France says 'time has come' to ease tensions with Russia

Yahoo – News, Marina LAPENKOVA, 9 September 2019

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (L) and Defence Minister Florence
Parly held the first meeting in the so-called "2+2" format suspended after Russia
seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014

France said Monday that the time had come to start easing tensions with Russia as senior ministers held four-way talks in Moscow not seen since the crisis over Ukraine broke out.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said there was a "window of opportunity" for resolving the Ukraine conflict after a landmark prisoner exchange on Saturday, but that it was too soon to talk of lifting sanctions on Russia.

Le Drian and French Defence Minister Florence Parly were in Moscow for talks under the so-called "2+2" format that been suspended since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a diplomatic push for a detente in Europe's relations with Russia.

"The time has come, the time is right, to work towards reducing distrust," Le Drian told a press conference of the four ministers after the talks.

"We have come to suggest... a new agenda of trust and security."

He said the prisoner exchange -- which saw 35 detainees handed over on each side -- had created goodwill that needed to be reinforced.

"It is not yet the deadline for lifting sanctions. It's a new state of mind, which we have not seen for several years," Le Drian said.

Lavrov said progress on rebuilding ties with Europe was "possible and necessary".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) said progress on rebuilding ties 

with Europe was "possible and necessary"

Prisoner swap 'a good sign'

He welcomed recent statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as "very, very positive" and described the prisoner exchange as "a good sign" for future progress.

Ties between Russia and Europe have been deeply strained since 2014, when the European Union and United States imposed sanctions over the annexation of Crimea and Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Macron embarked on his bid to bring Russia in from the cold this summer, hosting President Vladimir Putin in southern France last month and renewing high-level diplomatic contacts.

The two men spoke by phone on Sunday, hailing the prisoner exchange as a step forward in peace efforts.

Attempts to resolve the Ukraine crisis have revived since the election in April of comedian-turned-president Zelensky, who has made ending the conflict his main priority.

Macron announced a summit under the so-called "Normandy format" of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in his talks with Putin, but a date has not yet been set.

The focus of the summit will be reviving the Minsk accords, which Germany and France helped to negotiate but failed to stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine, where more than 13,000 have been killed.

Analysts said Macron is looking to take the lead on Russia in Europe. As head of the G7 and Council of Europe, and with Germany and Britain focused on internal politics, the French president sees an opportunity.

"Emmanuel Macron is telling himself that if there's a chance of doing something on Ukraine, it's now," said Florent Parmentier, a researcher at Sciences Po university in Paris.

"It won't be easy but it's not a rash move," he added, pointing to France's "real diplomatic advance" by promoting Russia's return to the Council of Europe, the continent's foremost human rights body, last June.

Top UK minister quits in new Brexit blow to PM Johnson

Yahoo – AFP, Dmitry ZAKS, September 8, 2019

Amber Rudd becomes the latest MP to leave the Conservative benches
(AFP Photo/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS)

London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received a fresh blow Saturday when senior minister Amber Rudd quit her work and pensions post in protest at his handling of the Brexit crisis.

Her resignation caps a miserable week for Johnson as he tries to steer his splintered country through its biggest political crisis since World War II.

Rudd was a moderate member of former prime minister Theresa May's government whose endorsement Johnson coveted during his successful UK leadership challenge in July.

But she said Saturday that she could no longer endorse Johnson's approach to negotiations with Brussels -- or handling of domestic politics.

"I have resigned from Cabinet and surrendered the Conservative Whip," Rudd tweeted.

"I cannot stand by as good, loyal moderate Conservatives are expelled," she said referring to Johnson's decision to expel 21 MPs from the Conservative party for voting against the government on Brexit.

Rudd said in her resignation letter that she felt uneasy about Johnson's commitment to take Britain out of the EU on October 31 even if the two sides fail to reach a negotiated deal.

The 56-year-old said she had once viewed Johnson's threat of a messy "no-deal" divorce as a useful negotiating tactic to take with Brussels.

"However, I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the government's main objective," she wrote in her resignation letter.

"The government is expending a lot of energy to prepare for 'no deal' but I have not seen the same level of intensity go into our talks with the European Union."

