May 2026

Between Easter celebrated in the West and the great spiritual Festival of Wesak marked and celebrated in the East by millions of people, we are at a moment between resurrection and renewal. The three major Festivals are rounded off in June with the Festival of Humanity, also known as the Festival of the Christ. This time of the year is one when, in a natural response to the change of seasons and the rise in potency of the spiritual energies flowing into the world, humanity takes heart again, dares to hope again. Aspiration and a renewed sense of purpose are felt; consciously and unconsciously, people set new goals and re-engage with their sense of themselves as souls. Many experience inner and outer events more keenly, feeling more sensitive and aware than usual. It is a time of the year when, traditionally, those who practise meditation and people following some spiritual practice experience a greater silence — a deep peace — as if held closer to soul, to God.

That heightened sensitivity makes the daily news all the more troubling and heartbreaking. People are feeling inwardly tender and open to higher aims, making the shocks of everyday life seem louder, more extreme, crass and cruel than ever.

Perhaps as a coping mechanism, two divergent views emerge — not surprising in the prevailing polarized atmosphere. These two opposite attitudes seem to be taking shape and hardening into an adversarial stance: “We need to face the fact of violence and injustice and then work together — to find solutions, if that’s possible. Let’s look at what’s happening in the world.” While others take an opposing view: “Why focus on the bad news? Surely if you want peace you need to think peace.” Certainly, both are fair comment and worth considering in the light of constant reports (if the facts presented by alternative media channels are consulted) of war, corruption, lies and propaganda.

Visitors to this site might wonder how Benjamin Creme (BC) and his Master approached the issue of conflict, war and war crimes (See Questions and Answers in this issue). Even a glance at articles written by BC’s Master and some research into the writings of the Master Djwhal Khul (DK), writing through Alice Bailey, provide clear evidence of the fact that, while the Masters constantly work for peace, they are nevertheless realists. The truth must be faced. To ignore war or to assume a pacifist attitude will not end conflict; to ignore major threats, or replace reality with platitudes about peace, will not result in justice and social harmony. Those who aim to serve their fellow men and women need to see the world as it is in order to be able to provide the best solutions to some impasse. Service, as we know, is response to need; if we don’t know what is needed, an appropriate response is impossible or inadequate.

Writing in The Externalisation of the Hierarchy (June 1940) the Master DK broaches precisely this topic in a section called “The world crisis today” where he lays out the reasons for the Masters’ stance; but first he challenges the disciples he had been addressing:

“Would you have me present the attitude of the Hierarchy as that of a placid band of onlookers, ready to help the world when the conflict is over, but at present insulated from all action and simply waiting till the dust and clamour of battle settle, to stimulate in men’s minds the vision of a new world order wherein everyone will have a good time, where there will be no unemployment, wherein fear and terror will find no place and everyone will be happy, well fed and reasonably intelligent? Would you have me picture to you the great band of disciples, initiates and aspirants as a band of pacifists, cherishing the form side of life, afraid of death and remaining passive in the face of the death struggle of human liberty, of life, conscience and mind?

“I tell you that this I cannot do. The Hierarchy is very different from this. Pacifism, as interpreted by you, has no place in its ranks. The destruction of form in battle (which causes so much fear to many of you) is of small importance to those who know that reincarnation is a basic law of nature and that there is no death. The forces of death are abroad today, but it is the death of liberty, the death of free speech, the death of freedom in human action, the death of truth and of the higher spiritual values. These are the vital factors in the life of humanity; the death of the physical form is a negligible factor in relation to these, and one easily righted again through the processes of rebirth and fresh opportunity.”

Are our times so very different from the 1940s? The sound of bomb blasts, the deafening noise of concrete collapsing and scenes of cruelty seem terribly familiar. Much that was at stake then has still to be dealt a decisive blow now.

Having dealt with this fraught and emotive topic at some length here, we have also provided much in this issue to inform, delight and inspire. In particular, in connection with ‘The Son of Man’ written by BC’s Master we have provided a link to a video recording of Benjamin Creme himself reading it, one of his ‘favourites’. BC was always deeply moved by the beauty and breadth of the description of Maitreya in this article, which expressed both his magnificence and his shared humanity with us.

All this is to be found in the same issue as reports detailing breakthroughs; we explore space with a film review of investigations into the UFO phenomenon (and, by the way, whatever your government tells you, the occupants of the UFOs, the Space Brothers, are not hostile nor intent on conquering Earth, but are here to help); we adventure into still new frontiers of the plant kingdom, learn of the work of nature spirits, or devas, and read with hope of achievements in care for the planet. However, on a different note, environmental champion Bill McKibben has given us kind permission to reprint his article detailing the destruction caused by Big Oil.

In this Spring time of spiritual festivals and inspired meditation the reader will find much to lift the heart and soul. To usher the visitor into the high valleys of the Himalayas for the Wesak Festival, and transport them to the vastness of the air shimmering above the Gobi desert where the Centre of Shamballa is located, we have provided descriptions of the festival of the Buddha and the mantric stanzas of the Great Invocation.

There is no doubt that we find ourselves in very painful and difficult times. All the more reason to take heart in what we read in ‘The Son of Man’: “To teach men how to love, and love again, is He among us. To establish man’s brotherhood does He walk the Earth once more. To keep faith with the Father and with man does He accept this burden. To usher in the new age has He returned. To consolidate the treasure of the past, to inspire the marvels of the future, to glorify God and man has He descended from His high mountain.”

In all honesty, you can probably skip this one. It’s entirely possible I’m writing it as therapy for myself. I try hard to stay focused on what we can still do to ward off the worst, but every once in a while I’m reminded of why we’re here, on a planet rapidly overheating. (And oh by the way, there’s a new study on the collapse of the Atlantic currents I discussed last week, and it leads the great expert on that system to now predict there’s a fifty percent chance they’ll collapse this century). When I started writing about the climate crisis in the 1980s I was in my twenties, and I didn’t fully comprehend that there could be a force on this planet so steeped in greed and power that it would sacrifice the earth and its inhabitants for its own narrow interests. But there is, and it’s Big Oil.

Over time their evil came into ever-sharper focus. During the 1990s it was clear they were organizing opposition to action on global warming — the CEO of Exxon famously insisted that the planet was cooling. Right after the 2000 election the heads of the oil companies held secret meetings with new vice-president Dick Cheney and soon thereafter George W. Bush reneged on his promise to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant. And Big Oil mobilized to defeat the cap-and-trade proposals at the end of that decade and to scuttle the Copenhagen climate talks. What we didn’t know then was just exactly how vile all this greedy maneuvering really was: it wasn’t until 2015 that reporters delving into archives and interviewing whistleblowers proved that the Exxons of the world had known everything there was to know about climate change back in the ‘80s and simply chosen to lie about it. It’s never far from my mind what a different planet we’d live on had they simply fessed up at the start and gotten to work on the problem.

I’m thinking of all this because we’ve had a couple of new developments this week to remind us just how deep this evil runs.

The first, of course, is the simple fact that they are profiting in truly incredible fashion from the Iran war being waged by President Trump, the man they worked so hard to put in power. As Damian Carrington reported on 15 April,

They didn’t do anything new, or work any harder, to earn that extra $30 million an hour, which is coming straight from our pockets — they just sat back and watched as their handpicked President blew up a girl’s school. This is the very definition of a windfall profit, and I’m glad to see at least a few people — here’s the great Canadian analyst Seth Klein — making that case:

If you wonder what the oil companies think we should be doing instead of taxing them, here’s a Chevron executive named Andy Walz

To which one can only say yes. And also, go jump in a lake.

The second reminder of Big Oil’s perfidy comes in a truly remarkable piece of reporting from Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak at the New York Times. They are Supreme Court reporters (not an easy job, since the place is cloaked in secrecy) and they set out to understand how the Roberts Court has systematically replaced open argument about crucial questions with a “shadow docket” where big cases can be decided on the fly, without opinions. They trace the development to February of 2016, when, without argument,

The two reporters obtained the internal memos from the five days that the justices were at work on this momentous and unprecedented step and they reveal that it was a tender solicitation for the oil companies that drove them.

In centuries past, the court would have weighed arguments over many months, but here Roberts demanded they act immediately.

His offensive caught the other justices by surprise — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for instance, was in Italy for a talk “billed as a conversation with the notorious RBG.” In the memos they exchanged they questioned the speed and the unorthodox procedure, but none of them seem to have raised the question of whether, say, global warming presented as “irreversible a reordering” of the planet as whatever might happen to the poor oil companies. (David Sirota adds some useful detail on the pivotal vote of Anthony Kennedy, also the author of Citizens United). It was no wonder this was the case Roberts chose — he was the perfect product of the rightwing reordering of the judiciary, a reordering underwritten above all by the Koch Brothers, who were in turn the country’s biggest oil and gas barons. But the damage done by his lickspittle acquiescence to Big Oil has harmed more than the atmosphere. As Kantor and Liptak report:

And it marks the end of any sense that the federal judiciary is a fair arbiter instead of a politically engaged player in our national life. It may be the most cynical thing a chief justice has ever done. (And no Democrat should think twice about Supreme Court reform if they regain power).

