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Category: Analysis

  • MIL-OSI Global: Francis, a pope of many firsts: 5 essential reads

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Molly Jackson, Religion and Ethics Editor

    A mourner holds a portrait of Pope Francis at the Basílica de San José de Flores in Buenos Aires, a church where the pope worshipped in his youth. AP Photo/Gustavo Garello

    Pope Francis, whose papacy blended tradition with pushes for inclusion and reform, died on April, 21, 2025 – Easter Monday – at the age of 88.

    Here we spotlight five stories from The Conversation’s archive about his roots, faith, leadership and legacy.

    1. A Jesuit pope

    Jorge Mario Bergoglio became a pope of many firsts: the first modern pope from outside Europe, the first whose papal name honors St. Francis of Assisi, and the first Jesuit – a Catholic religious order founded in the 16th century.

    Those Jesuit roots shed light on Pope Francis’ approach to some of the world’s most pressing problems, argues Timothy Gabrielli, a theologian at the University of Dayton.

    Gabrielli highlights the Jesuits’ “Spiritual Exercises,” which prompt Catholics to deepen their relationship with God and carefully discern how to respond to problems. He argues that this spiritual pattern of looking beyond “presenting problems” to the deeper roots comes through in Francis’ writings, shaping the pope’s response to everything from climate change and inequality to clerical sex abuse.



    Read more:
    Francis is the first Jesuit pope – here’s how that has shaped his 10-year papacy

    2. LGBTQ+ issues

    Early on in his papacy, Francis famously told an interviewer, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Over the years, he has repeatedly called on Catholics to love LGBTQ+ people and spoken against laws that target them.

    An LGBTQ couple embrace after a pastoral worker blesses them at a Catholic church in Germany, in defiance of practices approved by Rome.
    Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

    But “Francis’ inclusiveness is not actually radical,” explains Steven Millies, a scholar at the Catholic Theological Union. “His remarks generally correspond to what the church teaches and calls on Catholics to do,” without changing doctrine – such as that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

    Rather, Francis’ comments “express what the Catholic Church says about human dignity,” Millies writes. “Francis is calling on Catholics to take note that they should be concerned about justice for all people.”



    Read more:
    It shouldn’t seem so surprising when the pope says being gay ‘isn’t a crime’ – a Catholic theologian explains

    3. Asking forgiveness

    At times, Francis did something that was once unthinkable for a pope: He apologized.

    He was not the first pontiff to do so, however. Pope John Paul II declared a sweeping “Day of Pardon” in 2000, asking forgiveness for the church’s sins, and Pope Benedict XVI apologized to victims of sexual abuse. During Francis’ papacy, he acknowledged the church’s historic role in Canada’s residential school system for Indigenous children and apologized for abuses in the system.

    But what does it mean for a pope to say, “I’m sorry”?

    Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 31, 2022, ahead of an Indigenous delegation’s meeting with Pope Francis.
    AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

    Annie Selak, a theologian at Georgetown University, unpacks the history and significance of papal apologies, which can speak for the entire church, past and present. Often, she notes, statements skirt an actual admission of wrongdoing.

    Still, apologies “do say something important,” Selak writes. A pope “apologizes both to the church and on behalf of the church to the world. These apologies are necessary starting points on the path to forgiveness and healing.”



    Read more:
    Pope Francis apologized for the harm done to First Nations peoples, but what does a pope’s apology mean?

    4. A church that listens

    Many popes convene meetings of the Synod of Bishops to advise the Vatican on church governance. But under Francis, these gatherings took on special meaning.

    The Synod on Synodality was a multiyear, worldwide conversation where Catholics could share concerns and challenges with local church leaders, informing the topics synod participants would eventually discuss in Rome. What’s more, the synod’s voting members included not only bishops but lay Catholics – a first for the church.

    Participants arrive for a vigil prayer led by Pope Francis and other religious leaders before the 2023 Synod of Bishops assembly.
    Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    The process “pictures the Catholic Church not as a top-down hierarchy but rather as an open conversation,” writes University of Dayton religious studies scholar Daniel Speed Thompson – one in which everyone in the church has a voice and listens to others’ voices.



    Read more:
    The worldwide consultations for the global synod reflect Pope Francis’ efforts toward building a more inclusive Catholic Church

    5. Global dance

    In 2024, University of Notre Dame professor David Lantigua had a cup of maté tea with some “porteños,” as people from Buenos Aires are known. They shared a surprising take on the Argentine pope: “a theologian of the tango.”

    Pope Francis drinks maté, the national beverage of Argentina, in St. Peter’s Square on his birthday on Dec. 17, 2014.
    Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

    Francis does love the dance – in 2014, thousands of Catholics tangoed in St. Peter’s Square to honor his birthday. But there’s more to it, Lantigua explains. Francis’ vision for the church was “based on relationships of trust and solidarity,” like a pair of dance partners. And part of his task as pope was to “tango” with all the world’s Catholics, carefully navigating culture wars and an increasingly diverse church.

    Francis was “less interested in ivory tower theology than the faith of people on the streets,” where Argentina’s beloved dance was born.



    Read more:
    At 88, Pope Francis dances the tango with the global Catholic Church amid its culture wars

    This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.

    – ref. Francis, a pope of many firsts: 5 essential reads – https://theconversation.com/francis-a-pope-of-many-firsts-5-essential-reads-250500

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud Khalil have a right to freedom of speech – but does that protect them from deportation?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Erin Corcoran, Professor of immigration, refguee and asylum law, University of Notre Dame

    The detention of noncitizen university students after their Palestinian rights activism raises questions about the limits of free speech. Rob Dobi/Moment/Getty Images

    The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 foreign university students since January 2025. Many of the individual cases that have made headlines center on foreign-born university students who participated in Palestinian rights protests.

    In early March, the federal government arrested, detained and began deportation proceedings against Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident born in Syria to Palestinian parents. Khalil participated in Palestinian rights protests at Columbia University in 2024.

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in an April 9 memo that allowing Khalil to stay in the country would create a “hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”

    “The foreign policy of the United States champions core American interests and American citizens and condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective,” Rubio wrote.

    Khalil is not the only noncitizen university student with legal permission to be in the U.S. who has been arrested and faces deportation after being involved in the Palestinian rights movement.

    Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish-born student at Tufts University, was detained by immigration authorities on March 25 near her Massachusetts home and is currently being held in Louisiana. She co-authored a 2024 op-ed in the campus newspaper calling for Tufts to recognize a genocide in the Gaza Strip.

    And Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian man who is a lawful permanent resident and a Columbia University student active in the Palestinian rights protests, was detained and arrested on April 25. This happened when Mahdawi showed up at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office for a citizenship interview in Vermont.

    “If you apply for a student visa to come to the United States and you say you’re coming not just to study, but to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings, and cause chaos, we’re not giving you that visa,” Rubio said on March 23, when asked by a journalist about revoking student visas and arresting Öztürk.

    These cases raise important questions: Do lawful permanent residents have the right to protected free speech? Or are there limitations – among them, a determination by the U.S. government that permanent residents’ speech or political activity makes them a threat to national security?

    Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil speaks to reporters at Columbia University on June 1, 2024, during a media briefing organized by protesters who were objecting to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
    Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

    Noncitizens’ First Amendment rights

    Arresting and detaining nonviolent, foreign protesters and the authors of opinion pieces is usually not legally permissible. That’s because these actions are protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment, which guarantees everyone the right to freedom of expression.

    The Supreme Court has found that there are some limits to free speech. The government may restrict speech, for example, when someone yells “Fire!” in a crowded theater when there is no actual danger.

    The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the right to freedom of speech applies to everyone in the U.S., including noncitizens.

    Still, the First Amendment does not apply to noncitizens physically outside the U.S. The Supreme Court, for example, ruled in 1972 that the government may deny visas and bar entry to noncitizens who were seeking admission to the U.S. to engage in constitutionally protected speech.

    When noncitizens are living in the U.S., they have the same First Amendment protections as U.S. citizens, the Supreme Court ruled in 1945.

    As a scholar of U.S immigration and administrative law, I know that these protections enter a murkier territory when U.S. immigration law collides with the Constitution.

    A conflict with immigration law

    The Trump administration rests its argument that it can legally detain and deport noncitizens who have participated in Palestinian rights protests – but have not been charged with any crimes – on broad language in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.

    This law articulates important immigration rules, like who can enter the country and how someone can become a citizen. It also includes vague language that gives the secretary of state power to deport noncitizens in certain cases.

    “An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable,” the law reads.

    As foreign-born students Mahdawi, Öztürk and Khalil fight in court for their right to legally stay in the U.S., Rubio and other Trump administration leaders claim that this law gives them the power to determine whether Khalil and other noncitizens are creating “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the U.S.

    The Department of Homeland Security also wrote on the social platform X on March 9 that “Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

    But the Trump administration has not provided any further specific details about how the views and actions of Khalil and other detained foreign students create serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the U.S. Nor has the government alleged that Khalil and other noncitizen students committed crimes or broke the law.

    Khalil’s attorneys have challenged the government’s use of the Immigration and Nationality Act as a basis to deport him in federal court. The lawyers assert that the U.S. government is attempting to deport Khalil for protected speech.

    Legal precedent and steps forward

    The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not protect lawful permanent residents from being deported if their political affiliation violates the laws.

    But the court has not yet decided if lawful permanent residents participating in protests or expressing political views are protected against deportation, when the only evident ground for their deportation is political speech.

    A federal judge in New Jersey, where Khalil was first briefly detained, has ordered the government not to deport him until all his different court cases are resolved.

    On April 11, a different immigration judge in Louisiana – where Khalil is currently detained – ruled that he could be deported for being a national security risk. Khalil’s attorneys are appealing this decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is part of the Department of Justice.

    Regardless of the outcome at the district court level, Khalil’s case will be appealed and most likely end up before the Supreme Court.

    The Supreme Court will then have to determine the appropriate balance between the executive branch’s authority to deport noncitizens it classifies as posing a threat to the country, and the right to freedom of expression that all people residing in the U.S. have.

    If the Supreme Court holds that the federal government can say that someone’s political speech can be a threat to U.S. national security interests, I believe the core of the First Amendment is at risk, for citizens as well as noncitizens.

    Erin Corcoran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud Khalil have a right to freedom of speech – but does that protect them from deportation? – https://theconversation.com/lawful-permanent-residents-like-mahmoud-khalil-have-a-right-to-freedom-of-speech-but-does-that-protect-them-from-deportation-254042

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Election Diary: Albanese government stays mum over whatever Russia may have said to Indonesia

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    The imbroglio over the reported Russian request to Indonesia to base planes in Papua initially tripped Peter Dutton, and now is dogging Anthony Albanese.

    After the respected military site Janes said a request had been made, the Australian government quickly obtained an assurance from the Indonesians there would be no Russian planes based there.

    Moreover, the government was able to score a hit on Dutton, who had wrongly named Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto as having said there’d been a Russian approach. Later, Dutton admitted he’d stuffed up.

    One might have thought the story would have died as the election caravan moved on. But it continued when it became obvious the government would not say, despite repeated questions, whether it knew a request had in fact been made to the Indonesians.

    Then Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov, leapt into the fray. Tolchenov wrote a letter to The Jakarta Post, responding to an article by Australian academic Matthew Sussex on The Conversation, which was republished in the Post.

    His letter dripping with sarcasm, the ambassador wrote:

    It is hard to imagine that any ordinary Australians should be concerned about what is happening 1,300 kilometers from their territory, about matters that concern relations between other sovereign states and have nothing to do with Australia. Perhaps it would be better for them to pay attention to the United States’ Typhon medium-range missile system in the Philippines, which will definitely reach the territory of the continent?

    It is clear that the leaders of the two main political parties, replacing each other in power and calling it democracy, are now trying to outdo each other, heating up the situation. They stop at nothing, and the time has come to play the so-called ‘Russian card’. This means to show to overseas mentors who is more anti-Russian and Russophobe. In this regard, I would like to remind them of the words of US President Donald Trump, which he pronounced in the White House on Feb. 28, 2025, to the Ukrainian citizen ‘Z’: ‘You have no cards’.“



    Read more:
    Russia has long had interest in Indonesia. Australia must realise its partners may have friends we don’t like

    Meanwhile, Employment Minister Murray Watt strayed off the government’s script of diplomatic silence when he told Sky on Sunday, “There is no proposal from Russia to have a base anywhere in Indonesia in the way that Peter Dutton and his colleagues have been claiming”.

    The questioning intensified.

    Late Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was back on Sky to impose the official blackout over what the government knew of the alleged discussions between Russia and Indonesia.

    “What we know about that, and when we knew about it, is obviously not something I’m going to ventilate in the public domain.

    “What matters here is that the Indonesians have made it completely clear to us that they have absolutely no intent of having Russian aircraft operating from their nation,” Marles said.

    Another instalment of “What the Russians Asked” may come in Tuesday night’s third leaders debate on Nine.

    A possible chance for real reform

    We keep getting lectured in this campaign about various significant issues (such as tax reform) that are being pushed under the carpet. But there’s something else that’s being overlooked: whether our institutions are in need of a big overhaul.

    With public trust low, accountability vital but often wanting, and our democracy sometimes resembling a car urgently needing a service, there are plenty of reforms that could be considered.

    John Daley (formerly of the Grattan Institute and now an independent consultant) and Rachel Krust, in a report released Monday and titled Institutional reform stocktake, propose a rich agenda for change. The stocktake was sponsored by the Susan McKinnon Foundation, a non-partisan body committed to promoting all aspects of better government.

    The report identifies short-term priority reforms as well as ones that would take longer to achieve.

    Parliamentarians often claim we’d be better governed with four-year terms. But given that would require a referendum, it is effectively out of reach. So the stocktake advocates a next-best option: fixed three year terms, which could be legislated. Four year terms would be a more distant aim.

    The advantage of fixed terms is they’d stop the disruption of months of speculation about the timing (that we saw before the current election). The disadvantage to the party in power is the prime minister can’t choose the day best suiting them.

    The Albanese government recently brought in caps for political donations and spending, to take effect in the coming term. Daley and Krust advocate these be revisited. The donation and disclosure caps should be lowered, they argue, and an expert commission should consider the caps on spending (which were criticised by some as limiting small and new players).

    Other priority recommendations are to beef up civics education, enhance parliamentary committees, put more structure around the appointment and termination of departmental secretaries, and better resource independent members of parliament, particularly if they hold the balance of power.

    One reason institutional reform is important is to achieve better policy outcomes, the report says. “Australian governments are getting worse at delivering policy changes that make a big difference to long-term problems.”

    While identifying a prospective advantage for policy, the report puts its finger on why such reform faces resistance.

    Institutional reforms have often not progressed in Australia because they would not serve the interests of incumbent parties. Many of the suggested changes would leave members of the government more exposed to questioning, challenge or censure, reduce the advantages of established political parties relative to new entrants, reduce the power of party officials relative to rank-and-file members, or reduce employment opportunities after a political career.

    The report says if the election produces a hung parliament this “may widen the window for reform”.

    “Crossbenchers usually have strong electoral incentives to prosecute institutional reforms, because they are usually both popular and not supported by incumbent parties.”

    But the crossbenchers need to be quick. “This window of opportunity may narrow again. The power of independents to push for institutional change is greatest during negotiations immediately following an election.”

    Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Election Diary: Albanese government stays mum over whatever Russia may have said to Indonesia – https://theconversation.com/election-diary-albanese-government-stays-mum-over-whatever-russia-may-have-said-to-indonesia-254201

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: ‘I am sorry’ — A reflection on Pope Francis’s apology on residential schools

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream; June Callwood Professor of Social Justice; Special Advisor on Indigenous Initiatives, Victoria University, University of Toronto

    Pope Francis reads his statement of apology during a visit with Indigenous peoples at Maskwaci, the former Ermineskin Residential School, July 25, 2022, in Maskwacis, Alberta. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

    With the death of Pope Francis, his apology for residential schools in Canada and its impacts needs to be explored nearly three years after it was delivered.

    On July 25, 2022, in Maskwacîs, Alta., Pope Francis apologized on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church for its role in the residential school system:

    “I am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities co-operated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.”

    This formal apology, and other statements the Pope made in Canada, came seven years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 Final Report. The TRC called for the Pope “to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools.” This was to occur, in Canada, within one year.

    It is important to understand circumstances leading to the Pope’s Maskwacîs apology, the reaction at the time and its significance for the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the Catholic Church.

    I previous explored these themes as the Pope arrived in Canada. I questioned whether the apology would contribute to healing or deepen the distrust in the church. As a Mohawk faculty member raised in Catholicism, who teaches in the fields of theology and education, and has family members who attended these schools, I seek to revisit this question nearly three year later.

    Seven years after TRC final report

    The Pope’s Maskwacîs apology wasn’t the first time a statement was issued by a member of the Catholic Church. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (the Oblates) apologized in 1991 “for the part we played in the cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious imperialism” which “continually threatened the cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions of the Native peoples.”

    This was followed by apologies offered by numerous bishops; however, they were inadequate, considering other leaders, such as the Moderator (United Church of Canada) and the Primate (Anglican Church of Canada), delivered the statements on behalf of their denominations respectively in 1986 and 1993, followed by other Protestant denominations.

    The importance of who offers an apology cannot be overstated. In 1998, Jane Stewart, the minister of Indian Affairs of Canada, read a Statement of Reconciliation acknowledging the tragedies experienced by students that attended residential school. Indigenous leaders criticized the statement, sensing a lack of ownership or not taking responsibility. It came across as an expression of regret rather than an apology, and was further rejected, as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien didn’t offer it.

    In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on behalf of the country. Although met with mixed reviews, the importance of the prime minister providing it cannot be ignored. The same holds true for the Catholic Church.

    Length of time to materialize

    In July 2022, Pope Francis apologized before thousands of people: survivors, their families, community members and leaders. This was significant, considering the length of time for this to materialize.

    Other denominations begin this process much earlier. The pressure on the Catholic Church mounted, particularly given that it was the last mainline church to have its leader apologize and it operated about 60 per cent of the residential schools. To consider how the apology finally arrived, several events need to be understood.

    In 2021, reports on potential unmarked burial sites on former residential school grounds in Kamloops, B.C., began to surface. News of these discoveries not only circulated nationally, but globally. Shortly after this, other residential school sites were being investigated for unmarked burial sites.



    Read more:
    We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory

    Reopened wounds, anger

    Extensive work had already been done around unmarked burial sites: The TRC’s Final Report dedicated a volume on this issue; in 2007, The Working Group on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials was established, whose members comprised national Indigenous organizations, former students, archivists and the federal government; work at the Mohawk Institute was already in progress. Yet, the nation was stunned. Wounds were reopened for many Indigenous people.

    From this pain, a great amount of anger was directed towards the Catholic Church.

