'We're trapped': Britons in homes with unsafe cladding see no way out as living costs soar


London
CNN
 — 

In May 2017, Sophie Bichener did what many in their twenties are unable to do: buy a home. She paid around £230,000 (around $295,000 at the time) for her two-bedroom apartment in a high-rise building in a town north of London, where a train could get her to work in the capital in less than half an hour. She had her foot on the first rung of Britain’s housing ladder, an increasingly difficult feat, and it felt like the only way was up.

A month later, Bichener woke up to news that would change her life. A fire had broken out at a similar block to hers: the 24-story Grenfell Tower in west London, which was encased in flammable cladding. The material meant to keep out the wind and rain went up like a matchstick. The fire killed 72 people and left an entire community homeless and heartbroken. The ordeal sent Bichener into a panic. Was her building also at risk, she wondered?

The burned remains of Grenfell stood uncovered for months, looming over one of London’s richest boroughs. It became a monument that to many symbolized the disastrous effects of austerity – the decade-long policy of cost-cutting embarked on by the Conservatives in response to the financial crisis of 2008. The tragedy was made all the more stark by its surroundings: the public housing block is just a five-minute walk from Kensington properties worth tens of millions of pounds. Look one way: scarcely imaginable wealth. The other: a hulking symbol of a broken and divided Britain.

The deadly blaze that engulfed the Grenfell Tower apartment building on June 14, 2017, was fueled by a type of cladding which is now banned.

In the wake of the fire, there was a wave of promises from politicians that things would change – that building safety would be improved, social housing reformed, and that responsibility would be taken for the government agenda of public spending cuts, deregulation and privatization that acted as kindling for the tragedy that unfolded.

But in the five years since, Britons living in tower blocks with unsafe cladding have found themselves stuck in a perpetual state of limbo. CNN spoke with 10 people, who all say they are paralyzed by fear that their buildings could catch fire at any moment, and crippled by costs thrust upon them to fix safety defects that were not their fault – despite the government promising they would not have to “pay a penny.”

Now, their problems are compounded by a fresh disaster: a spiraling cost-of-living crisis. As energy prices and inflation soar, residents like Bichener are facing an impossible situation, burdened not only by sky-high bills but also the eye-watering expense of remediating properties that now feel more like prisons than homes.

Residents told CNN they were living in a perpetual state of anxiety, inundated by text alerts informing them of mounting bills and waiting on tenterhooks for the next buzz of their phone. Some said their building insurance had quadrupled since they moved in, while others were burdened by ballooning service charges – hundreds of pounds a month for safety fixes that hadn’t been started.

Many said they had left their mortgages on variable rates in the hopes they could eventually sell their apartments, but after the Bank of England hiked interest rates this fall their repayments had become untenable, with monthly payments almost doubling in some cases. Paired with the rising costs of living – more expensive energy, fuel and food – the residents CNN spoke with said they are finding themselves several thousand pounds a year poorer.

When Bichener bought her flat in Vista Tower in Stevenage, a 16-story office block built in 1965 and converted into residential housing in 2016, there was “no mention” of fire hazards, she said. “When Grenfell happened we spoke to our local council just to double-check all the buildings in the town. We asked the management agent and freeholder [the owner of the apartment building and land] if they have any concerns. At that point, everyone was saying no, all these buildings are good,” Bichener told CNN.

Vista Tower, right, in Stevenage. Britons living in unsafe buildings remain haunted by the memory of Grenfell.

But there were soon signs of trouble. The developer that built the block put itself into liquidation – the first “red flag,” Bichener said. Emails to the freeholder went unanswered – the second. Then confirmation: In 2019, two years after Grenfell, the management agent reported that the building was unsafe. An inspection had found an array of hazards not previously listed.

After the revelations, a group of former Grenfell residents came to visit Vista Tower to raise awareness about the nationwide cladding crisis. Bichener said that one man who had lost a family member in the Grenfell fire told her he was struck by the similarities: “He said he went cold.”

In November 2020, she was hit with a life-changing bill from the freeholder. “The whole project, all of the remediation, came to about £15 million.” Split between the leaseholders, it worked out to be about £208,000 per flat.

That bill – almost the same price she initially paid for the flat – has hung over Bichener’s head since. The government has offered little help and the political chaos in Britain has made matters worse. There have been seven housing secretaries in the five years since Grenfell, as the governing Conservative Party remains embroiled in internal strife. Some have begun to make progress – including threatening legal action to get the company that owns Vista Tower to pay up rather than passing the cost on to the residents – only to find themselves out of the job weeks later.

“I can’t afford to live in this building anymore. I don’t want to pay the service charge, I don’t want to pay all of the horrific leaseholder costs. I just don’t want it. But I can’t get out.”

