Iran Condemns Germany, France Ahead of EU Sanctions

Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)
Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)
TT
20

Iran Condemns Germany, France Ahead of EU Sanctions

Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)
Demonstrators during a 'Freedom' protest on Ukraine and Iran in Cologne last week (dpa)

European Union foreign ministers are due to impose more sanctions on Iran on Monday, while Tehran condemned France and Germany for their positions on the Iranian protests.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry described German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's pledge to intensify pressure on Tehran as "provocative, interfering, and undiplomatic."

Scholz had spoken about the protests sweeping Iran and announced his support for imposing new EU sanctions on Iran.

At one point, he addressed the Iranian government directly, asking: "What kind of government does it make you if you shoot at your own citizens? Those who act in such a way must expect us to push back."

Meanwhile, German police announced that a man attacked Iranians in Berlin at a protest in support of women's freedom and democracy in their homeland.

On Saturday night, the police said a 26-year-old man destroyed banners and threatened some Iranian activists with a knife. No one was injured, and the man was arrested, police added.

The German State Protection Office, which handles terrorist attacks, was involved due to suspicions that the attack was politically motivated.

Commenting on the German positions, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that some human rights claimants had forgotten their dark record against the "dignified and resistant people of Iran" while offering blind and inhumane support for the regime of former Iraqi President Saddam and maintaining the unjust US sanctions after its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement.

Kanaani noted that "they are also keeping silent vis-a-vis the ISIS terror acts, the latest of which is the terrorist group's attack on Shah Cheragh Shrine."

He noted that Germany presented itself as a human rights defender by evading its international responsibility to respect the right of state sovereignty while harboring anti-Iran terrorist and separatist groups and adopting a selective and "double standard approach towards the crimes committed by the child-killing Zionist entity."

The spokesman reiterated that Iran had a long list of human rights demands from the German authorities, so Berlin had to be responsibly transparent regarding its past.

Kanaani called on German officials to restore rationality to the mutual ties and prevent more turmoil, adding that "respect for common interests was the only way for lasting cooperation."

Tehran also criticized French President Emmanuel Macron, who received four Iranian activists, including the daughter of one of the victims of the recent protests, describing his statement as "regrettable and shameful."

During the meeting on the sidelines of a Paris Peace Forum, Macron emphasized France's respect and admiration in the context of the revolution they are leading.

Macron received a delegation of four Iranian women: Masih Alinejad, a New York-based Iranian activist who encourages Iranian women to protest against the obligatory headscarf, Shima Babaei, who campaigned for justice for her disappeared father, Ladan Boroumand, the co-founder of Washington-based rights group Abdurrahman Boroumand Center, and Roya Piraei whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown.

After the meeting, Macron told a conference in Paris of his "respect and admiration in the context of the revolution they are leading."

Referring to Alinejad, Kanaani said it was "surprising that the president of a country that stands for freedom would degrade himself by meeting" her, alleging that she had "tried to spread hate and carry out violent and terrorist acts in Iran and against Iran's foreign diplomatic missions."

Alinejad wrote on Twitter: "In my bilateral meeting with the French President, I said what's happening in Iran is a revolution. France can be the first country to recognize it. Instead of Islamic Republic (officials), meet opposition figures in future and prepare EU to accept a secular Iran."



Ahead of the Conclave, Vatican Staff Must Vow Secrecy under Threat of Excommunication

 Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti arrives at the Vatican, Monday, May 5, 2025, to attend the General Congregation of cardinals in the New Synod Hall where they are preparing for the upcoming conclave starting on May 7, to elect the 267th Roman pontiff. (AP)
Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti arrives at the Vatican, Monday, May 5, 2025, to attend the General Congregation of cardinals in the New Synod Hall where they are preparing for the upcoming conclave starting on May 7, to elect the 267th Roman pontiff. (AP)
TT
20

Ahead of the Conclave, Vatican Staff Must Vow Secrecy under Threat of Excommunication

 Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti arrives at the Vatican, Monday, May 5, 2025, to attend the General Congregation of cardinals in the New Synod Hall where they are preparing for the upcoming conclave starting on May 7, to elect the 267th Roman pontiff. (AP)
Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti arrives at the Vatican, Monday, May 5, 2025, to attend the General Congregation of cardinals in the New Synod Hall where they are preparing for the upcoming conclave starting on May 7, to elect the 267th Roman pontiff. (AP)

Cleaners and cooks. Doctors and nurses. Even drivers and elevator operators.

