Tuesday's surprise decision came just a month after the Vatican convened an unprecedented conference of cardinals in which it pledged to get tough on priests who abuse children and the bishops who cover up for them.

French cardinal Philippe Barbarin travelled to Rome on Monday and offered his resignation to Pope Francis.

But on Tuesday the Vatican announced that the Argentinian pontiff had decided to reject the resignation.

While the Vatican offered no explanation, it seems likely that the Pope wants to wait to see the outcome of an appeal that the 68-year-old archbishop intends to launch against his six-month sentence.

But the decision was condemned by groups representing survivors of clerical sex abuse from around the world.

“I’m stunned by this decision. It is shocking and depressing,” Anne Barrett Doyle, the head of the US-based organisation Bishop Accountability, told The Telegraph.

“It reveals the Pope’s very narrow concept of accountability. It is a reminder to bishops that they have nothing to fear from this Pope. It is a profound and disastrous misreading of what is required to address this crisis.”

Just last month, during a four-day conference at the Vatican attended by bishops and archbishops from around the world, the Pope said that “no abuse must ever be covered up, as has happened in the past".

In a statement, Barbarin, the most senior French Catholic to have been swept up in the Church’s sex abuse scandal, said: “On Monday I handed over my mission to the Holy Father. He spoke of the presumption of innocence and did not accept this resignation."

Barbarin said that he would step back from his role as archbishop of Lyon "for a little while", allowing his deputy to stand in for him.

Even the Bishops' Conference of France – the country’s most senior Catholic body - said it was surprised by the decision, which it described as "unheard of".

Barbarin was convicted earlier this month of failing to act against Bernard Preynat, a priest who has confessed to abusing boy scouts in the 1980s and 1990s. Preynat is expected to be put on trial later this year.

Barbarin became archbishop of Lyon in 2002 and learned of Preynat’s abuse of boys but let him remain in ministry until 2015, said Bishop Accountability.

French victims of clerical abuse also reacted with outrage to the papal decision.

"I think that man (the Pope) is going to manage to kill off the church. It's a mistake too many,” said Francois Devaux, a co-founder of a victims' organisation.

Faith in the Catholic Church has plunged as a result of its failure over two decades to address sex abuse perpetrated by clergy.

Last week George Pell, the Australian cardinal who was once the third most powerful figure in the Vatican, was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of abusing two altar boys in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in the 1990s.

He also intends to appeal and remains a cardinal, despite being behind bars.

Campaign groups were profoundly disappointed when last month’s Vatican conference on combating sexual abuse failed to come up with any new, concrete initiatives to address the crisis.

by Adriaan Alsema January 30, 2019

Bogota‘s botanical garden is one of the most peaceful places in Colombia’s capital, and widely praised for its great variety of flowers.

The capital’s botanical garden is the largest in Colombia and located next to the Simon Bolivar Park in the northeastern Engativa district.

The botanical garden is named after Jose Celestino Mutis (1732-1808), a priest, scientist and scholar who was one of the first to introduce vaccination to Bogota.

The priest became a legendary figure in Colombian history after injecting himself with a weakened strain of smallpox during an epidemic in 1782 without falling ill. His demonstration convinced thousands of skeptic Bogota residents to agree to vaccination, which possibly prevented hundreds of deaths.

But most of his time, Mutis was dedicated to studying indigenous languages, and the flora and fauna that continues to flourish in the botanical garden carrying his name.

As one could expect in Colombia, a country that is home to more than 4,000 orchid species, Bogota’s botanical garden is filled with orchids, but that’s not all; more than 18,000 different plant species can be found in the garden complex.

The garden is home to five collections dedicated to the conservation of plants that are considered endangered species in the Andean region.

The Jose Celestinos Botanical Garden is open seven days a week between 8AM and 5PM with the exception of national holidays. The entry fee is COP2,700 or less than a dollar.

 

An NBA star vowed to "f*** up" a fan and his wife after alleging he heard a racial slur from the spectator.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook was left livid when he claimed he heard a Utah Jazz fan tell him to 'get down on your knees like you used to'.

It started a row between Westbrook and and a pair of spectators during the second quarter.

And the 30-year-old was caught on video responding: "I'll f*** you up. You and your wife."

Westbrook has called for action against the abuse he and his teammates have allegedly received during road games.

"There's got to be something done," Westbrook said. "There's got to be some consequences for those type of people that come to the game just to say and do whatever they want to say. I don't think it's fair to the players.

"And if I had to do it again, I would say the same exact thing, because I truly will stand up for myself, for my family, for my kids, for my wife, for my mom, for my dad every single time. I expect anybody else to do the same. 

"So that's kind of where I'm at with the whole situation. As for beating up his wife, I have never put my hand on a woman; I never will. Never been in any domestic violence before.

"Never have before, but once he said the comment, his wife repeated the same thing to me as well. So that's kind of how that started.

"I know you guys only got the tail end of the video, but the start of the video is way more important and way more disrespectful than what you guys heard."

The fan in question, Shane Keisel, 45, also spoke to TV cameras after the game. He denied the accusation.

"I never said a swear word to him, and she (his girlfriend) never left her seat, never said a word, hands in her lap," he said. 

"Initially I was like: 'Oh, I'm talking with Westbrook, the guy's one of the greats'. But he's also classless."