Sophie Bichener

Meanwhile, Bichener is still waiting for her life to get back on track. She is unable to sell, because banks are unwilling to lend against the property, and, in recent months, her mortgage, insurance and service charge have all shot up. The crippling costs meant she delayed getting married and has put off having children.

“I can’t afford to live in this building anymore. I don’t want to pay the service charge, I don’t want to pay all of the horrific leaseholder costs. I just don’t want it. But I can’t get out,” Bichener, now 30 years old, said. “I’m trapped.”

And she’s not alone. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to be in the same boat, but the UK government has failed to commission a full audit, which means the scale of the impact is unclear. Peter Apps, deputy editor at Inside Housing, who has covered the story meticulously over the past five years, estimates there are likely more than 600,000 people in affected tall buildings and millions more in medium-rise towers – those between five and 10 stories. CNN has been unable to verify the precise number.

The problems playing out now are the result of decades of poor policy choices, according to Apps. His new book detailing the Grenfell tragedy and subsequent inquiry, “Show Me the Bodies,” claims the UK “let Grenfell happen” through a combination of “deregulation, corporate greed and institutional indifference.”

Evidence presented to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry found that the local council, which managed the building, had made a £300,000 ($389,400) saving by switching higher quality zinc cladding to a cheaper aluminum composite material (ACM). This meant for an additional £2,300 ($3,000) per flat, the fire might have been prevented.

Any regulations demanding developers use better quality materials were seen as being “anti-business,” Apps told CNN. Developers did not even have to use qualified fire safety inspectors to carry out checks on their buildings – just individuals the developers themselves deemed to be “competent.”

Five years on, the Grenfell victims' families are still waiting for answers -- and thousands are waiting for their buildings to be made safe.

So extensive was the deregulation that the problems were not confined just to high-rise tower blocks – or even to cladding. Instead, many low-rise buildings suffer from problems ranging from poor fire cavities to flammable insulation.

“The cladding wasn’t the issue at all,” said Jennifer Frame, a 44-year-old travel industry analyst, who lived in Richmond House in south-west London. “It was the fact that it was a timber frame building, with a cavity between that and the cladding,” she added, a safety defect that was confirmed by an inspection report.

One night in September 2019, a fire broke out in a flat in Richmond House. Rather than being contained in one room, the cavity acted “like a chimney,” Frame said. An independent report commissioned by the building owner, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association, and included in written evidence submitted to the UK parliament by residents, revealed that the cavity barriers were either “defective” or “entirely missing” at Richmond House, allowing the fire to spread “almost unhindered” through the 23-flat block.

“The use of materials such as ACM within cladding systems has rightly attracted a lot of attention since Grenfell. It is now clear that there is a much wider failure by construction companies,” the residents said in their submission.

Cladding is meant to keep buildings dry and warm, but lax regulations have resulted in flammable materials being used in many cases.

Sixty residents lost their homes that night. Three years later, Frame is still living in temporary accommodation in the same borough of London, while paying the mortgage for her property which no longer exists. Perversely, she said she feels lucky that it’s only the mortgage – and not the monumental cost of remediations – that she’s on the hook for.

“I do consider myself – for lack of a better word – one of the lucky ones, as we don’t have the threat of bankruptcy hanging over our head any more,” she said.

CNN reached out for comment to the developer of Richmond House, Berkeley Group, but did not receive a reply. Berkeley Group has previously denied liability.

Years of delay and disputes over who should cover the cost, combined with the sheer stress of living in unsafe buildings, have weighed heavily on residents.

Bichener moved back to her parents’ house in 2020. “I just couldn’t face being there,” she said. “I ended up on anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication just from being in those four walls in a pandemic, in a dangerous home, with a life-changing sum of money that would potentially bankrupt me over my head.”

At a rally for the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign, she recalled being with a group of people her age and how they all broke down in tears. “They’re the only people who understand the situation you’re in. Everyone’s having huge crises over this.”

Their options are limited. Most can’t sell their properties, since banks won’t offer mortgages against them. Even if banks were to reverse this policy, it is unclear whether there would be a demand for them, given the spiraling costs of borrowing. According to the residents CNN spoke with, a scant few have been able to sell to cash buyers – but often at a 60-80% loss.

Some have become “resentful landlords,” a term used by residents who are unable to sell their properties, but are so desperate to move out that they rent it out cheaply to others. Lilli Houghton, 30, rents out her flat in Leeds, a city in the north of England, at a loss to a new tenant. She still pays the service charge for her flat, while also renting a new place elsewhere.

Most have no choice but to wait – but five years has felt like an eternity. When Zoe Bartley, a 29-year-old lawyer, bought her one-bedroom apartment in Chelmsford, a city in Essex, she thought she’d sell it within a few years to move into a family home.

