Belgium's once hidden princess meets royal father

Yahoo – AFP, Matthieu DEMEESTERE, October 27, 2020 

The princess had to fight a long legal battle for recognition

The once secret princess of Belgium has met former king Albert for the first time since her legal battle to be accepted as his daughter, the palace said Tuesday. 

A photograph distributed with the announcement shows Princess Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg, sitting smiling alongside Albert II and his wife, Queen Paola, in their Brussels residence. 

Delphine, now a 52-year-old artist, was the child of an affair the former king of the Belgians had with a Baroness, and he long refused to recognise her. 

But, after a long legal battle for recognition, the princess has been allowed to adopt his family name and has begun to build a relationship with the royal family. 

The latest meeting was the first with Albert and his wife since she was recognised, and was marked by a joint message issued in the names of the former king, Delphine and Paola. 

"This Sunday, October 25, a new chapter opened, full of emotion, understanding and, also, hope," they said. 

"Our meeting took place at the Chateau du Belvedere, a meeting during which each of us was able to express, serenely and with empathy, our feelings and experiences. 

"After the tumult, the wounds and the suffering, comes the time of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. 

"This is the patient sometimes difficult path that we have decided to take resolutely together. These first steps pave the peaceful course which it is now up to us to pursue." 

Belgian artist Delphine Boel now bears the name of Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg

Royal affair 

The meeting followed a similar encounter earlier this month between Princess Delphine and the current King of the Belgians, Albert's son Philippe. 

Albert II reigned from 1993 until 2013. He was obliged to undergo a DNA test in 2019 following a long legal battle with the woman who had insisted for years she was his daughter. 

The test confirmed he was indeed Delphine's biological father, which he had refused to admit since the revelation in 1999 of an old extra-marital affair. 

A Belgian court ruled on October 1 that the artist -- who was partly raised in Britain and has an American husband -- can indeed adopt her father's name and call herself a princess. 

Her two children, Josephine and Oscar, are now also a princess and a prince. 

Delphine was born in 1968 to a baroness, Sibylle de Selys Longchamps, early in an affair that lasted until 1984. 

Albert had already married his future queen, Paola, and the illegitimate daughter was kept secret. 

Despite rumours and press reports, Albert continued to deny his paternity throughout his two-decade reign and after his abdication, until the judge-ordered DNA test. 

The result was finally released in January, and the saga could have been over -- but the former king, now 86, continued to show his daughter the cold shoulder. 

Albert denied paternity for decades

'Knife in the back' 

In a statement issued after the test, Albert's lawyers said simply "the scientific conclusions indicate that he is the biological father of Mrs Delphine Boel". 

And they added that his legal paternity was not the same as being a father, insisting he had made no "familial, social or educational decisions" in Boel's upbringing. 

When the former king informed his hidden daughter and the Belgian people, through legal counsel, that he felt no connection with her it was "like a knife in the back", she told reporters on October 5. 

The princess said she had been in touch with her father until he cut contact brutally when she was 33 years old, and his dismissive rejection of the hard-fought recognition was a step too far. 

The legal battle continued until earlier this month, when the family relented and accepted Delphine into the fold.

Gridlock in Poland as thousands protest abortion ban

Yahoo – AFP, October 26, 2020 

Thousands have been protesting in Warsaw over a ban on abortions

Thousands of people took to the streets of Poland for a fifth straight day of protests against a constitutional court ruling that would impose a near-total ban on abortion in the EU country. 

Protesters in Warsaw occupied several key roundabouts in the city centre to block traffic and chanted anti-government slogans, brandishing the protest symbol -- a red lightning bolt. 

There were similar demonstrations across Poland, a day after rarely seen protests targeting churches in what is still a predominantly Catholic country. 

Poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the European Union and many women travel abroad to terminate their pregnancies. 

But Poland's constitutional court last week ruled in favour of further restrictions, stating that an existing law allowing the abortion of damaged foetuses was "incompatible" with the constitution. 

The verdict is in line with the position of Poland's powerful Catholic Church and the governing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

It has ignited anger against the ruling party, which is already under pressure over its handling of the pandemic and reforms that critics say undermine the independence of the judiciary. 

Opponents of the ruling say it puts women's lives at risk by forcing them to carry unviable pregnancies but supporters insist it will stop the abortion of foetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome. 

There are already fewer than 2,000 legal abortions per year in Poland and the vast majority of those are carried out due to damaged foetuses. 