But of course the judiciary can only act like this with the collaboration of the Congress, which approves their nominations. And Congress, too, is enmeshed in the same oil spill that stains the other branches, as we were reminded this week, when Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman finally introduced a long-awaited bill that would grant the industry immunity from lawsuits over the damage caused by climate change. This follows a spate of similar state laws passed in recent months, which a landmark Pro Publica investigation show were engineered by rightwing judicial activist Leonard Leo (the same guy who built the Roberts Court through the Federalist Society), using billions in a donation from a conservative businessman named Barre Seid who had bankrolled not only the fight for more DDT but also the Heartland Institute (The most outré of the climate denying thinktanks, famous above all for a series of billboards claiming that climate scientists were like Charles Manson.)

Anyway, as useful as those state laws are, the Holy Grail for the oil industry would be a federal grant of immunity, which would effectively eviscerate all the “climate superfund” laws passed in recent years by states like New York and Vermont, as well as the various lawsuits working their way through the courts. The oil industry began pushing for this immunity grant as soon as the president they’d elected took office — here’s a Wall Street Journal account form March 2025 outlining a White House meeting where they made the case. But now — with the GOP looking increasingly likely to lose control of Congress after the midterms — they’re making their play. And its actually a pincers move, since the Supreme Court is also about to consider a case from Colorado that would toss out many of the lawsuits.

Here’s what’s at stake: if this law passes and stands, then the oil industry will never be held accountable for the fact that they knowingly destroyed the planet’s climate system. Just as important, the law would remove the one source of real leverage to force the oil industry into some kind of grand bargain to wind down their business. This is precisely the tool that finally forced the tobacco industry to the table, and the oil industry is determined that they’ll get away with their much larger crimes. (Philip Morris killed people one smoker at a time; Exxon’s smoke can take out an entire planet). Here’s how former California insurance commissioner Davy Jones put it recently:

We need to continue this line of attack: there are “Polluter Pays” superfund bills up in a number of legislatures — you can get in the fight here; there’s a powerful new bill advancing through the Hawaii legislature that would empower insurance companies to sue Big Oil for compensation for the mounting climate claims from events like the Lahaina wildfires or the massive flooding of the last month. I’ve gone to jail to get the message across, and I probably will again.

But one reason I spend increasing amounts of my time pushing the rise of alternative energy is because I’ve come to fully understand the degree of corruption that the oil industry has produced in our system. Though I will fight hard for the Democratic majorities that might overturn grants of immunity, and for new laws to hold the oil industry accountable, I’m not sure we’ll win those fights in time.

The only sets of laws the oil industry lacks the cash to completely corrupt are the laws of physics, and the law of markets which indicates that in the end a cheaper and better product should win out. Obviously they’re trying hard to end-run that latter law, even as they lie about the first — but in this case their greed may actually be handing them a serious defeat. It’s by now obvious to almost anyone that Trump’s maniacal attack on Iran is hastening the move towards alternative energy, primarily wind and sun. (There are myriad examples: here’s Raphael Rashid talking about the renewables revolution suddenly underway in South Korea; here’s Tim McDonnell with a fine account of how China’s finding itself in the catbird seat as buyers from places like Egypt flock to its clean-energy offerings). For decades Big Oil’s final riposte in any debate was: ‘well, you can’t do without us if you want hot showers and cold beer.’ But now we can.

I work on solar energy because it will help limit the damage from climate change, and because it’s potentially liberating, empowering local communities instead of vast multinationals. But there are days when I work on solar energy just because it’s the sharpest stick with which to poke Exxon and Chevron and the rest, companies that I despise. Companies that if I’m honest I hate, though I try hard not to hate. They are the vampires of our world, sucking the life from the earth we were lucky to be born on. And we all know what sunlight does to vampires.

Source: Substack (Reproduced with kind permission from Bill McKibben)

Benjamin Creme wrote in his first book, The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom: “…at the Wesak Festival I can tell you what takes place. All the members of the Hierarchy gather together — both in the physical body and out of the physical — in this valley. The Christ and heads of the other two great Departments — the Department of the Manu and the Department of the Lord of Civilization — these three Great Lords, stand in triangular formation in front of an enormous flat stone on which stands a large crystal bowl, filled with pure water.

When the moon rises above the horizon, at that moment of the full moon in Taurus, the Buddha comes from Shamballa and hovers over the stone, over the crystal bowl, and transmits to the Christ the energy which is called the Shamballa Force — the great First Ray of Will or Power. He will transmit it to the Christ every year, in ever-mounting potency, until the year 2,000. It is circulated by the Christ through the Three Lords (Himself, the Manu and the Lord of Civilization), held by Hierarchy, and then gradually released to the world until the full moon in Libra, when it is withdrawn until the following Wesak. The locals come there, the Tibetans, and the pilgrims from northern India, and gather at one end of the valley while this great ceremony is taking place. Then the water in the crystal bowl which is blessed by the Presence of the Buddha, is shared out among all those participating. It is a deeply significant esoteric event.” (Share International June 2017)

The full moon festival of Wesak takes place in May. What exactly happens?
The Wesak Festival takes place (on the etheric level) in a Himalayan valley, and it is a most extraordinary event. There is a large stone in this valley on which a large crystal bowl filled with water is placed. The members of the Spiritual Hierarchy, in all Their various ranks — the three Great Lords, Chohans, Masters and Initiates, perform intricate patterns of ritual movements. Then as the moon rises above the horizon, the Buddha comes from Shamballa (etheric centre in the Gobi desert), hovers over the crystal vessel and charges the water. The Buddha releases the energy of the Shamballa Force to the three Great Lords — the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan. This is the powerful first ray energy, the energy of Will and Purpose. It circulates among the three Great Lords Who store it and gradually release it into the world for the rest of the year. This is the time at which the Buddha comes as close as He can to the everyday world. He is very closely connected with the advent of Maitreya. He and Maitreya are brothers and have been prepared from the dawn of time for Their missions in the world. (Share International June 1990)

The Festival of the Christ in Gemini — what happens?
The full moon in Gemini — the Festival of the Christ: this is a festival to celebrate the approach of humanity to God. In the New World Religion there will be a great unified approach to Deity, at all the full moons, especially at the Three Major Spiritual Festivals of April, May and June — Aries, Taurus and Gemini. Throughout the world these festivals will be held simultaneously.

The Festival in June, the Festival of Gemini, will be above all the festival of Humanity. It is called the Christ Festival today because it is the Festival of the Christ as the Eldest in a great family of brothers; not only the Christ of Hierarchy, but the Christ as the Representative of Humanity. It will be, above all, the Festival of Goodwill; the shared Will-to-good of humanity, which we express as Goodwill. (Benjamin Creme, The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom)

This [the Christ Festival] will be the Festival of the spirit of humanity — aspiring towards God, seeking conformity with the will of God and dedicated to the expression of right human relations. It will be a day whereon the spiritual and divine nature of mankind will be recognized. On this Festival, for two thousand years the Christ has represented humanity and has stood before the Hierarchy and in the sight of Shamballa as the God-Man, the leader of His people and “the Eldest in a great family of brothers” (Romans VIII:29) … Each year at this time he has preached the last sermon of the Buddha, before the assembled Hierarchy. This will, therefore, be a festival of deep invocation and appeal, of a basic aspiration towards fellowship, of human and spiritual unity, and will represent the effect in the human consciousness of the work of the Buddha and of the Christ.” (The Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul, The Reappearance of the Christ by Alice Bailey)

It is planned … that the Three Great Festivals — the Easter Festival; the Wesak Festival, one month later; and the Christ Festival, one month later still — will be held simultaneously throughout the world; also the nine important, but rather less important, festivals at the nine other full moons throughout the year. These three festivals will be central to the New World Religion and will constitute, each of them, a great Approach to Deity — the evocation of the Divine Light, Divine Love, and Divine Will, which can then be anchored on the Earth and utilized by man. (Benjamin Creme, The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom)

(1) In what way are 24-hour Transmission Meditations different from ordinary, regular Transmissions? (2) Is it not better to really concentrate and transmit well for, say 10 hours, five hours, three hours, with 10 or 20 people than 24 hours with, at times, only three people?
(1) They are much longer! Also, they are infrequent, perhaps three times, only, a year, at the major Spring Festivals of Easter, Wesak and of Humanity. (2) The answer here is a qualified yes. The three Spring Festivals, however, provide a unique opportunity for groups around the world to establish together a potent rhythm. Throughout 24 hours, Hierarchy can link all working groups together into the global network of light which they are constantly creating and potentizing. There is also a powerful psychological factor involved, namely the added stimulus to aspiration and service which the celebration of these Festivals promotes. (Benjamin Creme, Maitreya’s Mission Volume Three)

The Great Invocation, used by the Christ for the first time in June 1945, was released by him to humanity to enable man himself to invoke the energies which would change our world, and make possible the return of the Christ and Hierarchy. This is not the form of it used by the Christ. He uses an ancient formula, seven mystic phrases long, in an ancient sacerdotal tongue. It has been translated (by Hierarchy) into terms which we can use and understand, and, translated into many languages, is used today throughout the world.

