The pope, cardinals, and bishops -- looking like Tibetan lamas -- attend Pope Benedict XVI's Mass celebrated at the Lourdes shrine, southwestern France, Sunday, 9/14/08. More than 100,000 pilgrims singing hymns gathered on a rain-soaked field known as the Lourdes Prairie for the mass marking the 150th anniversary of a peasant girl's religious visions (AP Photo/Francois Mori). Above, Dalai Lama with Yellow Hat lamas arriving in France for opening of Lerab Ling monastery last month.
DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters, 9/12/08) -- The Dalai Lama has called a special meeting of Tibetan exiles in November or December to discuss political unrest in Tibet this year and the future of the Tibetan movement, officials said on Friday.
Karma Chophel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told Reuters that officials would meet on Monday to discuss the details of the special session ordered by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The special meeting, the opening session of which would be addressed by the Dalai Lama, would be attended by Tibetan leaders, intellectuals and non-government organizations chosen by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
"We have to discuss who are the other people to be called," Chophel said. The meeting of Tibetans comes after months of anti-China protests across the world, sparked off by unrest in Tibet in March which was aggressively suppressed by China.
Karma Chophel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told Reuters that officials would meet on Monday to discuss the details of the special session ordered by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The special meeting, the opening session of which would be addressed by the Dalai Lama, would be attended by Tibetan leaders, intellectuals and non-government organizations chosen by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
"We have to discuss who are the other people to be called," Chophel said. The meeting of Tibetans comes after months of anti-China protests across the world, sparked off by unrest in Tibet in March which was aggressively suppressed by China.
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Tibetan leader waves at the end of a teaching conference in Nantes, western France, 8/16/08 (Reuters/Stephane Mahe).
Beijing says followers of the Dalai Lama fomented riots and protests across the mountainous region in a bid to derail last month's Olympics Games. The Dalai Lama has rejected the charge. Envoys of the Dalai Lama and China met in July to defuse the crisis, the latest in several rounds of talks since 2002 that many Tibetans, especially younger generations, describe as a Chinese ploy to delay progress on the question of either independence or regional autonomy for Tibet.
The next round of those talks could be held as early as October, two Chinese sources with knowledge of the slow-moving dialogue, told Reuters last week. Many exiled Tibetans would like to go further than the conciliatory "middle way" approach of the Dalai Lama, who seeks autonomy. Tibetan officials said the meeting would see wide-ranging discussions about the future of the Tibetan movement.
Beijing says followers of the Dalai Lama fomented riots and protests across the mountainous region in a bid to derail last month's Olympics Games. The Dalai Lama has rejected the charge. Envoys of the Dalai Lama and China met in July to defuse the crisis, the latest in several rounds of talks since 2002 that many Tibetans, especially younger generations, describe as a Chinese ploy to delay progress on the question of either independence or regional autonomy for Tibet.
The next round of those talks could be held as early as October, two Chinese sources with knowledge of the slow-moving dialogue, told Reuters last week. Many exiled Tibetans would like to go further than the conciliatory "middle way" approach of the Dalai Lama, who seeks autonomy. Tibetan officials said the meeting would see wide-ranging discussions about the future of the Tibetan movement.
"He will advise and he will give guidelines...he will put before the general body his ideas," Chophel said of the Dalai Lama.
Reporting by Abhishek Madhukar; writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; editing by Paul Tait
- Meanwhile, the Christian pontiff was condemning Paganism:
Pope in Paris condemns love of money, power
Jenny Barchfield (AP, 9/12/08)
Jenny Barchfield (AP, 9/12/08)
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Pope waves from bulletproof pope-mobile, outdoor mass Paris near Eiffel Tower, 9/13/08. Tens of thousands turned out for his only public appearance before his pilgrimage to Lourdes (AP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli, pool).
PARIS -- Pope Benedict XVI condemned unbridled "pagan" passion for power, possessions, and money as a modern-day plague Saturday as he led more than a quarter of a million Catholics in an outdoor Mass in Paris.
Benedict was making his first visit as pontiff to the French capital, renowned for its luxury goods, fashion sense and cultural riches. "Has not our modern world created its own idols?" Benedict said in his homily, and wondered aloud whether people have "imitated, perhaps inadvertently, the pagans of antiquity?"
"This is a question that all people, if they are honest with themselves, cannot help but ask," the pontiff said. More>>
LOURDES, France -- People must cling to hope even in dire circumstances like injustice and torture, Pope Benedict XVI told the faithful at Sunday Mass in Lourdes, which has become a shrine for desperate causes and hope against all odds.
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