But she hasn’t been able to sell. She found a buyer in January 2020 – but their mortgage was declined after an inspection of the building found a number of fire safety defects.

Bartley’s 15-month-old son still sleeps in her bedroom. When her two stepchildren come to stay, “they have to sleep in the living room,” she said. “When they were four and five and I’d just started dating their dad,” they were excited to have sleepovers in the living room. Now they’re nine and 10, “it’s just pathetic,” Bartley said.

Bartley said she struggles to sleep knowing that a fire could break out at night. Others who spoke to CNN say they have trained their children on what to do when the alarms go off.

Earlier this year, residents in unsafe buildings began to see some fledgling signs of progress. In a letter to developers, the then-housing secretary, Michael Gove, said it was “neither fair nor decent that innocent leaseholders … should be landed with bills they cannot afford to fix problems they did not cause.” He set out a plan to work with the industry to find a solution.

First, he gave developers two months “to agree to a plan of action to fund remediation costs,” estimated at £4 billion (around $5.4 billion). That deadline passed with no agreement reached.

To force developers’ hands, the Building Safety Act was passed into law in April, which requires the fire safety defects in all buildings above 11 meters to be fixed and created a fund to help cover the costs. The act implemented a “waterfall” system: Developers would be expected to pay first, but, if they are unable to, then the cost would fall to the building owners. If they are also unable to pay, only then would the cost fall to the leaseholders. Leaseholders’ costs were capped at £10,000 ($11,400), or £15,000 ($17,000) in London, for those who met certain criteria. The government asked 53 companies to sign this pledge; many did.

For many residents, this came as a relief. They had faced life-changing bills for years, but the cap meant they wouldn’t be totally wiped out. It seemed the worst of their worries were over.

But there was a problem: The pledge made by developers wasn’t legally binding. Even though the government has made money available for remediation, no mechanism has yet forced any developers to make use of it.

Bichener still doesn't know when remediation work on Vista Tower will begin, how long it will take, or who will pay for it.

One resident explained to CNN: “Prior to Michael Gove, your building owner could give you a bill to replace the cladding. They’re now not able to do that anymore, but that doesn’t mean your building gets fixed.”

The government tried again. In July it published contracts to turn the “pledge into legally binding undertakings.” If developers signed the contract, this would commit them to remediating their buildings. Still, there was nothing obliging the developers to sign these contracts – and so none did.

In October, Vista Tower – where Bichener lives – came under scrutiny. Then-Housing Secretary Simon Clarke set a 21-day deadline for Grey GR, the owner of the building, to commit to fixing it. “The lives of over 100 people living in Vista Tower have been put on hold,” Clarke said. “Enough is enough.” Bichener stressed her building was just one among thousands in need of remediation, but welcomed this as a “step in the right direction.”

But when that deadline came, Clarke was already out of the job. He had been appointed by former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, but after her six-week premiership came to an end, Clarke was replaced in the subsequent reshuffle. The deadline passed without Grey GR making any commitment.

Gove was reappointed by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as Clarke’s successor in October. In response to questions from CNN, the UK’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) confirmed that the government has started formal proceedings against Grey GR.

“We are finalizing the legally binding contracts that developers will sign to fix their unsafe buildings, and expect them to do so very soon,” a DLUHC spokesperson said in a statement.

“I think the ‘who’s paying’ question will drag on for many years. That might be through court cases and tribunals. But I don’t see how it will be resolved.”

Sophie Bichener

Grey GR told CNN that it was “absolutely committed to carrying out the remediation works required,” but that they had not started yet due to obstacles in receiving government funds.

“Issues with gaining access to [the Building Safety Fund], created by Government, have been, and remain, the fundamental roadblock to progress,” Grey GR said in a statement, adding that the security of residents was of the “utmost priority” and that it was taking steps to make buildings safer.

But, according to Bichener, residents are no safer than they were five years ago. All that has changed is that, legally, they will no longer have to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds to fix their buildings.

That hasn’t stopped building owners from seeking funds from residents though. “The amount of £208,430.04 is outstanding in connection with [your] property,” read a letter sent to a resident of Vista Tower by the building owner in November. “We would appreciate your remittance within the next seven days.”

In the meantime, life for the residents of these buildings goes on. Since speaking to CNN, Bichener got married. She and her husband are both paying off their own mortgages until she is able to sell her flat. For years they had been “stressed,” she said, asking “do we tie ourselves together and have these two properties?” But they decided they couldn’t put their lives on pause forever because of her Vista Tower nightmare.

“I want to have left,” Bichener said of where she wants to be, a year from now. “The dream is that I no longer own that property and I am long gone and I never have to see it or visit it again.