It can be made even more potent. Used in triangular formation it becomes very potent. If you wish to work this way, arrange with two friends to use the Invocation, aloud, daily. You need not be in the same town, or country, or say it at the same time of day. Simply say it when convenient for each one, and, linking-up mentally with the two other members, visualize a triangle of white light circulating above your heads and see it linked to a network of such triangles, covering the world.

From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ return to Earth.

From the centre where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men —
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out.
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

Q. Now that the Christ is in the world should the wording of the Great Invocation be changed?
A. No. I know that some groups have changed the line: “May Christ return to Earth” to “Christ has returned to Earth” or similar. This is a mistake and does not proceed from Hierarchy. “May Christ return to Earth” refers not only to Maitreya, the Christ, but to the Hierarchy of which he is the head. This line should be maintained as given to invoke that group of Masters (some 40 in all) who will return to the outer world over the next 20 years or so.

For years, several groups have disliked the line: “And may it seal the door where evil dwells”, and have changed it. Again, this is a mistake. The wording of this Invocation has been most carefully worked out by Hierarchy as a form — which we can use and understand — of the deeply occult mantram used by Maitreya.

Some individuals and groups claim to have ‘received’ new forms of the Great Invocation, presumably from Hierarchy. I believe this to be nothing other than the result of glamour. There will eventually be new, more esoteric forms of this invocation released as humanity fits itself for their reception and use. But, as yet, they have not even been formulated by the Masters. They must relate to the state of Being of humanity at the time and this is still unknown. (Share International, September 1985)

Download The Great Invocation in PDF format.

See also: Transmission Meditation

Wesak, May 1939 — In this hour of crisis, anxiety and suspense, it has seemed that there are certain things which you would do well to remember, and certain things which you should endeavour to do.

The first thing, therefore, of which I would like to remind you is that The Hierarchy stands. Behind all that is going on today, the same group of spiritual Forces and the same Elder Brothers and Masters are to be found as heretofore, guiding humanity along the path of life and bringing us safely and satisfactorily to our present point of development. The Buddha, Whose festival we are celebrating, and the Christ, Who expresses to us the unchanging love of God, are still with us, and the Hierarchy stands as a bulwark of strength between us and possible disaster; this centre of spiritual life is “like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land”.

The second thing I would have you all remember is that mankind has marched steadily forward from a state of blind ignorance and unawareness to one of an intelligent preoccupation with life and a growing sense of responsibility. This sense of responsibility, which is awakening in all of you, is — on its present large scale — relatively new and is one of the factors definitely increasing the distress and pain you are all feeling. You ask yourselves, where, as a race, have we failed and what can we do to rectify our mistakes? In spite of everything, however, men have gone from stage to stage of intelligent and spiritual unfoldment and no matter what the outer happenings have been or may be, the race has made real progress. There has been no turning back, and there will be none. Mankind has weathered many storms and survived many difficulties; men have emerged from periods of crisis better and stronger, purified “so as by fire” and definitely nearer the goal.

I would remind you also of the integrity and solidarity of the human family. We are one people — one in our relationships, and capacities and desires, our origin and our goal. It is this essential and recognisable integrity which is emerging at this time powerfully in the human consciousness. You are apt to think that this may not be so, that your position in believing this is somewhat unique and that you stand somewhat alone. But this is your error and is not true to the facts of the case. In every land and among widely differing peoples, the same desire exists for understanding, for the establishing of right and peaceful relations, and for the expression of that basic goodwill which is one of the deepest human characteristics and our divine inheritance.

These are the things which, it seems to me, are important at this time, and which all of us would do well to remember. Will you try to do so? No matter what may take place in the world — whether war or peace, strife and aggression or understanding conciliation and conference — we face a difficult period of adjustment, and for this we must be prepared. The next three years are critical, and this we have often been told.

Much will depend upon what you and all men of goodwill and disciples think, and what they do. I would like to remind you of another most encouraging thing, and that is that the power wielded by those who are seeking to live as souls and in touch with the soul and the world of spiritual realities is out of all proportion to their registered sense of power and usefulness. You are, as you endeavour to wield spiritual force constructively and selflessly, far more potent than you realise. If you add to this realisation the recognition that you are not alone in this, but that people with a vision similar to yours and with the same ideals and spiritual aspiration are to be found in every country without exception of any kind, in every religion, group and organisation, then indeed you can go forward with courage and with hopeful faith. If this is a statement of fact (and I believe it to be so) then let us go forward in unison with our brothers everywhere, conscious of opportunity, of strength, of responsibility and of the joy of service.

As regards some of the things which you can do, I would suggest the following. Refuse to allow yourselves to be swept by any fear psychosis or to be stampeded into any attitude through which the anxiety and unrest and distress in the world can overwhelm you. Strive to stand in spiritual being. Each morning, in your meditation, seek to take that attitude with a new and fresh definiteness and to hold it during the hours of service which lie ahead each day. This will not be an easy thing to do, but it can be done if you can get quiet enough for five minutes each morning — completely and interiorly quiet — and if you fill your days with vital occupation and true service, guarding with care all thought and speech.

Between now and the Wesak Festival in 1940 let each of you gain that control of speech which has often been your goal but seldom your achievement, and remember that the most powerful factor in the control of speech is a loving heart. Wild and fearful talk, hateful gossip, cruel innuendo, suspicion, the ascribing of wrong and wicked motives to persons and peoples, and the divergences of attitude which have separated the many different nations in the world are rampant today, and have brought the world to its present distressing situation. It is so easy to drift into the same habits of speech and thought which we find around us and to discover ourselves participating in attack and the spirit of hate. Guard yourselves strenuously against this and say nothing which could inflame hate and suspicion in connection with any race, any person, any group or any leaders of groups and nations. You will have to guard yourselves with care, so that even in defense of that which you may personally or nationally approve you do not find yourselves full of hate and breaking the law of love — the only law which can truly save the world. Perhaps the key to your success along this line will be the silence of a loving heart.

It will be good also to cultivate the joy that brings strength. This is not the time for gloom, despair or depression. If you give way to these, you become negative and destructive focal points in your environment. If you truly believe that the spiritual life is fundamental in the world today, if you do believe that divinity guides the world, if you truly grasp the fact that all men are your brothers and that we are all the children of the One Father, and if you are convinced that the heart of humanity is sound — are these not adequately potent ideas to hold us joyously steady in the midst of a changing world?

Will you, therefore, carry with you the following ideas?

First, that the Hierarchy of spiritual Forces stands in spiritual Being.

Second, that we too can stand steady in spiritual Being.

Third, that the silence of a loving heart should be our keynote for the coming year.

Fourth, that strength to stand is the result of a joyous attitude and a true orientation to the soul.

In May 1989, Bob Lazar was interviewed on Las Vegas TV station KLAS-TV by investigative reporter George Knapp, though incognito and under a false name: ‘Dennis’. In the conversation, Lazar discussed his employment as a physicist working at the S4 secret military facility, part of the infamous Area 51 which is located near the Nellis Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada.

To the amazement of the viewing audience, he claimed to be part of an unacknowledged US Government programme which was working on, at the time, nine UFOs, extraterrestrial in origin. His job was to help with the reverse-engineering of one of these spacecraft — particularly its propulsion system — which Lazar named the “Sport Model” and measured 52.8 feet in diameter and 16 feet high. Apparently, it was manufactured from some kind of metallic substance resembling liquid titanium. A very unusual craft indeed, which convinced him it, as well as the other craft, was not a product of human engineering. The task for the team of scientists at S4 was to figure out whether the propulsion system could be replicated using Earth materials.

Lazar appeared once again on KLAS-TV with George Knapp in November 1989 and this time as himself and under his own name, accepting his whistleblower status. He described being shocked when seeing the other ‘flying discs’ stored in various hangars — the unofficial property of the US Government. He also recalled the first time he came across documents indicating a secret research programme, working on an anti-gravity reactor for use in propulsion systems, was in place. As part of that propulsion system, an element known as 115 was used to harness anti-gravity, allowing these spacecraft to fly in the particular way they do. As he said at the time: “It is impossible to synthesize an element that heavy here on Earth… The substance has to come from a place where super heavy elements could have been produced naturally”. It was common knowledge amongst scientists working in the S4 programme that 500 pounds of element 115 had already been collected from recovered extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Now, over 35 years after these events, a new documentary has revisited Bob Lazar’s extraordinary revelations. And, as the documentary explores, it is still the ‘unofficial’ policy to actively deny even the existence of the S4 facility, let alone the work carried out there.

S4: The Bob Lazar Story is essentially a collaboration between movie director Luigi Venditelli and Lazar, who closely worked together for over three years in order to make this film as detailed and accurate as possible. It combines further testimony from the physicist, visual recreations using 3D computer-generated imagery (CGI) of the original spacecraft (the “Sport Model”) and the internal spaces of the military facility, particularly the “big hangar” which housed it, and new evidence pointing to the existence of top-secret operations involving reverse-engineered craft in Nevada’s Area 51.

Promotion for the documentary before its early April release, stated: ”With renewed global interest in UAPs, whistleblower, and Government secrecy, S4: The Bob Lazar Story helps frame the roots of today’s movement. Much of what is being said now traces directly back to Lazar’s original 1989 revelations, making this story more relevant today than it ever was before. Project Gravitaur’s [the documentary’s production company] aim is to cut through the decades of confusion, ridicule and distortion that have surrounded Lazar’s testimony.”

