute to the 22-year-old whose footballing future is in the balance. On loan at Fiorentina until the end of the season, Bove suffered a harrowing on-pitch heart attack in December and hasn't played since being discharged from hospital with a defibrillator installed. Bove will have to try his hand abroad if the defibrillator, which ensures a regular heartbeat, has to remain permanently due to the stringent health regulations which govern sport in Italy.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who will be the next pope? Here are some of the contenders
Dust off the history books and there are papal conclaves with international intrigue, royal rigging and even riots, a checkered past that belies the air of sanctity and solemnity surrounding modern papal elections. The word 'conclave' comes from the Latin for 'with key.' It is a church tradition that began in 1268 with a papal election that lasted almost three years, ending only when the townspeople of Viterbo locked up the cardinals, tore the roof off their palace, fed them nothing but bread and water and threatened them until a new pope was chosen. While it is very unlikely the decision on Pope Francis' successor will take quite as long or be quite as contentious, Vatican watchers agree that the winner is not a foregone conclusion.'The great joy of the conclave is that nobody really knows and it's such a unique electorate,' James Somerville-Meikle, the former deputy director of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, told NBC News before Francis' death. 'So many conclaves in the past have thrown up surprises.' The College of Cardinals, he said, has always been faced with two questions: 'Do we try something new? Do we go for continuity?' NBC News takes a look at the figures believed to be the top contenders. The fifth of six siblings, the Rome-born Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, 69, has built a reputation as a peacemaker and has worked with the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay association devoted to ecumenism and conflict resolution. 'That community had a very active role in peace-building activities and finding agreements in Africa, where they have been involved in South Sudan,' said NBC Vatican analyst Deborah Castellano Lubov. The east African nation has been ravaged by civil war, violence and famine since it gained independence from neighboring Sudan in March 2011. Lubov added that Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, was one of four mediators who helped bring an end to the civil war in the east African country of Mozambique in 1982 and more recently had been Francis' envoy for peace in Ukraine and Russia. 'He's a very smart man, left of center, although ideologically speaking he is very close to the center of the church,' said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. 'He would be a mix between John Paul II and Pope Francis on social issues and moral issues.' Tim Gabrielli, the Gudorf chair in Catholic intellectual traditions at the University of Dayton in Ohio, agreed that Zuppi was 'very close to Francis,' and that he is 'very much a pastor figure, close to the people.' But Gabrielli said Zuppi was 'relative newcomer' when it comes to Italian episcopal politics and didn't 'necessarily have the breadth of Vatican experience that is often looked at.' The second Italian on the list, Parolin, 70, has been Francis' secretary of state since the pope chose him in 2013. 'He's a diplomat, and this is something that the cardinals might like,' said Faggioli, although he added that as secretary of state 'you have to make many decisions on behalf of the pope, and you have to make a number of enemies among other cardinals.' Parolin, Faggioli said, is 'a centrist, and he's a man of the institution, a stabilizer.' However, both Faggioli and Lubov agreed that Parolin's chances could take a hit because he was the chief architect of an agreement with China on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in the communist country that gave the pope the final say. Critics complained that it betrayed Catholics who remained loyal to the pope despite persecution, and some have said it prevented the Vatican from denouncing rights abuses in China. They also point to increasing restrictions on religious freedoms in China for Christians and other minorities. Parolin would have a lot of explaining to do about China to remedy his reputation as a credible candidate when it comes to the future of the Catholic Church, Lubov said. 'There have been great human rights violations there, and he would really have to explain more effectively how it is possible to justify engaging with a place that violates human rights in the way that China has,' she said. The first of six children, Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő 'circulates regularly in conservative blogs as one who would shift away from Francis,' according to Monsignor Kevin Irwin, a research professor at the Catholic University of America. 'A decided player for the conservative cardinals,' Irwin said via email, adding that Erdő, 72, now the archbishop of Budapest, is 'a highly trained canon lawyer' who has written several erudite articles and books on the sources of canon law. Faggioli at Villanova agreed Erdő was a strong candidate, one who was much more conservative and 'a traditional Catholic when it comes to family, marriage, gay rights.' Faggioli added that Erdő differed with Francis on the way the church should address immigration. While Francis often called for compassion toward migrants, he said Erdő was 'more Eastern European and questions the ability to assimilate.' Gabrielli said Erdő reminds 'some of us of John Paul II ... [which] comes from the fact that they were both raised under communist rule.' He is also similar to Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who 'thought of Europe as key and the idea that Christianity of Europe was very important.' Tagle, who has been dubbed the 'Asian Pope Francis' by some, would be presenting himself as a close follower of the recently deceased pontiff, according to Somerville-Meikle of the Catholic Union of Great Britain. Tagle, 67, a Filipino national who features his nickname 'Chito' on his X profile, is known as a champion of the poor in the Philippines and has campaigned on many social issues in his homeland, Somerville-Meikle said. 