But women's groups estimate that up to 200,000 procedures are performed illegally or abroad. 

Another symbol of the protests is the coat hanger -- a reference to illegal abortions. 

The ruling cannot be appealed but only comes into force if it is published in the journal of laws.

Belarus opposition wins EU parliament rights award

Yahoo – AFP, Alex PIGMAN with Antoine LAMBROSCHINI in Moscow, October 22, 2020 

The ex-Soviet nation has been gripped by protests after since Lukashenko
claimed victory in an August 9 election

The European Parliament on Thursday awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to the movement opposing President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, led by the exiled Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. 

"It is an honour to announce that the women and men of the democratic opposition in Belarus are the 2020 Sakharov Prize laureates," tweeted European Parliament President David Sassoli.  

"They have on their side something that brute force can never defeat: the truth. Do not give up on your fight. We are by your side." 

The choice is likely to meet with disapproval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who staunchly supports his embattled Belarusian counterpart. Russia already denounced the choice of the 2018 winner, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed at the time. 

Belarus has been gripped by unprecedented protests since Lukashenko claimed victory in an August election over Tikhanovskaya. 

Every Sunday, tens of thousands of Belarusians, despite the risk of arrest and the threat of live ammunition, take to the streets to oppose Europe's longest serving leader. 

Waving white-red-and-white banners they march peacefully, despite a daunting police presence, beatings and the use of water cannons and anti-riot grenades. 

Tikhanovskaya, who was granted shelter in EU member Lithuania after the vote, has called on Lukashenko to quit power before October 25, warning he would otherwise face a crippling general strike. 

Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is living in exile

Double-edged sword 

The protest movement is largely unconnected with traditional political life and is especially led by women and young people who have no recollection of the Soviet era. 

Almost all the figures linked to Tikhanovskaya -- or the opposition Coordination Council set up to begin a transition of power -- have been imprisoned, placed under house arrest or forced into exile. 

Supported by Putin, Lukashenko has ruled out any major concessions, promising only a vague constitutional reform to get out of the crisis and staged a sham of a dialogue with opponents by visiting them in prison. 

Tikhanovskaya meanwhile has won the support of the EU's biggest players, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. 

Europe's support is a double-edged sword for the opposition, as Moscow and Minsk have constantly denounced a Western conspiracy. 

The Sakharov Prize, set up in 1988 and named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, is awarded every year to individuals or organisations that "have made an important contribution to the fight for human rights or democracy". 

Last year's award of the 50,000 euro ($58,000) prize went to Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, who is sentenced in China to life imprisonment for "separatism". 

The prize is to be handed out at a plenary session of parliament on December 16. 

The other finalists for the prize were environmental activists in Honduras, including the murdered  Berta Cáceres, and Father Najeeb Michael, the Archbishop of Mosul in Iraq.

Belgium's hidden princess regrets father's cold shoulder

Yahoo – AFP, Matthieu DEMEESTERE, October 5, 2020 

Belgian artist Delphine Boel, who now bears the name of Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg,
was emotional as he recounted her battle to secure recognition as a princess of Belgium

When former king Albert II informed his hidden daughter and the Belgian people, through legal counsel, that he felt no connection with her it was "like a knife in the back," she said Monday. 

The former Delphine Boel had kept her silence for years about the king's affair with her mother, like "a little soldier," she told reporters in her first press conference since a court recognised her as princess Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg last week. 

But when DNA tests finally revealed that she was his daughter after a long, drawn-out paternity battle, and he still coldly refused to welcome her into the royal family, she pressed on with legal action. 

Now, a Belgian court has ruled: the 52-year-old artist can indeed adopt her father's name and call herself a princess. It's a victory of sorts, but she is sorry it came to this. 

On Monday, on the verge of tears, she told reporters who gathered at the Free University of Brussels why she had gone the legal route to end the long battle for recognition. 

Delphine was born in 1968 to a baroness, Sibylle de Selys Longchamps, and Albert, the then future king of the Belgians, early in an affair that lasted until 1984. 

Albert had already married his future queen, Paola, and the illegitimate daughter was kept secret. 

Despite rumours and press reports, Albert continued to deny his paternity throughout his 1993 to 2103 reign and after his abdication, until a court ordered a DNA test in 2019. 

The result was finally released in January, and the saga could have been over, but the former king continued to show his daughter the cold shoulder. 

In a statement, Albert's lawyers said "the scientific conclusions indicate that he is the biological father of Mrs Delphine Boel." 