In a recent interview with Forbes magazine, when asked how he rated this latest documentary compared with previous movies made about his story, Lazar replied: “There is no comparison. Luigi [Venditelli] spent over three years back and forth with me trying to get the details correct. While it was being made, he really didn’t show me anything. It’s 9.8 out of 10 for accuracy”.

He was also asked, more specifically, how he felt about his work at S4, “When was the first time you truly realized what you were dealing with?” He replied: “ We don’t have a machine that produces gravity — it’s a property of matter. And we don’t have anything that produces anti-gravity, something to push back. But this device does. Once my lab partner fired it up, I tried to touch it. The moment my hand was close, I realized that this was not built by anybody on Earth… I was not so much intrigued as fearful. I don’t know if it was just in the back of my mind realizing some other civilization had built it, but also the tremendous power the thing yielded and that we didn’t know what to do with it… Can you imagine taking a small working nuclear reactor and dropping it off in Victorian times? We are in the same position.”

Over the many years since Lazar’s original interview, as the documentary shows, there have been many examples of the powers that be discrediting his account of what he experienced. All of his employment and educational records have been either removed or tampered with, according to Lazar, especially those showing the time he spent at the S4 military base and, before that, at the Los Alamos Laboratories. Contractor EG&G and the United States Navy, for whom he worked at S4, have both denied ever having any records of his employment as a physicist. This is shown to be false in the film by George Knapp, who provides documented evidence of a Robert Lazar having worked during the period in question for the Los Alamos Laboratories and then subsequently at S4. He also obtained an admission from the Nellis Air Force Base that S4 actually exists despite the official denials. George Knapp apparently carried out this investigation to prove the authenticity of what Lazar was saying and before he agreed to interview him.

S4: The Bob Lazar Story is a fascinating, visually impressive reconstruction of the original information presented in 1989 by this brave, though widely discredited, physicist, who simply could not remain silent about the secret government programme he was part of, and which has been kept from the public by that very government ever since. The nearly 2-hour-long film is currently available on Amazon Prime Video.

Parts One and Two presented evidence of devas and nature spirits working cooperatively with humans at Findhorn, in Scotland, and at Perelandra, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, in the US. Part Three begins with additional experiences from individuals in Australia and New Zealand, and concludes with a metaphysical perspective and description of how these nature beings influence our weather patterns.

Australian Michael Roads found in the 1980s that he could merge his consciousness with various aspects of nature: rivers, trees, plants, and the animal kingdom. One could say he learned to experience nature directly, and he recorded his experiences in a number of books in the 1980s and 1990s. His revelation, too, was the interconnectedness of everything, as described in his book Journey into Oneness.

Still earlier, in his book The Kingdom of the Gods, Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson, from New Zealand, provides an in-depth explanation of all of the kingdoms of nature — all emanating from the “Absolute, Unknowable, Infinite and Unchanging Source and Foundation” of everything. He describes in detail his personal observations between 1921 and 1929 of what he calls “the lesser Gods”, comprised of many different types of nature spirits existing at varying levels of evolution — all with differing characteristics and functions. Illustrations based on his descriptions, such as the one below of a tree nature spirit, were drawn by Ethelwynne Quail for his book.

Healing, Weather and Devas
Esoterically, information from the late Benjamin Creme was rooted in the Ageless Wisdom tradition. For forty years, until 2016, he was the primary spokesperson for the emerging World Teacher for this age, Maitreya. Maitreya is the head of his group, the Masters of Wisdom, who hold the divine Plan for the evolution of this planet.

Creme explains that devas are a separate but parallel evolution to humans — devas from a “feeling” line, and humans from a “thinking” line. That is, devas, who have an extremely sensitive sensory apparatus, evolve by perfecting their ability to feel. The path for humanity, however, is developing the mind. This requires conscious effort to bring in the will, and is the harder of the two paths, Creme says.

Regarding cooperative work with nature for healing purposes, he explains: “The new psychology, the coming science of the soul, will throw much light on the nature and cause of disease and point the way to its prevention. In time, man will learn to approach and work with the deva (or angelic) evolution, many aspects of which are deeply engaged in the healing process.” Perhaps the Perelandra work — in particular, the Medical Assistance Program (MAP) described in Part Two — represents the beginning of that collaboration.

Modern science tells us that weather patterns such as global warming are largely a question of physics. However, there’s another dimension to weather that we ignore at our peril, and that is the reality of devas and nature spirits who control the elements of nature. Creme says there are many different kinds and categories (including elves, fairies, sprites) — from the very subhuman elementals on the involutionary arc to great beings — Archangels — far higher than humans, on the evolutionary arc.

Crucially, from the perspective of humanity, devas and nature spirits respond to human thought:

“…The destructive thoughtforms of humanity create the conditions of imbalance and tension in the world,” Creme says. “The imbalance between the developed world and the Third World — the poverty and suffering which ensues from that imbalance and therefore the thoughtforms of pain, agony and of destruction — pour into the mindbelt of the world. They affect what are called the devic elementals whose work it is to control the weather patterns of the world.” Their disequilibrium caused by our negative thoughtforms creates weather disequilibrium.

Creme says other factors beyond the devic elementals also influence weather conditions. These include the deforestation of large areas, which tends to lead to flooding, and the warming caused by the revolution of the planet being slowed (as reported in Share International magazine, September 1998) and its being brought slightly nearer the sun. He says these effects are temporary but inevitable at present.

To end climate chaos, he emphasizes, we must see ourselves as One, understand that everything is interconnected, and connect with nature as the ancients did. We must banish war forever. We must share the resources of this planet, which belong to all. And we must learn to live in harmony with the planet itself to create a future of harmony with each other.

We can grow miraculous gardens and tame our chaotic weather patterns by working in cooperation with nature for the benefit of all. But will we? The more people who understand that we humans impact literally everything by what we think and do, the more likely we are to solve our current crises.

The month of March 2026 was remarkable for the number of rallies and marches, large and small, around the world — all of them raising issues around the pervasive onslaught in present times against progressive values, such as equal rights, human dignity, inclusivity, justice, peace.

It might be noted when reading through some of the following reports that, funded by the Swedish Research Council and the European Union among others, the V-Dem Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era? more than justifies persistent and active resistance to the systematic erosion of what we think of as democracy.

“Democracy is back to 1978 levels for the average global citizen. The gains of the ‘third wave of democratization’, starting 1974 in Portugal, are almost eradicated.

“The level of democracy for the average citizen in Western Europe and North America is at its lowest level in over 50 years, primarily due to ongoing autocratization in the USA.

“The USA loses its long-term status as a liberal democracy — for the first time in over 50 years.”

International Women’s Day 2026

International Women’s Day (IWD) is not just a one-day event on 8 March. It is when themes for the year to come are announced to help inspire participation. Global events on the day celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women since the early 1900s, but crucially call for better still. Many thousands of people across the world reaching out to communities in this way draws media attention to the issues and has helped keep them on the political agenda for over a century.

But this year there are two themes with very different tones.

The organization, International Women’s Day, promotes such activities as fund-raising events in support of groups working to advance gender equality through raising awareness and “redefining what is possible”. Its theme for 2026 is “Give to Gain”. A very positive, heart-warming approach, described by the site as emphasizing “the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it’s intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise.”

However, many campaigners are openly questioning whether this is all just clever marketing and exploitation of what should be addressed as deadly serious matters through meaningful action, in line with the UN’s aims for meeting its sustainable development goals for gender equality by 2030. An open letter from 900 people demands that the website owners make a full disclosure of who they are, what they do and how; in particular, transparency about where raised funds go.

An article in The Guardian 15 March 2026 states that the UN, which adopted the International Women’s Day in 1975, has distanced itself from that organization. It announced this year’s official theme as “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL women and girls”, calling for accelerated action — and not without reason, considering the rising influence of chauvinism and outright fascism, and the dire effects of aid cuts in recent years which harm women and children most.

As the UN says: “Nowadays, no nation has closed the legal gaps between men and women. Right now, women have only 64% of the legal rights that men hold worldwide. In fundamental areas of life, including work, money, safety, family, property, mobility, business, and retirement — the law systematically disadvantages women.” Worse still: “54% of countries lack consent-based definitions of rape; 44% of countries do not have laws that guarantee equal pay for work of equal value; nearly 3 in 4 countries still permit child marriage, cutting short childhoods, education and futures. …In nearly 70% of countries surveyed, women face more barriers accessing justice than men.”

“When Justice fails,” says UN Women (the youngest UN organization), “women pay the price. … Justice is not blind. It protects power and continues to rule against women and girls. …Women’s rights mean nothing if we cannot defend them.”