“But if I’m realistic, I think we’ll be in the same situation. I think the ‘who’s paying’ question will drag on for many years. That might be through court cases and tribunals. But I don’t see how it will be resolved.”


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Media dunk on Pope Benedict XVI after his death: ‘Good riddance’ to ‘cartoonish’ and ‘troubled legacy’

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Several prominent media outlets and journalist punctuated the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI with knocks to his career and legacy, criticizing his “cartoonish” and “troubled legacy” of promoting “rigid” conservatism in the Roman Catholic Church.

On Saturday morning, just after Benedict XVI passed due to health complications from old age, outlets including NBC, CBS, ABC, Newsweek, The Washington Post and liberal journalists criticized the late former pontiff for the traditional and anti-liberal perspective from which he led the Roman Catholic Church.

Benedict XVI reigned over the Church following the death of Pope St. John Paul II in 2005 until his historical and controversial resignation from the seat of St. Peter in 2013, after which Pope Francis I assumed the throne.

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI DEAD AT 95, VATICAN SAYS

The three major U.S. news networks wasted no time in knocking Benedict’s career. As noted by NewsBusters, ABC News correspondent Terry Moran on “Good Morning America” claimed the late pontiff “championed a fierce conservative and traditionalist view of the church” and reminded viewers of how liberals used to call him “God’s Rottweiler” to reinforce the notion.

Moran added that “Benedict took a hard line reaffirming the Church’s traditional teachings regarding contraception, abortion and the celibate all-male priesthood.”

During “CBS Saturday Morning,” correspondent Chris Livesay mentioned how Benedict was “forced join the Hitler Youth at age 14” and fought for the German army in World War II. The reporter also reiterated his nickname, stating he “earned the nickname ‘God’s Rottweiler’ as a rigid enforcer of church policy.”

NBC News reporter Anne Thompson tore into the late pope during her coverage of his passing on NBC’s “Today.” Thompson claimed that Benedict “came with a cartoonish reputation” and mentioned his “God’s Rottweiler” nickname as well. 

She further described him as “a strict conservative theologian” who was committed to “Defending the Catholic faith against relativism; opposing women priests and homosexuality; speaking out against climate change and putting solar panels on the Vatican.”

In a Washington Post piece following Benedict’s death, the outlet fixated on the former pontiff’s “controversial” statements it claimed “shaped” his legacy. 

POPE BENEDICT’S VISION OF CATHOLICISM, VATICAN II, AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH ENDURE THROUGH HIS TEACHINGS

It mentioned statements Benedict made in opposition to revising and updating Church for the modern era, those he made decrying the Church’s sexual abuse scandal, and reminded readers of how Benedict once “sparked an uproar” for claiming, “You can’t resolve [HIV/AIDS] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

Newsweek’s obituary of the Pope Benedict XVI also slammed his conservative legacy, describing it as “troubled.” The piece featured several quotes from University of New Hampshire sociology professor Michele Dillon, a so-called “expert in Catholicism” who argued that “Benedict’s legacy will be overshadowed by some of his socially conservative views.”

Dillon stated, “I think Benedict’s legacy will always be overshadowed in public opinion by his long tenure as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, his role as the moral enforcer of the Church’s re-stated opposition to gay rights, women’s ordination, contraception and abortion.”

Dillon added that Benedict gave off the impression to many that he was “aloof in regard to the everyday realities of Catholics, including sex abuse victims.”

Newsweek also cited University of Southern California associate professor of religion and gender studies Sheila Briggs, who claimed that Benedict’s “single-minded pursuit of his theological vision blinded him to the serious pastoral problems that beset the Church.”

Liberal-leaning journalist Alejandra Caraballo opted for blunt commentary on Benedict’s death, declaring “Good riddance” in response to the loss and justifying the sentiment by accusing the late Pope of contributing to the Catholic sex abuse scandal.

She tweeted, “Pope Benedict helped cover up the biggest systematic sexual abuse of children in history. Good riddance.”

 

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Scotland police blasted for report describing pedophiles as ‘minor-attracted people’: ‘Baloney’

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Police in Scotland have sparked outrage for describing pedophiles as “minor-attracted people” in a report.

Officials said the language in the year-end report was based on terminology used by th European Union.

In a year-end report, Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said police have worked on a project that’s main agenda is “to develop understanding and approach to avoid the victimisation of children by engaging Minor-Attracted People (MAPs) and providing them with the necessary support, treatment and guidance to help prevent criminal activities.” 

The phrasing in the report drew criticism from many in Scotland who said the police were normalizing sex crimes against children, Scotland Daily Express reported.

“Spouting these euphemisms simply masks the reality and their danger,” Kenny McAskill, Alba Party MP for East Lothian and former SNP Justice Secretary, told the outlet. 

