Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 200

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Today's Topics:

   1. Read: "?Blessed Are the Peacemakers,? Pope Says Amid Standoff
      With Trump (Vivek Pinto)
   2. Listen to: Karanjeet Kaur, former deputy editor of National
      Geographic Magazine (India) - "Can an outsider ever truly belong
      in Goa? New book grapples with this question" (Vivek Pinto)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 23:42:14 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "?Blessed Are the Peacemakers,? Pope Says Amid
	Standoff With Trump
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9x7PqD7hs52qNAqkJcCM7Du4Zp4YRZ3aqfGnYw07Z0wCw-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Motoko Rich - Motoko Rich reported from Bamenda, Cameroon, where Pope
Leo spoke to local Catholics.
Published by: *The New York Times*
Date: April 16, 2026
For days, Pope Leo XIV has attracted criticism from President Trump and his
allies for refusing to back the war in Iran. On Thursday, he reiterated his
calls for peace.

Pope Leo XIV is not backing down.

Amid a growing dispute with the Trump administration over the legitimacy of
American attacks in Iran, Leo used a speech on Thursday in Cameroon to
express ?woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for
their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is
sacred into darkness and filth.?

?Blessed are the peacemakers,? he said.

The pope was speaking in a region of Cameroon where separatists have been
clashing with the government
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/world/africa/cameroon-secession.html> for
a decade, and he praised local religious leaders seeking to end that
conflict.

But against the backdrop of American efforts to use Christian theology
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/us/just-war-vance-pope.html> to justify
the Iran campaign, the pope?s words seemed as directed at the Trump
administration as they were at separatist leaders and the government of
Paul Biya, 93, the world?s oldest president and an authoritarian who has
ruled Cameroon for more than 40 years.

The Trump administration has sought to portray its war in Iran as a ?just
war? backed by the will of God <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NrJU2aqGvQ>
 and Jesus Christ. Pope Leo has stridently disagreed
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/world/middleeast/pope-iran-war.html>,
saying previously that Jesus ?does not listen to the prayers of those who
wage war.?

That led to an extraordinary broadside
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/us/politics/trump-attacks-pope-leo.html>
 on Sunday from Mr. Trump, who attacked the pope on social media as
?terrible on foreign policy.?

On Monday, as the pope left for a tour through four countries in Africa, he
said he had ?no fear? of the Trump administration and would continue to
protest war and speak out ?loudly about the message of the Gospel.? The
Trump administration continued to needle him, with Vice President JD Vance
saying on Tuesday that Leo should be more ?careful when he talks about
matters of theology
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/politics/vance-pope-trump-georgia.html>
.?

On Wednesday, the pope traveled to Cameroon, where he immediately spoke
against the authoritarian rule of President Biya
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/world/africa/pope-leo-cameroon-africa.html>.
In a speech at the presidential palace on Wednesday, Leo said that ?public
authorities are called to serve as bridges, never as sources of division?
and that ?authentic peace arises when everyone feels protected, heard and
respected, when the law serves as a secure safeguard against the whims of
the rich and powerful.?

On Thursday, Leo traveled to Bamenda, an English-speaking region of
Cameroon, which is led by a French-speaking national government. A violent
secessionist movement centered in Bamenda has divided the country over the
past decade.

Although the pope has not referred specifically to Mr. Trump or his
administration since Monday, his words in Bamenda seemed to extend beyond
local conflicts in Cameroon.

?The masters of war,? he said, ?pretend not to know that it takes only a
moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is oft not enough to rebuild. They
turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing
and devastation.?
Motoko Rich is the Times bureau chief in Rome, where she covers Italy, the
Vatican and Greece.


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 02:59:09 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Listen to: Karanjeet Kaur, former deputy editor of
	National Geographic Magazine (India) - "Can an outsider ever truly
	belong in Goa? New book grapples with this question"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9wopCs0gZVY66zCbSKrZ0y5SJ+fGWd8iqwC_0N0R8LLrw-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Karanjeet Kaur
Published in:
*The Print*Date: April 11, 2026
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjp3dUslOVU
*Note:* The transcript is embedded in the source.

"Is there a version of belonging to Goa that is not predicated on
consumption and extraction?
'Appetite'- a new anthology of 36 stories, poems, essays?and even a graphic
piece?is interested in capturing what happens to a place when everyone?s
busy wanting it.

Published by Penguin Random House earlier this year and edited by
Shivranjana Rathore and Tino de Sa, the collection brings together original
pieces from members of the Goa Writers Group, a community of over a hundred
writers based in the state or connected to it by ancestry."


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 200
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