Some examples from Associated Press about the day itself show some of the causes taken up by women:

• In Chile, tens of thousands of women marched in Santiago and other cities to demand women’s rights; in Brazil, marches were a rallying cry against gender-based violence; in Spain’s major cities, tens of thousands of women took to the streets calling for equality, an end to violence against women, an end to the war in the Middle East, and an end to women’s oppression, eg in Afghanistan.
• In Puyo, Ecuador, women from various Indigenous groups marched to raise their voices about the degradation of the environment, and oil and gas expansion. “Today is about reporting to the world about the violation of rights that us Indigenous women have to endure — specifically the rights to nature,” said Ruth Peñafiel, 59, from the Kichwa community in the northern Amazon. “We want to live in a healthy environment and in harmony with the forest, so we are asking for respect and that public policies for nature are put in place.”
• In New Mexico, a rally was held outside financier Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch where he allegedly sexually abused and trafficked underage girls and women. “This weekend, we are taking action because the same systems that shield powerful abusers at home are the ones perpetuating violence abroad,” Rachel O’Leary Carmona, Executive Director of Women’s March, said in a statement.
• And from War on Want: “We’re celebrating the powerful women’s movements leading the struggle for justice across the world. From women agricultural workers to garment workers — women are organizing for a better, fairer world everywhere.
  “Women in the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), our partners in Sri Lanka, are driving the move towards ecological farming and land reform to protect livelihoods and biodiversity. In Colombia, women supported by our partner CENSAT Agua Viva are resisting large-scale mining to defend their territories, water and livelihoods.
  “Across the world, women are standing up for their rights — and building solutions that put people and the planet before profit.
  “These struggles show that another future is possible — one where the economic and political systems driving inequality, exploitation and climate breakdown are transformed. Women are leading the way.”

No Kings protests

Event organizers for No Kings protests which took place 28 March were co-ordinated by Indivisible and 50501, which claim that 9 million supporters gathered in more than 3,300 towns and cities across America, including conservative-leaning states and swing states, and were joined by ex-patriots in many European countries. This was the third in a series of such protests since President Trump’s inauguration.

The huge protest in New York City’s Times Square, was attended by actor and director Robert de Niro, who told the BBC that he felt he had to attend. Referring to Trump, he said: “I think more people are starting to see that with this guy, it gets worse and worse and worse every day. Now we’re in a war. … He’s crazy. …It’s that simple, and we have to stand up to him, to the regime, fight it with everything. We just got to fight, you know, peacefully, but we have to resist. We have to. We have no choice.”

The protests were originally called by the organizers to openly oppose the authoritarianism and immigration policies of the Trump administration, in response to the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January 2026. After the 2026 Iran war began, organizers also described the protests as including opposition to “senseless war”.

Calling to their claimed 300,000+ supporters to join the events, People Power United, a grassroots organization with members over all 50 states, said we know that “freedom over fascism is not just a slogan. It is a responsibility we carry together. …The stakes could not be higher. If we normalize censorship, voter suppression, political purges, and attacks on human rights, we hand the future to people who see democracy as an obstacle instead of a promise. People Power grows stronger when we act together in public. No Kings on 28 March 2026 actions is one concrete way to turn hope into pressure. People Power United was built for moments like this, when ordinary people must become visible, vocal, and impossible to ignore. Our mission is freedom over fascism, and that mission demands courage in public, not just concern in private.”

Anti-far right anti-racism protest in London

The protesters who were at the Together demonstration on 28 March, were in no doubt that they were there with hundreds of thousands of others from different backgrounds, ages and races. The organizers, Together Alliance, a coalition of hundreds of civil society organizations, claimed 500,000. The police claimed 50,000.

The protest had been called in response to a rally held by far-right agitator, Tommy Robinson, in September 2025. In contrast to that one, where police were subjected to “unacceptable violence”, this march was not only far bigger, but also good-spirited and largely peaceful, despite the far-smaller presence of counter-protesters waving Israeli flags and Iran’s pre-1979 monarchical flag.

Commentators said that the demonstrators were resisting what they see as “the politics of hate and division” in the United Kingdom.

An Aljazeera report quoted one demonstrator, activist and writer Hamja Ahsan, as saying he was attending because of that far-right rally. “We need to show them that we’re the majority, …that at a street level, the far right won’t take over our streets.” He said the atmosphere on Saturday was akin to the Notting Hill Carnival, as the march united people from all backgrounds, “from pensioners to children”. Another protester, Charlotte Elliston, was reported as saying about what she sees as the creeping rise of the far right: “You see that it is getting scary.”

The rights group Amnesty UK hailed the “historic demonstration”, saying marchers were “calling for a different vision of society — one which places dignity, compassion and human rights at its heart”.

Greenpeace joins the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza

In early April, Greenpeace announced that its ship, the Arctic Sunrise, would join the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail from Barcelona, Spain on 12th April. More than seventy vessels and over a thousand participants seek to challenge Israel’s ongoing blockade of aid to Gaza. The Arctic Sunrise is to provide technical and operational maritime support, enabling the flotilla to safely travel across the Mediterranean.

The Sumud Flotilla last sailed in September 2025 with 42 boats and 462 people. Israeli forces illegally intercepted and forcibly boarded the flotilla, taking those on board into custody and transporting them to Israel.

Ghiwa Nakat, Executive Director of Greenpeace MENA, said: “The Greenpeace ship is joining this people-led mission to demand safe, unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza and to challenge the illegal blockade that continues to devastate civilian life… This flotilla is a call to governments around the world to end their silence, protect humanitarian action, and act with urgency and principle to uphold international law, human dignity, and justice.”

Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hosted a Global Progressive Mobilization summit in Barcelona in mid-April 2026, attended by 6,000 people from over 40 countries. The agenda ranged from reforming the UN Security Council to taxing billionaires, and how to stop the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. A particularly strong contribution came from Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who co-chaired the event with Sanchez.

Lula lambasted the five permanent members of the Security Council, describing them as “Lords of War” and called on them to stop acting like “emperors who think they own the world… all of them taking decisions without asking the UN”. In reference to an unnamed “tweeting” leader threatening the world, Lula continued: “No president of any country, however powerful, has the right to keep imposing rules on other countries…”

He said that the United Nations was no longer serving the purpose for which it was created, blaming “the five (permanent) members of the Security Council, who, when the Council was established, were supposed to ensure world peace after the second world war”. Instead, they have become “the Lords of War” he said, and urged them to “put an end to this war madness, because the world can no longer bear it”.

In another powerful speech, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa also criticized the Security Council, saying that the UN had become a “toothless organization” because these members are violating “all the laws”. He said the principles of friendship and solidarity were being threatened by “the resurgence of narrow nationalism, prejudice, racism and intolerance” and that “the resurgence of unlawful wars of aggression and genocide, in places like Palestine, are linked to the ideas of supremacy”.

Ramaphosa did however find hope in the numbers attending the summit “standing up… to be part of this global progressive mobilization… to show those who are violating the rights of others that you are not afraid, that you are prepared to stand in defence of those who are weak, to defend democracy and defend the human rights of others.”

Furthering the topic of strengthening international organisations, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley also spoke at the summit, warning that a lack of progress on rising inequality could erode trust in institutions and fuel extremism. “When democracy does not deliver for people, it creates space for instability,” she said. She also highlighted the threat of disinformation, saying: “without facts there is no truth, and without truth there is no trust, and without trust there is no shared reality.”

Maitreya and the Masters have stressed the importance of the United Nations, that it is “hope of the world” but the “Security Council has taken precedence over the General Assembly”, and the five permanent members (the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom) have been seen as “the policemen of the world”, underlined by their power of veto. (Benjamin Creme’s Master, Maitreya’s Mission Volume Two p127). Benjamin Creme said that “the Security Council has passed the peak of its value and should be unwound; it no longer has any function” and, like Lula in Barcelona, Creme said “there is no reason at all why five nations, five permanent members, should dictate the political/economic norms of the world. The Security Council has to go, and as soon as the Security Council goes the United Nations Assembly will find its proper voice.” (Maitreya’s Mission Volume Two p132)

(Sources: Aljazeera.com; france24.com; middleeastmonitor.com, Caribbean Today)

“There is only ONE GOD ”, although he is known by many names in the many countries, the many languages and the many religions. It may also be said that there are as many Gods as there are intelligent human beings, since each individual, guided by his own mental considerations and emotional aspiration inevitably formulates his own mental picture of the Directing Power. Each individual, irrespective of race or religion, constructs his own thought-form of the qualities and capacities of the God presented to him, either through religion or as a result of his own experiences. It goes without saying that the God created in the mind of the savage will assume quite different proportions to that of the highly developed intellectual. Similarly, the attributes of the individual’s God must necessarily change considerably during the course of development of a single life — from childhood to maturity. Awareness is the crucial factor, depending on an unfolding mind and increasing soul contact, and attended by an expanding consciousness. The God of one man will therefore encompass an Entity of far greater format than the God as visualized by the next. The man still exclusively focused on physical and emotional levels would probably be unable to place his emotional God much higher than the astral plane, while the man functioning on mental levels would elevate his God to spiritual spheres.

So often, apparently wide differences in religious views are merely due to different approaches, limitations of expression, or different interpretations of the same basic principles. What the scientist may refer to as Energy, Life or Nature is what the religious man calls God, and yet both are referring to manifestations of the same Superior Power.

