CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ coimbatore l tuesday l april 22, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION LGBTQ+ part of his outreach Allowed women vote at Vatican 3-day state mourning Francis made it easier for married Catholics to get an annulment, allowed priests to absolve women who had had abortions and let priests bless samesex couples He let women vote alongside bishops in some Vatican meetings. It was a revolutionary change. However, he had a ‘closed door’ policy on women’s ordination The Indian govt declared a three-day State mourning till Wednesday. An additional day of mourning will be observed on the day of the Pope’s funeral adieu, progressive pope P NICO L E WIN F IE L D @ Vatican City Gold hits 1 lakh per 10gm in B’luru, 99K in Delhi Gold of 99.5 purity in Bengaluru cost `1,02,000 per 10 grams Gold of 99.9% purity in New Delhi: `99,800 per 10 grams So far this year, the yellow metal’s prices have risen `20,850, or 26.41% per 10 grams There has been increased buying among ETF investors, while upcoming festive demand is fueling additional support Globally, gold futures breached the Pranav Mer, V-P, psychological USD 3,400-mark for the first time JM Financial ever, rising USD 80 per ounce, or 2.4 per cent. Services murshidabad violence: two arrested Two key accused for killing a father and son in Murshidabad during violence over Waqf Act were arrested in Jharsuguda in Odisha on Monday | P8 ope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, passed away on Monday He was 88. . “At 7.35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, who takes charge after a pontiff ’s death. Flags flew at half-mast in Italy and crowds , gathered in St Peter’s Square. In his condolence message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Deeply pained by the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis. In this hour of grief and rem e m b r a n c e, my h e a r t f e l t condolences to the global Catholic community .” Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease, was hospitalised on February 14 for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospi- talisation of his 12-year papacy . He made his last public appearance on Easter Sunday — a day before his death — to bless thousands of people in St Peter’s Square, drawing wild cheers and applause. From his first greeting that night — a remarkably normal “Buonasera” (“Good evening”) — to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, Francis signaled a very different tone for the papacy stressing hu, mility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference. The Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought a breath of fresh air into a 2,000year-old institution that had seen its influence wane during the tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, whose surprise resignation led to Francis’ election. But Francis soon invited troubles of his own, and conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists. His greatest test came in 2018 when he botched a notorious case of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, and the scandal that festered under his predecessors erupted anew. Francis’ death sets off a week- Four Indians with voting right to elect successor Kochi: Four Indian cardinals, including two Keralites, are part of the 120-strong College of Cardinals who will attend a secret conclave to choose the next pope. The Indian cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave are Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, 72, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman and Patriarch of the East Indies; Thiruvananthapuram-based Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, 64, the Major Archbishop-Catholicos of the SyroMalankara Catholic Church; Cardinal Anthony Poola, 63, Archbishop of Hyderabad and the first Dalit cardinal in history; and Changanassery native Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, 51, who had been coordinating Pope Francis’ foreign trips since 2021. —ENS 1 J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with US Vice President J D Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance and their children, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI Vance’s four-day visit to India, with Second Lady Usha Vance, their three children, senior School’s slip-up costs first-gen SC student two yrs of education N D h a m o t h a r a n @ Coimbatore A shocking incident of negligence by the Tamil Nadu school education department has proved costly for a first-generation learner belonging to an SC community in Nilgiris. Despite having failed in three subjects in the Class 10 board exams in 2022, the girl student was admitted to classes 11 and 12 and allowed to take both public exams, which she passed. The discrepancy came to light only when the girl applied for college admission, invalidating two years of her high school education ‘blame is and forcing her to join an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for a on dge’ wireman course based on her Class Without 8 marks. considering her The girl had studied Class 10 at a Class 10 marks, government high school in Aravehow did the nu in Nilgiris district. In the public DGE generate exams held in 2022, she failed in her register three subjects: mathematics, scinumbers and ence and social science. However, mark sheets, in violation of norms, the headmisasked child tress of the government higher secrights activist ondary school in Kotagiri admitted A Devaneyan her for Class 11 in a vocational stream (Office Management and Secretaryship), even before she wrote the supplementary exams. In the supplementary exams held in August 2022, the student passed in mathematics but failed again in the other two papers. Nonetheless, in March 2023, she sat for her Class 11 public exams and secured 310 out of 600 marks. The next year, she took the Class 12 exams and passed with 306 out of 600 marks.  P5 members of the US administration, and top Indian officials in attendance. External Affairs 2 3 4 Cardinal Anthony Poola Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad slong process of allowing the faithful to pay their final respects, first for Vatican officials in the Santa Marta chapel and then in St. Peter’s for the general public, followed by a funeral and a conclave to elect a new pope. Francis was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went Modi-Vance hail progress in trade talks PRIME Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance on Monday hailed the significant progress in the ongoing talks for a fair and forward-looking bilateral trade agreement. They also acknowledged the growing cooperation between the two nations in key sectors such as energy defence, , advanced technologies, and other strategic areas, during a meeting marked by personal warmth and a shared commitment to strengthening the India-US partnership. The meeting took place on the first day of Vice President D ec e m b e r 17, 1 93 6 -A p r i l 2 1 , 2 0 2 5 The pope will always be remembered as a beacon of compassion, humility and spiritual courage - Narendra Modi, prime minister Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were also present. An official readout of the meeting said: “The leaders welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial India-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement focused on the welfare of the people of the two countries. They also acknowledged the continued efforts to enhance cooperation in energy defence, strategic tech, nologies, and other areas.” Prime Minister Modi also conveyed his greetings to US President Donald Trump and expressed his eagerness to host him in India later this year. further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. “Who am I to judge?” he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest. The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. “Being homosexual is not a crime,” he said in 2023. Stressing mercy, Francis changed the church’s position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances. He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was immoral. In other firsts, he approved an agreement with China over bishop nominations that had vexed the Vatican for decades, met the Russian patriarch and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq. He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the church’s opposition to abortion, equating it to “hiring a hit man to solve a problem”. But he added women to important decision-making roles and allowed them to serve as lectors and acolytes in parishes. He let women vote alongside bishops in periodic Vatican meetings, following long-standing complaints that women do much of the church’s work but are barred from power. Still, a note of criticism came from the Women’s Ordination Conference, which had been frustrated by Francis’ unwillingness to push for the ordination of women.  AP Air Force officer claims he was assaulted in B’luru; FIR registered; biker arrested their car. Wg Cdr Bose was supposed to fly to Kolkata to admit his father to a hospital. He asIN a shocking case of road saulted the biker in “self derage, an Indian Air fence”. Police have arForce wing commander rested the biker based was allegedly attacked on a complaint by Sqn by a biker at ByappanaLdr Dutta. halli in the city on MonThe couple lives in day morning. DRDO Colony in CV The incident took Raman Nagar. The bikplace around 6.30 am er was identified as ViWg Cdr Bose while Wing Commandkas, 20, from Babusaab er Shiladitya Bose and Palya. He works in a his wife Squadron Leader Mad- call centre. He has been booked humitha Dutta were on their for causing hurt by using danway to the bus stop near Gopa- gerous weapons or means (118 lan Mall on Old Madras Road in BNS). express news service @ Bengaluru The incident came to light after Wg Cdr Bose shared two videos on social media. However, the CCTV footage shows him charging at Vikas, assaulting and kicking him, which he claimed that he did in “self defence”. Wg Cdr Bose admitted to having hit the biker and pushing him in self-defence. “The biker also bit my finger,” he said and claimed that he lost his phone and keys. Police said the biker has not filed any complaints and they are questioning him. Further investigations are on.