    Church buildings were vandalized or set on fire. As many were in First Nations territories, this created tensions, since there were still community members that were part of the Christian tradition.

    This outcry reignited attention towards residential schools and the Church. The Vatican invited a delegation of survivors to meet the Pope in March 2022. This visit provided an opportunity for delegation members to share their stories, however its location is important to consider. The meeting took place at the Vatican, potentially escalating the power imbalance between the Church and First Nation, Inuit and Métis delegates.

    Survivors speak about meaning

    Members of the delegation invited the Pope to visit Canada. Martha Grigg, an Inuit Elder and a residential school survivor, spoke about how his visit would be meaningful to former residential school students and their families. Pope Francis offered an apology to the delegates,, committing to travelling to Canada.

    Months after the Vatican trip, the Pope came to Canada to deliver a formal apology. Reactions varied from acceptance to outright rejection, while a “wait-and-see” approach was also adopted.

    Some expressed how the apology “has helped to open the door for survivors and their families to walk together with the church for a present and future of forgiveness and healing.” Discontent was voiced about certain issues, such as the Doctrine of Discovery, or omitting a commitment to allow access to records.

    Without apology, other measures stalled

    Some of the impacts of the apology may not be felt instantaneously. It represents hope for a better relationship and a starting point for healing. Without any apology, any measures that the church offered would not gain traction. The lack of a papal apology over many years kept this as the focal point, further damaging the relationship between the Church and many Indigenous people and continuing to erode trust.

    Since then, the Catholic Church has undertaken steps to address the harms of the residential schools and contribute to healing process. In 2023, the Vatican released a statement on the Doctrine of Discovery, indicating the Catholic Church was distancing itself from this concept and repudiating it, as it was not part of Church teachings.

    The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the Oblates committed to developing a process for the transparent access to records. Barriers to church records prevented access to documents that could help locate family members who never came home.

    The bishops pledged to raise $30 million for the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund to support activities dedicated to healing and reconciliation in 2021. The apology energized the campaign, raising half of the funds ahead of the five-year timeline.

    In a July 2024 statement, the CCCB said it has “established structures … to support dialogues and foster greater understanding of Indigenous cultural, linguistic and spiritual traditions and values,” and wishes to deepen academic collaborations to understand of the Doctrine of Discovery.



    Read more:
    Hot-button topics may get public attention at the Vatican synod, but a more fundamental issue for the Catholic Church is at the heart of debate

    Healing journey is long, apology was necessary

    While small advancements in reconciliation activities stemming from Pope Francis’ apology have occurred, the healing journey is long. Distrust is evident as the Church’s sincerity in this process is questioned; however, the apology presents an opportunity to renew relationships and forge new paths together.

    The criticisms of how and when it transpired and even what was said will always remain, however the apology was necessary.

    It was necessary for many survivors, who felt recognized. It was necessary for the Church to formally acknowledge its responsibility. It was necessary for Pope Francis to offer the apology directly to Indigenous people.

    Jonathan Hamilton-Diabo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. ‘I am sorry’ — A reflection on Pope Francis’s apology on residential schools – https://theconversation.com/i-am-sorry-a-reflection-on-pope-franciss-apology-on-residential-schools-250607

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pope Francis showed in deeds and words he wanted to face the truth in Canada

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Christine Jamieson, Associate Professor, Theological Studies, Concordia University

    Pope Francis has died. In reflecting on his legacy in regard to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Canada, I am struck by three key moments.

    First, his encounter with Indigenous delegates in Rome in April 2022. Second, his pilgrimage of penance to meet Indigenous survivors in Canada in July 2022. Third, his role in the Catholic Church formally repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery in March 2023.

    In my view, each moment represented a move toward reconciliation for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. My focus, for the most part, considers the healing dimension of his visit. At the same time, I understand and acknowledge the limitations of his apology and the deep pain caused because of what was not said.

    For example, the late Murray Sinclair, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, spoke of the apology’s failure to acknowledge the “full role of the church in the residential school system.”

    Dene interpreter and survivor, Jessie Sylvestre, asked to translate Pope Francis’s apology during his visit, was critical and hurt that the Pope read his apology rather than speak it from the heart. She also named feeling “almost sick” and angry after seeing the “very patriarchal” sight of many priests and the Pope. The absence of women in visible leadership roles was noted as disturbing by other Indigenous women also.

    Still, for many Indigenous survivors, Pope Francis’s apology was deeply meaningful and I wish to explore that phenomenon here.

    My academic research often delves into Indigenous spiritualities and Christian ethics. I am a co-investigator for a research project examining the life and work of Canadian Catholic (Jesuit) theologian, Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984), through the lens of his connection to the Indian Residential School System.

    I am particularly interested in why some survivors of Residential Schools in Canada are (and remain) Christian in the face of the horrendous treatment they endured at the hands of Christian churches’ representatives.

    ‘Unforgetting’ and healing

    When Pope Francis visited in late July of 2022, he consciously and intentionally began a journey into the complex and disturbing relationship between the Catholic Church and Indigenous Peoples.

    In commenting on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), many people are critical of a tendency to jump too quickly over truth.

    For perpetrators or those navigating moral responsibility for historic injustices and wrongs, it is much easier to avoid understanding what truly happened and rush to be reconciled. The long delay in the Pope coming to Canada and apologizing to Indigenous survivors after the TRC’s clear call for this in Call to Action No. 58 speaks to feet dragging with regard to the Catholic Church as an institution.

    Yet, it is possible to say that by Pope Francis’s deeds and words he consciously and intentionally demonstrated he wanted to face the truth.

    His naming of genocide to describe what took place during residential schools, in response to a question from Brittnay Hobson, a journalist who is a member of Long Plain First Nation, revealed his desire to speak truth.

    During his visit, he listened to what he named in his Maskwacis apology as traumas and bitter memories. He named the importance of “mak[ing] space for memory,” and of “recall[ing] the past.”

    He acknowledged that his presence and his apology could trigger survivors but he understood why it was vitally important for many survivors to witness his apology. Many dared to share their burden with him despite the pain that was evoked.

    Anishinaabe and Ukrainian writer Patty Krawec, from Lac Seul First Nation, uses the term “unforgetting” by which she means “excavating truth and bringing it to the surface.”

    Such “unforgetting” was stirred up by Pope Francis’s presence and his words. For some, it was either consciously or intuitively an important step toward healing and reconciliation.

    ‘Incarnate’ meaning

    Pope Francis, both because he represented the Catholic Church and because of who he is as a person, played a role in excavating deep memories and consoling the pain of “heavy burdens.”

    He acknowledged the horrors of what Ojibwe author Richard Wagamese described as “an institution that tried to scrape the Indian off of their insides.” In Maskwacis, Pope Francis thanked Indigenous survivors for telling him “about the heavy burdens that you still bear, for sharing with me these bitter memories,” noting that even though costly, “it is right to remember, because forgetfulness leads to indifference.”

    In his book, Method in Theology, Lonergan speaks about different “carriers of meaning.” One such carrier was what he termed “incarnate meaning,” the “meaning of a person, of their way of life, of their words or of their deeds.”

    I believe that Pope Francis’ “incarnate meaning” was his most significant legacy in terms of what his visit meant for reconciliation. Certainly, he understood and acknowledged that words are not enough, “firm action and irreversible commitment” are required.

    Continued spiritual violence

    In the article “The Papal Apology and Seeds of an Action Plan,” Don Bolen, Archbishop of Regina, spells out four areas that witness to where action is taking place: truth telling (in the form of research and archival work), solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, supporting recovery of “Indigenous language and culture” and recognizing the intrinsic value of Indigenous Peoples’ “relationship with the land and environment.”

    Yet, in a soon-to-be published paper (titled Spiritual Violence against Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Ethical Guidelines and Calls to Healing), with colleagues, I describe the ongoing “spiritual violence” against Indigenous traditions by Christian churches.

    As I wrote in 2021, the TRC’s Call to Action No. 60 clearly identifies the spiritual violence that continues to be committed by non-Indigenous Christians.

    This violence is done when there is an absence of respect for Indigenous spirituality in its own right. It is also done when there is ignorance about the legitimacy and richness of Indigenous Christianity, of the gospel expressed through the lens of Indigenous cultures. This lack of recognition was also displayed during the celebration of the masses during Pope Francis’s visit.



    Read more:
    One year ago, Pope Francis disavowed the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ – but Indigenous Catholics’ work for respect and recognition goes back decades

    Beauty of Indigenous Peoples’ traditions

    Pope Francis understood the privilege of encounter with the beauty of Indigenous Peoples’ traditions as he so clearly stated in his encyclical letter, Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home.

    In that letter, he recognizes the deeply rooted values of Indigenous Peoples in relationship with land (which includes water, vegetation, animals — all that lives on and because of the land).

    Several times during his visit to Canada, Pope Francis spoke of that special relationship, a relationship that is so foreign to a western perspective which tends to view land merely as a commodity and not as a living being with which one is in relationship.

    Bolen recollects how Ted Quewezance of Keeseekoose First Nation in Saskatchewan, a survivor he has the privilege of working with, frequently said “that each survivor will need to make their own decision whether to accept or not to accept the papal apology, and that every survivor is on their own healing journey.” This was clear throughout Pope Francis’s visit and the several times he spoke an apology and sought forgiveness.

    As was witnessed in many encounters — Maskwacis, Edmonton, Québec and Iqaluit — perhaps Pope Francis’s most important legacy for truth and reconciliation in Canada is his willingness and humility to acknowledge the suffering, to be present to those who suffer, and in face of that suffering to have the audacity to say, “What are you going through?”

    Christine Jamieson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Pope Francis showed in deeds and words he wanted to face the truth in Canada – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-showed-in-deeds-and-words-he-wanted-to-face-the-truth-in-canada-250746

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education adds to understanding

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee

    Higher education can train students to carefully consider the evidence around them. Adam Crowley/Tetra Images/Getty images

    Years ago, after taking an Earth science class, I found myself looking at the world differently. It was the 1990s, and lakes in Wisconsin where I lived at the time were beginning to freeze later in winter and thaw earlier in spring, and flowers seemed to bloom a bit earlier.

    That geology class helped me understand the gradual warming that was underway, warming that has accelerated since then.

    People are more likely to believe an explanation when they see direct evidence of it. In the U.S., the percentage of people who recognize that global warming is happening is higher in counties that experienced record high temperatures in the previous decade. But understanding what’s happening and why also matters. That’s because people’s existing knowledge shapes how they interpret the evidence they see.

    Education level and political affiliation are both known to be strong global predictors of concern about climate change.

    But does higher education actually create climate concern? As an anthropologist and a researcher in computational social science, I and my colleague Ben Horne set up a study to try to answer that question.

    Education leverages experience into concern

    In our study, we used Census Bureau data on the percentage of the population with at least a bachelor’s degree in 3,048 U.S. counties, NOAA data on recent warming by state, and Yale climate opinion survey data. We wanted to find out whether climate concern increases as a product of education and recent warming.

    We found that in many southern states − such as Alabama, Mississippi and Texas − the correlation between the percentage of bachelor’s degrees at the county level and climate concern was weak. Higher education levels didn’t seem to make much of a difference in how concerned people were about climate change.

    However, in northern states − such as Maine, Vermont and Michigan − the education effect was stronger. We believe this difference is in part because climate change is more perceptible in colder states. A 1-degree temperature rise in Florida may not feel significant, whereas in Maine or Wisconsin, it would be more noticeable as winters became shorter and signs of spring came earlier.

    We believe the results suggest that higher education helps people who are exposed to perceptible warming shifts better understand the changes they are experiencing; it’s the pairing of both that makes the difference.

    We wondered whether political ideology might be driving the trends we were finding. Southern states also tend to be more politically conservative.

    When we controlled for political leanings, however, our analysis found that the education effect appeared to be mostly influenced by whether people had experienced perceptible warming in recent years.

    There were two outliers: Despite being cold states that have experienced the effects of climate change, North and South Dakota had low education effects when it came to climate concern. One possible explanation is that fossil fuels are central to their economies, shaping local attitudes toward climate change.

    Nationally, our study suggests that higher education leverages people’s experience with climate change to increase their climate concern. It isn’t just having a college education alone, as the different results from warmer and colder parts of the country show. It is experiencing rising temperatures that makes the difference. The more perceptible the warming, the greater the effect.

    Young people are growing up with climate change

    A generation ago, climate change seemed to be more theoretical prediction than common experience for most people in the U.S.

    This may be part of the reason why a sense of urgency has been slow to develop, even though three-quarters of Americans recognize that global warming is happening. Generations that grew up in the mid-20th century, when seasons and climate seemed constant, had little reason to expect change.

    Today, as climate change accelerates, people are experiencing increasingly dangerous summer heat waves and extreme weather. Surveys show climate concern has increased in U.S. counties that have recently experienced warmer winters or extreme temperatures, and climate-driven disasters have increased public concern.

    Younger generations may see the world differently. For them, climate change has been a reality in their developing years. Given their personal experiences and interest in science, we believe higher education will have a powerful effect.

    R. Alexander Bentley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education adds to understanding – https://theconversation.com/exposure-to-perceptible-temperature-rise-increases-concern-about-climate-change-higher-education-adds-to-understanding-249420

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Ellen P. Aprill, Senior Scholar in Residence at the UCLA Law School’s Lowell Milken Center For Philanthropy And Nonprofit Law, University of California, Los Angeles

    The Trump administration is demanding that at least 60 U.S. colleges and universities change their policies or lose out on billions of dollars in federal funding.

    In Harvard University’s case, the government has accused the Ivy league school – so far without providing any specific evidence – of violating some students’ civil rights by allowing other students to engage in what the authorities characterize as antisemitic speech. The government has demanded broad oversight of Harvard’s admissions policies, along with changes in its hiring processes and campus culture.

    Harvard stands to lose out on more than US$2.2 billion. It may seem to be better insulated from this pressure than many other schools because it has the nation’s largest educational endowment – a reservoir of stocks, bonds and other financial assets that helps fund its operations, research and scholarships. Harvard’s endowment totaled more than $53 billion in 2024.

    As a nonprofit law scholar, who served in the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy in the 1980s, I study and write about both state and federal law as it applies to nonprofit organizations. I believe that the law permits most colleges and universities to increase spending from their endowments in light of the financial pressures so many of them are facing.

    Precedents for boosting endowment spending

    Not all endowments are alike.

    They tend to be composed of an array of smaller funds, some of which are subject to legal restrictions that make it impossible for the schools they support to freely use those assets.

    Universities must respect the limits donors put on their gifts, such as tying them to specific scholarships, funding jobs held by certain kinds of professors or supporting the construction or maintenance of a particular building.

    It’s up to a university’s governing board to decide how much of the school’s endowment will be spent in a given year.

    As Harvard’s financial report for its 2024 fiscal year puts it: “There is a common misconception that endowments, including Harvard’s, can easily be accessed like checking accounts.” That is definitely not the case.

    Nonetheless, some college and university boards did allow increased endowment spending at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession, which lasted from late 2007 until mid-2009.

    During that downturn and the financial crisis that precipitated it, the value of endowments, along with most financial assets, plummeted.

    About 80% of Harvard’s 14,000 separate endowment funds are reserved for “specific programs, departments or purposes.” But others are less restricted, Harvard has stated in the financial reports it makes available to the public.

    While it’s always important to proceed with care when spending money reserved for use on a rainy day or to ensure the long-term existence of a revered institution, most colleges and universities are freer to dip into their endowments than they may realize when conditions get stormy.

    Leeway in an important law

    In all states except Pennsylvania, U.S. endowments are subject to a 2006 model law known as the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act.

    Under this law, managing and investing an endowment requires the university to consider its charitable purposes and financial needs, while respecting the intentions of the donors who provided its assets. These are state laws, not federal statutes. In most states, a university may spend as much of an endowment fund as it deems “prudent.”

    Exercising that prudence requires the consideration of several factors.

    They include the purposes of the institution as a whole and the particular endowment fund, prevailing economic conditions, and what other financial resources the institution can tap. However, in almost one-third of states, including California and New York, annually spending more than 7% of an endowment’s fair market value, measured by a three-year average, is presumed to be imprudent.

    But that isn’t a legal maximum because the model law’s drafters noted that “circumstances in a particular year” could easily void that presumption. Based on my study of nonprofit law, including the laws that apply to higher education, I’m confident that this caveat could easily apply to the Trump administration’s education-related spending cuts in 2025, just as it did during the pandemic and the Great Recession.

    What’s more, endowment spending rate by universities in 2024 was 4.8%. As a result, many universities, including those in states with a 7% cap on prudent spending, will likely be able to increase their use of endowment funds to maintain their budgets at prior levels.

    In addition, living donors can release any restriction they placed on the funds they gave universities that are still held in their endowments. Even when those funds are from donors who have died, a university can ask a court to release restrictions that have become impractical or wasteful.

    The Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act also permits institutions to lift restrictions on all endowment funds that are more than 20 years old and relatively small. This amount varies from state to state and typically ranges between $25,000 and $100,000

    Archon Fung, a John F. Kennedy School of Government professor, addresses students, faculty and other members of the Harvard University community on April 17, 2025.
    AP Photo/Charles Krupa

    A bias toward accumulating

    In addition to Harvard, other examples of the largest higher education endowments include Yale with $41 billion, Princeton with $34 billion and Columbia, which has some $15 billion. All three are among the 60 schools the Education Department is investigating for allegedly failing to “protect Jewish students on campus.”

    Why do the boards of even these universities tend to hesitate to dip deeply into their endowments when their revenue declines?

    One explanation is that because endowments can enhance a university’s prestige, its leaders and endowment donors have a bias toward accumulating rather than spending. Another is that board members have an obligation to protect their institutions’ long-term viability. Boards also bear a responsibility to preserve funds for a future rainy day, no matter how severe the current turbulence may be, how large the endowment has become or how successful the school’s current fundraising efforts are.

    That may explain why Harvard is reportedly in talks with investment banks about issuing $750 million in bonds that will allow the school to meet its spending needs without dipping so deeply into its endowment.

    More attacks could be on the way

    At the same time, the Trump administration’s trade, fiscal and other policies may continue to roil financial markets, reducing the value of university endowments, for months or years to come.

    The federal government is reportedly looking into whether it can revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, a drastic move that would have no comparable precedents.

    In mid-April 2025, Harvard began to push back on the Trump administration’s demands, saying that they violate the free speech rights protected by the Constitution’s First Amendment and “invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.” Harvard’s donors have responded to the resistance of the school’s leaders with a flurry of new gifts.

    In my view, it’s reasonable for colleges and universities to consider stepping up their endowment spending due to the Trump administration’s actions that could interfere with higher education revenue. Increasing endowment payouts now could ease, although not fully solve, the mounting crises that colleges and universities of all kinds now face.

    The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School, is a member of The Conversation U.S.