TUCKER CARLSON: NO HEALTHY SOCIETY CAN TOLERATE PEDOPHILIA

“I very much welcome the common sense approach from Police Scotland, though even in commissioning documents these euphemisms should be avoided as they mask the reality and hide the horror. The term in whatever context is baloney.”

Maggie Mellon, an independent social work consultant, said that the term “MAP” leads to “danger of normalising and therefore perhaps decriminalising a serious offence”.

A conservative party leader in Scotland added that “most Scots will find any attempt to soften the language around paedophilia in official guidance to be deeply disturbing and wrong.”

WASHINGTON POST SCOLDED FOR ‘NORMALIZING PEDOPHILES’ IN GLOWING REVIEW OF A PLAY ABOUT SEXUAL PREDATORS

The term drew criticism online from political commentators, including Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.

“How about we don’t do this: ‘minor-attracted people’ equal predators plain and simple,” Peterson tweeted.

In a statement, Scotland police said the term is not used in the department but was based on European Union language. 

JIMMY FAILLA SKEWERS DEMOCRAT KATIE PORTER’S ‘DISGUSTING’ TAKE ON ‘PEDOPHILE’ TERM: ‘STRAIGHT INSANITY’

“Police Scotland does not use the term Minor-Attracted Person,” the statement said. “The reference in the Chief Constable’s Assessment of Policing Performance 2021/22 was in the context of Police Scotland’s engagement with the Horizon Project EU consortium to tackle Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.”

“The term was used in the commissioning documents for the consortium and is more commonly used on the continent. In September, Police Scotland representatives successfully lobbied for the MAP term not to be used by the consortium.”

Scotland police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

 

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New Year brain teaser: Can you find 3 empty Champagne flutes?

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

A graphic artist who designs seek-and-finds has created a New Year-themed puzzle as people prepare to ring in 2023.

Gergely Dudás of Budapest, Hungary, has shared the puzzle titled, “Can you find three empty glasses?” with Fox News Digital, which features several rows of animals appearing to toast to a New Year.

Three of the animals are holding a flute containing no beverage.

NEW YEAR’S QUIZ! HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW THESE FACTS ABOUT RINGING IN A NEW YEAR?

“In my opinion, every New Year feels like a new chapter in our personal life – a great opportunity to look at it, reflect on it and try to correct a few things, to better ourselves,” Dudás said.

“The last years have been quite difficult and challenging for many all around the world, and I truly hope that 2023 will bring much more joy to all of us,” he added. 

“Happy New Year!”

CHRISTMAS BRAIN TEASER: CAN YOU FIND RUDOLPH AMONG THE REINDEER?

Dudás has shared other holiday seek-and-find puzzles with Fox News Digital recently, including “Christmas brain teaser: Can you find Rudolph among the reindeer?” and “Can you find a pumpkin among the turkeys?”

Dudás also designs math equations. 

COFFEE CUP BRAIN TEASER: CAN YOU SOLVE THIS MATH PUZZLE?

This week, he shared one that involved coffee cups and required the use of PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) in order to solve it.

To see the solution of Dudás’ New Year’s Eve brain teaser, visit https://dudolfsolutions.blogspot.com/2022/12/three-glasses-solution.html.

 

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Delete this popular task manager app right away if you’re an Android User

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Another warning against a dangerous Android app you should delete. 

Cyber experts at Zscaler ThreatLabz are warning all Android users to check their phones ASAP to ensure they don’t have a popular task management app installed, urging everyone who does have it to delete it immediately. 

CLICK TO GET KURT’S CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS, SECURITY ALERTS AND EASY HOW-TO’S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER 

What Android app should you delete and what does it do? 

The app to delete is Todo: Day Manager, which has been flagged after installing a dangerous banking trojan malware called Xenomorph. The malware can seize your banking information and even gain access to your private SMS messages by intercepting your two-step verification codes to raid your logins. 

The experts found that the malware is dropped in as a fake Google Service application from the internet hosting service GitHub as soon as Todo is installed. It sneakily starts by asking users to enable access permission. Once that permission is granted, it will add itself as a device admin and won’t allow users to disable it.

HOW TO FACETIME ON ANDROID DEVICES

If you have the app installed but did not grant access permission to the malware, then you should be able to delete the app without any issues. If you did grant access, you may have to back up your files and factory-reset your phone to get rid of the app. 

To back up and restore your Android, visit CyberGuy.com and search “backup and restore” by clicking the magnifying glass icon at the top of my website. 

How can I protect myself against malware in the future? 

You must always remain on the lookout for suspicious-looking activity appearing on your devices. You can take these extra precautionary steps to make sure that you avoid malware-stricken apps at all times. 