'Government falling apart'

Johnson has been adamant that he will not seek a third Brexit delay this year.

He is instead seeking to hold an early general election on October 15 that could give him a mandate to take Britain out on time and at any cost.

Johnson said this week that he would "rather be dead in a ditch" than seek a Brexit extension until January that more moderate forces demand.

The main opposition Labour Party is plotting a strategy with smaller parliamentary groups that could leave Johnson with no other alternative but to seek an extension to the Brexit talks or resign.

They are expected to push through legislation Monday forcing Johnson seek a Brexit delay from Brussels unless he can strike a deal at an EU summit next month.

They are also trying to make sure that a general election is held only after Johnson is forced to go back on his word and push Brexit back again.

Johnson has branded the delay bill a "surrender" that would allow the other 27 EU leaders to dictate the terms on which Britain leaves its closest neighbours after 46 years.

Both Labour leaders and rebel Conservatives praised Rudd's decision to walk away from Johnson.

"Everyone has a point beyond which they cannot be pushed," centrist Conservative MP Nick Boles tweeted.

"Amber Rudd has reached hers. How much more of the party he inherited will Johnson destroy before he has second thoughts or is stopped by his Cabinet colleagues?"

Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said Johnson was "being totally found out" six weeks into his job.

"Johnson government falling apart," Starmer tweeted.

But Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage -- an anti-EU populist who is trying to forge an election alliance with Johnson -- said the British leader made a mistake by taking Rudd on in the first place.

"Why did Boris give ministerial posts to all these Remainers in the first place?" Farage asked in a tweet.

"Confused thinking to say the least."

Russia, Ukraine swap prisoners in landmark 'first step' to ease tensions

Yahoo – AFP, Oleksandr Savochenko with Michael Mainville in Moscow, September 7, 2019

Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was the country's most prominent
political prisoner (AFP Photo/Sergei SUPINSKY)

Kiev (AFP) - Russia and Ukraine made a long-awaited swap of 70 prisoners on Saturday, a deal hailed as a first step towards ending five years of tensions and conflict.

Two planes carrying 35 prisoners from each side landed simultaneously in Moscow and Kiev, where the passengers emerged under sunny skies.

"We have taken the first step," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the tarmac after greeting and hugging former detainees. "We have to take all the steps to finish this horrible war."

In emotional scenes at Kiev's Boryspil airport, family members embraced and handed flowers to the former prisoners, many weeping with joy.

Among those swapped were 24 Ukrainian sailors, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Russian-Ukrainian journalist Kyrylo Vyshynsky.

"I am overflowing with happiness," Natalya Mokryak, the mother of one of the sailors, told AFP at the airport. "I have finally seen this come true."

Two groups of 35 prisoners from each side were released simultaneously 

(AFP Photo/Vasily MAXIMOV)

Russian state television showed the Russian prisoners emerging from the plane at Moscow's Vnukovo-2 airport used for government flights.

Among those handed over to Moscow was Vladimir Tsemakh -- a fighter with Moscow-backed separatists considered a key witness in the downing of flight MH17 -- who was returned home despite pleas from the Netherlands.

Western leaders welcomed the exchange, with US President Donald Trump saying it could be "a first giant step to peace" and German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling it a "sign of hope".

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the release of Sentsov in particular, saying in a tweet that "we have always been by his side".

Anticipation had been building for the swap, which involved weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Anticipation had been building for days for the exchange (AFP Photo/

Sergei SUPINSKY)

Relations between Kiev and Moscow nose-dived in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and Moscow backed separatists in the eastern industrial regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. Fighting there has claimed more than 13,000 lives over the past five years.

Smiles and tears

Zelensky's election in April has raised hopes that a stalled peace process could be revived.

The comedian-turned-politician vowed to have Ukrainian prisoners in Russia returned and has said that ending the conflict with Russia is his top priority.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that the exchange would be "a huge step towards normalising relations" with Kiev.

Saturday's swap was "very important", Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the swap was a 'sign of hope' (AFP Photo/

Sergei SUPINSKY)

"It's necessary to maintain this drive to solve problems as much as possible," she said.