    Ellen P. Aprill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times – https://theconversation.com/endowments-arent-blank-checks-but-universities-can-rely-on-them-more-heavily-in-turbulent-times-254909

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Stan Meiburg, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability, Wake Forest University

    EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced plans to review or reverse dozens of environmental protection regulations. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

    President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin have announced their intent to reconsider dozens of current regulations in an effort to loosen standards originally imposed to protect the environment and public health. But it’s not as simple as Trump and Zeldin just saying so.

    A few of the changes, such as reconstituting the membership of EPA’s Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee or using enforcement discretion to avoid targeting favored industries, are administrative measures that can be changed with the stroke of a pen.

    But many, including carbon emissions standards for power plants and motor vehicles, wastewater limits for refineries and chemical plants, or air pollution standards, can only be revised in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law first passed in 1946.

    That process includes public notice of the proposed changes, an opportunity for the public to comment on those proposals, and a review of those comments by the responsible federal agency.

    There’s a big book that contains rules about how to change the rules.
    designer491/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    There are some explicit restrictions that prevent loosening of existing environmental standards for clean air and water. In general, though, if the administration has evidence to support its claims that the protections should be reduced and the administration follows the process required by law, it is possible to loosen the restrictions. But as a former longtime senior leader at EPA and student of environmental policy, I know that process is not easy – and it’s not meant to be.

    As examples of how the process of changing the rules and standards works, let’s look at the provisions of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Similar provisions exist in the nation’s wide range of environmental protection laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and others.

    EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announces plans to review several environmental regulations on March 12, 2025.

    Keeping the air clean

    The Clean Air Act sets uniform national standards for air quality, and it created the rules by which states create plans to meet those standards.

    One section of the law, Part C of Title I of the act, is titled “Prevention of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality.” Its provisions are meant to prevent states that meet the national standards from allowing air quality to get worse in the future.

    Its basic effect is to require that new sources of pollution, or existing ones that make significant equipment changes, use the best available technology that meets or exceeds the minimum federal standards for pollution control. Additional protections apply to sensitive areas like national parks.

    For areas that did not yet meet the standards, a set of amendments passed in 1990 included one that prevented air quality from getting worse. That provision, known as the “anti-backsliding rule,” says that no state whose air did not meet the standards before Nov. 15, 1990, can change its plan “unless the modification insures equivalent or greater emission reductions.” And once a state’s air quality improves to meet the standards, the state must follow maintenance plans to make sure the air quality doesn’t get worse.

    Protecting the water

    Under the Clean Water Act, states set water quality standards to protect drinking water and water for recreation, as well as to protect wildlife.

    The Environmental Protection Agency has interpreted key sections of the law to require that states ensure that whatever companies discharge into the water from factories or other operations don’t degrade downstream water quality – even if the existing conditions are better than the minimum standards. Known as “anti-degradation provisions,” these rules mean water that is currently far cleaner than the standards require can’t legally be made more dirty, even if only a little bit.

    The Clean Water Act also contains anti-backsliding provisions that prevent new discharge permits from allowing more pollution than previous permits did.

    Air pollution is regulated by the federal government.
    AP Photo/J. David Ake

    Rollbacks are possible

    Many federal standards can be weakened, so long as the EPA follows the Administrative Procedure Act’s process.

    Since the 1970 passage of the Clean Air Act, the national air quality standards have not been weakened. Technology standards for air and water pollution controls have tightened over time because of advances that improved performance while reducing costs.

    To change the rules under the Clean Air Act, the EPA must first provide evidence that the existing rules are no longer appropriate. Without that evidence, any changes may be overturned by the courts as not founded in facts – in legal terms, “arbitrary and capricious.” The first Trump administration’s efforts to change the rules failed in many court cases on this basis.

    This review process is also required of the EPA’s intended effort to revoke the so-called “endangerment finding,” which establishes the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. If successful, that revocation would undo the legal grounds for carbon dioxide and methane pollution standards for motor vehicles, electric utilities, oil and gas production, and large industrial sources.

    Such an effort will certainly end up in court. The endangerment finding began with a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required the EPA to assess whether greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and welfare. In 2009, the agency found that they did. In 2012, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that finding, and the Supreme Court declined to reconsider the case.

    Algae floats on Lake Erie. Algae blooms can be caused by water pollution.
    AP Photo/Paul Sancya

    Other ways to reduce environmental protections

    The Trump administration’s stated plans for amending water pollution rules illustrate that rolling back protections can also mean undoing efforts to strengthen restrictions, if those efforts did not get finalized before 2025.

    For instance, in June 2024, the Biden administration’s EPA notified the public that it intended to tighten restrictions on manufacturing plants’ discharges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, into surface water or public sewage-treatment systems. Those are a large category of human-made chemicals, used to make products resistant to water, stains and heat, which can be harmful to human health at some levels. These chemicals don’t break down easily and therefore are often called “forever chemicals.”

    But the changes were never finalized, and on the second day of Trump’s second term, the new administration announced that the proposal had been withdrawn.

    Rollbacks can also mean extending compliance deadlines for current standards. For example, the EPA has announced that it will review discharge rules for power plants. Even if the rules themselves don’t change, giving power plants more time to comply with the rules can increase pollution.

    Public protests across the nation have objected to the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken environmental protections.
    Brett Phelps/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

    No change until new versions are finalized

    In general, U.S. environmental laws do not prevent the EPA from weakening protection standards. But merely announcing the agency’s intention to do something doesn’t make it so.

    In a recent executive order, Trump claimed he could take an action without public notice and comment “because I am ordering the repeal.” But federal law specifies that the process of change requires explicit descriptions of scientific and technical reasons and evidence that justify any proposed actions, and a notice-and-comment process that involves the public.

    In the meantime, the existing standards remain in place, enforceable by citizen lawsuits even if the federal government decides not to enforce them. Agencies require technical and legal expertise to craft rules that can survive inevitable challenges in the courts. Many of those experts have been fired or laid off by the Trump administration, making the job of changing regulations more difficult.

    Stan Meiburg is a volunteer with the Environmental Protection Network, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. He is also a 39 year alumnus of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He is a professional colleague with Sid Shapiro, whose Conversation article is cited in this piece.

    – ref. Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy – https://theconversation.com/federal-laws-dont-ban-rollbacks-of-environmental-protection-but-they-dont-make-it-easy-253515

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Maria Chikina, Assistant Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh

    Some mammals are super hairy, some are not. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies like other animals? – Murilo, age 5, Brazil

    Have you ever wondered why you don’t have thick hair covering your whole body like a dog, cat or gorilla does?

    Humans aren’t the only mammals with sparse hair. Elephants, rhinos and naked mole rats also have very little hair. It’s true for some marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, too.

    Scientists think the earliest mammals, which lived at the time of the dinosaurs, were quite hairy. But over hundreds of millions of years, a small handful of mammals, including humans, evolved to have less hair. What’s the advantage of not growing your own fur coat?

    I’m a biologist who studies the genes that control hairiness in mammals. Why humans and a small number of other mammals are relatively hairless is an interesting question. It all comes down to whether certain genes are turned on or off.

    Hair benefits

    Hair and fur have many important jobs. They keep animals warm, protect their skin from the sun and injuries and help them blend into their surroundings.

    They even assist animals in sensing their environment. Ever felt a tickle when something almost touches you? That’s your hair helping you detect things nearby.

    Humans do have hair all over their bodies, but it is generally sparser and finer than that of our hairier relatives. A notable exception is the hair on our heads, which likely serves to protect the scalp from the sun. In human adults, the thicker hair that develops under the arms and between the legs likely reduces skin friction and aids in cooling by dispersing sweat.

    So hair can be pretty beneficial. There must have been a strong evolutionary reason for people to lose so much of it.

    Why humans lost their hair

    The story begins about 7 million years ago, when humans and chimpanzees took different evolutionary paths. Although scientists can’t be sure why humans became less hairy, we have some strong theories that involve sweat.

    Humans have far more sweat glands than chimps and other mammals do. Sweating keeps you cool. As sweat evaporates from your skin, heat energy is carried away from your body. This cooling system was likely crucial for early human ancestors, who lived in the hot African savanna.

    Of course, there are plenty of mammals living in hot climates right now that are covered with fur. Early humans were able to hunt those kinds of animals by tiring them out over long chases in the heat – a strategy known as persistence hunting.

    Humans didn’t need to be faster than the animals they hunted. They just needed to keep going until their prey got too hot and tired to flee. Being able to sweat a lot, without a thick coat of hair, made this endurance possible.

    Genes that control hairiness

    To better understand hairiness in mammals, my research team compared the genetic information of 62 different mammals, from humans to armadillos to dogs and squirrels. By lining up the DNA of all these different species, we were able to zero in on the genes linked to keeping or losing body hair.

    Among the many discoveries we made, we learned humans still carry all the genes needed for a full coat of hair – they are just muted or switched off.

    In the story of “Beauty and the Beast,” the Beast is covered in thick fur, which might seem like pure fantasy. But in real life some rare conditions can cause people to grow a lot of hair all over their bodies. This condition, called hypertrichosis, is very unusual and has been called “werewolf syndrome” because of how people who have it look.

    Petrus Gonsalvus and his wife, Catherine, painted by Joris Hoefnagel, circa 1575.
    National Gallery of Art

    In the 1500s, a Spanish man named Petrus Gonsalvus was born with hypertrichosis. As a child he was sent in an iron cage like an animal to Henry II of France as a gift. It wasn’t long before the king realized Petrus was like any other person and could be educated. In time, he married a lady, forming the inspiration for the “Beauty and the Beast” story.

    While you will probably never meet someone with this rare trait, it shows how genes can lead to unique and surprising changes in hair growth.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    Maria Chikina receives funding from NIH and NSF.

    – ref. Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur – https://theconversation.com/why-dont-humans-have-hair-all-over-their-bodies-a-biologist-explains-our-lack-of-fur-233314

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Zimbabwe’s house of stone: the gallery that showcases a famous sculpture tradition

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Research Associate, University of Oxford

    Zimbabwe is the house of stone, both literally and figuratively, with its very name derived from the ancient stone city of Great Zimbabwe. Stone is more than just a material here – it’s the totem pole of the country’s identity, shaping both its history and artistic legacy. And there’s no better place to witness this than Chapungu Sculpture Park.

    On the outskirts of Harare’s industrial zone, the sprawling estate is both a gallery for stone artistry and a living landscape, home to over 90 varieties of indigenous trees, with a tributary of the Mukuvisi river running through it. Art and nature intertwine, offering a unique glimpse into Zimbabwe’s famous sculptural tradition.

    The last time I visited, in 2021, founder Roy Guthrie was still around, but he has since passed away. His enduring legacy remains visible throughout the park.

    The former refrigerator salesman turned stone broker was arguably one of the most influential figures in bringing Zimbabwean sculpture to the global stage. He organised international exhibitions and artist residencies. At one point he had more than 200 artists in his books.

    But his vision extended beyond exporting artwork. His true ambition was to create the largest and most representative permanent collection of Zimbabwean stone sculpture. Here, in the open air, different generations of artists’ works stand side by side, demonstrating the evolution of the art form.

    Today I am here to meet Marcey Mushore, Guthrie’s widow. She tells me the park is now managed by a trust and shares the many plans in place to honour and expand his work. One is establishing a dedicated museum.

    As we walk from the entrance, beneath a canopy of trees nicknamed “the cathedral”, sculptures line the pathways, creating a quiet dialogue. Leading the way is our guide, artist-turned-administrator Nicholas Kadzungura. He arrived at Chapungu as an apprentice and has never left. Today he is a walking institutional memory.

    A stone archive

    My book in progress, The Stone Philosophers, foregrounds the lives of the black Zimbabwean artists who made stone sculpture famous. I am grappling with this vexing question: What does a stone archive look like? One possible answer could be that it takes the form of a well-tended garden park with sculptures from Zimbabwe’s master sculptors.

    As we stand facing the water, Mushore points towards a cluster of trees to indicate where the museum would be built. Perhaps, in a few years, the brush will be cleared, and in its place will rise a building dedicated to housing the history of Zimbabwean stone sculpture.

    Despite the international recognition it has garnered since the 1960s, there is still no local museum solely dedicated to this art form. British curator Frank McEwen, founding director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, is often regarded as the architect of the movement. And Guthrie considered McEwen an influence.

    Zimbabwean sculpture

    With Zimbabwean sculpture, each piece tells a story, simple and elaborate, ranging from spirit-filled folk tales to depictions of the everyday moments that shape life. You’re confronted by human-size shapes of torsos, heads, animals and sometimes abstract figurations.

    While often categorised under the contentious label of “Shona sculpture”, the stone sculptors of Zimbabwe were not exclusively Shona, the country’s largest ethnic group. The term was popularised by McEwen.

    In fact, some of these artists came from other parts of Zimbabwe and from neighbouring countries like Zambia, Malawi or Angola, broadening the scope of the tradition. The sculptors primarily work with serpentine stone – especially springstone, fruit serpentine and leopard rock – alongside opal stone, verdite and dolomite, sourced mainly from the Great Dyke, a 300km geological formation in central Zimbabwe.

    Beyond the architectural metaphor of Zimbabwean writer Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s novel, House of Stone, who were the builders and stone workers behind the legend of Zimbabwe?

    The country’s name is thanks to the Shona people’s long artisanal tradition of stone working. It’s not just a metaphor. Cities were built with blood, sweat and tears. Stone sculpture was not a peculiarity that was ignited by colonial encounter. It was always there, through generations and traditions. It was just not yet classified in anthropological terms, or exhibited in the colonial museum.

    The modern stone sculpture movement in Zimbabwe emerged organically. It was a phenomenon shaped by groups of friends, siblings, and spouses whose work made a significant contribution to the African modernism of the 1960s and 1970s.

    The artists who brought stone sculpture to prominence formed networks that stretched from village to village, collaborating informally. Their work was eventually co-opted into the white-dominated art world of Rhodesia, as the country was known in colonial times. From there, it was exported to Europe and the US.

    Although these artists rose to prominence during a period of decolonisation in the 1950s and 1960s, they remained marginal figures in their own country. When Rhodesia declared unilateral independence in 1965, becoming an isolated stronghold of white supremacy, the history of stone sculpture became inseparable from the broader struggles faced by black Zimbabweans. It reflected the racist exclusions and hardships endured by its creators, who persisted against the odds.

    Keeping tradition alive

    Today, Zimbabwe is better known for its young visual artists, who primarily work in painting, mixed media and collage. While stone sculpture was once the country’s dominant art form, its visibility has diminished – not in production, but in critical conversations about art. A simple internet search yields little on its history or artistic significance; instead, results are dominated by commercial gallery websites showcasing polished sculptures for sale, with little attention given to the artists or their creative processes.

    This emphasis on the final product over the maker is not new. It traces back to the very origins of the stone sculpture movement. What we see here is a repressed archive, where gaps in documentation are not accidental but the result of historical omissions. These absences, in turn, expose deeper questions of power, access and visibility in the art world.



    Read more:
    John Hlatywayo: remembering a great Zimbabwean artist who was woefully neglected by history

    As we conclude our tour of Chapungu, a group of artists, seated on planks of wood and large stones, wave at us. They represent a new generation, carrying forward the tradition of stone sculpture in Zimbabwe, ensuring that this art form continues to evolve and endure.

    Tinashe Mushakavanhu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Zimbabwe’s house of stone: the gallery that showcases a famous sculpture tradition – https://theconversation.com/zimbabwes-house-of-stone-the-gallery-that-showcases-a-famous-sculpture-tradition-253072

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

    Cardinals attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, before they enter the conclave to decide who the next pope will be, on March 12, 2013, in Vatican City. Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Image

    With the death of Pope Francis, attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The next pope will be chosen in what is called a “conclave,” a Latin word meaning “a room that can be locked up,” or, more simply, “a closed room.”

    Members of the College of Cardinals will cast their votes behind the closed and locked doors of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, famous for its ceiling frescoes painted by Michelangelo. Distinguished by their scarlet robes, cardinals are chosen by each pope to elect future popes. A cardinal must be under the age of 80 to be eligible to vote in the conclave. Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, 138 are currently eligible to elect the new pope.

    As a scholar of global Catholicism, I am especially interested in how this will be the most diverse conclave in the history of the Catholic Church.

    For many centuries, the College of Cardinals was dominated by Europeans – Italians, in particular. In fact, the first time a non-European cardinal actually cast a ballot in a conclave was only in the 20th century, when Baltimore’s archbishop, James Gibbons, voted in the 1903 papal election. Now, the College of Cardinals has members from over 90 countries, with Francis having appointed nearly 80% of them.

    Holding a conclave to elect a pope is a tradition that goes back centuries. The practice was established in 1274 under Pope Gregory X in reaction to the chaos surrounding his own election, which lasted nearly three years. The tradition is old, but the results can be surprising, as when Francis himself was elected in 2013 as the first non-European pope in almost 1,300 years and the first Jesuit pope ever.

    The conclave begins

    Before the conclave, the College of Cardinals will meet in what are called “general congregations” to discuss issues facing the church. These general congregations will also be an opportunity for new cardinals and those from distant geographical locations to get to know their fellow cardinals.

    This can be a time for politicking. In times past, the politicking was rumored to include bribes for votes, as was alleged in the election of Alexander VI, a Borgia pope, in 1492. Nowadays, it is considered to be bad form – and bad luck – for a cardinal to lobby for himself as a candidate. Buying votes by giving money or favors to cardinals is called “simony” and is against church law.

    Two to three weeks after the papal funeral, the conclave will begin. The cardinals will first make a procession to the Sistine Chapel, where electronic jamming devices will have been set up to prevent eavesdropping and Wi-Fi and cellphone use. As they file into the chapel, the cardinals will sing, in Latin, the hymn “Come Holy Spirit.” They will then vow on a book of the Gospels to keep the conclave proceedings secret.

    After these rituals, the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations will say out loud, in Latin, “Extra Omnes,” which means “Everyone Out.” The doors of the Sistine Chapter will then be locked, and the conclave will begin.

    Francis pledging to uphold the vow of secrecy.

    The voting process

    The cardinals electing the pope will be seated in order of rank.

    Usually, the dean of the College of Cardinals is seated in the first position. But the current dean – Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re – is over the eligible voting age and will not participate in the conclave. Instead, this papal election will be led by the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

    When the cardinals have assembled, nine will be chosen at random to run the election, with three of them being “scrutinizers” who will examine the ballots and read them aloud.

    A ballot card used at the 2013 papal conclave.
    Tktru via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

    After writing down the name of their chosen candidate, the cardinals will bring their ballots to the front of the chapel and place them on a plate that is set on top of an urn in front of the scrutinizers. Using the plate to drop their ballot into the urn, they will say, “I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.”

