Latest news with #PopeLeo
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Prudential Unit Lends $500 Million in Private Credit to Affirm
An investment arm of insurer Prudential Financial will buy up to $500 million of consumer loans from technology-backed consumer lender Affirm Holdings for a period of three years. Most of the loans come due in six months and Affirm will be able to re-lend the investment throughout the life of the deal, allowing it to finance $3 billion of buy-now-pay-later loans. Trump Bill Would Raise Estate Tax Exemption to $15 Million and Make It Permanent Pope Leo Takes On AI Trump Family's New Business Partner Is India's Richest Man How a Chinese-Owned Battery Maker's Bet on U.S. EVs Went Wrong Amazon CEO Says AI Will Lead to Smaller Workforce The deal is part of a growing wave of transactions pairing a handful of large private-credit investors with financial technology companies that are replacing banks as go-to lenders for the American public. Prudential's PGIM Fixed Income also purchased $500 million of Affirm loans in December and made a private investment in a $525 million securitization of consumer loans from SoFi Technologies. Affirm announced a $4 billion partnership with Sixth Street Partners in December and a $750 million deal with Liberty Mutual Investments in January. The insurers and pensions whose money PGIM manages are hungry to own private ABS, or asset-backed securities, because such debt pays a higher interest rate than publicly traded and even private corporate debt. PGIM aims to buy private ABS that returns about 1.5 percentage points more than public variants, said Edwin Wilches, the firm's co-head of securitized products. The company recently hired a new head of private ABS, Oliver Nisenson from private investment powerhouse Blackstone, to expand the business. Nonbank lenders like Affirm are cultivating stables of large financing partners to ensure they have sufficient capital to lend, even when public debt markets freeze up. Affirm focuses on three channels: warehouse loans from banks, public ABS bond sales and negotiated deals from private-credit firms, said Chief Capital Officer Brooke Major-Reid. Insurers, investment firms and nonbank lenders are increasingly teaming up to do lending that used to come from banks. That is creating complex entanglements that are new to regulators. Advocates say the new lenders are more stable than banks because they are disbursing cash from long-term investors rather than from daily deposits. Write to Matt Wirz at If Iran's Oil Is Cut Off, China Will Pay the Price The American Investor Taking On Swatch's Founding Family The Fed's Dot-Plot Predicament: False Precision in Uncertain Times More of Us Are Putting in Extra Hours After the Workday How to Make Sure Information on Your Old Computer Is Really, Truly Deleted
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pope Leo appeals for peace, says 'we must not get used to war'
During his weekly audience, Pope Leo appealed for peace, saying the ''fascination of powerful and sophisticated weaponry'' must be rejected. The pontiff said that the use of ''scientific weapons'' in modern warfare risks producing more atrocious barbarities than in the past. He added: ''In the name of human dignity and international law, I repeat to those responsible what Pope Francis used to say: war is always a defeat''
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Cash-strapped Vatican unveils fundraising video centred on Pope Leo
The Vatican on Wednesday unveiled a fundraising video centred on newly elected Pope Leo, urging the faithful to support his mission amid a serious financial crisis for the Catholic Church. The slick one-minute video was shown on giant screens in St. Peter's Square to crowds waiting for the pope's weekly audience, and spread on social media and the internet by Vatican news outlets. It starts with footage of the white smoke that announced Leo's election on May 8, followed by his first words as pope, "Peace be with you all", and images of cheering crowds, all accompanied by gentle piano music. The video urges people to donate to Peter's Pence - a papal fund used to support church activities and charity work which, according to latest available records, received 48.4 million euros ($55.66 million) in donations in 2023. The pope's home nation, the United States, accounted for the biggest share, equal to just over 28% of the total, but expenses far outstripped offerings, with the fund disbursing 103 million euros in the year, the Vatican said. "With your donation to Peter's Pence, you offer tangible support as the Holy Father takes his first steps as Pope. Help him proclaim the Gospel to the world and extend a hand to our brothers and sisters in need," the video says. Although the Vatican has not published a full budget report since 2022, the last set of accounts, approved in mid-2024, included an 83-million-euro ($94-million) shortfall, two knowledgeable sources told Reuters. The shortfall in the pension fund was estimated to total around 631 million euros by the Vatican's finance czar in 2022. There has been no official update to this figure, but several insiders told Reuters they believe it has ballooned.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Cash-strapped Vatican unveils fundraising video centred on Pope Leo
Pope Leo XIV sits on the altar in St. Peter's Basilica, Sunday, June 15, 2025, where he celebrates a Mass for the Jubilee of Sports. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican on Wednesday unveiled a fundraising video centered on newly elected Pope Leo, urging the faithful to support his mission amid a serious financial crisis for the Catholic Church. The slick one-minute video was shown on giant screens in St. Peter's Square to crowds waiting for the pope's weekly audience, and spread on social media and the internet by Vatican news outlets. It starts with footage of the white smoke that announced Leo's election on May 8, followed by his first words as pope, 'Peace be with you all,' and images of cheering crowds, all accompanied by gentle piano music. The video urges people to donate to Peter's Pence - a papal fund used to support church activities and charity work which, according to latest available records, received 48.4 million euros (US$55.66 million) in donations in 2023. The pope's home nation, the United States, accounted for the biggest share, equal to just over 28% of the total, but expenses far outstripped offerings, with the fund disbursing 103 million euros in the year, the Vatican said. 'With your donation to Peter's Pence, you offer tangible support as the Holy Father takes his first steps as Pope. Help him proclaim the Gospel to the world and extend a hand to our brothers and sisters in need,' the video says. Although the Vatican has not published a full budget report since 2022, the last set of accounts, approved in mid-2024, included an 83-million-euro ($94-million) shortfall, two knowledgeable sources told Reuters. The shortfall in the pension fund was estimated to total around 631 million euros by the Vatican's finance czar in 2022. There has been no official update to this figure, but several insiders told Reuters they believe it has ballooned. Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Yara Nardi, editing by Ed Osmond, Reuters
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Is Pope Leo a Cubs fan? I have faith he has seen the light.