God manifests himself as nature, life and energy, in every atom and form; He dwells within these forms and yet he is so much more than these manifestations of his Will and Purpose. Yet it is his Spirit which endows the forms with life and quality, and is responsible for that vitality which perpetually spurs every form to never-ending change, to that evolution which eventually must revert and transmute every atom and every dense form of matter to its basic source — to Spirit, to reintegrate with the ONE, with GOD.

The Solar Logos
’The Grand Man of the Heavens’ is manifested through the Sun and the seven sacred planets — our Solar System.

As man merely represents a cell in the body of the Planetary Logos, so the Solar Logos fills an analogous place in a higher cosmic scheme, and he, in turn, is but a cell or atom in the body of the Supreme Being, as reflected in the illimitable physical Universe.

As above, so below. On lower levels the human Monad, for reasons beyond human comprehension, requires experience on the physical plane for its development. This is gained through the soul manifesting in a physical body. What is taking place on the human level is, however, only a reflection or repetition of a similar occurrence of a much vaster and more exalted scale on loftier divine levels — by expression through the solar system, the Solar Logos is also gaining physical experience for his further development.

Seen from the evolutionary point of view the Solar Logos is, comparatively, as far advanced beyond the planetary Logos as the latter stands above the human initiate, but the Solar and Planetary Logoi are nonetheless closely linked, and work towards a common objective.

It is quite natural that man, from the relatively narrow and selfish standpoint peculiar to his modest stage of development, should view the whole evolutionary process as the method devised for his personal advancement and eventual attainment of perfection. It would, however, prove to his advantage to broaden his perspective by realizing that human progress is purely relative and incidental to far greater unfoldments, in which humanity only plays the role of a humble little pawn. The factor of supreme importance is the evolutionary development of the schemes of the Solar Logos. Humanity, however, happens to be in the favourable position of forming an integral part of the processes of consummation of the majestic Solar Purpose, and as such, must inevitably benefit from the evolution on higher levels, and will thereby be lifted eventually into the overall cosmic scheme.

The Planetary Logos
The ‘Heavenly Man’ or the ‘Silent Watcher’ manifests through a planet and, together with the other Planetary Logoi, forms part of the body of the Solar Logos.

The Earth’s Planetary Logos is “the One in Whom we live and move and have our being”. It is his Spirit that ensouls all life on Earth; his Energy, Will and Purpose which integrates all manifestation, and co-ordinates every activity into the perpetually unfolding Divine Plan.

Under the Law of Synthesis, the Planetary Logos, in the course of his development, has to promote specific projects in line with the Will of the Solar Logos. On a lower step of the hierarchical order, this Law may also be seen functioning, in that Humanity is provided through his etheric representative, the Lord of the World, with cultures in which the germ of the Solar Will can also be fostered. Through such forms of relationship the required synthesis is provided throughout the solar system, thereby implementing the Divine Purpose, and simultaneously providing a relating factor between Earth, Sun and Solar System, or the Planetary and Solar Logos.

The Planetary Logos has the power to see into all parts, aspects and phases of his planetary vehicle, and to identify himself with the reactions and sensitivities of all that has been created, and which forms part of his physical expression. The organ by means of which he effects this contact is the human Monad which, in certain respects, fulfils the same functions to the Heavenly Man as the nervous system does to the human being.

Flotillas have historically been fleets of military vessels — tools of empire designed for swift offensive or defensive operations at sea. The images they evoke are ones of imperial power and looming violence. Just look at the massive US naval buildup that surrounded Iran as part of the recent US attacks.

But peace activists have also developed a new kind of flotilla.

Instead of instruments of war, flotillas have become symbols of peace — acts of humanitarian direct action, civil resistance, and cross-border solidarity. Take the flotillas that have tried to reach Gaza, like the Global Sumud Flotilla. Even though they have been illegally intercepted by the Israeli military, they have educated millions of people worldwide about Israel’s atrocities, activated entire cities to shut down, and offered a beacon of hope to the beleaguered people of Gaza.

As US policy continues to sanction and blockade Cuba — causing immense hardship for the Cuban people — I, along with many others, felt compelled to escalate our own tactics of solidarity by joining the recent flotilla to Cuba as part of the Nuestra América Convoy. Our boat carried 15 tons of aid, part of the more than 40 tons delivered by the convoy.

The US empire is indeed dying, and it is up to us to not just reimagine the better world we need and want, but to actually put that world into practice.

The United States is currently imposing some of the harshest sanctions on Cuba in recent history, compounding a 67-year blockade that has restricted access to medicine, fuel, and food. But in recent months, the US added another dimension: a naval blockade to severely limit fuel imports, leading to a humanitarian crisis.

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need fossil fuels — we would already have made a just transition to renewable energy. And while Cuba is working at lightning speed to expand solar power, the current reality is stark: people still need fuel to cook, to transport food, to operate ambulances, to power hospitals, and to keep ventilators running.

The international community has responded to this escalation in US economic warfare with intensified solidarity. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been mobilizing to send aid and condemn the US blockade. In March, Progressive International, CODEPINK, and The People’s Forum launched the Nuestra América Convoy, bringing together over 600 people from 33 countries. We came with millions of dollars’ worth of aid — from urgently needed medical supplies to longer-term solutions like solar panels.

While many of my friends boarded planes to Havana, packing every inch of their luggage with medicine, hygiene products, vitamins, and art supplies, I traveled to Mexico to meet the flotilla crew. We spent four days at sea together — activists, journalists, organizers. Some had helped organize the Gaza Sumud Flotilla; others had taken part in mass protests in solidarity with Palestine.

Our goal was to deliver much-needed aid to the people of Cuba. But just as important was challenging the dominant narrative — that Cuba’s suffering is the result of its own Government, rather than decades of cruel US policy.

Even though the boat was full of journalists documenting the trip, their cameras could not fully capture the sense of community among strangers united by a shared mission. I remember being nervous about the cold and the possibility of seasickness, but within minutes, people were offering ginger chews, acupressure bracelets, and rain gear.

Our departure was delayed due to weather, boat repairs, and the logistics of loading the aid. In the meantime, we stayed with supporters in Mexico who couldn’t join the voyage but found other ways to contribute. We shared a send-off dinner at an Egyptian restaurant whose owner had followed the Gaza flotillas. He told us how proud he was to see a flotilla to Cuba leaving from his small town.

On the boat, we shared cooking, dishwashing, and night watch shifts — standard practice in occupations, encampments, and direct actions where resources are limited but creativity and collaboration are abundant. At sea, a simple breakfast of rice, beans, eggs, guacamole, and toast tastes like a feast. We slept under galaxies of stars, woke to sunrises on the horizon, and at sunset made music with whatever we had — a guitar, a bucket drum, water bottles filled with dry beans.

Meanwhile, I stayed connected to those traveling by plane, watching group chats fill with photos of carefully packed bags and urgent questions: Who can fit more supplies? How many solar batteries can we carry on? The coordination was constant, collective, and inspiring.

The blockade severely limits what goods can reach Cuba. While US citizens can still travel there under certain categories, they face restrictions and often risk questioning upon return. But solidarity is not tourism. It is not about swooping in, taking photos, and leaving. It is about building relationships, listening, and committing to ongoing struggle from our home countries.

We had a beautiful reception from the Cuban people when we landed, and then had the opportunity to speak directly with community groups about current conditions. I learned how they overcome so much by placing value in community over the individual.

The US empire is indeed dying, and it is up to us to not just re-imagine the better world we need and want, but to actually put that world into practice. Reflecting on my experience, I started thinking — if we can turn flotillas from a force of evil into vessels of hope and solidarity, then what else can we change? What if we built schools around the world instead of sending bombs? What if, like the Cubans, we funded healthcare over warfare and sent doctors to cure people instead of soldiers to kill them?

You don’t have to board a boat with humanitarian supplies to show solidarity. Flotillas are one tactic, but we need a variety and diversity of tactics right now, and always. You can move forward by showing solidarity to your neighbors at home, as well as to our neighbors 90 miles off our shores. Because what we build together, in community — whether through a peace flotilla or local mutual aid — is stronger than anything built through force.

(Source: Common Dreams)

Many people wonder about the true rationale behind the Iran war, and the analyses reported here, although somewhat complex, provide some clarity. They also reveal the degree of inhumanity we’ve reached, and the need to transition as quickly as possible to renewable energy.

According to British author and journalist George Monbiot, a direct line connects capitalism, oil and Iran, an intimate link that might not be immediately obvious to the average reader. Historically, he points out in a recent article, Iran is currently in the hands of repressive ayatollahs because, in 1953, Winston Churchill’s Government persuaded the CIA to launch a coup against the popular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh. Why? Because Mossadegh planned to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) to keep a foreign power (the British) from stealing the nation’s wealth.

The US obliged, with UK support, and the second attempt succeeded, at which time the US reinstated the dictatorship of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1954, a Western consortium gave AIOC, which later became British Petroleum (BP), a 40% share in Iranian oil. American firms received another 40%. The rest of the profits went to the European partners. The Shah’s increasing repression sparked a revolt in the late 1970s, which brought Ayatollah Khomeini into power.