The release of filmmaker Sentsov will be seen as a major victory for Kiev. The 43-year-old was Ukraine's most famous political prisoner and the subject of a star-studded international campaign calling for his release.

He was arrested in 2014 and had been serving a 20-year sentence in an Arctic penal colony for planning "terrorist attacks" in Crimea.

"I thank all the people who have fought for us," Sentsov said at the airport in Kiev, where he was greeted by his teenage daughter who wept and smiled.

"I am hoping that the rest of the prisoners will be released soon," he added.

The sailors, including two members of Ukraine's SBU security services, were detained last year when Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels off Crimea.

Moscow had wanted to put them on trial for violating Russia's maritime borders.

The commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Igor Voronchenko, broke into tears as he embraced one of the freed sailors.

Vladimir Tsemakh -- a fighter with Moscow-backed separatists considered a key

 witness in the downing of flight MH17 -- was handed over to Russia (AFP Photo/

Sergei SUPINSKY)

MH17 witness handed over

Among those who flew to Russia was Vyshynsky, a 52-year-old journalist at Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency.

The Russian-Ukrainian dual national was facing charges of "high treason" but was released on bail ahead of the swap.

The release of Tsemakh -- who was reportedly in charge of air defence in the area where the MH17 came down -- was a demand by Russia for the swap to go ahead, said Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine's SBU.

The Dutch government contacted Ukraine "several times and at the very highest level" to try to prevent Tsemakh's handover, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said.

Blok said the authorities had the opportunity to question Tsemakh before he left for Russia but the Netherlands still profoundly regretted the outcome.

Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by a Russian-made missile in July 2014 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board, two-thirds of them Dutch.

Efforts have intensified to ease tensions between Moscow and Kiev since Zelensky's election, with Macron calling for a summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany this month.

Brexit bill passes UK upper house in blow for Johnson

Yahoo – AFP, Joe JACKSON and Sylvain PEUCHMAURD, 6 September 2019

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seeking an early general election

Britain's upper house on Friday gave final approval to a law that would force Boris Johnson to delay Brexit, in a fresh setback for the British Prime Minister who is struggling in his bid to call an early election.

The draft, which now requires formal assent by Queen Elizabeth II to become law, would seek to postpone Brexit beyond the current deadline of October 31 if Johnson does not manage to strike a divorce agreement with the EU next month.

Johnson, who has said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for a delay, wants an early general election that could give him a mandate to take Britain out of the European Union with or without a divorce deal.

He spent Friday morning campaigning in Scotland among fishermen, who strongly backed the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Johnson received a boost when the High Court in London rejected a legal challenge against his decision to suspend parliament from next week.

But it granted permission for the case to go to the Supreme Court for an appeal scheduled for September 17.

"My legal team and I will not give up the fight for democracy," pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller told reporters.

Johnson has branded the bill a "surrender" that would allow the other 27 EU leaders to dictate the terms on which Britain leaves its closest neighbours after 46 years.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is struggling with his 'do or die' effort to pull Britain 

out of the European Union

He sacked 21 Conservative rebels who voted for the legislation in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

The decision left him without a working majority in parliament.

Johnson's opponents are now widely expected to block for the second time Monday his attempt to schedule snap polls for October 15.

"Never in history has there been an opposition party that has been given a chance to have an election and has turned it down," Johnson said in Scotland.

"I think that they are making an extraordinary political mistake."

Deal 'not possible'

Johnson has been adamant that he will not seek a third Brexit delay this year.

The main opposition Labour Party is planning a strategy with smaller groups that could leave Johnson with no other alternative but to resign.

They are reportedly trying to make sure that an election is held only after Johnson is forced to go back on his word and seek a divorce delay.

Britain's Boris Johnson spent the morning campaigning in Scotland among fishermen 

who strongly backed the Brexit referendum in 2016

This would happen if no new agreement is reached when Johnson attends an October 17-18 EU leaders' summit in Brussels.

None is expected and EU officials say they have heard no new proposals from Johnson's team.

Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne -- whose Nordic country holds the rotating EU presidency -- said a chaotic "no-deal Brexit" seemed unavoidable.