For more of my security tips, head over to CyberGuy.com and be sure to sign up for my free newsletter by clicking the “Free newsletter” link at the top of my website.

 

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Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI funeral to be held Thursday in St. Peter's Square, with Pope Francis presiding

Pope Francis will celebrate a funeral service for the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI next week after the retired pope passed away Saturday.

The Vatican announced Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI passed away Saturday at 9:34 a.m. He was 95 years old.  

Benedict’s body is currently being held in Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City, where he spent the majority of his life post-papacy.

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI DEAD AT 95, VATICAN SAYS

FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during a mass to create 20 new cardinals during a ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 14, 2015.

FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during a mass to create 20 new cardinals during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 14, 2015.
(REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo)

On Jan. 2, his body will be moved for viewing by the faithful to St. Peter’s Basilica. In accordance with tradition, the body of the deceased pope will be exhibited to the public to allow mourners to pray for the pontiff on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Jan. 5, Pope Francis will preside over the late pontiff’s funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican stated. 

POPE BENEDICT’S VISION OF CATHOLICISM, VATICAN II, AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH ENDURE THROUGH HIS TEACHINGS

Pope Benedict XVI at his Vatican residence in November 1985, Italy.

Pope Benedict XVI at his Vatican residence in November 1985, Italy.
(Gianni GIANSANTI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The service will be open to the public and the Vatican has provided contacts for Catholics worldwide wishing to concelebrate the mass remotely.

Benedict was elected to the papacy in 2005. He later claimed that he prayed he would not be chosen throughout the conclave but was forced to accept what he believed was God calling him to greater service

POPE BENEDICT XVI GIVES FAREWELL TO CARDINALS, PROMISES OBEDIENCE TO SUCCESSOR

Catholic clergyman, Cardinal, Germany Ratzinger taking office as Bishop of Munich - 1977

Catholic clergyman, Cardinal, Germany Ratzinger taking office as Bishop of Munich – 1977
(Claus Hampel / ullstein bild via Getty Images)

In February 2013, at 85 years old, Benedict became the first pope in centuries to resign from his post

“I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise [of the pontificate],” he said at that time. 

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Pope Benedict XVI gives Christmas Night Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 24, 2009, in Vatican City, Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI gives Christmas Night Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 24, 2009, in Vatican City, Vatican.
(Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

From Pope Francis’ ascension onward, the former pontiff went by the title “Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI,” but per canon law, exercised no authority over the church.

On June 29, 2021, Benedict celebrated the Platinum Jubilee — 70th anniversary — of his ordination into the priesthood

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Idaho murder suspect Kohberger's Pennsylvania classmates say he was 'bright,' awkward, bullied in school

ALBRIGHTSVILLE, Pennsylvania – Former Pennsylvania classmates of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger said he was an intellectual who “was very interested in the way the mind works” but bullied for being overweight and socially awkward.

Kohberger was arrested thousands of miles from Idaho, in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, early Friday morning and charged with four counts of murder for the deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21.

Police said he was a graduate student at Washington State University and that he had been living in Pullman at the time. He is in Monroe County, Pennsylvania jail while waiting to be extradited to Idaho.

In his home state, he was known as a genius who was socially awkward and had a tough time picking up on social cues, a couple of his former classmates told Fox News Digital.

CRIMINOLOGIST GRAD STUDENT HIT WITH FOUR COUNTS OF FIRST-DEGREE MURDER

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in connection to four murders in Moscow, Idaho.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in connection to four murders in Moscow, Idaho.
(Washington State University)

Sarah Healey, who went to Pleasant Valley High School with Kohberger, said he was shy and kept to himself and a small group of friends, but some of their classmates – especially girls – mocked Kohberger and threw things at him.

“It was bad,” Healey said. “There was definitely something off about him, like we couldn’t tell exactly what it was. I remember one time when I was walking in the hallway, and he stopped me and was like, ‘Do you want to hang out?’”

At that point, they didn’t know each other or run in the same social circles, said Healey. 

“It was just weird,” she said. “But Bryan was bullied a lot, and I never got a chance to say something to defend him, because he would always run away.”

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO MURDERS TIMELINE: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SLAUGHTER OF FOUR STUDENTS

The victims of Nov. 13 University of Idaho massacre. 

The victims of Nov. 13 University of Idaho massacre. 
(Instagram @xanakernodle / @maddiemogen / @kayleegoncalves)

Healey said she heard other girls tell Kohberger in their high school to “go away, creep” or “I don’t want to hang out with you.”

“I honestly think that’s what led up to this, because he didn’t get the proper help, and it was mainly females that bullied him,” Healey said.

Despite the bullying, she said Kohberger’s grades were always good, and he “was very into his books.” 