Monbiot relates oil to capitalism this way: “The world’s military power exists in large part to deliver the profit from resources — especially oil — to banks and shareholders, commodity traders and asset managers, hedge funds and private equity companies. For the same purpose, the infrastructure of persuasion — lobbyists, media, social media algorithms — is mobilized to ensure the most amoral, sadistic and bellicose people are selected as leaders, as they will keep oil and other commodities flowing for the benefit of capital, whatever the human cost may be. Their opponents are demonized, alternatives dismissed as ‘unrealistic’, ‘unpopular’ and ‘unaffordable’. … Control over resources is the driving force of politics.”

Western interest in the Middle East and central Asia is not new — it has been going on for more than a century, with numerous attempts by foreign governments to control these regions — partially for the sake of the oil beneath their sands, but in recent decades for financial reasons as well. An article by Ellen Brown discusses the hidden US goal of “full-spectrum financial dominance” put forward in 2000. That was just after the world was opened to unregulated derivatives trading in 1997 by a World Trade Organization Financial Services Agreement. Derivatives are a market valued at $846 trillion — more than seven times the size of the entire world economy, and are viewed by economists as a bubble ready to burst. Significantly, Iran operates the world’s only fully interest-free banking regime, which insulates it from derivative vulnerability and makes it a structural obstacle to US financial control.

Oil didn’t cause capitalism, but it has massively spread and empowered it. If we move away from oil, Monbiot says, we’ll “defuel dictators and war machines, coups and assassinations, invasions and nuclear threats. It’s not everything of course; there will still be water wars, land wars and mineral wars to be fought: after all, the military machine can’t just sit there rusting. But it’s a lot.”

In addition to wars and violence, by leaving fossil fuels behind, we would also solve a second emergency — the environmental one that causes so much suffering around the world, from climate disasters, excess heat, pollution and other consequences of burning fossil fuels. Making the shift to renewables won’t be easy, though, because fossil fuel capitalists will do everything in their power to keep that from happening. It will require an activation unlike anything we’ve seen since that mounted for World War II.

To hasten that activation, Monbiot notes that a crucial intervention along those lines — a film called “People’s Emergency Briefing” — is now being hosted in cinemas by volunteers across the UK that will pressure the government to explain the Iranian situation properly and mobilize for full-scale action.

In an opinion piece in the New York Times (paywall), David Wallace-Wells calls the Iran war a symptom of the dying energy order (fossil fuels) before the new one (renewables) has really taken hold. He counts the war in Iran as the third major energy shock within a few years — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the supply-chain disruptions of Covid being the first two.

We are likely to experience price hikes resulting from the Iran war for quite some time. Therefore, our old complacency and reliance on the availability and stability of oil may finally give way to a shift toward renewables. Wallace-Wells agrees that the transition may not be either peaceful or quick, because governments across the developing world are dependent on taxes from energy companies or direct funding from state-owned fossil fuel operations. However, he feels the popular revulsion over the Iran war may be the beginning of the end for fossil fuels.

First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels

United Nations Climate Change Conferences (Conferences of the Parties, or COPs) have been held yearly since 1995. However, their focus has primarily been reducing the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions known to drive climate change. Not until recent meetings has the elephant in the room (that is, the need to phase out the use of fossil fuels) even been on the agenda. The consensus-based nature of the meetings and the fact that large numbers of fossil fuel lobbyists and countries economically dependent on fossil fuels are attendees may explain that anomaly.

At COP30 last November, for example, a group of petrostates vetoed the proposal to develop a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels; in fact, the words ‘fossil fuels’ appeared nowhere in the final text of the COP30 agreement. However, 85 countries were in favor of the proposal.

Now, the Governments of Colombia and the Netherlands are hosting the First Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, scheduled from 24-29 April 2026 in Santa Marta, Colombia. This will have been the first time governments — in this case a ‘coalition of the willing’ — convene a major international summit specifically dedicated to planning the phase-out of fossil fuels. It’s designed to be complementary to the UN COPs — not a replacement — and to provide a sustained political platform for countries ready to implement action toward an orderly phase-out of fossil fuels. It will not be governed by consensus, but by majority rule, to prevent sabotage by a few countries.

The first four days of the conference are dedicated to stakeholder-led dialogues, with separate dialogue spaces for academia, civil society organizations, the private sector, workers, subnational governments, and a People’s Assembly. The final two days are the high-level segment — for ministers, high-level representatives from subnational governments, and spokespersons and representatives from the stakeholder groups.

The intention of the Santa Marta conference is to begin drawing up the roadmap blocked at COP30, and to agree on “actionable solutions” that follow-up meetings can refine so that governments can implement them. The expectation is an ongoing international process leading to Pacific countries hosting a subsequent summit to further its outcomes. And to ensure that phasing out fossil fuels won’t hurt workers, communities and fossil-fuel-dependent economies, UN Secretary General António Guterres has urged the International Energy Agency to help create a “global platform” where public and private sectors can “sequence the decline of fossil fuel investment with the rapid scale-up of clean energy”.

Guardian reporters Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope say that the secret weapon of the gathering in Colombia is its potential to function as an economic superpower. Indeed, the combined gross national products of the 85 countries backing a roadmap is $33.3 trillion, and if California joins the group, adding $4.1 trillion GDP, this economic superpower would be worth $37.4 trillion, slightly less than the combined GDP of the US and China. If this group releases transparent, convincing plans for leaving fossil fuels behind, public and private investors may well shift to renewables so as not to be left with worthless, stranded fossil fuel assets.

As stated by We Don’t Have Time media representative Catarina Rolfsdotter-Jansson, the “Santa Marta Conference represents a pivotal opportunity to confront the intertwined crises we experience — all rooted in the same fossil-fueled system. It offers a concrete pathway to revive multilateral co-operation, restore international norms, and accelerate a global just transition away from fossil fuels as a foundation for peace, stability and the protection of life.” She says this could be the beginning of the end for fossil fuels.

(The next issue of this magazine will include a report on the outcome of the Conference.)

Vatican campaign to encourage divestment from mining industries

In a Vatican news conference, Indigenous groups and cardinals alike testified about how extractions are threatening human health, environmental ecosystems and social justice. Yolanda Flores, a leader of the Aymara peoples in Peru, told how Indigenous mothers fear they’re poisoning their children because their drinking water has been polluted by extraction runoff. She asked: “Who finances this? Who provides the money to poison us?”

Guatemalan Cardinal Alvaro Ramazzini described the results of a Canadian mining firm’s extraction of gold and silver from the land. While it was a legal activity, he said, “In terms of distributive justice: were the mining operations fair? No.” They did not promote long-term development of the communities in which they mined, though they did provide short-term employment for the local population.

In 2022, Pope Francis formed an investment committee of church and outside financial experts to guarantee “the ethical nature of the Holy See’s securities investments according to the church’s social doctrine and at the same time their profitability, adequacy and risks”. With the current campaign, the Vatican aims to encourage local churches to review their investment strategies and divest where they’re in conflict with this social doctrine, and to share information, in particular with Indigenous groups, about the types of extraction occurring on their lands.

The Catholic Church’s billion followers and vast institutional investments are what makes this decision to divest globally impactful. It sends a powerful message to global markets and institutions that profit should never come at the expense of people or the planet, and the precedent could ripple out to affect dioceses, religious organizations, or even secular financial systems.

We Don’t Have Time reporter Edwin wangombe summarizes: “This is how real climate leadership looks: not only advocating for change, but embodying it. … It proves that institutions, no matter how traditional, can evolve and become powerful allies in building a cleaner, fairer, and more sustainable future for all.”

An Indigenous nation cleans up a toxic wasteland in the US

Between 1891 and the 1970s, millions of tons of lead and zinc were extracted from the Tri-State Mining District, which stretched across Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The towering piles of toxic rock known as chat piles left from the mining operations were included in what the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named the Tar Creek Superfund site in 1983. It was one of the most contaminated places in the country, and its Oklahoma portion included nearly all of the Quapaw Nation.

The chat piles contained lead and cadmium, and leached toxins when it rained; tunnels below the surface often collapsed, engulfing cattle, cars and even homes; acidic water from the mines surfaced and turned Tar Creek rusty orange; and a 1979 study found that 34% of Native American children in the area had dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. The once-abundant land was nearly dead.

When contractors hired with grant money only partially cleared the land and scraped off the good topsoil needed for farming, the tribe told them they were no longer welcome on Quapaw land and took control. The Quapaw started cleaning up the land themselves, found topsoil to dress it back up, seeded and mulched and sent a bill to the EPA. Their focus was to make the land productive again, and they did.

They restored the earth with mushroom compost, and where the contamination was cleaned to EPA standards, they began to grow row crops. At first these crops failed to thrive because the soil was so poor, but they continued to enrich it, and after 40 years of remediation, about 2,500 acres of row crops are now planted and provide income for the tribe. Crops graze on less fertile land, and land not suitable for either crops or cattle has been set aside for wildlife. There is still more work to do, but the tribe perseveres. For the Quapaw, agriculture means identity and independence.

The Quapaw — a community with more than 6,000 members — are the first and only tribal nation in the country to manage and carry out a Superfund cleanup. The EPA eventually paid them the thousands of dollars billed for the project.