'He's incredibly articulate and would be very able to extend Pope Francis' reflections theologically,' said Gabrielli, adding that Tagle has been adept at taking Francis' ideas and running with them. However, Gabrielli said that Tagle's reputation took a bit of a hit when Francis ousted the management of the Vatican's international charitable organization, Caritas Internationalis, after an external review found management and morale problems at its head office. Tagle, who had served as the organization's president since May 2015, was among those relieved of their duties, despite having called for the review in the first place, Gabrielli said. 'There might be questions resulting from that about his ability to manage,' he added. However, since June, Tagle has been in charge of the Dicastery for Evangelization, one of the church's most important departments, and Gabrielli said he seemed to be doing 'a good job there.' Among the other candidates that might come up for consideration are the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60, and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, 77, the archbishop of Colombo in Sri Lanka. The general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, the Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, and Cardinal Charles Muang Bo of Burma, the archbishop of Yangon, may also be considered. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, is also a 'well respected' figure who understands the importance of governing an international archdiocese while maintaining a 'moderate line between being open-minded to dialogue about the future of the church but also keeping close to the tradition of the Catholic faith,' NBC News' Lubov said. But at 80, 'his days as a candidate are probably behind him,' Gabrielli said, although he added that Schönborn 'befuddles people who try and label him as either conservative or liberal,' which might lead some to see him as a compromise candidate. Age and experience may rule out Canadian Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec, because at 67, some may consider him too young, Faggioli said. 'I expect they will look for a candidate in their 70s,' he added. Gabrielli added that Lacroix was 'a real pastor, people person. He's not a corporate in-his-office type, which I think reminds people of Francis. He really prioritizes evangelization, but I wonder if he has the global scope that some cardinals will look for.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
21-04-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Who will be the next pope? Here are some of the contenders
Dust off the history books and there are papal conclaves with international intrigue, royal rigging and even riots, a checkered past that belies the air of sanctity and solemnity surrounding modern papal elections. The word 'conclave' comes from the Latin for 'with key.' It is a church tradition that began in 1268 with a papal election that lasted almost three years, ending only when the townspeople of Viterbo locked up the cardinals, tore the roof off their palace, fed them nothing but bread and water and threatened them until a new pope was chosen. While it is very unlikely the decision on Pope Francis' successor will take quite as long or be quite as contentious, Vatican watchers agree that the winner is not a foregone conclusion. 'The great joy of the conclave is that nobody really knows and it's such a unique electorate,' James Somerville-Meikle, the former deputy director of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, told NBC News before Francis' death. 'So many conclaves in the past have thrown up surprises.' The College of Cardinals, he said, has always been faced with two questions: 'Do we try something new? Do we go for continuity?' NBC News takes a look at the figures believed to be the top contenders. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi The fifth of six siblings, the Rome-born Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, 69, has built a reputation as a peacemaker and has worked with the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay association devoted to ecumenism and conflict resolution. 'That community had a very active role in peace-building activities and finding agreements in Africa, where they have been involved in South Sudan,' said NBC Vatican analyst Deborah Castellano Lubov. The east African nation has been ravaged by civil war, violence and famine since it gained independence from neighboring Sudan in March 2011. Lubov added that Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, was one of four mediators who helped bring an end to the civil war in the east African country of Mozambique in 1982 and more recently had been Francis' envoy for peace in Ukraine and Russia. 'He's a very smart man, left of center, although ideologically speaking he is very close to the center of the church,' said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. 