What People are Commenting
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Poppy Wall, Poems & No Peace Talks
No Conversion
Regarding Leo XIV’s speech to reps from 161 religious leaders, I noted there was not one word about conversion. Only praise and positive words for all the false religions. This is not what a good shepherd does. The good shepherd tries to bring the stray sheep back to the fold.
So we can see that, at least up to now, Leo XIV is following the path of all the other Conciliar Popes, including Benedict XVI.
Keep up your good work.
P. M.
______________________
Poems on Eden
Salve Maria! Good morning!
The subject of these poems is something funny I discovered, just something light and whimsical.
They just came about from the idea I've read that a couple of Saints (Elias and Enoch) are in Eden, instead of Heaven.
Hope you like them.
D.C.
A Pigeon for the Garden
Though man of old had lost his way
For eating of the apple tree,
Still I think of that land so gay,
But tucked away. No eye can see,
No man can find that hidden land,
Such is the will of God at hand.
But what of all the birds above
Who sing to Mary of their love?
Who could shoo them from the gate,
And bar them from the garden then?
There is no hate for any hen:
A nest in Eden she can make
And smile to the sainted men
From high above the garden lake
To the Junco
The little junco bird I see
Who finds his feed upon the ground
And hops about at every sound
Would start, I think, but merrily
To hear the thing that I propose.
I watch him in the golden hour
Sunning under every flower,
But still I think it’s in his power
To go one place I cannot go.
I know two men are there, and so
I think it’s time we gave this bird
A way to carry on a word.
We’ll strap to him a paper and pen
And send him to the garden then
To find himself a holy man
And bring of Eden what he knows.
That is the thing that I propose.
______________________
Peace Talks at Vatican Rejected
Russia has rejected the Vatican's offer to host talks for ending the war in Ukraine, despite international support for the idea. “Imagine the Vatican as a venue. It’s a bit vulgar,” said Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Everyone on board, but not Russia, because Russia does not recognize the Catholic Church, only the Russian “orthodox” which is under Putin’s control, completely.
You can read more below.
M.G.
(OSV News) – Russia has rejected the Vatican’s offer to host talks for ending the war in Ukraine, despite international support for the idea.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin had offered to “eventually make the Vatican … available for a direct meeting” between Ukraine and Russia, as May 16 talks between those nations in Istanbul ended after just two hours, with little result except for a mutual prisoner exchange.
The move was endorsed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and U.S. President Donald Trump, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming the Vatican could be a meeting venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks before meeting May 17 with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. The Archbishop of Bologna, Italy, Cardinal Zuppi has served as a papal peace envoy between Ukraine and Russia since 2023.
“I think it’s a place that both sides would be comfortable going,” Rubio told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Rome.
Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelenskyy – who had a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV following the May 18 papal inauguration Mass at St. Peter’s Square – said in his May 19 conversations with Trump he had “reiterated that Ukraine is ready for direct negotiations with Russia in any format that brings results. Türkiye, the Vatican, Switzerland – we are considering all possible venues.”
However, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has nixed the prospect, saying his nation has “no plans” for when or where the next meeting between the two nations will take place.
Lavrov made the remarks while speaking at a May 23 conference in Moscow on “Historical South Russian Lands: National Identity and Self-Determination of Peoples.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov enters a hall with Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher during their meeting in Moscow, Nov. 9, 2021. (OSV News photo/Yuri Kochetkov, pool via Reuters)
“Imagine the Vatican as a venue for negotiations. It’s a bit vulgar,” said Lavrov, according to the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet, citing Russian media outlet RBC. Lavrov’s word choice has also been rendered as “a bit inelegant.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told media May 22 there are “no agreements” to hold talks at the Vatican.
Lavrov cited religion as one obstacle, saying a meeting between Russia and Ukraine, “two Orthodox countries,” at a “Catholic platform” would be “somewhat uncomfortable” for the Vatican.
Most Christians in Ukraine identify as Orthodox, followed by Ukrainian Greek and Roman Catholic. The nation’s religiously plural society is also home to historic Jewish, Muslim and Protestant communities.
Some 71% of Russians identify as Orthodox, with 15% claiming no religious faith and 5% identifying as Muslim. Other faiths, including Catholicism, each represent 1% or less of the remaining population.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has been a fervent supporter of Russia’s war on Ukraine, launched in 2022 and continuing attacks initiated in 2014. The patriarch preached in a September 2022 sermon that any Russian soldier who dies in Ukraine offers a sacrifice that “washes away all the sins that a person has committed.”
Sergei Markov, a political consultant closely aligned with the Kremlin, told Bloomberg that security concerns prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from traveling to the Vatican, located within the NATO member state of Italy.
Putin is the subject of one of six arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes by Russian officials in Ukraine. As a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, Italy would in principle have a duty to arrest Putin if he entered the country.
Bloomberg, citing unidentified European officials, said discussions are nonetheless taking place to create a role for the Vatican in Ukraine-Russia talks.
Posted May 27, 2025
______________________
The opinions expressed in this section - What People Are Commenting - do not necessarily express those of TIA
______________________
______________________
 |
 |
 |
A piece of good news: The National Mall Poppy Wall is back this year to honor the 600,000 Americans who have given their lives for our country since WWI.
L.M.