Latest news with #Catholic
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
One of the most powerful artworks I've seen is on show in Tasmania
The exhibition takes its name from one of the installations, a new work made up of a series of five water wells sitting in pitch darkness behind a glass wall. Into these, molten steel drips at hypnotic intervals, generating sparks reminiscent of a working foundry, although these sparks are artfully curated. An earlier version debuted at the 2022 Venice Biennale, where Sassolino used fiery droplets of molten steel to evoke what he described as the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio's 17th-century paintings, specifically The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. In this version, the chiaroscuro is certainly dramatic. While it's difficult to imagine a saintly beheading amid the sparks, the eight-minute sequence, observed from pews placed for this purpose, is mesmerising, in the tradition of the transcendent religious artworks adorning Europe's great cathedrals. In the end, the beginning is a perfect addition to a gallery famed for its kinetic displays and its inherent subversion of the Catholic faith in which MONA founder David Walsh was raised. Sassolino's precision engineering is 21st century, but his choice of materials and fascination with old-fashioned masculine energy are furiously at odds with a planet economically realigning around the rare earth mineral economy as it gears up for the decarbonisation revolution. Elegant as it is, the exhibition feels like one last loving look over the shoulder as we move into a future where harnessing the energy of wind and sun assures the survival of the species. Being sensorially receptive is an essential state for visiting MONA, the privately owned art museum and collection of Tasmanian gambling millionaire Walsh. Since it opened in January 2011, it has been an undisputed curatorial game changer in the Australian art world. MONA's growing permanent collection and temporary displays owe more to the practices of contemporary biennales than art museums, yet its arrival freed up Australia's public galleries to be more experimental and playful. Before MONA, they tended to be wedded to chronological white-wall exhibitions, but this unashamedly gonzo new entrant was cashed up and unconstrained by curatorial committees, boards, public funding, or the need to observe rules or regulations. Walsh led from the front, encouraging his collaborators to move fast and break things. MONA is firmly part of the art establishment now, the sum of the considerable experience Walsh and his team have amassed, and of Australian galleries having relaxed. Coinciding with the exhibition's early June opening was Dark Mofo, David Walsh's festival encompassing live music, the sprawling Winter Feast food market, and various indoor and outdoor art activations throughout Hobart CBD. The festival made its return this year under new artistic director Chris Twite, following a hiatus in 2024. With its music, food, numerous bars, and warming fire pits for the bundled-up crowds, Dark Mofo evokes a blokey theme park. It carries the air of a last hurrah of the heterosexual white man. In the right-on landscape of Australian arts, there's something incredibly quaint about experiencing what feels like a Gen X fun park. Indeed, Dark Mofo offers a wondrously unique and intriguing experience, almost as if it's an arts festival from a world that froze in 1994, upon Kurt Cobain's death. Loading Unapologetically created in Walsh's image, music headliners ranged across punk, electronica and the 'extreme metal and absurdist mayhem' of US outfit Clown Core. Winter Feast is as visually arresting as its offerings are smokey and delicious, by no mistake. There is wild goat, wallaby and camel on the menu, their skeletons arranged above the grill long after the flesh has been stripped. A free public event during opening weekend's prime-time Saturday night was a theatrical car crash featuring two BMWs, complete with doughnuts, pungent rubber burnouts, and dazzling sound and lighting. Look out for the video. Crash Body, conceived by Brazilian artist Paula Garcia, drew thousands to the wet, windy Regatta Grounds overlooking the Derwent, framed by the Tasman Bridge. This site is also earmarked for the proposed AFL stadium, a controversial project that led to the state's premier being ousted the day before. Dark Mofo's free public art program is like a biennale in style, albeit on a walkable Hobart scale. Visually, the event is connected throughout Hobart by red lights and inverted crucifixes. These deliciously symbolise the humility of St Peter, who asked to be crucified upside down to put himself beneath Jesus Christ, but are alternatively symbolic of Satanism. Choose your own adventure. Loading Among the legacies of David Walsh's everyman approach to MONA is the enthusiasm with which audiences in Tasmania engage with the arts. Free events on the opening weekend were packed, many ticketed events sold out, and the general confidence of people interacting with artworks was impressive. Nicholas Galanin's Neon Anthem called on people to kneel on one knee and scream, a comment on the Black Lives Matter movement possibly lost in this execution, but in which nearly everyone who walked past nonetheless participated, generating waves of screams like you might hear near a roller coaster. Brigita Ozolins' beautiful exhibition on banned books, Revolution and Silence at the State Library and Archives of Tasmania, will remain open until October. It's a gentle meditation on social mores in stark contrast to Dark Mofo's in-your-face headliners. Dark Mofo's highly sought-after Night Mass events were, once again, sold out. Thousands of revellers explored the multi-stage, all-night jamboree of music, performance art, and installations that transformed a city block into something resembling a sticky-carpet nightclub adorned with share-house decor. I haven't even mentioned Simon Zoric's Coffin Rides (as it says on the tin) or the Sex + Death Day Spa installation at MONA, where a nana in a white towelling robe at the entry deadpanned options: 'Do you want anal bleaching or a Brazilian?' Did I mention the 90s?
