VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis named a Vatican nurse who he said had “saved my life” to become his personal health care aide Thursday, a new role in response to his recent health problems.
“The Holy Father has nominated Massimiliano Strappetti, nurse coordinator of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene, as his personal health care assistant,” the Vatican said in a short statement.
The 85-year-old pope is always attended by health care staff, both in the Vatican and his overseas trips, but this is a new position linked to his recent health problems, a Vatican source told AFP.
The Argentine pontiff suffers from knee pain that has forced him to cancel numerous events, and admitted last week after a trip to Canada that he must slow down or even start thinking about retiring.
Strappetti was widely identified as the Vatican hospital nurse hailed by the pope last year for persuading him to undergo surgery for an inflammation in the intestine.
“He saved my life!” the pope told Spanish radio Cope following his July operation, adding that the nurse had been there for three decades and was a “man with a lot of experience.”
Since early May, the pope has used a wheelchair to move around, or sometimes walks with a cane.
He takes painkillers for his knee pain and also undergoes physiotherapy, according to the Vatican.
However, last week Francis ruled out having surgery, saying he was still suffering after-effects of the anaesthetic administered during last year’s operation.
Pope names nurse who ‘saved my life’ as personal aide
https://arab.news/pk335
Pope names nurse who ‘saved my life’ as personal aide
- The 85-year-old pope is always attended by healthcare staff
- Strappetti was widely identified as the Vatican hospital nurse hailed by the pope last year
Top Australian writers’ festival canceled after Palestinian author barred
- 180 authors boycotted the event and its director resigned after a Palestinian author was disinvited
SYDNEY: One of Australia’s top writers’ festivals was canceled on Tuesday, after 180 authors boycotted the event and its director resigned saying she could not be party to silencing a Palestinian author and warned moves to ban protests and slogans after the Bondi Beach mass shooting threatened free speech.
Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said on Tuesday she was quitting her role at the Adelaide Writers’ Week in February, following a decision by the festival’s board to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.
The novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah said the move to bar her was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a national day of mourning would be held on January 22 to remember the 15 people killed in last month’s shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.
Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and the incident sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism, and prompted state and federal government moves to tighten hate speech laws.
The Adelaide Festival board said on Tuesday its decision last week to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, on the grounds it would not be culturally sensitive for her to appear at the literary event “so soon after Bondi,” was made “out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event.”
“Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies,” the board said in a statement.
The event would not go ahead and remaining board members will step down, it added.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian author Kathy Lette, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Percival Everett and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis are among the authors who said they would no longer appear at the festival in South Australia state, Australian media reported.
The festival board on Tuesday apologized to Abdel-Fattah for “how the decision was represented.”
“This is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history,” it added.
Abdel-Fattah wrote on social media that she did not accept the apology, saying she had nothing to do with the Bondi attack, “nor did any Palestinian.”
Adler earlier wrote in The Guardian that the board’s decision to disinvite Abdel-Fattah “weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, where lobbying and political pressure determine who gets to speak and who doesn’t.”
The South Australian state government has appointed a new festival board.