'He would be a mix between John Paul II and Pope Francis on social issues and moral issues.' Tim Gabrielli, the Gudorf chair in Catholic intellectual traditions at the University of Dayton in Ohio, agreed that Zuppi was 'very close to Francis,' and that he is 'very much a pastor figure, close to the people.' But Gabrielli said Zuppi was 'relative newcomer' when it comes to Italian episcopal politics and didn't 'necessarily have the breadth of Vatican experience that is often looked at.' Cardinal Pietro Parolin The second Italian on the list, Parolin, 70, has been Francis' secretary of state since the pope chose him in 2013. 'He's a diplomat, and this is something that the cardinals might like,' said Faggioli, although he added that as secretary of state 'you have to make many decisions on behalf of the pope, and you have to make a number of enemies among other cardinals.' Parolin, Faggioli said, is 'a centrist, and he's a man of the institution, a stabilizer.' However, both Faggioli and Lubov agreed that Parolin's chances could take a hit because he was the chief architect of an agreement with China on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in the communist country that gave the pope the final say. Critics complained that it betrayed Catholics who remained loyal to the pope despite persecution, and some have said it prevented the Vatican from denouncing rights abuses in China. They also point to increasing restrictions on religious freedoms in China for Christians and other minorities. Parolin would have a lot of explaining to do about China to remedy his reputation as a credible candidate when it comes to the future of the Catholic Church, Lubov said. 'There have been great human rights violations there, and he would really have to explain more effectively how it is possible to justify engaging with a place that violates human rights in the way that China has,' she said. Cardinal Péter Erdő The first of six children, Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő 'circulates regularly in conservative blogs as one who would shift away from Francis,' according to Monsignor Kevin Irwin, a research professor at the Catholic University of America. 'A decided player for the conservative cardinals,' Irwin said via email, adding that Erdő, 72, now the archbishop of Budapest, is 'a highly trained canon lawyer' who has written several erudite articles and books on the sources of canon law. Faggioli at Villanova agreed Erdő was a strong candidate, one who was much more conservative and 'a traditional Catholic when it comes to family, marriage, gay rights.' Faggioli added that Erdő differed with Francis on the way the church should address immigration. While Francis often called for compassion toward migrants, he said Erdő was 'more Eastern European and questions the ability to assimilate.' Gabrielli said Erdő reminds 'some of us of John Paul II ... [which] comes from the fact that they were both raised under communist rule.' He is also similar to Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who 'thought of Europe as key and the idea that Christianity of Europe was very important.' Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle Tagle, who has been dubbed the 'Asian Pope Francis' by some, would be presenting himself as a close follower of the recently deceased pontiff, according to Somerville-Meikle of the Catholic Union of Great Britain. Tagle, 67, a Filipino national who features his nickname 'Chito' on his X profile, is known as a champion of the poor in the Philippines and has campaigned on many social issues in his homeland, Somerville-Meikle said. 'He's incredibly articulate and would be very able to extend Pope Francis' reflections theologically,' said Gabrielli, adding that Tagle has been adept at taking Francis' ideas and running with them. However, Gabrielli said that Tagle's reputation took a bit of a hit when Francis ousted the management of the Vatican's international charitable organization, Caritas Internationalis, after an external review found management and morale problems at its head office. Tagle, who had served as the organization's president since May 2015, was among those relieved of their duties, despite having called for the review in the first place, Gabrielli said. 'There might be questions resulting from that about his ability to manage,' he added. However, since June, Tagle has been in charge of the Dicastery for Evangelization, one of the church's most important departments, and Gabrielli said he seemed to be doing 'a good job there.' Other contenders Among the other candidates that might come up for consideration are the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60, and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, 77, the archbishop of Colombo in Sri Lanka. The general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, the Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, and Cardinal Charles Muang Bo of Burma, the archbishop of Yangon, may also be considered. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, is also a 'well respected' figure who understands the importance of governing an international archdiocese while maintaining a 'moderate line between being open-minded to dialogue about the future of the church but also keeping close to the tradition of the Catholic faith,' NBC News' Lubov said. But at 80, 'his days as a candidate are probably behind him,' Gabrielli said, although he added that Schönborn 'befuddles people who try and label him as either conservative or liberal,' which might lead some to see him as a compromise candidate. Age and experience may rule out Canadian Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec, because at 67, some may consider him too young, Faggioli said. 'I expect they will look for a candidate in their 70s,' he added. Gabrielli added that Lacroix was 'a real pastor, people person. He's not a corporate in-his-office type, which I think reminds people of Francis. He really prioritizes evangelization, but I wonder if he has the global scope that some cardinals will look for.'