    A new pope is elected by a two-thirds majority. If this majority is not reached during the first ballot, the ballots will be burned in a stove. Black smoke rising through the Sistine Chapel’s chimney will signal to the outside world that the election is still ongoing, a tradition that began with the election of Benedict XV in 1914. Chemical additives are used to make sure the smoke is black because during the election of John Paul II, there was confusion over the smoke’s color.

    Following the first day – and on the days thereafter – there will be up to four ballots a day if a two-thirds majority is not reached. Both Benedict XVI and Francis were elected after relatively few ballots: four in the case of Benedict; five with Francis. According to rules set by Benedict, if a new pope is not chosen after 13 days, there will be a day of prayer and reflection. Then the election will be between the top two candidates, one of whom must receive a two-thirds majority.

    This new rule, some commentators have suggested, could lead to a longer, or even deadlocked, conclave because a compromise candidate is less likely to emerge.

    The Room of Tears

    Conclaves are usually short, such as the three-ballot election that chose Pope Pius XII in 1939. On a few occasions, deliberations have been quite long – the longest being the 1740 papal conclave, which elected Benedict XIV and lasted 181 days.

    But regardless of the time frame, a new pope will be chosen. Once a candidate receives enough votes, he is asked, “Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?” By saying “Accepto,” or “I accept,” he becomes the new leader of the Catholic Church. This time, the ballots will be burned to create white smoke that will tell the world that the conclave has ended and that a new pope has been chosen.

    Immediately after being elected, the new pope decides on his name, as Jorge Maria Bergoglio did when he was the first pope to choose the name Francis. The choice of a name – especially one of an immediate predecessor – often indicates the direction of the new pope’s pontificate. In Francis’ case, his name honored St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century mystic known for his simplicity and love for nature.

    The so-called Room of Tears.

    The new pope is then led to the “Room of Tears.” In this chamber, off the Sistine Chapel, he will have moments to reflect on the burdens of his position, which have often brought new popes to tears. He will put on a white cassock and other signs of his office. His election will be announced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

    When Francis was announced as pope.

    From the balcony, the new pope will greet the crowd below and deliver his first blessing to the world. A new pontificate will have begun.

    Mathew Schmalz is Roman Catholic and a political independent.

    – ref. How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave – https://theconversation.com/how-the-next-pope-will-be-elected-what-goes-on-at-the-conclave-164363

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

    A side altar with reliquary at the St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. Pope Francis has chosen to be buried in that basilica. Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

    The 88-year-old pontiff had been well aware of his fragile state and advanced age. As early as 2015, Pope Francis had expressed the desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a fifth-century church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was so devoted to Mary and her basilica that after each of his more than 100 trips abroad, he would visit it after returning to Rome to pray and meditate.

    No pope has been buried in Santa Maria Maggiore since the 17th century, when Pope Clement IX was laid to rest there.

    I’m a specialist in Catholic liturgical history. In earlier centuries, papal funerals have been elaborate affairs, ceremonies befitting a Renaissance prince or other regal figure. But in recent years, the rites have been simplified. As Pope Francis has mandated, here are the steps that the ritual will follow.

    First station: Preparation of the body

    The funeral rites take place in three parts, called stations. The first takes place in the pope’s private chapel, after medical professionals have certified his death. Until recently, this stage had taken place at the pope’s bedside.

    After the body lies in rest in the chapel, the cardinal serving as the pope’s camerlengo – the pope’s chief of staff – will make the arrangements for the funeral. He is also tasked with running the Vatican until a new pope is elected. The current camerlengo is Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, appointed by Francis in 2019.

    As has been done for centuries, the camerlengo will formally call the deceased pope by the full name given to him when he was baptized as an infant – Jorge Mario Bergoglio. There are narratives or legends stating that, at this time, the pope was also tapped three times on the forehead with a small silver hammer. However, there is no documented proof that this was actually done in earlier centuries to verify a pope’s death.

    The pope’s ring is defaced after his death.
    Livio Anticoli/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

    Traditionally, another ancient rite will also take place after the declaration of the pope’s death: the defacing of the pope’s ring. Each pope wears a custom-made ring with an engraved image of a man fishing from a boat, hearkening back to the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus calls St. Peter a “fisher of men.” This Fisherman’s Ring, with the name of the current pope engraved over the image, could act as a seal on official documents. The camerlengo will break Francis’ ring and smash the seal with a hammer or other instrument to prevent any other person from using it.

    The pope’s apartments will also be locked, with no one allowed to enter; traditionally, this was done to prevent looting.

    Second station: Viewing the body

    The deceased pope will be dressed in his simple white cassock and red vestments, then placed in a simple wooden coffin. This will be carried in procession to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the public viewing will take place for the next three days.

    The pope’s body will be left in the plain, open casket during this viewing period in order to emphasize the pope’s humble role as a pastor, not a head of state. The earlier practice would have been to place the body on top of a tall raised platform, called a catafalque; this ended with the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI in 2022.

    Pope Benedict was also the last pope to be buried in the traditional three coffins of cypress, lead and elm. Two coffins contained specific documents about his pontificate; the first coffin also held the traditional three bags of coins – gold, silver and copper – representing each year of his pontificate.

    At Francis’ funeral, after the public viewing, a plain white cloth will be placed over the pope’s face as he lies in the oak coffin, a continuing part of papal funerals. But this will be the first time that only a single coffin will be used; it will likely contain a document describing his pontificate and a bag of coins from his pontificate as well.

    The funeral Mass will then be celebrated at St. Peter’s, most likely inside because of the late winter weather, and there will likely be a crowd of believers outside, assembled on the plaza. The homily will reflect on the life and spirituality of the deceased pope; Francis himself preached at the funeral of his retired predecessor, Pope Benedict. And the future Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, preached at the funeral of Pope St. John Paul II when Ratzinger was the leader, or the dean, of all senior church officials – what’s known as the College of Cardinals.

    The current dean is 91-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, and it is unclear whether he will be able to continue this tradition due to his advanced age. Masses will continue to be said in Francis’ memory for nine days after his death – a period called the Novendialis. This ritual was inspired by an ancient Roman tradition prescribing a mourning period ending on the ninth day after a death.

    Third station: Burial

    Why does Pope Francis want to be buried in St. Mary Major and not in the Vatican?

    Popes in the past have been buried in several different places. Until the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire in the early fourth century, popes would be interred in the catacombs, the burial grounds on the outskirts of Rome.

    Afterward, popes could be buried in a number of different locations, such as the Basilica of St. John Lateran – the official cathedral of Rome – or other churches in and around Rome. A few were even buried in France during the 14th century, when the papacy moved to the French border for political reasons.

    Most popes are buried in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s, and since Pope Leo XIII’s burial at St. John Lateran in 1903, every pope has been buried at St. Peter’s. According to Francis’ wishes, however, there will likely be a procession across Rome to Santa Maria Maggiore, including the hearse and cars carrying others who will attend this private ritual.

    Mourners gather as Pope John XXIII lies in state at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Rome, on June 5, 1963.
    Reg Lancaster/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    After a few final prayers and sprinkling of holy water, the coffin will be placed in its final location inside the church. Only later will the area be opened to the public for prayers and veneration.

    After so many journeys from Rome to visit Catholic communities in countries across the globe, and so many visits to this basilica for prayer and meditation, it seems fitting that, at the end of his life’s journey, Francis would make one last trip to the church he loved so much to be laid to rest forever.

    Joanne M. Pierce does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis – https://theconversation.com/what-will-happen-at-the-funeral-of-pope-francis-250364

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

    Cardinals attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, before they enter the conclave to decide who the next pope will be, on March 12, 2013, in Vatican City. Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Image

    With the death of Pope Francis, attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The next pope will be chosen in what is called a “conclave,” a Latin word meaning “a room that can be locked up,” or, more simply, “a closed room.”

    Members of the College of Cardinals will cast their votes behind the closed and locked doors of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, famous for its ceiling frescoes painted by Michelangelo. Distinguished by their scarlet robes, cardinals are chosen by each pope to elect future popes. A cardinal must be under the age of 80 to be eligible to vote in the conclave. Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, 138 are currently eligible to elect the new pope.

    As a scholar of global Catholicism, I am especially interested in how this will be the most diverse conclave in the history of the Catholic Church.

    For many centuries, the College of Cardinals was dominated by Europeans – Italians, in particular. In fact, the first time a non-European cardinal actually cast a ballot in a conclave was only in the 20th century, when Baltimore’s archbishop, James Gibbons, voted in the 1903 papal election. Now, the College of Cardinals has members from over 90 countries, with Francis having appointed nearly 80% of them.

    Holding a conclave to elect a pope is a tradition that goes back centuries. The practice was established in 1274 under Pope Gregory X in reaction to the chaos surrounding his own election, which lasted nearly three years. The tradition is old, but the results can be surprising, as when Francis himself was elected in 2013 as the first non-European pope in almost 1,300 years and the first Jesuit pope ever.

    The conclave begins

    Before the conclave, the College of Cardinals will meet in what are called “general congregations” to discuss issues facing the church. These general congregations will also be an opportunity for new cardinals and those from distant geographical locations to get to know their fellow cardinals.

    This can be a time for politicking. In times past, the politicking was rumored to include bribes for votes, as was alleged in the election of Alexander VI, a Borgia pope, in 1492. Nowadays, it is considered to be bad form – and bad luck – for a cardinal to lobby for himself as a candidate. Buying votes by giving money or favors to cardinals is called “simony” and is against church law.

    Two to three weeks after the papal funeral, the conclave will begin. The cardinals will first make a procession to the Sistine Chapel, where electronic jamming devices will have been set up to prevent eavesdropping and Wi-Fi and cellphone use. As they file into the chapel, the cardinals will sing, in Latin, the hymn “Come Holy Spirit.” They will then vow on a book of the Gospels to keep the conclave proceedings secret.

    After these rituals, the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations will say out loud, in Latin, “Extra Omnes,” which means “Everyone Out.” The doors of the Sistine Chapter will then be locked, and the conclave will begin.

    Francis pledging to uphold the vow of secrecy.

    The voting process

    The cardinals electing the pope will be seated in order of rank.

    Usually, the dean of the College of Cardinals is seated in the first position. But the current dean – Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re – is over the eligible voting age and will not participate in the conclave. Instead, this papal election will be led by the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

    When the cardinals have assembled, nine will be chosen at random to run the election, with three of them being “scrutinizers” who will examine the ballots and read them aloud.

    A ballot card used at the 2013 papal conclave.
    Tktru via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

    After writing down the name of their chosen candidate, the cardinals will bring their ballots to the front of the chapel and place them on a plate that is set on top of an urn in front of the scrutinizers. Using the plate to drop their ballot into the urn, they will say, “I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.”

    A new pope is elected by a two-thirds majority. If this majority is not reached during the first ballot, the ballots will be burned in a stove. Black smoke rising through the Sistine Chapel’s chimney will signal to the outside world that the election is still ongoing, a tradition that began with the election of Benedict XV in 1914. Chemical additives are used to make sure the smoke is black because during the election of John Paul II, there was confusion over the smoke’s color.

    Following the first day – and on the days thereafter – there will be up to four ballots a day if a two-thirds majority is not reached. Both Benedict XVI and Francis were elected after relatively few ballots: four in the case of Benedict; five with Francis. According to rules set by Benedict, if a new pope is not chosen after 13 days, there will be a day of prayer and reflection. Then the election will be between the top two candidates, one of whom must receive a two-thirds majority.

    This new rule, some commentators have suggested, could lead to a longer, or even deadlocked, conclave because a compromise candidate is less likely to emerge.

    The Room of Tears

    Conclaves are usually short, such as the three-ballot election that chose Pope Pius XII in 1939. On a few occasions, deliberations have been quite long – the longest being the 1740 papal conclave, which elected Benedict XIV and lasted 181 days.

    But regardless of the time frame, a new pope will be chosen. Once a candidate receives enough votes, he is asked, “Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?” By saying “Accepto,” or “I accept,” he becomes the new leader of the Catholic Church. This time, the ballots will be burned to create white smoke that will tell the world that the conclave has ended and that a new pope has been chosen.

    Immediately after being elected, the new pope decides on his name, as Jorge Maria Bergoglio did when he was the first pope to choose the name Francis. The choice of a name – especially one of an immediate predecessor – often indicates the direction of the new pope’s pontificate. In Francis’ case, his name honored St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century mystic known for his simplicity and love for nature.

    The so-called Room of Tears.

    The new pope is then led to the “Room of Tears.” In this chamber, off the Sistine Chapel, he will have moments to reflect on the burdens of his position, which have often brought new popes to tears. He will put on a white cassock and other signs of his office. His election will be announced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

    When Francis was announced as pope.

    From the balcony, the new pope will greet the crowd below and deliver his first blessing to the world. A new pontificate will have begun.

    Mathew Schmalz is Roman Catholic and a political independent.

    – ref. How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave – https://theconversation.com/how-the-next-pope-will-be-elected-what-goes-on-at-the-conclave-164363

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pope Francis has died, aged 88. These were his greatest reforms – and controversies

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Joel Hodge, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University

    Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday, aged 88, the Vatican announced. The head of the Catholic Church had recently survived being hospitalised with a serious bout of double pneumonia.

    Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s announcement began:

    Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.

    There were many unusual aspects of Pope Francis’ papacy. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas (and the southern hemisphere), the first to choose the name “Francis” and the first to give a TED talk. He was also the first pope in more than 600 years to be elected following the resignation, rather than death, of his predecessor.

    From the very start of his papacy, Francis seemed determined to do things differently and present the papacy in a new light. Even in thinking about his burial, he chose the unexpected: to be placed to rest not in the Vatican, but in the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome – the first pope to be buried there in more than 300 years.

    Vatican News reported the late Pope Francis had requested his funeral rites be simplified.

    “The renewed rite,” said Archbishop Diego Ravelli, “seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”

    Straddling a line between “progressive” and “conservative”, Francis experienced tension with both sides. In doing so, his papacy shone a spotlight on what it means to be Catholic today.

    The day before his death, Pope Francis made a brief appearance on Easter Sunday to bless the crowds at St Peter’s Square.

    Between a rock and a hard place

    Francis was deemed not progressive enough by some, yet far too progressive by others.

    His apostolic exhortation (an official papal teaching on a particular issue or action) Amoris Laetitia, ignited great controversy for seemingly being (more) open to the question of whether people who have divorced and remarried may receive Eucharist.

    He also disappointed progressive Catholics, many of whom hoped he would make stronger changes on issues such as the roles of women, married clergy, and the broader inclusion of LGBTQIA+ Catholics.

    The reception of his exhortation Querida Amazonia was one such example. In this document, Francis did not endorse marriage for priests, despite bishops’ requests for this. He also did not allow the possibility of women being ordained as deacons to address a shortage of ordained ministers. His discerning spirit saw there was too much division and no clear consensus for change.

    Francis was also openly critical of Germany’s controversial
    “Synodal Way” – a series of conferences with bishops and lay people – that advocated for positions contrary to Church teachings. Francis expressed concern on multiple occasions that this project was a threat to the unity of the Church.

    At the same time, Francis was no stranger to controversy from the conservative side of the Church, receiving “dubia” or “theological doubts” over his teaching from some of his Cardinals. In 2023, he took the unusual step of responding to some of these doubts.

    Impact on the Catholic Church

    In many ways, the most striking thing about Francis was not his words or theology, but his style. He was a modest man, even foregoing the Apostolic Palace’s grand papal apartments to live in the Vatican’s simpler guest house.

    He may well be remembered most for his simplicity of dress and habits, his welcoming and pastoral style and his wise spirit of discernment.

    He is recognised as giving a clear witness to the life, love and joy of Jesus in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council – a point of major reform in modern Church history. This witness has translated into two major developments in Church teachings and life.

    Love for our common home

    The first of these relates to environmental teachings. In 2015, Francis released his ground-breaking encyclical, Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home. It expanded Catholic social teaching by giving a comprehensive account of how the environment reflects our God-given “common home”.

    Consistent with recent popes such as Benedict XVI and John Paul II, Francis acknowledged climate change and its destructive impacts and causes. He summarised key scientific research to forcefully argue for an evidence-based approach to addressing humans’ impact on the environment.

    He also made a pivotal and innovative contribution to the climate change debate by identifying the ethical and spiritual causes of environmental destruction.

    Francis argued combating climate change relied on the “ecological conversion” of the human heart, so that people may recognise the God-given nature of our planet and the fundamental call to care for it. Without this conversion, pragmatic and political measures wouldn’t be able to counter the forces of consumerism, exploitation and selfishness.

    Francis argued a new ethic and spirituality was needed. Specifically, he said Jesus’ way of love – for other people and all creation – is the transformative force that could bring sustainable change for the environment and cultivate fraternity among people (and especially with the poor).

    Synodality: moving towards a Church that listens

    Francis’s second major contribution, and one of the most significant aspects of his papacy, was his commitment to “synodality”. While there’s still confusion over what synodality actually means, and its potential for political distortion, it is above all a way of listening and discerning through openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

    It involves hierarchy and lay people transparently and honestly discerning together, in service of the mission of the church. Synodality is as much about the process as the goal. This makes sense as Pope Francis was a Jesuit, an order focused on spreading Catholicism through spiritual formation and discernment.

    Drawing on his rich Jesuit spirituality, Francis introduced a way of conversation centred on listening to the Holy Spirit and others, while seeking to cultivate friendship and wisdom.

    With the conclusion of the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October 2024, it is too soon to assess its results. However, those who have been involved in synodal processes have reported back on their transformative potential.

    Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, explained how participating in the 2015 Synod “was an extraordinary experience [and] in some ways an awakening”.

    Catholicism in the modern age

    Francis’ papacy inspired both great joy and aspirations, as well as boiling anger and rejection. He laid bare the agonising fault lines within the Catholic community and struck at key issues of Catholic identity, triggering debate over what it means to be Catholic in the world today.

    He leaves behind a Church that seems more divided than ever, with arguments, uncertainty and many questions rolling in his wake. But he has also provided a way for the Church to become more converted to Jesus’ way of love, through synodality and dialogue.

    Francis showed us that holding labels such as “progressive” or “conservative” won’t enable the Church to live out Jesus’ mission of love – a mission he emphasised from the very beginning of his papacy.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Pope Francis has died, aged 88. These were his greatest reforms – and controversies – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-has-died-aged-88-these-were-his-greatest-reforms-and-controversies-229111

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pope Francis tried to change the Catholic Church for women, with mixed success

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Tracy McEwan, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle

    Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88.

    On Easter Sunday, he used his message and blessing to appeal for peace in Middle East and Ukraine.

    Pope Francis will be remembered as a pastoral leader who cared deeply about the environment and those impacted by migration, poverty and war.

    During his Pontificate, he did make important changes to the patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church – but did he go far enough?

    A pope for all?

    Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis highlighted the struggles of women in society. He took important steps to expand opportunities for women in the church and address its patriarchal structure.