"I hope that we can reach a situation where this can be solved so that there is no mess, but it seems not possible now," Rinne said in Helsinki.

"We don't know what's happening there. It seems very obvious that we are not getting Brexit with an agreement."

Johnson disagreed.

"I don't think we'll get a no-deal Brexit," he said in Scotland.

"I am very confident I will get an agreement at the summit on October 17."

Boris Johnson says he remains confident Britain will get a new Brexit 

agreement from the EU

'Cunning wheeze'

Labour was negotiating on Friday with the pro-EU Scottish National Party (SNP) and smaller groups about their preferred date for the imminent election.

Johnson was also set to meet his team over the weekend to prepare for what promises to be another momentous week in the Brexit saga.

Labour foreign affairs spokeswoman Emily Thornberry said lawmakers did not trust "this prime minister, who is as slippery as can be".

She accused Johnson of trying to use an election "as a distraction whilst they, by some cunning wheeze, bounce us out of the EU".

SNP's parliamentary leader Ian Blackford also signalled his party's refusal to back an October 15 poll.

"The idea that he is coming with a motion to try and force an election having lost one (motion) this week is insane," he said.

"He is not going to compel parliamentarians to give him a mandate to determine the timing -- we don't trust him."

Murder victim's plight prompts EU order on emergency calls

Yahoo – AFP, 5 September 2019

The European Court of Justice ordered that mobile phone operators hand over
data enabling calls to 112 to be localised

A horrific rape and murder of a kidnapped teen in Lithuania prompted the European Court of Justice on Thursday to order mobile phone operators to hand over data enabling the localisation of calls made to the international emergency number 112.

The 17-year-old girl, who was abducted and burnt alive in the boot of a car in 2013, made 10 desperate calls to 112 begging for help. However her number did not show in the call answering centre, preventing her being located.

The girl's family lodged a lawsuit, accusing Lithuania of failing to implement an EU directive requiring telecom operators to provide for free caller information to locate calls made to 112.

Thursday's decision by the court ordered that all phone operators in the EU give that information. They must do so even for phones which do not have a SIM card inserted but which are still able to connect to the 112 service.

Currently eight of the EU's 28 member states, among them France, do not allow phones without a SIM card to make 112 calls, according to the European Emergency Number Association.

In many cases, that was to prevent children playing with old mobile phones accidentally calling the emergency services number, it said.

The EU forms the core of the countries using 112 as an emergency number for mobile phones, originally offered on the GSM standard that Europe championed.

Later other countries adopted the number too, often alongside their own national emergency numbers, including Australia, China, India, Turkey and the United States.

The European Court of Justice ordered that mobile phone operators hand over data enabling calls to 112 to be localised.

Germany asks Polish forgiveness 80 years after WWII outbreak

Yahoo – AFP, Anna Maria Jakubek and Stanislaw Waszak, September 1, 2019

"We want to, and we will, remember. And we will bear the responsibility that our
history imposes upon us," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
(AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

Warsaw (AFP) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland's forgiveness 80 years after Germany's attack triggered World War II while his Polish counterpart denounced Russia's recent "imperialist" aggression against its neighbours.

Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall.

That figure includes the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, half of them Polish.

"I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny. And I ask your forgiveness," Steinmeier said at pre-dawn ceremonies in the western Polish city of Wielun where Germany's first bombs fell 80 years ago.

"It was Germans who committed these crimes against humanity in Poland. Anyone calling them things of the past, or claiming that the vile rule of terror of the National Socialists in Europe was a mere footnote of German history, is passing judgement on him or herself," Steinmeier said alongside his Polish counterpart.

Polish Andrzej Duda said the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the outbreak 

of WWII will "go down in history of Polish-German friendship" (AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

The line appeared to be a reference to the German far-right, whose co-leader Alexander Gauland once called the 12-year Third Reich a "speck of bird poop" on an otherwise glorious German past.

Polish President Andrzej Duda for his part denounced Nazi Germany's attack on Poland, calling it "an act of barbarity" and "a war crime" but also hailed post-war reconciliation.