But they added that his legal paternity was not the same as being a father and noted that he had made no "familial, social or educative decisions" in Boel's upbringing. 

'Fair and upright' 

In fact, the hidden princess says, she had been in touch with her father until he cut contact brutally when she was 33 years old. 

His dismissive rejection of the hard-fought recognition was a step too far. 

"After having been a little soldier, of completely protecting him and my mother since the age of 17 and not saying anything because I loved him and we had a good relationship, and having that, it really felt like a knife in the back," she said. 

"And so after that, I thought to myself, if that's going to be the case, then all I ask for is to be equal to my brothers and sisters." 

She eluded a question about her rights to inheritance, saying she did not do it for money -- the industrialist Jacques Boel under whose name she was raised was very wealthy. 

But she wanted to be recognised alongside her legitimate elder siblings: Philippe, the current king, Laurent and Astrid. 

And she would never have demanded the title of princess if she had been treated as an equal, she argued. 

"I'm not asking for more, I'm not on my knees demanding a gesture, that'll happen or it won't, I don't know," she said, explaining that she isn't waiting to be contacted by her brother, King Philippe. 

She paid tribute to her husband, an American businessman with whom she has two adolescent children. 

And to sign her artwork, she will simply use her given name, Delphine, she said. 

"What I'm happy for is that I really did it for the right reasons, for the right values, and it proved to me that when you stay fair and upright you are rewarded in the end," she said.

Pope makes first trip outside Rome in seven months

Yahoo – AFP, Andrea Bernardi with Ella Ide in Rome, October 3, 2020

Pope Francis prays during mass at the tomb of Saint Francis in Assisi,
during his first trip outside Rome in seven months

Pope Francis on Saturday made his first trip since the Vatican's coronavirus lockdown, though it was a solitary affair for the crowd-loving Argentine due to pandemic precautions. 

Francis visited the central Italian town of Assisi, the birthplace of his namesake saint, where he signed his new encyclical -- a document laying out the pope's views on key issues -- called "Fratelli tutti" on the importance of fraternity and social friendship, particularly during the pandemic. 

In the austere tomb of the Saint Francis of Assisi, Francis held a sombre mass for around 20 mask-wearing faithful. 

The text of encyclical will be published on Sunday, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, who lived from 1182-1226 and devoted himself to a life of poverty.

 Francis earlier made a surprise visit to a convent of the Poor Clares -- an order founded by Francis of Assisi and saint Clare -- and simply rang the doorbell. 

He also stopped at the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi, which houses the remains of Clare, the first woman disciple of saint Francis. 

The gesture could be in response to a growing controversy over whether the encyclical's translated title -- "Brothers all" -- excludes women. 

The Vatican's news website published an editorial called "An encyclical for all brothers and sisters" and emphasised that the Italian title, taken from a quote of Saint Francis, "in no way intends to exclude women". 

After Francis signed the encyclical on the altar at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, he expressed his gratitude to three Roman Curia translators, encouraging them to come to his side for applause. 

Francis visiting the town of Assisi, the birthplace of his namesake saint

The pope's lockdown 

The pope's last trip was to the southern Italian port city of Bari on February 23 for a meeting with Mediterranean bishops. 

As the virus began to spread around the world earlier in the year, Francis instead reached out through a live-streamed mass, performed alone on Saint Peter's Square. 

"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities", he said in the historic March address, describing the coronavirus "tempest" as having put everyone "in the same boat", as heavy rain fell around him. 

That, and his lonely walk through the deserted streets of Rome to pray at two churches for the end of the pandemic, captured his isolation, but were also seen by Catholics as signs of solidarity and hope. 

Saturday's pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Francis, a UNESCO World Heritage site, marks a milestone in the pope's slow return to normalcy. 

Francis, 83, showed little fear as the virus broke out in Italy in late February, though he was forced to shun his usual practice of shaking hands. 

Apart from suffering a cold early on, his health has remained good. 

"Everyone works in his office or from his room, using technology. Everyone is working; there are no idlers here," the pontiff said in an interview with papal biographer Austen Ivereigh in April. 

That included Francis, who live-streamed his daily masses from Santa Marta, as well as the weekly Angelus prayers and general audience talks. 

While there will be no papal foreign trips this year -- for the first time since 1979 -- the Assisi outing is hoped to go a small way towards charging the batteries of a man who believes a priest's place is with his flock.