    This was showcased by his inclusion of women in the 2024 synod (a global meeting of the whole church, represented by bishops) and his granting of voting rights for 57 women out of a total of 368 attendees.

    His appointment of around 20 women to positions of authority in the Vatican is unprecedented.

    This includes the recent 2025 appointment of an Italian religious sister, Simona Brambilla, to lead a Vatican department.

    During his papacy, Pope Francis also strongly supported the ongoing involvement of women in positions of leadership in the Roman Curia (the governance body of the church).

    At local levels, in parishes, he made it possible for women to be formally appointed to the positions of catechist and lector – roles previously reserved for men.

    He also emphasised a need for more women to study and teach theology.

    An ‘urgent challenge’

    However, these changes barely scratched the surface of securing full equality for women in the Catholic Church.

    Pope Francis himself stated women still encountered obstacles, and opportunities for women to participate were under-utilised by local churches.

    In his autobiography, published in January this year, he wrote of the “urgent challenge” to include women in central roles at every level of church life.

    He viewed this move as essential to “de-masculinising” the church and removing the problem of clericalism.

    Importantly, the reasoning that underpins women’s limited role in the life of the church remains unchanged.

    In particular, Pope Francis referred to gender stereotypes and supported the theology of complementarianism (a view that women are different but equally valued, where their central contribution is to motherhood, femininity and pastoral care responsibilities).

    While Pope Francis was genuinely committed to dialogue about and with women, his legacy remains contradictory.

    Equality is still lacking

    Women have been appointed to administrative and management positions, but decision making and ministry still largely rest with clerical men.

    Pope Francis’ emphasis on the “feminine nature” women bring to roles, rather than their gifts and talents, limited women.

    And although he called out discrimination against women in broader society, he expressed opposition to contemporary feminism, which he titled “gender ideology” and “machismo with a skirt”.

    Moreover, despite ongoing discussions, Pope Francis appeared to be unresponsive to calls for a greater role for women in ministry.

    Women cannot preach during Mass or be ordained to the priesthood or deaconate, despite multiple attempts by Catholic reform groups to advocate for women’s inclusion.

    The 2023 International Survey of Catholic Women, which surveyed more than 17,000 Catholic women from 104 countries and eight language groups, found women across the world were keen for church reform that recognises women’s leadership capacities and ongoing contribution to church communities.

    More than eight in ten (84%) of the women surveyed supported reform in the church. Two-thirds (68%) agreed women should be ordained to the priesthood, and three-quarters (78%) were supportive of women preaching during Mass.

    The survey reported on the deep frustration and despair women experienced for not having their gifts and talents recognised.

    Women also stated they are dissatisfied with the burden of labour they carry in the church.

    In this regard, Pope Francis did not address the financial burdens and exploitation of Catholic women who work for the church without adequate recognition or pay. This leaves women, particularly those working in parishes, open to exploitation.

    More worryingly, decades after cases of abuse were reported to the Vatican, Pope Francis publicly acknowledged that women, particularly nuns, were significantly affected by spiritual and sexual abuse.

    While this recognition is important, church responses to abuse remain inadequate and more needs to be done to safeguard women in pastoral settings.

    With regard to sexual and reproductive decision-making, the International Survey of Catholic Women found the majority of respondents wanted more freedom of conscience around such issues. This is because when they are denied by church law, women’s agency was diminished and their vulnerability to situations of gendered violence increased.

    The papacy of Pope Francis has made no reforms in this area, leaving many Catholic women frustrated and disappointed.

    Hope for the future?

    More than 60 years ago, Vatican II generated hope for change among Catholic women.

    Pope Francis reignited that hope, and listened. But responses have been too slow and Catholic women are still waiting for genuine reform.

    Tracy McEwan receives funding from the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) and Australian Research Theology Foundation Inc. (ARTFinc).

    Kathleen McPhillips receives funding from the Australian Research Theology Foundation, the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) and the Ian and Shirley Norman Foundation.

    – ref. Pope Francis tried to change the Catholic Church for women, with mixed success – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-tried-to-change-the-catholic-church-for-women-with-mixed-success-250911

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Pope Francis tried to change the Catholic Church for women, with mixed success

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracy McEwan, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle

    Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88.

    On Easter Sunday, he used his message and blessing to appeal for peace in Middle East and Ukraine.

    Pope Francis will be remembered as a pastoral leader who cared deeply about the environment and those impacted by migration, poverty and war.

    During his Pontificate, he did make important changes to the patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church – but did he go far enough?

    A pope for all?

    Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis highlighted the struggles of women in society. He took important steps to expand opportunities for women in the church and address its patriarchal structure.

    This was showcased by his inclusion of women in the 2024 synod (a global meeting of the whole church, represented by bishops) and his granting of voting rights for 57 women out of a total of 368 attendees.

    His appointment of around 20 women to positions of authority in the Vatican is unprecedented.

    This includes the recent 2025 appointment of an Italian religious sister, Simona Brambilla, to lead a Vatican department.

    During his papacy, Pope Francis also strongly supported the ongoing involvement of women in positions of leadership in the Roman Curia (the governance body of the church).

    At local levels, in parishes, he made it possible for women to be formally appointed to the positions of catechist and lector – roles previously reserved for men.

    He also emphasised a need for more women to study and teach theology.

    An ‘urgent challenge’

    However, these changes barely scratched the surface of securing full equality for women in the Catholic Church.

    Pope Francis himself stated women still encountered obstacles, and opportunities for women to participate were under-utilised by local churches.

    In his autobiography, published in January this year, he wrote of the “urgent challenge” to include women in central roles at every level of church life.

    He viewed this move as essential to “de-masculinising” the church and removing the problem of clericalism.

    Importantly, the reasoning that underpins women’s limited role in the life of the church remains unchanged.

    In particular, Pope Francis referred to gender stereotypes and supported the theology of complementarianism (a view that women are different but equally valued, where their central contribution is to motherhood, femininity and pastoral care responsibilities).

    While Pope Francis was genuinely committed to dialogue about and with women, his legacy remains contradictory.

    Equality is still lacking

    Women have been appointed to administrative and management positions, but decision making and ministry still largely rest with clerical men.

    Pope Francis’ emphasis on the “feminine nature” women bring to roles, rather than their gifts and talents, limited women.

    And although he called out discrimination against women in broader society, he expressed opposition to contemporary feminism, which he titled “gender ideology” and “machismo with a skirt”.

    Moreover, despite ongoing discussions, Pope Francis appeared to be unresponsive to calls for a greater role for women in ministry.

    Women cannot preach during Mass or be ordained to the priesthood or deaconate, despite multiple attempts by Catholic reform groups to advocate for women’s inclusion.

    The 2023 International Survey of Catholic Women, which surveyed more than 17,000 Catholic women from 104 countries and eight language groups, found women across the world were keen for church reform that recognises women’s leadership capacities and ongoing contribution to church communities.

    More than eight in ten (84%) of the women surveyed supported reform in the church. Two-thirds (68%) agreed women should be ordained to the priesthood, and three-quarters (78%) were supportive of women preaching during Mass.

    The survey reported on the deep frustration and despair women experienced for not having their gifts and talents recognised.

    Women also stated they are dissatisfied with the burden of labour they carry in the church.

    In this regard, Pope Francis did not address the financial burdens and exploitation of Catholic women who work for the church without adequate recognition or pay. This leaves women, particularly those working in parishes, open to exploitation.

    More worryingly, decades after cases of abuse were reported to the Vatican, Pope Francis publicly acknowledged that women, particularly nuns, were significantly affected by spiritual and sexual abuse.

    While this recognition is important, church responses to abuse remain inadequate and more needs to be done to safeguard women in pastoral settings.

    With regard to sexual and reproductive decision-making, the International Survey of Catholic Women found the majority of respondents wanted more freedom of conscience around such issues. This is because when they are denied by church law, women’s agency was diminished and their vulnerability to situations of gendered violence increased.

    The papacy of Pope Francis has made no reforms in this area, leaving many Catholic women frustrated and disappointed.

    Hope for the future?

    More than 60 years ago, Vatican II generated hope for change among Catholic women.

    Pope Francis reignited that hope, and listened. But responses have been too slow and Catholic women are still waiting for genuine reform.

    Tracy McEwan receives funding from the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) and Australian Research Theology Foundation Inc. (ARTFinc).

    Kathleen McPhillips receives funding from the Australian Research Theology Foundation, the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) and the Ian and Shirley Norman Foundation.

    – ref. Pope Francis tried to change the Catholic Church for women, with mixed success – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-tried-to-change-the-catholic-church-for-women-with-mixed-success-250911

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Pope Francis has died, aged 88. These were his greatest reforms – and controversies

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Hodge, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University

    Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday, aged 88, the Vatican announced. The head of the Catholic Church had recently survived being hospitalised with a serious bout of double pneumonia.

    Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s announcement began:

    Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.

    There were many unusual aspects of Pope Francis’ papacy. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas (and the southern hemisphere), the first to choose the name “Francis” and the first to give a TED talk. He was also the first pope in more than 600 years to be elected following the resignation, rather than death, of his predecessor.

    From the very start of his papacy, Francis seemed determined to do things differently and present the papacy in a new light. Even in thinking about his burial, he chose the unexpected: to be placed to rest not in the Vatican, but in the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome – the first pope to be buried there in more than 300 years.

    Vatican News reported the late Pope Francis had requested his funeral rites be simplified.

    “The renewed rite,” said Archbishop Diego Ravelli, “seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”

    Straddling a line between “progressive” and “conservative”, Francis experienced tension with both sides. In doing so, his papacy shone a spotlight on what it means to be Catholic today.

    The day before his death, Pope Francis made a brief appearance on Easter Sunday to bless the crowds at St Peter’s Square.

    Between a rock and a hard place

    Francis was deemed not progressive enough by some, yet far too progressive by others.

    His apostolic exhortation (an official papal teaching on a particular issue or action) Amoris Laetitia, ignited great controversy for seemingly being (more) open to the question of whether people who have divorced and remarried may receive Eucharist.

    He also disappointed progressive Catholics, many of whom hoped he would make stronger changes on issues such as the roles of women, married clergy, and the broader inclusion of LGBTQIA+ Catholics.

    The reception of his exhortation Querida Amazonia was one such example. In this document, Francis did not endorse marriage for priests, despite bishops’ requests for this. He also did not allow the possibility of women being ordained as deacons to address a shortage of ordained ministers. His discerning spirit saw there was too much division and no clear consensus for change.

    Francis was also openly critical of Germany’s controversial
    “Synodal Way” – a series of conferences with bishops and lay people – that advocated for positions contrary to Church teachings. Francis expressed concern on multiple occasions that this project was a threat to the unity of the Church.

    At the same time, Francis was no stranger to controversy from the conservative side of the Church, receiving “dubia” or “theological doubts” over his teaching from some of his Cardinals. In 2023, he took the unusual step of responding to some of these doubts.

    Impact on the Catholic Church

    In many ways, the most striking thing about Francis was not his words or theology, but his style. He was a modest man, even foregoing the Apostolic Palace’s grand papal apartments to live in the Vatican’s simpler guest house.

    He may well be remembered most for his simplicity of dress and habits, his welcoming and pastoral style and his wise spirit of discernment.

    He is recognised as giving a clear witness to the life, love and joy of Jesus in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council – a point of major reform in modern Church history. This witness has translated into two major developments in Church teachings and life.

    Love for our common home

    The first of these relates to environmental teachings. In 2015, Francis released his ground-breaking encyclical, Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home. It expanded Catholic social teaching by giving a comprehensive account of how the environment reflects our God-given “common home”.

    Consistent with recent popes such as Benedict XVI and John Paul II, Francis acknowledged climate change and its destructive impacts and causes. He summarised key scientific research to forcefully argue for an evidence-based approach to addressing humans’ impact on the environment.

    He also made a pivotal and innovative contribution to the climate change debate by identifying the ethical and spiritual causes of environmental destruction.

    Francis argued combating climate change relied on the “ecological conversion” of the human heart, so that people may recognise the God-given nature of our planet and the fundamental call to care for it. Without this conversion, pragmatic and political measures wouldn’t be able to counter the forces of consumerism, exploitation and selfishness.

    Francis argued a new ethic and spirituality was needed. Specifically, he said Jesus’ way of love – for other people and all creation – is the transformative force that could bring sustainable change for the environment and cultivate fraternity among people (and especially with the poor).

    Synodality: moving towards a Church that listens

    Francis’s second major contribution, and one of the most significant aspects of his papacy, was his commitment to “synodality”. While there’s still confusion over what synodality actually means, and its potential for political distortion, it is above all a way of listening and discerning through openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

    It involves hierarchy and lay people transparently and honestly discerning together, in service of the mission of the church. Synodality is as much about the process as the goal. This makes sense as Pope Francis was a Jesuit, an order focused on spreading Catholicism through spiritual formation and discernment.

    Drawing on his rich Jesuit spirituality, Francis introduced a way of conversation centred on listening to the Holy Spirit and others, while seeking to cultivate friendship and wisdom.

    With the conclusion of the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October 2024, it is too soon to assess its results. However, those who have been involved in synodal processes have reported back on their transformative potential.

    Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, explained how participating in the 2015 Synod “was an extraordinary experience [and] in some ways an awakening”.

    Catholicism in the modern age

    Francis’ papacy inspired both great joy and aspirations, as well as boiling anger and rejection. He laid bare the agonising fault lines within the Catholic community and struck at key issues of Catholic identity, triggering debate over what it means to be Catholic in the world today.

    He leaves behind a Church that seems more divided than ever, with arguments, uncertainty and many questions rolling in his wake. But he has also provided a way for the Church to become more converted to Jesus’ way of love, through synodality and dialogue.

    Francis showed us that holding labels such as “progressive” or “conservative” won’t enable the Church to live out Jesus’ mission of love – a mission he emphasised from the very beginning of his papacy.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Pope Francis has died, aged 88. These were his greatest reforms – and controversies – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-has-died-aged-88-these-were-his-greatest-reforms-and-controversies-229111

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Twinkling star reveals the shocking secrets of turbulent plasma in our cosmic neighbourhood

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Reardon, Postdoctoral Researcher, Pulsar Timing and Gravitational Waves, Swinburne University of Technology

    Artist’s impression of a pulsar bow shock scattering a radio beam. Carl Knox/Swinburne/OzGrav

    With the most powerful radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, we have observed a twinkling star and discovered an abundance of mysterious plasma structures in our cosmic neighbourhood.

    The plasma structures we see are variations in density or turbulence, akin to interstellar cyclones stirred up by energetic events in the galaxy.

    The study, published today in Nature Astronomy, also describes the first measurements of plasma layers within an interstellar shock wave that surrounds a pulsar.

    We now realise our local interstellar medium is filled with these structures and our findings also include a rare phenomenon that will challenge theories of pulsar shock waves.

    What’s a pulsar and why does it have a shock wave?

    Our observations honed in on the nearby fast-spinning pulsar, J0437-4715, which is 512 light-years away from Earth. A pulsar is a neutron star, a super-dense stellar remnant that produces beams of radio waves and an energetic “wind” of particles.

    The pulsar and its wind move with supersonic speed through the interstellar medium – the stuff (gas, dust and plasma) between the stars. This creates a bow shock: a shock wave of heated gas that glows red.

    The interstellar plasma is turbulent and scatters pulsar radio waves slightly away from a direct, straight line path. The scattered waves create a pattern of bright and dim patches that drifts over our radio telescopes as Earth, the pulsar and plasma all move through space.

    From our vantage point, this causes the pulsar to twinkle, or “scintillate”. The effect is similar to how turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere makes stars twinkle in the night sky.

    Pulsar scintillation gives us unique information about plasma structures that are too small and faint to be detected in any other way.

    Twinkling little radio star

    To the naked eye, the twinkling of a star might appear random. But for pulsars at least, there are hidden patterns.

    With the right techniques, we can uncover ordered shapes from the interference pattern, called scintillation arcs. They detail the locations and velocities of compact structures in the interstellar plasma. Studying scintillation arcs is like performing a CT scan of the interstellar medium – each arc reveals a thin layer of plasma.

    Usually, scintillation arc studies uncover just one, or at most a handful of these arcs, giving a view of only the most extreme (densest or most turbulent) plasma structures in our galaxy.

    Our scintillation arc study broke new ground by unveiling an unprecedented 25 scintillation arcs, the most plasma structures observed for any pulsar to date.

    The sensitivity of our study was only possible because of the close proximity of the pulsar (it’s our nearest millisecond pulsar neighbour) and the large collecting area of the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.

    Animation of 25 scintillation arcs changing in curvature with time according to the changing velocity of the pulsar. Each frame of the animation shows the scintillation arcs measured on one day, for six consecutive days. The inset scintillation arcs originate from the pulsar bow shock.
    Reardon et al., Nature Astronomy

    A Local Bubble surprise

    Of the 25 scintillation arcs we found, 21 revealed structures in the interstellar medium. This was surprising because the pulsar – like our own Solar System – is located in a relatively quiet region of our galaxy called the Local Bubble.

    About 14 million years ago, this part of our galaxy was lit up by stellar explosions that swept up material in the interstellar medium and inflated a hot void. Today, this bubble is still expanding and now extends up to 1,000 light-years from us.

    Our new scintillation arc discoveries reveal that the Local Bubble is not as empty as previously thought. It is filled with compact plasma structures that could only be sustained if the bubble has cooled, at least in some areas, from millions of degrees down to a mild 10,000 degrees Celsius.

    Shock discoveries

    As the animation below shows, the pulsar is surrounded by its bow shock, which glows red with light from energised hydrogen atoms.

    Artist’s animation of the bow shock scattering the pulsar beam. Carl Knox/Swinburne/OzGrav.

    While most pulsars are thought to produce bow shocks, only a handful have ever been observed because they are faint objects. Until now, none had been studied using scintillation.

    We traced the remaining four scintillation arcs to plasma structures inside the pulsar bow shock, marking the first time astronomers have peered inside one of these shock waves.

    This gave us a CT-like view of the different layers of plasma. Using these arcs together with an optical image we constructed a new three-dimensional model of the shock, which appears to be tilted slightly away from us because of the motion of the pulsar through space.

    The scintillation arcs also gave us the velocities of the plasma layers. Far from being as expected, we discovered that one inner plasma structure is moving towards the shock front against the flow of the shocked material in the opposite direction.

    While such back flows can appear in simulations, they are rare. This finding will drive new models for this bow shock.

    Scintillating science

    With new and more sensitive radio telescopes being built around the world, we can expect to see scintillation from more pulsar bow shocks and other events in the interstellar medium.

    This will uncover more about the energetic processes in our galaxy that create these otherwise invisible plasma structures.

    The scintillation of this pulsar neighbour revealed unexpected plasma structures inside our Local Bubble and allowed us to map and measure the speed of plasma within a bow shock. It’s amazing what a twinkling little star can do.