In Africa, a win-win way to protect ecosystems

In 2010, South African billionaire Mark Shuttleworth came to the West African island of Príncipe, looking for a good place to build a home. Príncipe has been known for its special flora and fauna since it was discovered by Portuguese navigators in 1471. It had evolved unique rainforests over the years by being uninhabited and separated from the African mainland by over 160 miles of ocean. Giant land snails and crabs were among the top predators, and even now new species are being discovered, lending it the nickname ‘African Galapagos’.

The Portuguese started a cacao plantation economy, but, with independence in 1975, that business dissolved. The descendants of slaves and laborers from Angola and Cabo Verde then turned to subsistence farming, pushing deeper into the unexplored parts of the island, cutting trees and foraging.

Soon after Shuttleworth arrived, his search for a home base turned into a desire to help the islanders. First he converted a former plantation house into a hotel with locals trained as staff, but he wanted to do more. “The normal path to development for Príncipe would be to cut down forest and grow ‘fair trade’ peppercorns,” he said. “But we want to reward them as stewards of their precious environment.”

Committing £87m of his own fortune, he created a sustainable development project that also improves the environment. Villagers who agree to follow an environmental protection code receive a quarterly dividend, and to date more than 60% of the adult population — nearly 3,000 people — have joined the Faya Foundation’s project. The first payment of up to €816 (£708) was delivered in March, and represents a good deal of money on the island.

There’s an ongoing learning process regarding how to care for the environment, however; for example, dividends are reduced if there’s unauthorized cutting of trees. Otherwise, the Foundation is funding school improvements, revitalizing the cacao business, and giving financial advice, since many who live on Príncipe have neither a bank account nor experience with handling money. A new village is another development.

This innovative social experiment will be watched closely as it progresses. “If it’s successful,” Shuttleworth said, “I hope other irreplaceable ecosystems might benefit from the idea at scale.”

Two environmental successes

Saudi Arabia’s Green Initiative

The Saudi Green Initiative, whose goal is to plant 10 billion trees, or the equivalent of rehabilitating 40 million hectares, in Saudi Arabia, was initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2021. Early this year, the project achieved the milestone of restoring the first million hectares of degraded land and planting more than 159 million trees.

Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Chairman of the board of directors of the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification, says this current progress will lead to 2.5 million hectares restored by 2030, with the addition of strategic projects such as dam water use and rainfall harvesting.

Vice Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Mansour Al-Mushaiti credits the synergy between the Government, private sector, and the not-for-profit sector for this success, and highlights projects like the National Cloud Seeding Program. He says cloud seeding not only increased rainfall but also reduced dust storms by 50% in 2025 compared to the year before.

The key is having an integrated approach and the political will to get the job done. With those requirements met, the project demonstrates that land restoration is possible even in the most challenging environments.

US: 100 dams down in one year

Removing a dam is one of the fastest and most effective ways of bringing a river back to life. Within days, bugs return. Within weeks, native fish are swimming where they haven’t been in generations. The whole watershed starts breathing again.

2025 was a landmark year for removing dams and reconnecting waterways in the US. One hundred dams came down, which reconnected 4,893 miles of river — the most upstream miles ever reconnected in the country in a single year through dam removal. The removals were spread across 30 states, topped by Pennsylvania, historically the leader in river restoration, which removed 14 dams in 2025.

Some dam removals eliminated dangerous, crumbling structures, some restored passage for endangered fish species, some reduced flood risk, and others powered not only an ecological but cultural restoration for Indigenous tribes.

When dams no longer serve a useful purpose, but are in fact blocking fish from reaching spawning habitat, creating safety hazards, accelerating the risk of flooding, and not generating power, they should come down. American Rivers has a goal of removing 30,000 dams by 2050 (out of a total of 500,000 in the national inventory), and with increasing popular support for healthy rivers, the momentum is building.

One hundred dams and almost 5,000 miles of river free-flowing again in one year isn’t a bad milestone.

Return of land to Indigenous tribes in California

In 1850, the federal government of California promised it would hold roughly 7% of the state’s land and waters as reservations for Indigenous tribes. 175 years later, it appears the pledge is finally in process of being fulfilled: the California Natural Resources Agency intends to bring at least 7.5 million acres of land and coastal waters under the care of tribes.

In a statement to High Country News, California Governor Gavin Newsom said: “Restoring tribal lands is an acknowledgment of a harmful history of dispossession, a demonstration of accountability, and a commitment to a better future.”

Many tribal leaders had little or no translation support when signing the original treaties, and in the state’s first legislative session, the Indigenous practice of setting careful intentional fires to manage the land was outlawed. This lack of stewardship caused devastating effects, such as poor water quality in lakes and rivers, reduced biodiversity, and some state parks becoming tinderboxes.

Morning Star Gali, Executive Director and founder of Indigenous Justice and a member of the Ajumawi band of the Pit River Tribe, said in a statement: “The California Natural Resources Agency is taking important steps forward” to acknowledge and address the unratified treaties. He also said that it will take decades to properly address these historic injustices.

Some of the recent returns arranged by LandBack (a movement to return ancestral lands to California Native American tribes) are as follows:

• 14,000 acres returned to the Yurok Tribe as the last phase in a total of 47,100 acres of land previously used by timber companies. Yurok Tribal Chairman Joseph L.James said: “The impact of this project is enormous… we are forging a sustainable future for the fish, forests and our people that honors both ecological integrity and our cultural heritage.”
• In October 2025, the Tule River Indian Tribe reclaimed 17,030 acres in the Central Valley.
• In November 2025, the state approved financial support to assist the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California in reacquiring 10,274 acres of former ranch land in the Northern Sierra Nevada.
• In December 2025, nearly 900 acres bordering Yosemite National Park were returned to the Southern Sierra Miwuk Tribe.

The Natural Resources Agency estimates more than 1.7 million acres are already under the stewardship of tribes. This includes over 100,000 acres through state land return programs, more than 700,000 held as reservations and trust lands, and more than 900,000 acres through partnerships with California State Parks.

(Sources: www.hcn.org; www.latimes.com)

19 global cities achieve ‘remarkable’ reductions in air pollution

According to a recent analysis by Breathe Cities (an initiative that supports cities around the world to clean the air and enhance public health), London, San Francisco and Beijing are among 19 global cities that have achieved “remarkable reductions” in air pollution since 2010. In these three cities, levels of two airway-aggravating pollutants were reduced by more than 20%.

In terms of cleaning up fine particulate pollution (PM2.5), Beijing and Warsaw were at the top of the list, and Amsterdam and Rotterdam saw the biggest improvement in nitrogen dioxide (NO2), with reductions of more than 40%.

The analysis found that within 15 years, “substantial reductions” can be achieved through deliberate actions such as China’s rapid switch to electric cars, the expansion of cycle lanes in European cities, and London’s restrictions on dirty vehicles.

Burning fossil fuels releases toxic gas and harmful particles. As well as forming acid rain, the smallest of these particles can pass into the bloodstream and spread through the body, damaging organs, while nitrogen dioxide damages the airways.

An air pollution scientist at Imperial College London, Dr Gary Fuller, said: “Air pollution is often presented as a problem that is too difficult to solve and one that is politically unpopular. This report shows that bold policies can improve the air that we breathe.”

(Source: www.theguardian.com)

In a series of remarkable statements, Pope Leo has condemned recent religious justifications for war issued by the US government, and told world leaders: “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!”

On 25 March, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led a Pentagon worship service. He prayed for God to grant US troops “overwhelming violence of action” against Iranian enemies and cast the conflict as a divinely sanctioned holy war, inscribing his Bible with the Crusader battle cry “Deus Vult” (“God wills it”). The Pope’s response, issued a few days later on Palm Sunday, was unambiguous: “God refuses the prayers of leaders who have hands full of blood.”

In his first Easter address on 5 April, the Pope made a direct call to world leaders: “Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue!”

“Globalization of indifference”

The Pope’s words came as humanity faced what he called the “globalization of indifference” — a numbing acceptance of perpetual violence. “We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent,” he said. “Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow.”

When President Trump threatened two days after Easter Sunday that “a whole civilization will die tonight” in Iran, Leo responded within hours, calling the statement “truly unacceptable” and framing the conflict as fundamentally a moral question about the welfare of the world’s people.

At a prayer vigil for peace at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican a few days later, Pope Leo reflected on the moral crisis facing the world. Speaking to thousands gathered in prayer, he said: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life.”

World held together by “multitude of supportive brothers and sisters”
Speaking in Cameroon on April 16, as part of a peace pilgrimage in Africa, the Pope condemned what he called the “delusion of omnipotence” fueling endless war and issued a direct rebuke of leaders who manipulate religion for military purposes. “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,” he said. “The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.”

The Pope continued: “Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death. It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.”

Pope Leo was joined in his peace pilgrimage in Africa by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leader of the Church of Scotland. The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote: “I stand with my brother in Christ, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, in his courageous call for a kingdom of peace.”

In the face of escalating personal attacks from the White House, the Pope has remained steadfast in his conviction. “I have no fear of the Trump administration,” he said, “or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”

(Sources: Word and Way, Catholic World Report, Catholic Standard, Politico, The Independent — UK, Al Jazeera, MSN News, The Guardian)