Duda later on Sunday slammed recent Russian military attacks against its neighbours as "imperialist tendencies" at state ceremonies in Warsaw attended by US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others.

Sanctions

The Polish leader did not specifically name Russia, but referenced Moscow's actions against "Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 that altered borders."

He urged "the leaders of Europe and the world, NATO and EU members" to guard against appeasing aggressors.

Tadeusz Sierandt, an eyewitness to the bombing of Wielun, holds a picture 

of the destroyed town (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

"There must be sanctions, resolute actions, it must be obvious that any military aggression will be met with a firm reaction," Duda said.

"Closed eyes are not a good recipe for keeping the peace; it's a good way to encourage aggressive personalities, to give the green light for new attacks."

Polish authorities said they had not invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Sunday's ceremonies because of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"80 years after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi army, let us remember the explosion of the Second World War that devastated our Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.

"The fight for peace and our values is more important than ever," he added.

Nazi Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 came one week after Berlin and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to carve up Eastern Europe between them by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Hitler's attacks on Poland on September 1, 1939, led Britain and France to declare 

war on Nazi Germany (AFP Photo)

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans attended a separate dawn remembrance ceremony on Sunday in Westerplatte, on Poland's Baltic coast, where a Nazi German battleship had opened fire on a Polish fort 80 years ago to the day.

'Demand compensation'

Hitler's attacks on Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union in turn invaded Poland.

After the Nazis tore up their pact with Moscow, two alliances battled it out: the Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Although it has been 80 years since the war started, there are still unresolved matters according to Poland, which says Germany owes it war reparations.

Map showing the start of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. (AFP 

Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

A parliamentary commission is currently working on a new analysis of the extent of Poland's wartime human and material losses.

"We have to talk about, remember and demand the truth regarding those losses. We have to demand compensation," Morawiecki said on Sunday at the Westerplatte ceremony.

When it comes to reparations, however, Berlin believes the case is closed.

US President Donald Trump had planned to attend the war commemorations but cancelled at the last minute so that he could monitor Hurricane Dorian.

"We love our Polish friends, and I will be there soon," Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday, confirming a visit was still in the offing.

King Willem-Alexander starts off the festivities. Photo: Anneke Janssen via HH

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Kings and World War II veterans mark the start of 75 years of freedom

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Freed from elevator, Pope names new cardinals from Muslim, developing countries

After being trapped in an elevator due to a power outage, Pope Francis made it to his weekly Angelus prayers. There, he announced 13 new cardinals from the periphery of the church and some who have worked with refugees.

DW, 1 September 2019

Pope Francis at Angelus prayers

Pope Francis arrived late for his weekly Angelus prayer service on Sunday, prompting worried worshipers to speculate that the pontiff, 82, may have fallen ill. He surprised the crowd, however, by announcing that his late arrival was due to being stuck in a Vatican elevator for nearly half an hour.

Francis then further surprised his audience by saying that several of the new cardinals he had been expected to name would be from the Muslim world as well as clerics well known for helping refugees.

"I was trapped in a lift for 25 minutes, there was a power outage and the lift stopped, but then the firemen came," the pope said.

"Let's give a round of applause to the fire service," he added, with the crowd obliging.

13 new cardinals

The pope then named the 13 men he will officially elevate to the status of cardinal in October. Several were from developing countries, such as Cuba, Guatemala, and Congo. Two more came from the Muslim-majority nations of Morocco and Indonesia. Another is a Spaniard who works in interfaith dialogue and has a background in Islamic studies.

The move is in line with Francis' desire to highlight the work of those in the periphery of the Church's reach.

"Their provenance expresses the missionary vocation of the Church to continue to announce the merciful love of God to all men on Earth," Francis said.

The other new cardinals include the Czech-Canadian Jesuit priest Michael Czerny, who has previously worked in ecology and social justice, and is now responsible for migration and refugees in the Vatican, and Matteo Zuppi, now Archbishop of Bologna, who was previously with the Sant'Egidio Community charity in Rome, known for its work with the homeless and refugees.

Cardinals are among the most powerful leaders of the church, and are the only clergy eligible to elect a new pope.