Herald Malaysia
an hour ago
- Business
- Herald Malaysia
Vatican Bank reports RM159 million profit in 2024
The Vatican Bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), reported a net profit of €32.8 million (RM158,952 million) for 2024, a seven per cent increase from the previous year. Jun 20, 2025 The Vatican Bank. (CNA/Andrea Gagliarducci VATICAN: The Vatican Bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), reported a net profit of €32.8 million (RM158,952 million) for 2024, a seven per cent increase from the previous year. The growth was driven by higher interest, commission, and brokerage income, along with tighter cost control. The total volume of client assets rose to €5.7 billion (RM27 billion), and net assets increased to €731.9 million (RM3.5 billion). The IOR's strong performance also led to a dividend of €13.8 million (RM66 million) being allocated to the Holy Father, reaffirming its mission to support the Church's religious and charitable works. All investments were conducted in line with Catholic social teaching, with 100 per cent of asset management lines posting gains and 79 per cent outperforming their benchmarks. The bank's Tier 1 capital ratio — a key indicator of financial stability — reached 69.43 per cent, a 16.1 per cent rise from 2023, due to reduced risk exposure and stronger equity. This places the IOR among the most well-capitalised financial institutions globally in terms of liquidity and solvency. Improvements in technology and staffing in 2024 further enhanced the IOR's operations and customer service. As the only financial institution authorised to operate within Vatican City, its audited financials confirmed compliance with international accounting standards and another year of stable, sustained growth. --CNA
The Age
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
One of the most powerful artworks I've seen is on show in Tasmania
The exhibition takes its name from one of the installations, a new work made up of a series of five water wells sitting in pitch darkness behind a glass wall. Into these, molten steel drips at hypnotic intervals, generating sparks reminiscent of a working foundry, although these sparks are artfully curated. An earlier version debuted at the 2022 Venice Biennale, where Sassolino used fiery droplets of molten steel to evoke what he described as the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio's 17th-century paintings, specifically The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. In this version, the chiaroscuro is certainly dramatic. While it's difficult to imagine a saintly beheading amid the sparks, the eight-minute sequence, observed from pews placed for this purpose, is mesmerising, in the tradition of the transcendent religious artworks adorning Europe's great cathedrals. In the end, the beginning is a perfect addition to a gallery famed for its kinetic displays and its inherent subversion of the Catholic faith in which MONA founder David Walsh was raised. Sassolino's precision engineering is 21st century, but his choice of materials and fascination with old-fashioned masculine energy are furiously at odds with a planet economically realigning around the rare earth mineral economy as it gears up for the decarbonisation revolution. Elegant as it is, the exhibition feels like one last loving look over the shoulder as we move into a future where harnessing the energy of wind and sun assures the survival of the species. Being sensorially receptive is an essential state for visiting MONA, the privately owned art museum and collection of Tasmanian gambling millionaire Walsh. Since it opened in January 2011, it has been an undisputed curatorial game changer in the Australian art world. MONA's growing permanent collection and temporary displays owe more to the practices of contemporary biennales than art museums, yet its arrival freed up Australia's public galleries to be more experimental and playful. Before MONA, they tended to be wedded to chronological