All the support staff for the cardinals who will elect the successor to Pope Francis are taking an oath of secrecy on Monday ahead of the conclave that's starting on Wednesday.

The punishment for breaking the oath? Automatic excommunication.

The oath-taking is being held in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican for all those assigned to the upcoming conclave. They include clerics in support roles, including confessors speaking various languages. The cardinals themselves will take their oath on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel, before they cast their first ballots.

An array of lay women and men are required to house and feed the cardinals. A conclave's duration cannot be predicted — and it will only be known when white smoke rises out of the Sistine Chapel chimney to signal a winner.

All those people will be sequestered to be on hand for any medical needs, and maintain the majestic beauty appropriate for the election of the next head of the 1.4 billion strong Catholic Church.

The cardinals will be living in residences on Vatican grounds, and they can either walk the roughly one kilometer (less than a mile) to the Sistine Chapel or take a special shuttle bus that runs only within the sealed Vatican grounds — and for that drivers are also needed.

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Monday that the cardinals would be “invited” to leave their mobile phones at their Vatican residence and not take them to the Sistine Chapel, but that they wouldn't be confiscated.

Bruni recalled that cardinals take an oath to obey the Vatican regulation governing the conclave, which forbids divulging any information about the proceedings and prohibits communicating with the outside world until the election is over.

The Vatican also plans to use signal jamming during the conclave to prevent electronic surveillance or communication outside the conclave, with the Vatican gendarmes overseeing the security measures.

The provisions for the oath-taking are laid down in Vatican law.

St. John Paul II rewrote the regulations on papal elections in a 1996 document that remains largely in force, though Pope Benedict XVI amended it twice before he resigned in 2013. He tightened the oath of secrecy, making clear that anyone who reveals what went on inside the conclave faces automatic excommunication.

In John Paul’s rules, excommunication was always a possibility, but Benedict made it explicit, saying they must observe “absolute and perpetual secrecy” and explicitly refrain from using any audio or video recording devices.

They now declare that they: “Promise and swear that, unless I should receive a special faculty given expressly by the newly elected pontiff or by his successors, I will observe absolute and perpetual secrecy with all who are not part of the College of Cardinal electors concerning all matters directly or indirectly related to the ballots cast and their scrutiny for the election of the Supreme Pontiff.

“I likewise promise and swear to refrain from using any audio or video equipment capable of recording anything which takes place during the period of the election within Vatican City, and in particular anything which in any way, directly or indirectly, is related to the process of the election itself.

“I take this oath fully aware that an infraction thereof will incur the penalty of automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. So help me God and these Holy Gospels, which I touch with my hand.”

As the oath ritual was under way, the Vatican’s child protection advisory commission on Monday urged cardinals to prioritize the clergy sexual abuse issue as they elect a new pope, saying the Catholic Church’s very credibility depends on accountability, transparency and justice for victims.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is a Vatican department created by Pope Francis to advise the church on best practices to fight abuse. Made up of clergy and lay experts, the commission issued a call to prayer to the cardinals who are meeting in Rome this week before entering into the conclave on Wednesday.

“Let no concern of scandal obscure the urgency of truth,” the text said. “Let no consideration for reputation impede our paramount responsibility to take action on behalf of those who have been abused.”

The abuse scandal has badly compromised the Catholic hierarchy’s credibility in many countries around the world, with revelations of decades of abuse and cover-up by bishops and religious superiors.

Francis and before him Pope Benedict XVI took some steps to address the scandal, but a culture of impunity still reigns, there is no transparency from the Vatican about cases and victims say the very process the church has put in place to deal with allegations is often retraumatizing to them.

The statement acknowledged the harm the scandal has done to the church’s reputation and said the cardinals bear a responsibility to victims. “The church’s credibility depends on real accountability, transparency, and action rooted in justice,” the statement said.

The commission’s president, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, is participating in the pre-conclave discussions but will not be voting in the election itself because he is over the age limit of 80.