• Pope Francis, like most in the Vatican, keeps to his schedule. On trips abroad, he is punctual. On Sundays, when he delivers the Angelus for followers in St. Peter's Square, he begins uniformly at noon. But this Sunday, the pontiff was late. And when Francis finally poked his head out of a window from the apostolic palace he quickly apologized for his tardiness and offered an explanation: He had been stuck in an elevator. "I had an unexpected event," Francis said. "I was stuck in an elevator for 25 minutes." The pope said a "drop in voltage" had caused the elevator problem. He did not say if he had been alone. "Thank God the fire department came -- I thank them so much," the pope continued. "After 25 minutes of work they managed to get it working. A round of applause for the firefighters!" Francis also announced on Sunday that he was planning to elevate 13 clerics to the rank of cardinal, including 10 who are under 80 years old, and thus eligible to vote in the conclave that will one day select his successor. Some of the new cardinals represent countries from the periphery of the Catholic world, including Cuba and Indonesia. No Americans were among the group and only one Italian, Archbishop Matteo Zuppi, of Bologna.
• Three years ago, filmmaker Nate Parker came under scrutiny for a rape allegation from his college days. Now, with a new film about police brutality debuting at the Venice Film International Film Festival, he is apologizing for how he responded then. "Standing here today at 39, the reality is I was quite tone deaf ... to a lot of the things that happened in the climate," Parker said at a small news conference in Venice on Sunday. "My response obviously hurt a lot of people, frustrated and angered a lot of people and I apologize." The film's inclusion in this year's festival was criticized by some who saw it as incongruous with the cultural progress in the #MeToo era. Parker was accused of sexual assault when he was a sophomore at Penn State University. Although he was acquitted, the incident emerged in the press around the release of The Birth of a Nation, a film which many expected to win awards. Parker responded then saying he was "falsely accused" and had been "vindicated" by the court. "I'm still learning and growing and still feeling the need to make films that speak to things that need to change in our country and the world," Parker said Sunday. "And this topic was very dear to me." The new film, American Skin, stars Parker as an ex-Marine who sees his unarmed 14-year-old son murdered by a police officer during a traffic stop.
A Section on 09/02/2019