    Daniel Reardon receives funding from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav).

    – ref. Twinkling star reveals the shocking secrets of turbulent plasma in our cosmic neighbourhood – https://theconversation.com/twinkling-star-reveals-the-shocking-secrets-of-turbulent-plasma-in-our-cosmic-neighbourhood-243022

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pope Francis dies: an unconventional pontiff who sought to modernise Catholicism

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Liam Temple, Assistant Professor in the History of Catholicism, Durham University

    From the moment of his election in 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the man who became Pope Francis, proved himself to be unconventional.

    Shedding much of the formality of previous papal elections, he appeared for the first time on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica in a simple white cassock without the red ermine-trimmed cape, known as a mozzetta, traditionally worn on such occasions.

    On his chest was the silver pectoral cross he had worn as archbishop of Buenos Aires, rather than the gold cross worn by previous popes. His early demonstrations of unconventionality went beyond his dress as he refused to live in the Apostolic Palace, residing primarily in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse.

    He was a pope of other firsts.

    He took the name, Francis, in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi, becoming the first uniquely named pope in over 1,000 years (the last being Pope Lando in 913). Many of his major teachings, known as “papal encyclicals”, echoed the wisdom of Saint Francis.

    For instance, Laudato Si (Praise Be to You, 2015) and Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers and Sisters, 2020), concerning care for the planet and care for each other respectively, drew their inspiration from the saint.

    “My roots are Italian, but I am Argentinian and Latin American,” he insisted in his recent autobiography. It was this background as the first pope from the southern hemisphere, and his upbringing in Argentina, that formed his role as a voice for those on the peripheries of society: migrants, the poor, victims of war and the helpless.

    Such an approach also reflected a diverse new reality within the church. The majority of the 1.36 billion Catholics around the world live outside Europe and North America.

    He made clear early on that representing this new reality was central to his papacy by making his first official papal visit outside of Rome to the island of Lampedusa in southern Italy, where many migrants and refugees fleeing warfare attempted to land as a route into Europe. Denouncing people trafficking and referring to the 2013 migrant shipwreck that killed over 300 people, Pope Francis would later describe the island as an “underwater cemetery for too, too many corpses”.

    A modernising pope

    Pope Francis was also the first pope to be formed entirely in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which brought about fundamental changes to how the Catholic church related to wider society and the “modern world”. This included the celebration of the Mass in vernacular languages, rather than exclusively Latin.

    Such formation shaped his attitude on such topics as the role of women in the church, technology and AI, the ongoing ecological crisis and the relationship between Catholicism and other faiths.

    While the pope had made clear his feelings that “Vatican II” had not yet been fully implemented, his adherence to its ethos has made him unpopular with Catholics who view the changes brought about by the council as misplaced.

    In 2021, he imposed new restrictions on the use of the older Latin mass, which had been commonplace before the council, now requiring priests to have the permission of their bishop for such a celebration. This reversed the allowances of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who had permitted all priests to say Mass using the Roman Missal of 1962, without bishops permitting them.

    The move was unpopular among many traditionalists who saw the pope as distancing himself from historical tradition. In response, the pope had criticised “those who seek to ‘safeguard the ashes’ of the past” rather than concerning themselves with the future growth and progress of the church.

    In many ways, Pope Francis embodied a tension at the heart of Catholicism in the 21st century: too liberal for some Catholics and not liberal enough for others. As such, his attempts at reform necessarily became a fine balancing act. History will undoubtedly judge whether the right balance was struck.

    His papacy was not without controversy. In May 2024 he apologised for using a derogatory term for gay men in a private meeting with Italian bishops, the remarks splashed on headlines around the world. The episode was particularly shocking as he had previously indicated a shift in the tone of the church’s attitude on issues such as blessings for same-sex couples.

    In 2018, he admitted he made “grave errors” in his handling of clerical abuse cases in Chile. During a visit to the country, he had defended Bishop Juan Barros who stood accused of covering up sexual abuse. The pope cited a “lack of truthful and balanced information” and subsequently invited the victims to Rome to apologise.

    The pope’s funeral and burial will continue his unconventionality. He will forgo the traditional three interlocking caskets of cypress, lead and oak, instead requesting a simple, zinc-lined wooden coffin.

    He will also be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over a century, asking instead to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major. His funeral ceremony will also be simplified and shortened at his request.

    Such will be the last act of an unconventional pope, for as he states in his autobiography, “the bishop of Rome is a pastor and a disciple, not a powerful man of this world”.

    Liam Temple does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Pope Francis dies: an unconventional pontiff who sought to modernise Catholicism – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-dies-an-unconventional-pontiff-who-sought-to-modernise-catholicism-251522

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Three ways Pope Francis influenced the global climate movement

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Celia Deane-Drummond, Professor of Theology, Director of Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall, University of Oxford

    The death of Pope Francis has been announced by the Vatican. I first met the late Pope Francis at the Vatican after a conference called Saving Our Common Home and the Future of Life on Earth in July 2018. My colleagues and I sensed something momentous was happening at the heart of the church.

    At that time, I was helping to set up the new Laudato Si’ research institute at the Jesuit Hall at the University of Oxford. This institute is named after the pope’s 2015 encyclical (a letter to bishops outlining church policy) on climate change.

    Its mission is rooted in the pope’s religiously inspired vision of integral ecology – a multidisciplinary approach that addresses social and ecological issues of equality and climate breakdown.

    Originating from Argentina, Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, witnessed firsthand the destruction of the Amazon and the plight of South America’s poorest communities. His concern for justice for vulnerable communities and protection of the planet go hand in hand with his religious leadership.

    In his first papal letter, Laudato Si’, he called for all people, not just Catholics, to pay more attention to the frailty of both our planet and its people. What we need is no less than a cultural revolution, he wrote. As a theologian, I recognise that he inspired significant change in three key ways.

    1. At global climate summits

    It’s no coincidence that Pope Francis released Laudato Si’ at a crucial moment in 2015 prior to the UN climate summit, Cop21, in Paris. A follow-up exhortation, or official statement, Laudate Deum, was released in October 2023, just before another UN climate summit, Cop28 in Dubai.

    Did the decisions at these global meetings shift because of the influence of Pope Francis? Potentially, yes. In Laudate Deum, Pope Francis showed both encouragement and some frustration about the achievements of international agreements so far.

    He berated the weakness of international politics and believes that Cop21 represented a “significant moment” because the agreement involved everyone.

    After Cop21, he pointed out how most nations had failed to implement the Paris agreement which called for limiting the global temperature rise in this century to below 2°C. He also called out the lack of monitoring of those commitments and subsequent political inertia. He tried his best to use his prominent position to hold power to account.

    Promoting a general moral awareness of the need to act in ecologically responsible ways, both in international politics and at the local level is something that previous popes, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI also did. But, Pope Francis’s efforts went beyond that, by connecting much more broadly with grassroots movements.

    2. By advocating for Indigenous people

    Cop28 marked the first time that close to 200 countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. Pope Francis’s interventions potentially helped shift the needle just a little in the desired direction.

    His emphasis on listening to Indigenous people may have influenced these gatherings. Compared with previous global climate summits, Cop28 arguably opened up the opportunity to listen to the voices of Indigenous people.

    However, Indigenous people were still disappointed by the outcomes of Cop28. Pope Francis’s lesser-known exhortation Querida Amazonia, which means “beloved Amazonia”, was published in February 2020.

    This exhortation resulted from his conversations with Amazonian communities and helped put Indigenous perspectives on the map. Those perspectives helped shape Catholic social teaching in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, which means “all brothers and sisters”, published on October 3 2020.

    For many people living in developing countries where extractive industries such as oil and gas or mining are rife, destruction of land coincides with direct threats to life. Pope Francis advocated for Indigenous environmental defenders, many of whom have been inspired to act by their strong faith.

    For example, Father Marcelo Pérez, an Indigenous priest living in Mexico, was murdered by drug dealers just after saying mass on October 23 2023 as part of the cost of defending the rights of his people and their land.

    While 196 environmental defenders were killed globally in 2023, Pope Francis continued to advocate on behalf of the most marginalised people as well as the environment.

    3. By inspiring activism

    I’ve been speaking to religious climate activists from different church backgrounds in the UK as part of a multidisciplinary research project on religion, theology and climate change based at the University of Manchester. Most notably, when we asked more than 300 activists representing six different activist groups who most influenced them to get involved in climate action, 61% named Pope Francis as a key influencer.

    On a larger scale, Laudato Si’ gave rise to the Laudato Si’ movement which coordinates climate activism across the globe. It has 900 Catholic organisations as well as 10,000 of what are known as Laudato Si’ “animators”, who are all ambassadors and leaders in their respective communities.

    Our institute’s ecclesial affiliate, Tomás Insua, based in Assisi, Italy, originally helped pioneer this global Laudato Si’ movement. We host a number of ecumenical gatherings which bring together people from different denominations and hopefully motivate churchgoers to think and act in a more climate-conscious way.

    Nobody knows who the next pope might be. Given the current turmoil in politics and shutting down of political will to address the climate emergency, we can only hope they will build on the legacy of Pope Francis and influence political change for the good, from the grassroots frontline right up to the highest global ambitions.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Celia Deane-Drummond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Three ways Pope Francis influenced the global climate movement – https://theconversation.com/three-ways-pope-francis-influenced-the-global-climate-movement-251430

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Pope Francis: why his papacy mattered for Africa – and for the world’s poor and marginalised

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Stan Chu Ilo, Research Professor, World Christianity and African Studies, DePaul University

    The death of Pope Francis in an Italian hospital on 21 April 2025 marks the end of a significant era for the Vatican and the global Catholic following of 1.3 billion faithful.

    The first pope from the Americas and also the first to come from outside the west in the modern era, Pope Francis was elected leader of the Catholic church on 13 March 2013.

    By the time the Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013 there was a general feeling that the Catholic church was reaching the end of an era. At the time, the church was beset by crises, from corruption to clerical sexual abuse.

    Some of the challenges facing the church which the ageing Pope Benedict XVI could no longer handle included:

    Moreover, the church was reeling from the revelation of papal secrets of his predecessor Pope Benedict by the papal butler. A book detailing these secrets portrayed the Vatican as a corrupt hotbed of jealousy, intrigue and underhanded factional fighting.

    The revelations caused the church a great deal of embarrassment.

    It meant therefore that Cardinal Bergoglio was elected by the Catholic cardinals with a mandate to clean up the church and reform the Vatican and its bureaucracy. He was to institute processes and procedures for transparency, accountability and renewal of the church and its structures, and address the lingering scandals of clerical abuse.

    The Pope’s global legacy

    Three key things defined his papal role and legacy.

    First is concentrating on the core competence of the church: serving the poor and the marginalised. This is what the founder of the Christian religion, Jesus Christ, did.

    Francis focused the Catholic church and the entire world on one mission: helping the poor, addressing global inequalities, speaking for the voiceless, and placing the attention of the world on those on the periphery.

    He also chose to live simply, forsaking the pomp and pageantry of the papacy.

    Secondly, he changed the way the Catholic church’s message is communicated. In his programmatic document, Evangelii Gaudium, he called the church to what he calls “missionary conversion”. His thinking was that everything that is done in the church must be about proclaiming the good news to a wounded and broken world.

    His central message was that of mercy towards all, an end to wars, our common humanity and the closeness of God to those who suffer. The suffering in the world continues to grow because of injustice, greed, selfishness and pride. He also focused on symbols and simple style to press home his message, like celebrating mass at a wall that divides the United States and Mexico.



    Read more:
    Pope Francis: the first post-colonial papacy to deliver messages that resonate with Africans

    In 2015 he made a risky trip to Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, during a time of war and tension between the fighting factions of the Muslim Seleka and the Christian anti-balaka. He drove on the Popemobile with both the highest ranking Muslim cleric in the country and his Christian counterpart and visited both a Christian church and a mosque to press home the message of peace.

    The third strategy was restructuring the church and reforming the Vatican bank.

    He created the G8 (a representative council of cardinals from every part of the world) to advise him, calling the Catholic church to a synod for dialogue on every aspect of the life of the church. This effort was unprecedented.

    He also overhauled the procedures for the synod of bishops, making it more participatory, and gave women and the non-ordained voting rights. He shook up the membership of the Vatican department that picks bishops to include women. He appointed the first woman (Sr Simone Brambilla) to lead a major Vatican department and to have a cardinal as her deputy. Another woman (Sr Raffaella Petrini) was named the first woman governor of the Vatican City State.

    Pope Francis and Africa

    The pontiff’s legacy will be keenly felt in Africa. Three things stand out.

    First, he reflected the concerns of people on the continent with his message against imperialism, colonialism, exploitation of the poor by the rich, global inequality, neo-liberal capitalism and ecological injustice. Pope Francis became a voice for Africa. When he visited Kenya in 2015, he chose to visit the slums of Nairobi to proclaim the gospel of liberation to the forsaken of society. He called on African governments to guarantee for the poor and all citizens access to land, lodging and labour.

    In a sense, Pope Francis embodied the message of decolonisation and was driven in part by the liberation theology that developed in Latin America. This theology tied religious faith with liberation of the people from structures of injustice and structural violence.

    Secondly, he encouraged African Catholics to develop Africa’s own unique approach to pastoral life and addressing social issues in Africa. Particularly, Pope Francis believed in decentralisation and local processes in meeting local challenges. He said many times that it is not necessary that all problems in the church be solved by the pope at the Roman centre of the church.

    In this way, he encouraged the growth and development of African priorities and cultural adaptation to the Catholic faith. He also encouraged greater transparency and accountability among African bishops and gave African Catholic universities and seminaries greater autonomy to develop their own educational priorities and programmes.

    Thirdly, Pope Francis had a very deep connection to Africa’s young people. He encouraged and supported initiatives and programmes to strengthen the agency of young people, to give them hope and support their personal, spiritual and professional development. For the first time in history, on 1 November 2022, Pope Francis met virtually with more than 1,000 young Africans for an hour. I helped organise this meeting. He answered their questions and encouraged them to fight for what they believe.

    A reformist agenda

    The reforms of Pope Francis could be termed a movement – from a church of a few where priests and bishops and the pope call the shots to a church of the people of God where everyone’s voice matters and where everyone’s concerns and needs are catered to.

    He quietly changed the tone of the message and the style of the leadership at the Vatican.

    Granted, he did not substantially alter the content of that message, which is often seen as conservative, Eurocentric, and resistant to cultural pluralism and social change. But he constantly chipped away at its foundations through inclusion and an openness to hearing the voices of everyone, including those who do not agree with the church’s position. In doing this, he shifted the priorities and practices of the Catholic church regarding such core issues as power and authority.

    Pope Francis opened the doors to the voices of the marginalised in the church — women, the poor, the LGBTQI+ community, and those who have disaffiliated from the church. Many African Catholics would love to see more African representation at the Vatican, and many of them also worry about the widening division in the church, particularly driven by cultural and ideological battles in the west that have nothing to do with the social and ecclesial context of Africa.

    Why his papacy mattered

    Pope Francis was the first pope from the Americas, the first Jesuit pope, the first to choose the name Francis and the first to come from outside the west in the modern era. He chose the name Francis because he wanted to focus his papacy on the poor, emulating St Francis of Assisi.

    In a sense, Pope Francis redefined what religion and spirituality mean for Catholicism. It’s not laying down and enforcing the law without mercy, it is caring for our neighbours and the Earth. This is the kind of religion the world needs today.

    Stan Chu Ilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Pope Francis: why his papacy mattered for Africa – and for the world’s poor and marginalised – https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-why-his-papacy-mattered-for-africa-and-for-the-worlds-poor-and-marginalised-251059

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 21, 2025

    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 21, 2025.

    A secret mathematical rule has shaped the beaks of birds and other dinosaurs for 200 million years
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathleen Garland, PhD Candidate, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University The faces of living and extinct theropod dinosaurs. Left: Riya Bidaye; right: Indian Roller model (NHMUK S1987) from TEMPO bird project – MorphoSource. Bird beaks come in almost every shape and size – from the straw-like beak

    Curious Kids: if heat rises, why does it get colder in the mountains?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (Climate Science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Shutterstock/EvaL Miko If heat rises, why does it get colder as you climb up mountains? – Ollie, 8, Christchurch, New Zealand That is an excellent and thoughtful question Ollie – why indeed?

    From the doable to the downright impossible: your guide to making sense of election promises
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Rindert Algra-Maschio, PhD Candidate, Social and Political Sciences, Monash University Three weeks into the federal election campaign and both major parties have already pledged to spend billions in taxpayer dollars if elected on May 3. But with so many policies announced — and surely more to

    Security without submarines: the military strategy Australia should pursue instead of AUKUS
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Palazzo, Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, UNSW Sydney For more than a century, Australia has followed the same defence policy: dependence on a great power. This was first the United Kingdom and then the United States. Without properly

    Prison needle programs could save double what they cost – our new modelling shows how
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Farah Houdroge, Mathematical Modeller, Burnet Institute ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock Needle and syringe programs are a proven public health intervention that provide free, sterile injecting equipment to people who use drugs. By reducing needle sharing, these programs help prevent the spread of blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV

    ‘Puppy blues’: how to cope with the exhaustion and stress of raising a puppy
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hazel, Associate Professor, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide Lucigerma/Shutterstock Caring for a new puppy can be wonderful, but it can also bring feelings of depression, extreme stress and exhaustion. This is sometimes referred to as “the puppy blues”, and can begin anytime

    A survey of Australian uni students suggests more than half are worried about food or don’t have enough to eat
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Kent, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Wollongong StoryTime Studio/ Shutterstock Being a university student has long been associated with eating instant noodles, taking advantage of pub meal deals and generally living frugally. But for several years, researchers have been tracking how students are

    Low effort, high visibility: what bumper stickers say about our values and identity
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Harrison, Director, Master of Business Administration Program (MBA); Co-Director, Better Consumption Lab, Deakin University Justin Sullivan/Getty You may have seen them around town or in the news. Bumper stickers on Teslas broadcasting to anyone who looks: “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy.” You

    How a new ‘Fishheart’ project is combining science, community and Indigenous art to restore life in the Baaka-Darling River
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Hooker, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Health and Medical Humanities, University of Sydney A new state-of-the-art tube fishway technology called the “Fishheart” has been launched at Menindee Lakes, located on the Baaka-Darling River, New South Wales. The technology – part of the NSW government’s Restoring the Darling-Baaka

    Election Diary: Coalition makes ‘law-and-order’ pitch, with plan to invest proceeds of drug crime into communities
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it seeks to gain some momentum for its campaign, the Coalition on Monday will focus on law and order, announcing $355 million for a National Drug Enforcement and Organised Crime Strike Team to fight the illicit drug trade. A

    Newspoll steady as both leaders’ ratings fall; Labor surging in poll of marginal seats
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With less than two weeks to go now until the federal election, the polls continue to favour the government being returned. Newspoll was steady at 52–48 to

    Caitlin Johnstone: ‘I want a death that the world will hear’  –  journalist assassinated by Israel for telling the truth
    Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month. Her name was Fatima Hassouna. Nine members of her

    Indicators of alien life may have been found – astrophysicist explains what the new research means
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University Darryl Fonseka/Shutterstocl What do you think of when it comes to extra terrestrial life? Most popular sci-fi books and TV shows suggest humanoid beings could live on other planets. But when astronomers are searching for extra-terrestrial life, it

    ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for April 20, 2025
    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 20, 2025.