white-wall exhibitions, but this unashamedly gonzo new entrant was cashed up and unconstrained by curatorial committees, boards, public funding, or the need to observe rules or regulations. Walsh led from the front, encouraging his collaborators to move fast and break things. MONA is firmly part of the art establishment now, the sum of the considerable experience Walsh and his team have amassed, and of Australian galleries having relaxed. Coinciding with the exhibition's early June opening was Dark Mofo, David Walsh's festival encompassing live music, the sprawling Winter Feast food market, and various indoor and outdoor art activations throughout Hobart CBD. The festival made its return this year under new artistic director Chris Twite, following a hiatus in 2024. With its music, food, numerous bars, and warming fire pits for the bundled-up crowds, Dark Mofo evokes a blokey theme park. It carries the air of a last hurrah of the heterosexual white man. In the right-on landscape of Australian arts, there's something incredibly quaint about experiencing what feels like a Gen X fun park. Indeed, Dark Mofo offers a wondrously unique and intriguing experience, almost as if it's an arts festival from a world that froze in 1994, upon Kurt Cobain's death. Loading Unapologetically created in Walsh's image, music headliners ranged across punk, electronica and the 'extreme metal and absurdist mayhem' of US outfit Clown Core. Winter Feast is as visually arresting as its offerings are smokey and delicious, by no mistake. There is wild goat, wallaby and camel on the menu, their skeletons arranged above the grill long after the flesh has been stripped. A free public event during opening weekend's prime-time Saturday night was a theatrical car crash featuring two BMWs, complete with doughnuts, pungent rubber burnouts, and dazzling sound and lighting. Look out for the video. Crash Body, conceived by Brazilian artist Paula Garcia, drew thousands to the wet, windy Regatta Grounds overlooking the Derwent, framed by the Tasman Bridge. This site is also earmarked for the proposed AFL stadium, a controversial project that led to the state's premier being ousted the day before. Dark Mofo's free public art program is like a biennale in style, albeit on a walkable Hobart scale. Visually, the event is connected throughout Hobart by red lights and inverted crucifixes. These deliciously symbolise the humility of St Peter, who asked to be crucified upside down to put himself beneath Jesus Christ, but are alternatively symbolic of Satanism. Choose your own adventure. Loading Among the legacies of David Walsh's everyman approach to MONA is the enthusiasm with which audiences in Tasmania engage with the arts. Free events on the opening weekend were packed, many ticketed events sold out, and the general confidence of people interacting with artworks was impressive. Nicholas Galanin's Neon Anthem called on people to kneel on one knee and scream, a comment on the Black Lives Matter movement possibly lost in this execution, but in which nearly everyone who walked past nonetheless participated, generating waves of screams like you might hear near a roller coaster. Brigita Ozolins' beautiful exhibition on banned books, Revolution and Silence at the State Library and Archives of Tasmania, will remain open until October. It's a gentle meditation on social mores in stark contrast to Dark Mofo's in-your-face headliners. Dark Mofo's highly sought-after Night Mass events were, once again, sold out. Thousands of revellers explored the multi-stage, all-night jamboree of music, performance art, and installations that transformed a city block into something resembling a sticky-carpet nightclub adorned with share-house decor. I haven't even mentioned Simon Zoric's Coffin Rides (as it says on the tin) or the Sex + Death Day Spa installation at MONA, where a nana in a white towelling robe at the entry deadpanned options: 'Do you want anal bleaching or a Brazilian?' Did I mention the 90s?