That continued at Pennsylvania’s Northampton Community College, according to one of Kohberger’s friends, who requested to remain anonymous because of her job.

“He’s really, really intelligent. A bright kid . . . someone who stood out even in honors and high-level classes,” his NCC friend said. 

IDAHO MURDER SUSPECT: WHO IS BRYAN CHRISTOPHER KOHBERGER

This photo provided by Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility shows Bryan Kohberger.

This photo provided by Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility shows Bryan Kohberger.
(Monroe County (Pa.) Correctional Facility via AP)

Healey and Kohberger’s NCC friend both used the word “shocked” to describe their reactions when they heard about law enforcement’s early Friday morning raid on his parents’ Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, home and his subsequent arrest. 

Kohberger’s NCC friend said she found out that he was in custody while she was at work, and she took a few moments to herself, because she began to tear up.

He was “awkward and intelligent, but not someone you would peg for violent,” she said.

“I want to talk to him now and ask him what happened? What went wrong? What was going through your head? What were you feeling? What was going on? You know, why did this occur?” 

His friend said that he didn’t interact with many people on campus but was friendly with her, and they talked “for hours” about his struggles with heroin addiction and his weight and kept in touch after they graduated. 

IDAHO STUDENTS’ FAMILIES REACT TO PENNSYLVANIA ARREST OF MURDER SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER

The last time she spoke to him was on Facebook a little over two years ago. They talked about their futures and what they wanted to do. 

“I was looking at my master’s program, and he was talking about whether he was going to do the forensic psychology or criminology or both, but he knew he was going for a Ph.D.,” she said.

“And I wasn’t sure if I would have to do my Ph.D. program, if I was going to do a master’s or Ph.D., so we had had a whole conversation about that, and that was our last conversation.

“For me, I just feel like he was never listened to or heard by his peers. So, you know, the fact that I sat and listened to him and heard him and talked with him, that was different.

“And he was always apt to have those conversations with me. And our conversations, whether they were in the hallways at school, or on Messenger, they would last, you know, an hour, two hours.”

IDAHO MURDERS: SLAIN STUDENT’S DAD SAYS ALLEGED KILLER’S ARREST IS ‘FIRST SENSE OF JOY’ IN WEEKS

She got to know and understand him during their talks and classes where she would almost translate for him. 

She explained that he was “genuinely curious” and believed that he lived a sheltered life, so he asked questions or said things to other people that they construed as being offensive.

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“It wasn’t meant to be offensive,” she said. “It was like childlike curiosity from an adult, who you would think would know better than to ask a question, but it was such a genuine curiosity. And that’s why I thought he was so sheltered, that he just had no idea about these things. And I really just don’t think he knew better.”

Those comments were echoed by a classmate at Washington State’s criminology and criminal justice graduate program. 

“I had honestly just pegged him as being super-awkward,” Ben Roberts told The Tribune Democrat. Roberts, said that he took several courses with Kohberger, who sought to be seen as intellectual and “was always looking for a way to fit in.”

“One thing he would always do, almost without fail, was find the most complicated way to explain something,” Roberts told The Tribune Democrat. “He had to make sure you knew that he knew it.”

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Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa still on concussion protocol and will miss Sunday's game



CNN
 — 

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel announced on Friday that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will remain in the NFL’s concussion protocol and miss Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots.

McDaniel first announced on Monday that the player was in the league’s protocol after suffering a concussion during the Green Bay Packers game a day earlier. Tagovailoa played the entire game against the Packers and the coach could not pinpoint a moment where the 24-year-old might have been injured.

Tagovailoa seems to be showing signs of improvement, McDaniel told reporters on Friday.

“I would say that he’s better than the day before, but I’m also trying to get a team ready to play this game and it really doesn’t do anybody any service to overtalk in this scenario where he’s got to be focused on his health and nothing else,” the coach said.

This is the second time this season that the quarterback landed in the concussion protocol, which is the NFL’s policies for assessing and caring for players who sustain a concussion.

Veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is expected to start in Tagovailoa’s place on Sunday.

The NFL and the NFL Players Association investigated the application of the league’s concussion protocol around Tagovailoa’s injury and found no violation of that protocol, the NFL and NFLPA said in a joint statement on Saturday.

“The review established that symptoms of a concussion were neither exhibited nor reported until the following day at which time the team medical personnel appropriately evaluated and placed Mr. Tagovailoa in the concussion protocol,” the statement said.

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Peruvian citizen, founder of violent gang, deported from US after entering illegally through California

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A Peruvian man who founded a criminal gang known for abductions, killings and robberies was deported from the United States on Wednesday, immigration authorities said. 

Giovani Danti Gamarra-Puertas, 63, was escorted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on a flight to Lima, Peru. He was then handed over to Peruvian authorities at Jorge Chavez International Airport to face charges of crimes against public peace.