Is Pope Leo a Cubs fan? I have faith he has seen the light. | Opinion I was raised to root for two teams: the Chicago Cubs and anyone playing the Chicago White Sox. Does that make me a horrible person? Probably, but it also makes me a Northsider. Show Caption Hide Caption JD Vance gives Pope Leo a special American gift Pope Leo XIV was given a Bears jersey by Vice President JD Vance at their first official meeting. Like many native Chicagoans, I have been struggling recently with a crisis of faith. Raised Catholic, and even attending the last high school preparatory seminary (Quigley North), I was raised to believe in the supremacy of the Chicago Cubs and the infallibility of the pope. You did not have to have proof, you just believed. This year, it seemed that years of unrequited faith was paying off with the Cubs on the top of the National League Central and a new pope who is not only originally from Chicago but also, according to initial reports, a Cubs fan. The intersection of Addison and Clark streets had become even more holy ground as faith and baseball met inside the friendly confines. Then, it happened. One of the most spiritually crushing photos in history: Pope Leo XIV sporting a White Sox hat. What are the devout to do? It is a bit late for a conversion for most of us. Two decades ago, I was asked by aninnocent editorto write a column on the White Sox making the World Series in 2005. After all, I was his only Chicagoan. I tried. I tried very, very hard for two days. I then called him to explain that I could not do it. Pope Leo as a Chicago White Sox fan is hard to accept I was raised to root for two teams: the Chicago Cubs and anyone playing the Chicago White Sox. Does that make me a horrible person? Probably, but it also makes me a Northsider. When the Cubs went to the World Series in 2016, bars on the South Side offered free beers for every run scored by the Cleveland Indians. I respected that. After all, as James 2:24 states, "Faith without works is dead." Indeed, a USA TODAY column later gave me credit for the Cubs winning the World Series because I broke the Billy Goat curse. (All right, I had to write that column myself, but only because my fellow columnists were petty Mets and Dodgers fans.) Back to the crisis of faith. Opinion: Pope Leo believes Catholic teaching on sex. Why do liberals wish he didn't? For Northsiders, the only thing more disconcerting would be a picture of the pope sporting a cap for The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The photo confirms the crushing reality as many of us rejoiced at the selection of a Chicagoan as pontiff. We were even more thrilled when the Cubs announced that he was one of our own. Then his brother spoke to a reporter, and the world collapsed. He not only confirmed that his brother was a Southside fan, but he was also the outlier in the family. Now, comes the photo of a White Sox hat where the Papal Tiara normally rests. To my friends back home in Chicago, I offer hope and redemption. Even the pope isn't infallible about baseball First, we can offer our own form of papal indulgence for the pope's baseball inclinations. Under church dogma, this is a personal, not papal, declaration. This is no more infallible than the White Sox currently sitting in last place in the American League Central. Pope Leo's demonstration was not a papal statement ex cathedra. Papal infallibility is recognized when he speaks by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority. In colloquial terms, it means that the pope is infallible when speaking from the "Chair of Saint Peter." Here, the pope was speaking from his seat at the old Comiskey Park. In other words, he can be (and is) fallible when speaking about baseball. Opinion: Pope Francis' death reminds me his compassion Notably, while the basis for papal infallibility stretches far back in the church, it was formally embraced in 1870 in First Vatican Council. That date is critical. In 1870, the Chicago Cubs were formed as a professional baseball club. However, at the time of the First Vatican Council, the team was not known as the Cubs. They were called the Chicago White Stockings. It was not until 1903 that the name was changed to the Cubs. During the period they were the White Stockings, the team dominated professional baseball. The current White Soxweren't even a Chicago team. They were founded in Sioux City, Iowa, and then played in Minnesota as the St. Paul Saints. They started playing in Chicago in 1901 and adopted the name of the Chicago White Stockings. The name was later changed to the Chicago White Sox. For a few years,two teams in Chicago were named the White Stockings. That was an obvious problem for fans, but such duality is hardly a problem for popes. After all, Catholics believe in the trinity, not just the duality. So one could say that Pope Leo is both a Cubs and White Sox fan as a matter of history and culture. Now, I can almost hear readers expressing skepticism, if not contempt, at my theory. However, that is the point of faith. Indeed, Voltaire once wrote that "faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe." I have faith − Pope Leo XIV is a Cubbie at heart. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of 'The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.'
