Pope indicates willingness to visit North Korea

Pope Francis indicated a willingness to visit North Korea during a private audience Thursday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to Vatican and South Korean officials. Moon "conveyed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's desire for a papal visit to North Korea," the South Korean presidential office said in a statement. A formal invitation directly from North Korea was expected to follow. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said of the likelihood of Francis accepting such an invite: "I would say the availability to go is there." A trip that would be the first by a pope to officially atheist North Korea would need "serious preparation and consideration," Parolin said. Moon's office revealed last week that Kim had indicated his desire for the pope to visit during a Korean summit last month. The South Korean president's private audience with the pope Thursday lasted 35 minutes and included an exchange of gifts.

Moon, who is Catholic, presented the pope with a relief of the face of Jesus Christ created by a Korean artist. The president pointed to the wreath of thorns on Jesus' head and told the pontiff: "This represents the suffering of the Korean people." The pope's gifts included a medal engraved with an olive branch. Francis said it represented "his desire for peace" on the Korean peninsula. During their time together, Moon told the pope, "You are not only the head of the Catholic Church, but a teacher for humanity." Francis urged Moon to "work for peace." Moon on Wednesday met with Italian leaders and attended an evening Mass for peace in St. Peter's Basilica with Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomat.

North Korea strictly controls the religious activities of its people. An invitation for then-Pope John Paul II to visit the country after a 2000 inter-Korean summit never resulted in a meeting. The Vatican insisted at the time that a papal visit would only be possible if Catholic priests were accepted in North Korea. Francis, however, has taken a more open approach in the Holy See's diplomacy.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-indicates-willingness-visit-north-korea-130614064.html

I thought the Moon's hands were interesting in these pics.

>>3528387 @ >>3528343

Missed the reply..sorry

Texas Dems ask noncitizens to register to vote, send applications with citizenship box pre-checked

The Texas Democratic Party asked non-citizens to register to vote, sending out applications to immigrants with the box citizenship already checked “Yes,” according to new complaints filed Thursday asking prosecutors to see what laws may have been broken. The Public Interest Legal Foundation alerted district attorneys and the federal Justice Department to the pre-checked applications, and also included a signed affidavit from a man who said some of his relatives, who aren’t citizens, received the mailing. “This is how the Texas Democratic Party is inviting foreign influence in an election in a federal election cycle,” said Logan Churchwell, spokesman for the PILF, a group that’s made its mark policing states’ voter registration practices. The Texas secretary of state’s office said it, too, had gotten complaints both from immigrants and from relatives of dead people who said they got mailings asking them to register. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to investigate. “If true there will be serious consequences,” he said.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/18/texas-democrats-ask-noncitizens-register-vote/