ICE DEPORTATIONS REMAINED WELL BELOW TRUMP-ERA LEVELS IN FY 2022 AMID HISTORIC BORDER CRISIS

“ERO San Diego deportation officers are committed to preventing dangerous individuals like Gamarra-Puertas from entering our communities through illegitimate claims to avoid prosecution from their home countries,” said Jamison Matuszewski, field office director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in San Diego. 

Gamarra-Puertas was initially arrested in June by Border Patrol agents after illegally entering the U.S. near Calexico, California. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of him at some point, ICE said. Authorities said Gamarra-Puertas was trying to evade prosecution by fleeing to the U.S. 

An image released by ICE shows Peruvian authorities walking with Gamarra-Puertas on an airport tarmac. 

A records check by U.S. authorities revealed he is the founder of the Los Destructores, a criminal gang. He was also affiliated with other Peruvian criminal organizations, including Los Injertos and Malditos de San Juan de Lurigancho.

 

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Pope Benedict left us a lot of thinking to do

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When St. Pope John Paul II died in 2005, I was interviewed on the BBC in Rome moments before the Conclave that would elect Joseph Ratzinger his successor. When the veteran BBC reporter Brian Hanrahan asked me how I could possibly believe that Ratzinger would be elected pope after he just delivered his notable “Dictatorship of Relativism” speech insisting on objective moral truths against the dangers of the subjectivism of passing fads. Wasn’t this too extreme? I replied that it really wasn’t so shocking to think that the Cardinal-electors might actually choose a Catholic pope.

Despite the coverage of Pope Benedict’s passing painting him as “God’s Rottweiler,” an “iron fist in a white glove,” and a ‘far right’ representative of an antiquated and extreme form of Catholicism, I see Ratzinger as a liberal – in the truest and deepest meaning of the word.

Admittedly, it is difficult to sum up a life that spanned some of the most significant events of the Catholic world in the last 600 hundred years; and it is sad to think that he will be remembered mostly as the only pope in that timeframe to resign the pontificate. 

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI DEAD AT 95, VATICAN SAYS

Yet, even Benedict’s detractors will concede (even if only begrudgingly) that his was one of the great minds of our era, possessing a unique ability to articulate, as the phrase goes, simplicity on the other side of complexity – no mean feat for a German theologian. 

Yet, given his role as John Paul’s doctrinal chief, he was seen as someone who was willing to use forceful methods to impose the truth. In revoking certain theologians’ mandates to teach at Catholic universities he was portrayed as the very caricature of the Inquisitor. 

Yet, his actions were nor more illiberal or coercive than a Tesla salesman being fired for hawking a Lexus over a Tesla. It just makes things more honest and above board. 

POPE BENEDICT’S VISION OF CATHOLICISM, VATICAN II, AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH ENDURE THROUGH HIS TEACHINGS

As theologian and later as pope, Benedict showed no affinity for the notion of the temporal power and was suspect of Church-State proximity, especially in his German homeland, which he saw weakened in its evangelical witness due to political entanglements. 

A survey of his writings will show that he believed the Church’s most potent role as a cultural force whose truth-claims wield influence over hearts and minds. Much like the Second Vatican Council he attended he preferred the Church to propose and convince rather than coerce and impose its teaching on the human heart. 

Following that Council, another form of liberalism would emerge within Catholicism that contrasted with an older view represented by figures like Antonio Rosmini, Cardinal John Henry Newman, Lord Acton and their generation of Catholic liberalism. Without dissenting from the core of Catholicism, they offered a complement to the old political liberalism which embraced freedom and truth, and saw freedom as the best means to seek and advance truth. 

The new liberalism, in contrast, wanted to argue not about religious liberty but the liberty from moral constraint. It embraced not democracy, but democratic relativism that resented any truth claim which has brought us to the woke generation, calling into question the ability of the human mind to assert the truth of anything. 

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The writings of Benedict on matters of politics and theology burn with a passion for a right understanding of liberty, anchored in the Christian tradition reaching back to Jesus’ startling declaration that God and Ceasar cannot be conflated. 

Christianity is not and must not become a politicized faith; it may inform politics, but ultimately it transcends politics. It does not find its fulfillment in the power of kings, presidents, central plans, or sweeping revolutions for control by new regimes. 

Benedict’s writings on the inviolability of conscience are at least as passionate and politically unyielding as anything written by the Lord Acton whose warning about the corruptive tendency of power applies as much to popes as it does to politicians.

Given the vast intellectual corpus Benedict leaves in his subtle wake, time is required to sort out what his legacy will be. 

He has left the Church and the world a lot of thinking to do. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM FR. ROBERT SIRICO

 

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