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: How a new ‘Fishheart’ project is combining science, community and Indigenous art to restore life in the Baaka-Darling River

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Hooker, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Health and Medical Humanities, University of Sydney

    A new state-of-the-art tube fishway technology called the “Fishheart” has been launched at Menindee Lakes, located on the Baaka-Darling River, New South Wales.

    The technology – part of the NSW government’s Restoring the Darling-Baaka program – will allow native fish to move past large barriers, such as dams, weirs and regulators, when they need to. It’s hoped this will help the fish reproduce and survive, and reduce the risk of mass fish deaths in the Baaka.

    At the same time, meaningful policy reform and implementation can’t be achieved without input from First Nations communities. So how do we do this? One creative collaboration on the Fishheart project suggests art may have a big role to play.

    Distressing images

    Several deeply distressing mass fish death events have occurred in the river since 2018, with millions of native fish, including golden perch, silver perch and Murray cod, dying due to insufficient oxygen in the water.

    These events are the outcome of compounding challenges in managing the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’s largest inland river system. The basin, which stretches from Southern Queensland to South Australia, is a water source for some three million people.

    But the construction of infrastructure such as dams, weirs and regulators has profoundly disrupted the natural processes that once sustained healthy river systems. This disruption has been made worse by ineffective and conflict-ridden governance.

    The Baaka is a source of life and wellbeing for numerous communities. It should be cared for with the same urgency and coordination as a critically ill patient. If too many doctors or nurses are involved without a clear shared treatment plan, the patient suffers. Likewise, when multiple agencies attempt to manage a sick river, the system can break down.

    So how can better care be achieved? For Barkindji Elder David Doyle the answer lies in doing it together.

    Seeking and listening to Aboriginal community

    Aboriginal peoples have been explaining the importance of Australia’s inland rivers for generations. The Aboriginal community at Menindee held protests about the health of the Baaka two years before the first mass fish deaths. Yet their voices and cultural knowledges have not reconfigured river policy.

    A report by the NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer into the March 2023 mass fish deaths on the Lower Baaka identified the importance of including Aboriginal cultural knowledges in strategies for fish species regeneration and management.

    However, according to Barkindji Ngnukuu elder Barbara Quayle, the community’s experience of “consultation” has been a tick-box activity. She says there is no trust that cultural knowledges or community perspectives will actually be listened to.

    The power of the arts

    Traditional cultural knowledges are often held and expressed through various artforms, from story, to dance, to gallery arts. Within rural and remote communities, the arts and art-making create conditions that can help people work together to address complex issues. In fact, there’s a long history of the arts being used to address social conflict.

    Can the Fishheart help prevent fish kills? We don’t know. But the Barkindji community’s artistic input in the project is enabling a more integrated approach to finding out.

    Elders and community members have come together with regional arts organisation, The Cad Factory, and the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s Fisheries branch, to design traditional knowledge-inspired art for the Fishheart pipes.

    This art was painted onto the pipes by members of Barkindji community over the past month. Other community art, including collaborations with the local school, was also placed around the site.

    Making the art gave everyone involved the time, space and tools to consider and discuss the project. We learned how the Fishheart technology is inspired by the human heart, with tubes resembling “veins” and “arteries” that can take fish in and “pump” them over barriers through a siphon effect, letting them circulate throughout the river.

    We discussed important details on how this technology works, which includes using artificial intelligence used to detect fish in the pipes and collect real-time data and photos of the migration. We also considered how we might further care for the river, by potentially allowing the removal of invasive species, or monitoring for diseases.

    The project also provided fisheries managers with the opportunity to hear community concerns, such as whether the installation of fishways might be perceived in ways associated with colonisation, or eventually lead to fish removal from the waterways.

    Most importantly, seeing the pipes visually transformed by Barkindji art connected the Fishheart to place and Country. The art provides a tangible expression of uninterrupted Barkindji custodianship for the river and the species that depend on it.

    With art, there is hope for creating policy together – policy that might promote the health of the river as a whole, rather than treating the symptoms of the problem.

    Claire Hooker receives funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, ARC, and University of Sydney. She is affiliated with Arts Health Network NSW/ACT.

    Barbara Quayle is the Vice-president of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, sits on the Barkindji Native Title Board and NSW Aboriginal Water Strategy Board and is a founding guide of Barkindji cultural immersion tour group, Wontanella Tours.

    Dave Doyle is a member of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, a previous member of the Barkindji Native Title Board, sits on the NSW Aboriginal Water Strategy Board and is a founding guide of Barkindji cultural immersion tour group, Wontanella Tours.

    Reakeeta Smallwood has received funding from ARC and NHMRC, in partnership with University of Sydney, University of Newcastle and University of New England. These funding sources are not relevant to this article or project.

    – ref. How a new ‘Fishheart’ project is combining science, community and Indigenous art to restore life in the Baaka-Darling River – https://theconversation.com/how-a-new-fishheart-project-is-combining-science-community-and-indigenous-art-to-restore-life-in-the-baaka-darling-river-254594

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Low effort, high visibility: what bumper stickers say about our values and identity

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Harrison, Director, Master of Business Administration Program (MBA); Co-Director, Better Consumption Lab, Deakin University

    Justin Sullivan/Getty

    You may have seen them around town or in the news. Bumper stickers on Teslas broadcasting to anyone who looks: “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy.”

    You might assume it’s there to prevent someone from keying the car or as an attempt to defuse potential hostility in a hyper-politicised landscape. But while it may signal disapproval to like-minded passersby, a sticker is unlikely to dissuade someone already intent on committing a crime (which keying is).

    What it does offer, though, is a form of symbolic insurance. You might call it a way to clarify identity in a hostile political environment.

    Equal parts apology, protest and cultural timestamp, the message can say more in eight words than a full-blown op-ed. But it’s not just about a car. It’s also about values, identity management and the evolving politics of consumption.

    A signal to others

    At their core, car bumper stickers function as a vehicle (literally and metaphorically) for identity projection. They are symbols of what psychologists call “low-cost identity displays”, used to project who we are or perhaps more accurately, how we want to be seen.

    Buying a Tesla may once have signalled innovation, environmental consciousness, or social progressivism. But Musk’s increasingly polarising public behaviour and political commentary have altered the cultural meaning of the brand.

    This creates a sense of cognitive dissonance for those consumers whose values no longer align with what the brand’s owner now represents. Enter the bumper sticker.

    Sales of Tesla have fallen sharply this year as Elon Musk has become more political.
    Shutterstock

    In an increasingly fragmented society, where people are eager to differentiate themselves, even a sticker can be a subtle form of moral positioning. But more than anything, it’s often a way to signal to the groups that matter most to us, “please like me”.

    Social identity theory suggests people derive part of their self-concept from their perceived membership in social groups. Bumper stickers make these group affiliations visible, projecting values, ideologies, affiliations, or even contrarian attitudes to the outside world.

    My tiny fading Richmond Tigers sticker on my car may not be performative in the same way a bold political slogan might be. But it still signals a form of identity and belonging.

    Bumper stickers can make affiliation with social groups visible.
    Shutterstock

    The North Face jacket

    Bumper stickers act as a form of “peacocking”. It’s similar to wearing branded clothing, like Dan Andrews’ The North Face jacket during COVID that made him appear more approachable than he would have in a formal suit. Or like even curating a bio on LinkedIn. This is a behavioural strategy where people communicate their traits to others without words.

    In marketing, this links closely to the theory of conspicuous consumption, which can include symbolic consumption, where we buy and display products not just for utility, but for what they say about us.

    Bumper stickers are a literal version of this. They are symbolic, declarative and public. They’re low-effort, high-visibility communicators of group affiliation, virtue, humour, rebellion or outrage.

    The intention might be to inform or persuade, but their actual influence is more complicated.

    Marketing class 101

    In introductory marketing classes, taught at pretty much every university, awareness is often presented as the first stage of the hierarchy of effects model. The model suggests consumer action progresses from awareness to knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and finally, purchase.

    Stickers are unlikely to influence behaviour.
    Shutterstock

    But in practice, this progression is significantly more complicated. Bumper stickers may generate awareness, but there’s little evidence they influence behaviour – especially when considered in isolation.

    This is particularly relevant in areas such as tourism promotion. For example, an unofficial, but nevertheless provocative tourism slogan like the “CU in the NT” ad campaign might spark conversation and recognition, but recognition does not equate to conversion.

    Despite the hope that underpins the millions of dollars spent on slogans and taglines, awareness is necessary but not sufficient for behavioural change.

    Most marketing efforts fail not because people are unaware of the brand, but because they have no reason, opportunity, or inclination to act – that is, to buy the product or change behaviour.

    Culture has fragmented

    Contemporary consumer culture is increasingly tribal and fragmented. Social media algorithms reinforce echo chambers, while physical signals such as car stickers or even political corflute signs signal belonging and in-group and out-group boundaries.

    As a result, bumper stickers probably reinforce identity for the already converted, but are unlikely to persuade those outside the tribe.

    Visible preferences, however, can serve as a form of shorthand for identity, especially when they align with the symbols and language of the in-group. Although their direct influence on behaviour is limited, these signals, when repeated and reinforced within a receptive community, can shape and shift social norms over time.

    In the end, bumper stickers rarely change behaviour. But they do something more subtle. They allow people to express, perform and affirm identity. They act as signals to others, markers of tribe, values, humour or defiance. They help us say this is who I am, or maybe, this is what I am not.

    Paul Harrison has received research funding from Consumer Action Law Centre, Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Victorian Health Association.

    – ref. Low effort, high visibility: what bumper stickers say about our values and identity – https://theconversation.com/low-effort-high-visibility-what-bumper-stickers-say-about-our-values-and-identity-254581

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: A survey of Australian uni students suggests more than half are worried about food or don’t have enough to eat

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Kent, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Wollongong

    StoryTime Studio/ Shutterstock

    Being a university student has long been associated with eating instant noodles, taking advantage of pub meal deals and generally living frugally.

    But for several years, researchers have been tracking how students are not getting enough food to eat. This can have an impact on their mental and physical health as well as their academic performance.

    In new research, we look at how the problem is getting worse.

    Our research

    In March 2022 and March 2024, we surveyed University of Tasmania students about their access to food.

    More than 1,200 students participated in the first survey and more than 1,600 participated in the second. Students were recruited through university-wide emails and social media and included both undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines.

    We used an internationally recognised survey to assess food insecurity. It can tell us whether students are struggling and to what extent.

    It asked simple but revealing questions about financial barriers to food, such as “In the past 12 months, did you ever skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?” or “Did the food you bought just not last, and you didn’t have money to get more?”

    Students were then classified as “food secure” or as one of three levels of food insecurity:

    1. marginally food insecure: students were worried about running out of food

    2. moderately food insecure: students were compromising on the quality and variety of food they ate

    3. severely food insecure: students were often skipping meals or going without food altogether.

    We asked students if they regularly skipped meals or if they didn’t have money for food.
    Cottonbro Studio/ Pexels, CC BY

    Regularly going without food

    We found overall, food insecurity among students increased from 42% in 2022 to 53% in 2024.

    The proportions of those experiencing marginal or moderate levels of food insecurity was stable (at about 8% and 17–18% respectively). But the number of students experiencing severe food insecurity jumped from 17% to 27%.

    While food insecurity increased among most groups, younger students, those studying on campus and international students were the most at risk.

    Although our study focused on the University of Tasmania, similar rates of food insecurity have recently been reported at other regional and metropolitan universities across the country. This suggests it is a widespread issue.

    National data on food insecurity in the general Australian population is limited, with no regular government monitoring. The 2024 Foodbank Hunger Report estimates 32% of Australian households experienced food insecurity, including 19% with severe food insecurity.

    Why is this happening?

    While our study didn’t directly explore the causes of student hunger, rising inflation, high rents and limited student incomes are likely factors.

    The surveys happened during a time of sustained inflation and rising living costs. We know rents, groceries and other essentials have all gone up. But student support payments have not kept pace over the study period.

    Estimates suggest about 32% of Australian households in general do not have enough to eat.
    Armin Rimoldi/Pexels, CC BY

    What can we do?

    To address food insecurity among students, coordinated action is needed across universities and state and territory governments.

    Universities often run food pantries to provide students with basic supplies, but they also need more long-term supports for students.

    Institutions could expand subsidised meal programs, offer regular free or subsidised grocery boxes and ensure healthy, low-cost food is consistently available on campus.

    State governments can reduce the financial stress that contributes to food insecurity by expanding stipends and support for students on unpaid clinical placements in the state system. They could also expand public transport concessions to all students, including international students.

    The federal government can raise Youth Allowance and Austudy to reflect real living costs. The new Commonwealth Prac Payment could be expanded beyond teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work to cover all students undertaking mandatory unpaid placements. The government’s plan to raise HECS-HELP repayment thresholds could also ease the financial pressure on recent graduates.

    Katherine Kent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. A survey of Australian uni students suggests more than half are worried about food or don’t have enough to eat – https://theconversation.com/a-survey-of-australian-uni-students-suggests-more-than-half-are-worried-about-food-or-dont-have-enough-to-eat-254603

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ‘Puppy blues’: how to cope with the exhaustion and stress of raising a puppy

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hazel, Associate Professor, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide

    Lucigerma/Shutterstock

    Caring for a new puppy can be wonderful, but it can also bring feelings of depression, extreme stress and exhaustion. This is sometimes referred to as “the puppy blues”, and can begin anytime after the puppy arrives in the household.

    While researchers are still working on a way to officially diagnose puppy blues, symptoms generally include:

    • physical exhaustion, due to all the feeding, training, cleaning, walks, management and sleep disruptions
    • emotional exhaustion
    • feeling depressed or guilty for not “doing enough” for the puppy
    • self-imposed perfectionist stress and feeling pressure to raise a puppy “the right way”
    • feelings of regret and doubt
    • constantly wondering if the puppy would be better off with someone else or being returned.

    The good news is these feelings are generally temporary. Puppies have a number of difficult developmental states that need to be managed (each with their own unique challenges) – but these will pass as your puppy grows and settles in.

    The bad news? It can be really tough, and can last weeks or months.

    There is very little research into the puppy blues. But through interviews, surveys and longitudinal studies (where scholars track people’s experiences over time), researchers have begun piecing together what can help puppy owners survive these challenges.

    It’s not an easy time.
    Masarik/Shutterstock

    Get the help you need

    Much like rearing children, puppy raising is hardest as a solo journey. Researchers highly recommend building a team around you and your puppy to help decrease the stress.

    Seek help from parents, friends and family. Having people who you can call to puppysit and to lean on emotionally during tough times is a lifesaver for puppy owners.

    Having a great local vet you trust is crucial (bonus points if you also get yourself a vet with further qualifications in animal behaviour). Chat to your vet if you are worried about your puppy’s behaviour or want to know more about force-free training.

    Online communities have their place too. Seeing others go through (and survive!) similar challenges can be a great relief. These communities can also be a treasure trove of advice.

    That said, remember there’s almost just as much bad advice as good online. Check with your vet if you’re unsure. The use of aversive training methods, such as smacking or yelling, is associated with more behavioural problems by the time your puppy is a year old.

    And if you find yourself feeling really overwhelmed, don’t be afraid to chat to your GP about your mental health.

    Make sure you have the right resources

    Puppy care is full-time work. Working two full-time jobs leads to burnout. If possible, take time off work to help settle your new pet in. If your can’t, call on your village for help with puppysitting.

    Consider how you can make use of long-lasting toys and safe spaces to keep your puppy entertained for a while without your input.

    Long lasting chew toys, “snuffle mats” (which can be easily and cheaply made at home and can be used to hide food), and puzzle toys can also help your puppy learn to relax and settle on their own.

    Play pens are also a godsend and allow you to step away or rest while they nap, eat or play.

    Keep realistic expectations

    There is no such thing as “perfect” when it comes to raising a puppy; chasing perfection will only lead to misery.

    It can help to remember that puppies are babies. They are not supposed to know the cue to sit or stay yet, or to be able to focus on you for long during a training session.

    When their teeth hurt, they’re going to grab the nearest item to chew on – which might be your hand, your shoe or your favourite sunglasses. Either way, babies are going to make mistakes, not because you’ve failed, but because their brains are too underdeveloped to do any better right now.

    They’re just a baby.
    Pryimachuk Mariana/Shutterstock

    Training sometimes goes backwards – or out the window altogether. This is especially true when we hit new developmental periods. It’s normal and you’ve done nothing wrong (remember those underdeveloped brains!). If you’re concerned, seek professional advice from a vet.

    Remember, none of the challenges will last forever. Try to enjoy the good moments, because they won’t last forever either.

    Is kitten blues a thing?

    While kitten blues has not been researched as much as puppy blues, many kitten owners in online forums anecdotally report similar feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion.

    So it’s reasonable to assume this phenomenon exists and is likely very similar to its puppy counterpart. The advice in this article applies to both kittens and puppy owners.

    Caring for a kitten can be stressful too.
    rindwi99/Shutterstock

    Puppies and kittens are certainly not easy to raise.

    But when you’re staring into those adorable eyes, wondering how this tiny creature who brings you so much love can also make you cry with exhaustion, remember: you’ve got this.

    Susan Hazel has received funding from the Waltham Foundation. She is affiliated with the Dog and Cat Management Board of South Australia and the RSPCA South Australia.

    Ana Goncalves Costa is affiliated with the Delta Institute and South Australian veterinary behaviour clinic Pawly Understood.

    – ref. ‘Puppy blues’: how to cope with the exhaustion and stress of raising a puppy – https://theconversation.com/puppy-blues-how-to-cope-with-the-exhaustion-and-stress-of-raising-a-puppy-247328

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Prison needle programs could save double what they cost – our new modelling shows how

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Farah Houdroge, Mathematical Modeller, Burnet Institute

    ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock

    Needle and syringe programs are a proven public health intervention that provide free, sterile injecting equipment to people who use drugs. By reducing needle sharing, these programs help prevent the spread of blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV and minimise life-threatening bacterial infections.

    Australia leads the world in community-based needle and syringe programs. But they are not used in Australian prisons – which are hotspots for injection-related infections.

    This is a breach of human rights and United Nations resolutions, which make clear health-care standards for people in prison must be equivalent to those in the community.