Daily Record
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Airdrie friends spread love of football and God to the Vatican in Rome with The Caritas Cup
Cup was founded five years ago by school pals Adam Costello, Aiden Paterson, Bailey Gallagher and Daniel Timoney, who all attended St Margaret's High. Intrepid Airdrie friends enjoyed a true Italian Job as they spread their love of football and God all the way to Rome. The Caritas Cup was founded five years ago by school pals Adam Costello, 21, Aiden Paterson, 20, Bailey Gallagher, 20, and Daniel Timoney, 20, who all attended St Margaret's High. The aim was to unite pupils from local Catholic schools through football and netball tournaments, while supporting the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) and other great causes. The Vatican was celebrating a Jubilee of Sports and the Caritas Cup was at the centre of the celebrations - and saw the friends playing football in 38-degree heat. Adam said: "It was hard going - walking around in summer in Rome is hard enough but playing a game of football is a whole new level. "We had a great time though and we were playing with Seminarians from the Scot's College in Rome as well as guys from France, Sweden and Italy." Adam added: "The Caritas Cup started as a game of football between two schools in Airdrie and Coatbridge four years ago now. "It then spread to multiple sports across many parts of Scotland and now it's reached Rome. "Pope Leo said that sport has a unique way of bringing people together and that exactly what the Caritas Cup is all about. "We support SCIAF due to the values instilled in us from a very young age. "The values that resonate with people across our Diocese and Motherwell - to help our neighbours and all in need. "This is just a very small part of what SCIAF does. We want to highlight the valuable and crucial work that SCIAF do in every corner of the world and we hope that, through this project, we can highlight that a better world is possible." Bailey said: "The links between sport and faith have never been clearer for us and seeing over 800,000 young people participating in the Jubilee events, solidified that. "Starting as a game of football between two schools, it is now with great joy that we can see this project reach all over the world. "Through the Caritas Cup, schools and communities have been United in Faith and through God's blessings, we hope that continues." Michael Hamilton, SCIAF's community engagement officer, added: "Working with the Caritas Cup team over the past couple of years has been amazing. "It has been so inspiring to us at SCIAF to see their passion for their faith, sport, charity and community. "We are delighted to see the initiative grow to Rome and see the team connect with other young people from across the world in this Jubilee year." *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
Leader Live
4 hours ago
- Health
- Leader Live
Esther Rantzen and terminally ill preacher make case for assisted dying Bill
The broadcaster made a plea to parliamentarians on the eve of Friday's vote to change what she branded a 'current, cruel, messy criminal law'. The House of Commons will have a debate and vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday, which will see it either progress to the House of Lords or fall completely. Dame Esther, a staunch supporter of Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, has been a prominent voice in the conversation on assisted dying. Last week, Labour MP and Bill opponent, Rupa Huq, pledged to be a voice for the voiceless, noting that the Childline founder and others' views are already well-known. She added: 'We know that Esther Rantzen wants this. We know (broadcaster) Jonathan Dimbleby wants this. 'But our role is to be voice of the voiceless as well.' Dame Esther, who is terminally ill with cancer, said the 'truly voiceless' are the terminally ill who face ' an agonising death' and their relatives. She told the PA news agency: 'This is a crucial debate for the truly voiceless. 'They are the terminally ill adults for whom life has become unbearable and who need assistance, not to shorten their lives but to shorten an agonising death – and their loved ones who under the current law will be accused of committing a crime if they try to assist or even stay alongside to say goodbye. 'These are the truly vulnerable and voiceless who depend on our lawmakers to change our current, cruel, messy criminal law. 'All this Bill allows is choice for desperately ill adults who are dying anyway but want the confidence of knowing that they can ask for help to choose what we all hope for; a quick, pain-free death with good memories left behind as their legacy for those they love. 'Please allow us terminally ill the dignity of choice over our own deaths. A change in the law cannot come in time for me, but will transform the final days of generations in the future. Those who disagree with assisted dying under the new law will have the right to their own choice, please allow the rest of us to have the same right.' Dame Esther's words came as a group of terminally ill and bereaved people shared their stories at a press briefing alongside the Labour Bill sponsor, Ms Leadbeater, on Thursday. Church of England lay preacher Pamela Fisher, who is terminally ill with cancer, made an impassioned speech against the religious arguments made by some who oppose assisted dying. She said: 'I completely reject the assumption that the sanctity of life requires terminally ill people to undergo a distressing and painful death against their will. I disagree with those that say it is God alone who decides how and when we die. 'Yes, life is a gift from God to be honoured, but it's nonsensical to say that assisted dying is wrong because suffering is part of God's plan for us.' The Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols – who is opposed to assisted dying – has previously argued that the suffering of human beings is 'an intrinsic part of our human journey, a journey embraced by the eternal word of God, Christ Jesus himself'. Meanwhile, Anil Douglas, whose father took his own life having suffered with multiple sclerosis, recalled the trauma of finding him. He said a six-month police investigation followed, and told the press conference: 'The law in this country failed my father.' He added: 'The (current) law leads people like my father to make lonely and dangerous decisions. It does not protect against coercion. It does not offer protections or choice for dying people. 'It does not offer terminally ill, mentally competent adults with six months or less to live, the chance to choose a safe and compassionate death when even the very best palliative care is not enough. It leads to lonely, dangerous, traumatic deaths.' Bill opponents have argued it is not robust enough to protect the most vulnerable against coercion, and others who might choose assisted dying because they feel they are a burden. The proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