    In addition to meeting human rights standards, our new modelling – the first of its kind in Australia – shows there would be significant economic benefits to implementing prison-based programs.

    Needle and syringe programs in the community

    Australia is a world leader in needle and syringe programs in the community. There are 4,218 sites across the country (as of 2021). Each year they distribute more than 50 million needles and syringes.

    Among people who inject drugs, that’s about 508 needles and syringes per person each year — the highest rate globally, and more than double the World Health Organization’s benchmark for high needle and syringe program coverage (200 per person per year).

    For reference, the country with the second-highest coverage was Finland (with 450 needles and syringes per person who injects drugs per year) followed by the Netherlands (367).

    Prisons are infection hotspots

    A law enforcement emphasis in responding to drug use – rather than public health focus – has resulted in grossly disproportionate rates of incarceration among people who use drugs.

    In Australia, between 29% and 52% of people in prisons report injecting drugs at some point in their lives, and around 40% of people who were injecting drugs in the community before prison continue to inject inside.

    Without access to sterile injecting equipment, needle sharing and unsafe injecting practices are common. As a result, people who inject drugs in prison are at higher risk of transmitting blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C than those in the community.

    In 2023, 42% of all hepatitis C treatments in the country were delivered in prisons. These treatments are government-funded, highly effective and curative (meaning total recovery).

    But the prevention strategies used in the community – which stop infections happening again – are not used in prison. Re-infection in prisons occurs at more than twice the rate of initial infection.

    Why the gap in prisons?

    Australian peak bodies, as well as major research and community health organisations, have long supported the introduction of prison-based programs.

    However, legal and political opposition, concerns around safety and security, and funding constraints have all contributed to the lack of progress.

    As of 2023, prison needle and syringe programs operated in eleven countries worldwide. The outcomes are positive for both health (reduction in needle sharing, drug use and hepatitis C and HIV transmission) and prison safety.

    A 2024 study of Canada’s existing needle and syringe program, operating in nine prisons, found it will save the health-care system $C0.85 million in treatment costs between 2018 and 2030 by preventing hepatitis C and other injection-related infections. In contrast, the program cost just $C0.45 million to run. Canada has since expanded the program to eleven prisons nationwide.

    Here’s what we found

    To bring an economic perspective to this debate in Australia, our new study estimated the costs and benefits of introducing needle and syringe programs in all Australian prisons, aiming to reach 50% of people who inject drugs in prison between 2025 and 2030.

    We drew on a similar program in Luxembourg which follows international best practice. This needle and syringe program is delivered through prison health services. Sterile injecting equipment is provided face-to-face by health staff. Used equipment is exchanged one-for-one (meaning a sterile needle-syringe can be exchanged for a used one), in a confidential and safe manner.

    Then, we identified the specific components and resources needed to implement the program, such as sterile injecting equipment and annual training sessions for prison health staff. We researched their associated costs to calculate the total cost of scaling-up nationally.

    Finally, we modelled the number of hepatitis C and other injection-related infections the program would prevent. These infections can have serious health consequences and are costly to treat. The money saved here helped us calculate the cost savings (that is, the benefits) of the program.

    Implementing prison-based programs nationally would cost approximately $A12.2 million between 2025 and 2030. But this investment could prevent 894 hepatitis C infections and 522 injection-related bacterial and fungal infections.

    We estimated these infections would cost the health-care system $31.7 million to treat – more than double the cost of preventing them with a prison needle and syringe program.

    In other words: for every dollar invested in prison-based programs, more than two dollars would be saved in health-care costs.

    Where to from here?

    People have strong views about injecting drug use and prison-based needle and syringe programs. But countries where needle and syringe programs have been successfully implemented in prisons have several things in common.

    First, there is widespread understanding among everyone involved in using, administrating or overseeing the program of its benefits. Eliminating blood-borne viruses can reduce health risks for people in prison and improve the safety of staff.

    Second, successful implementation is inclusive. It ensures a range of people have meaningful input in how the program is designed and delivered, including incarcerated people, health-care professionals and policymakers, prison officers and government bodies.

    Third, drug use in prison is treated as a public health issue, not a political football. The failed War on Drugs has only compounded the issue, leading to the over-incarceration of people who use drugs and the creation of lucrative prison drug markets.

    If Australia is to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030 – as the national hepatitis C strategy outlines – it will be essential to combine prison-based treatment with prevention strategies, including needle and syringe programs.

    We now know they are likely to save money too.

    Mark Stoové has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Victorian Department of Health, and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging. He has also received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie and consultant fees from Gilead Sciences for activities unrelated to this work.

    Nick Scott receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, and has previously received funding from the Victorian Department of Health and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.

    Farah Houdroge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Prison needle programs could save double what they cost – our new modelling shows how – https://theconversation.com/prison-needle-programs-could-save-double-what-they-cost-our-new-modelling-shows-how-254592

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Security without submarines: the military strategy Australia should pursue instead of AUKUS

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Palazzo, Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, UNSW Sydney

    For more than a century, Australia has followed the same defence policy: dependence on a great power. This was first the United Kingdom and then the United States.

    Without properly considering other options, successive federal governments have intensified this policy with the AUKUS agreement and locked Australia into dependency on the US for decades to come.

    A more imaginative and innovative government would have investigated different ways to achieve a strong and independent national defence policy.

    One that, for instance, didn’t require Australia to surrender its sovereignty to a foreign power. Nor require the acquisition of fabulously expensive nuclear-powered submarines and the building of overpriced, under-gunned surface warships, such as the Hunter frigates.

    In fact, in an age of rapidly improving uncrewed systems, Australia does not need any crewed warships or submarines at all.

    Instead, Australia should lean into a military philosophy that I describe in my upcoming book, The Big Fix: Rebuilding Australia’s National Security. This is known as the “strategic defensive”.

    What is the strategic defensive?

    The strategic defensive is a method of waging war employed throughout history, although the term’s use only dates to the early 19th century.

    It doesn’t require a state to defeat its attacker. Rather, the state must deny the aggressor the ability to achieve their objectives.

    The strategic defensive best suits “status quo states” like Australia. The people of status quo states are happy with what they have. Their needs can be met without recourse to intimidation or violence.

    These states also tend to be militarily weak relative to potential aggressors, and aren’t aggressors themselves.

    In short: if war eventuates, Australia’s only goal is to prevent a change to the status quo.

    In this way, strategic defensive would suit very well as the intellectual foundation of Australia’s security policy.

    Strong reasons for a strategic defensive approach

    There are also sound military and technological reasons why Australia should frame its security around the strategic defensive.

    First, defence is the naturally stronger position in war, compared to attack.

    It is harder to capture ground (including sea and airspace) than it is to hold it. All aggressors must attack into the unknown, bringing their support with them. Defenders, by contrast, can fall back onto a known space and the provisions it can supply.

    Military thinkers generally agree that to succeed in war, an attacker needs a three-to-one strength advantage over the defender.

    And the wide water moat surrounding the Australian continent greatly complicates and increases the cost of any aggressor’s effort to harm us.

    Australia could also use weapons now available to enhance the inherent power of being the defending side. Its task need only be making any attack prohibitively expensive, in terms of equipment and human life.

    Long-range strike missiles and drones, combined with sensors, provide the defending nation with the opportunity to create a lethal killing zone around it. This is what China has done in the East and South China Seas.

    Australia can do the same by integrating missiles, drones and uncrewed maritime vessels with a sensor network linked to a command-control-targeting system.

    Missiles and drones are a better buy when compared to the nuclear-powered submarines Australia hopes to acquire from the United States, as well as the warships – including more submarines – the government plans to build in the Osborn and Henderson shipyards.

    And most importantly, they are available now.

    A smarter strategy

    A defensive network also makes strategic sense for Australia, unlike the planned AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines. Australia has no need to operate in distant waters, such as those off the coast of China.

    In addition, Australia can afford so few vessels that their deterrence effect is not credible. Missiles and drones are vastly cheaper, meaning Australia can buy them in the thousands.

    Australia is making the mistake of focusing on the platform – expensive ships and planes – rather than the effect needed: the destruction of a potential enemy with swarms of weapons.

    In fact, the age of large crewed warships, both on and below the sea, is coming to an end. Long-range strike technology means the sea can now be controlled from the land. Rapidly improving sensors make it impossible for attackers to hide on, below or above the surface of the ocean.

    A better bet would be for Australia to invest in uncrewed surface and sub-surface maritime vessels to patrol its approaches, as well as large numbers of land-based launchers and missiles.

    For a small power such as Australia, investing in this makes more sense than a small, bespoke number of extremely expensive and vulnerable warships.

    It’s not too late to rethink

    It is clear Australian leaders have decided to intensify Australia’s dependence on the US rather than seeking to create a military capable of securing the nation on our own .

    The cost is nigh-on ruinous in terms of not just money, but also the entanglement in foreign-led wars and potential reputational loss.

    Perhaps worst of all, the nation is making itself into a target – possibly a nuclear target – if war between the US and China was to eventuate.

    This need not have been the outcome of the government’s recent defence reviews. But it’s not too late to rethink.

    By adopting a different military philosophy as the guide for its security decision-making, Australia could manage its security largely on its own.

    This only requires leaders with a willingness to think differently.

    This is the first piece in a series on the future of defence in Australia.

    Albert Palazzo is not a member of a political party but does occasional volunteer work for The Greens. In 2019, he retired from the Department of Defence. He was the long-serving Director of War Studies for the Australian Army.

    – ref. Security without submarines: the military strategy Australia should pursue instead of AUKUS – https://theconversation.com/security-without-submarines-the-military-strategy-australia-should-pursue-instead-of-aukus-253107

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: From the doable to the downright impossible: your guide to making sense of election promises

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Rindert Algra-Maschio, PhD Candidate, Social and Political Sciences, Monash University

    Three weeks into the federal election campaign and both major parties have already pledged to spend billions in taxpayer dollars if elected on May 3.

    But with so many policies announced — and surely more to follow — sometimes it can be hard to make sense of exactly what is being promised.

    That ambiguity can come back to bite voters, and the government, during the next term.

    So, how do you sort the deliverable promises from the downright impossible?

    It’s a question we reckoned with while tracking Labor’s 2022 campaign promises over the last term through our Election Promise Tracker.

    Politicians can make it hard to hold them accountable for their commitments later, so it’s important to know when you’re being sold a pup. Here are our tips on what to look out for in the lead-up to polling day.

    Distant horizons

    Promise tracking relies on clearly defined actions that can be assessed against a specific timeline, and ideally by the end of a government’s term.

    But politicians have a habit of announcing policies that extend over much longer horizons, with no guarantee their party will be in government to see them through.

    This can happen with large infrastructure projects and other big spending announcements, such as Labor’s 2022 promise to bring investment in the Great Barrier Reef to $1.2 billion by 2030, or the Coalition’s 2025 plan to build its first nuclear reactors by the middle of next decade.

    Even five-year promises — whether to build 30,000 social and affordable homes or cut 41,000 public service jobs — aren’t particularly helpful when terms are three years long.

    Certainly, governments should set long-term priorities. But if pledges won’t be completely fulfilled, voters should at least know what to expect during the coming term.

    One way to gauge if parties are serious about promises is if they have outlined the shorter steps required to reach their longer-term goals.

    Can it be measured?

    The difference between concrete promises and mere rhetoric largely boils down to whether a pledge can be objectively measured.

    Sometimes a promise can seem measurable but still lack a reliable or definitive measure to assess it when the time comes.

    Jobs targets are a classic example of this, seen in the Coalition’s 2022 election pitch to create “1.3 million new jobs” and also Labor’s recent boast to have delivered “a million new jobs”.

    As experts have persistently pointed out, these numbers do not account for population growth or, importantly, the fact that governments cannot take credit for every new private sector job.

    Another example is Labor’s infamous promise to shave $275 off the average annual household electricity bill by 2025. While there is good data to track electricity bills, we won’t have the numbers necessary to assess the most recent term until mid-2026.

    When it comes to promises that depend on specific figures, voters should consider whether they will have reliable data to assess the final outcome.

    Lacking the details

    Parties regularly dole out promises at press conferences along the campaign trail, but these announcements can be vaguely worded, leaving voters to fill in the blanks.

    For example, Labor’s 2022 pledge to “get real wages growing” could have been understood several different ways, including as a promise to increase wages during just one quarter. (Our promise tracker took it to mean wages would be higher at the end of the government’s term than at the start.)

    In fairness, parties do often publish their policies online, but these documents can be light on specifics.

    During the current campaign, for example, Labor has promised to spend $1 billion in mental health support. Its policy says the funding will build or upgrade more than 100 mental health centres — but has so far neglected to say when that will happen in their policy documents.

    The finer details can sometimes be found in a party’s costing documents, which also show whether funding announcements are already budgeted or genuinely new, although the major parties often release these documents only days out from the election.

    This can leave little time for serious public scrutiny or analysis, especially for early voters, who in this election could account for half the electorate.

    So before you vote, it’s worth checking whether more details have been released about the promises that matter to you.

    The importance of keeping track

    Promise tracking helps voters hold their government to account by ensuring politicians don’t wriggle out of their commitments.

    Many will recall, for example, Labor’s 2022 pledge to “establish a Makarrata Commission with responsibility for truth-telling and treaty” — and, following the Voice referendum, the prime minister’s attempt to recast it as a general commitment to the “process” of Indigenous reconciliation.

    Equally, it’s important that governments aren’t held to promises they never made.

    In the case of Labor’s energy bills pledge, the Coalition has begun to claim that voters were promised a $275 “per year” saving but that household bills had instead increased by $1,300. That total appears to represent a tally of unconfirmed cumulative increases over each of the government’s three years, whereas Labor promised to deliver its $275 reduction “by 2025”.

    Despite popular opinion, governments in Australia and abroad typically deliver on the majority of their promises.

    But convincing voters of that fact requires giving them enough details to know what they are voting for and, ultimately, to assess whether it has been achieved.

    Lisa Waller receives funding from The Australian Research Council

    David Campbell, Eiddwen Jeffery, and Frank Rindert Algra-Maschio do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. From the doable to the downright impossible: your guide to making sense of election promises – https://theconversation.com/from-the-doable-to-the-downright-impossible-your-guide-to-making-sense-of-election-promises-253554

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Curious Kids: if heat rises, why does it get colder in the mountains?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor, Physical Geography (Climate Science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

    Shutterstock/EvaL Miko

    If heat rises, why does it get colder as you climb up mountains?

    – Ollie, 8, Christchurch, New Zealand

    That is an excellent and thoughtful question Ollie – why indeed?

    You’re right, when air is warmed, it rises. This is what gives us the “thermals” gliders can use to soar upwards and large birds of prey like the South American condors use to help them stay aloft for hours at a time.

    But there are lots of other things influencing air temperature. When air rises, it expands because air pressure decreases with height. The energy in the air gets spread out over greater volumes and its temperature goes down.

    This effect wins out over warm air rising. The warm air in a thermal will cool as it rises, until it reaches the temperature of the air around it and is no longer buoyant.

    But why do we have rising air at all?

    That’s because the air around us is heated from below, from Earth’s surface.

    When the Sun is shining, it doesn’t heat the air in the lowest few kilometres of the atmosphere (the troposphere) as there are very few gases in that air to absorb sunlight.

    The Sun’s rays heat Earth, not the air. The air is then warmed from below, from the ground, just as water in a pot on a stove is warmed from the bottom of the pot.

    Earth’s greenhouse

    Earth mostly sends energy back to space in the form of heat or infrared radiation (with wavelengths longer than visible light but shorter than microwaves), and there are plenty of gases in the air that are good at absorbing this kind of radiation, even if they don’t feel the sun’s energy.

    These are what we call greenhouse gases – water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and so on. Because we have these in the air, the absorption of infrared energy is the main way the air is warmed.

    Again, air near the ground is warmed the most by this absorption of energy.
    The warm air near Earth is buoyant so it often “bubbles up” into the atmosphere, just like the water in a pot on a stove.

    But in the atmosphere, the decrease of pressure with height dictates that temperatures decrease as you go up. This is what’s known in weather jargon as the “lapse rate” – how fast temperatures decrease with height. In dry air (no water vapour), that rate is just under 10°C per kilometre, or a little under 1°C cooler per 100 metres upwards.

    As warm and wet air cools as it rises, water vapour condenses to form clouds.
    Shutterstock/Klanarong Chitmung

    When we have water vapour in the air, it’s a different story. As the air rises and cools, it can’t hold so much water vapour, so some of the vapour has to condense back into liquid water. As it does that, it releases the energy it took to evaporate it in the first place.

    That heat warms the air and reduces the “lapse rate”. How big this effect is depends on how much moisture was in the air to start with. On average, the temperature decrease of about 10°C per kilometre goes down to around 6.5°C per kilometre.

    And what happens to that liquid water in the air? If forms tiny droplets that make clouds. If enough of those drops stick together and become heavy enough, they’ll fall back to Earth as rain.

    Clouds, rain and lightning

    We have clouds and rain because temperatures decrease with height. The clouds that form this way, through buoyant air rising in thermals, are known as cumulus clouds.

    Cumulus always have lumpy tops, looking a bit like a cauliflower. That’s because different parts of the rising air have different amounts out water vapour in them. So different amounts of energy are released, giving the air different buoyancy in different places. The moistest, most buoyant air rises the highest, while drier less buoyant air doesn’t make it so far up.

    If there is lots of moisture available, we can get a thunderstorm cloud, with thunder and lightning as well as plenty of rain. Not just rain either, but often hail (frozen rain).

    That happens because the temperature in the upper parts of such deep clouds is well below freezing, so it is made up of ice crystals rather than water drops. Those ice crystals can stick together to form hail, or snow.

    Lightning forms because of positive electrical charges at the top of clouds and negative charges at the bottom.
    Shutterstock/Athapet Piruksa

    Curiously, it’s the collisions between ice crystals and water drops as they go up and down in a deep cumulus cloud that gives rise to lightning, with a build-up of positive electrical charges at the top of the cloud and negative charges at the bottom.

    Getting back to your original question, why is it colder in the mountains? That’s because as we climb a mountain, we are moving into cooler layers of the atmosphere. We are getting above the surface layers of the atmosphere, going to lower pressures, and that causes the temperature to drop.

    Warm air can still rise from a mountaintop, but it’ll be cooler to start with than air down at sea level, just because it’s at a lower pressure. Climbers who tackle really high mountains, like Mount Everest, usually take oxygen cylinders with them as the air is so thin near the top of such high peaks.

    That’s also why snow and ice linger on mountain tops, as that’s where it is cold enough year-round to keep the ice frozen.

    Hello curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    James Renwick receives funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). He is a member of the Green Party.

    – ref. Curious Kids: if heat rises, why does it get colder in the mountains? – https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-if-heat-rises-why-does-it-get-colder-in-the-mountains-252911

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