Wow! This is eye opening! @padraig, should we declare a moratorium on the Luz de Maria stuff being posted at MOG?
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/pandemics/brief/pandemic-emergency-financing-facility https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/p...million-pandemic-emergency-financing-facility PRESS RELEASE June 28, 2017 World Bank Launches First-Ever Pandemic Bonds to Support $500 Million Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility Washington, DC, June 28, 2017 – The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) today launched specialized bonds aimed at providing financial support to the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), a facility created by the World Bank to channel surge funding to developing countries facing the risk of a pandemic. This marks the first time that World Bank bonds are being used to finance efforts against infectious diseases, and the first time that pandemic risk in low-income countries is being transferred to the financial markets. The PEF will provide more than $500 million to cover developing countries against the risk of pandemic outbreaks over the next five years, through a combination of bonds and derivatives priced today, a cash window, and future commitments from donor countries for additional coverage. The transaction, that enables PEF to potentially save millions of lives, was oversubscribed by 200% reflecting an overwhelmingly positive reception from investors and a high level of confidence in the new World Bank sponsored instrument. With such strong demand, the World Bank was able to price the transaction well below the original guidance from the market. The total amount of risk transferred to the market through the bonds and derivatives is $425 million. “With this new facility, we have taken a momentous step that has the potential to save millions of lives and entire economies from one of the greatest systemic threats we face,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said. “We are moving away from the cycle of panic and neglect that has characterized so much of our approach to pandemics. We are leveraging our capital market expertise, our deep understanding of the health sector, our experience overcoming development challenges, and our strong relationships with donors and the insurance industry to serve the world’s poorest people. This creates an entirely new market for pandemic risk insurance. Drawing on lessons from the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, the Facility will help improve health security for everyone. I especially want to thank the World Health Organization and the governments of Japan and Germany for their support in launching this new mechanism.” The World Bank announced the creation of the PEF in May 2016 at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Governors meeting in Sendai, Japan. The PEF will quickly channel funding to countries facing a major disease outbreak with pandemic potential. Its unique financing structure combines funding from the bonds issued today with over-the-counter derivatives that transfer pandemic outbreak risk to derivative counterparties. The structure was designed to attract a wider, more diverse set of investors. The PEF has two windows. The first is an ‘insurance’ window with premiums funded by Japan and Germany, consisting of bonds and swaps including those executed today. The second is a ‘cash’ window, for which Germany provided initial funding of Euro 50 million. The cash window will be available from 2018 for the containment of diseases that may not be eligible for funding under the insurance window. The bonds and derivatives for the PEF’s ‘insurance’ window were developed by the World Bank Treasury in cooperation with leading reinsurance companies Swiss Re and Munich Re. AIR Worldwide was the sole modeler, using the AIR Pandemic Model to provide expert risk analysis. Swiss Re Capital Markets is the sole book runner for the transaction. Swiss Re Capital Markets and Munich Re are the joint structuring agents. Munich Re and GC Securities, a division of MMC Securities LLC are co-managers. Swiss Re Capital Markets Limited, Munich Re and GC Securities were also joint arrangers on the derivatives transactions. The bonds will be issued under IBRD’s “capital at risk” program because investors bear the risk of losing part or all of their investment in the bond if an epidemic event triggers pay-outs to eligible countries covered under the PEF. The PEF covers six viruses that are most likely to cause a pandemic. These include new Orthomyxoviruses (new influenza pandemic virus A), Coronaviridae (SARS, MERS), Filoviridae (Ebola, Marburg) and other zoonotic diseases (Crimean Congo, Rift Valley, Lassa fever). PEF financing to eligible countries will be triggered when an outbreak reaches predetermined levels of contagion, including number of deaths; the speed of the spread of the disease; and whether the disease crosses international borders. The determinations for the trigger are made based on publicly available data as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Countries eligible for financing under the PEF’s insurance window are members of the International Development Association (IDA), the institution of the World Bank Group that provides concessional finance for the world’s poorest countries. The PEF will be governed by a Steering Body, whose voting members include Japan and Germany. WHO and the World Bank serve as non-voting members. The World Bank has developed some of the most innovative catastrophe risk insurance instruments in the market to help developing countries manage risk. In the past ten years the institution has executed approximately $1.6 billion in catastrophe risk transactions. IBRD Pandemic Bonds Distribution by Investor Type and Location Distribution by Investor Type Class A Class B Dedicated Catastrophe Bond Investor 61.7% 35.3% Endowment 3.3% 6.3% Asset Manager 20.6% 16.3% Pension Fund 14.4% 42.1% Distribution by Investor Location Class A Class B US 27.9% 15.0% Europe 71.8% 82.9% Bermuda 0.1% 2.1% Japan 0.2% 0.0%
Possibly, but not certainly. If there were blue plastic or other thick plastic spread on the floor of that hole I'd say yes -- they'd want to keep the bodies from contaminating the water supply. As it is, I can't tell what those concrete forms are for, except maybe to shore up the wall of the hole. (But that's not for certain, since we're only seeing that small portion of the forms in place.)
Raises the possibility that, if deliberately engineered, this is an infection intended for use against their own people, one with a predisposition to attack the specific genetic make-up of the Chinese. Given the appalling record of the Chinese Communist Party, I wouldn't be in the least surprised. Apart from the episodes in Hong Kong, there were reports of unrest on the Mainland slipping through the censorship. A pandemic would be one way of quietening the people, but it might also be a double-edged sword if the Chinese people add two and two and get the right answer-they wouldn't want to be consulting Xi's friends in the Vatican, however. On a lighter note, though not for the unfortunate company concerned, apparently there has been a major drop of consumption of 'Corona' beer. I'm a cantenkerous type, but although I dislike the stuff immensely, I'd be more inclined to order it now, for the laugh, but giving it up is totally irrational (unless it's for Lent, but I doubt that's the reason)!
Look at it from the bishops' perspective-if the media could invent a narrative of inadequate response against them, it would be all we'd be hearing about for a very long time. Our bishops have to thread very carefully in a viciously hostile media environment.
I haven't the moral courage to receive on the tongue when everyone is receiving on the hand and it's practically universal in Ireland and has been for many years. What I do is receive it on my hands, say 'Amen' to the priest's 'Body of Christ', place it on my tongue, bless myself and then move away. I would rather receive on the tongue, but for that one needs an altar rail and an altar boy accompanying the priest-I would have a huge fear of a dropped Host.
Strange my wife and six children have always received on the tongue no matter what part of Ireland we have been to church... But I do get your point of a spilt host.. I was absolutely mortified at the top of croagh padraig one time it was a special mass and as I was receiving the priest suddenly stepped forward as I raised my hand to bless myself the result was I knocked the chalice out of his hand I felt like I was going to die
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news...-coronavirus-divine-punishment-does-not-exist Milan Prelate on Coronavirus: ‘Divine Punishment Does Not Exist’ ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - The former archbishop of Milan has dismissed the idea that divine punishment for human sin could be a factor behind the coronavirus epidemic, which has spooked churches into shutting their doors in the dioceses of Northern Italy. "Divine punishment does not exist. It is an incorrect view of Christianity," Cdl. Angelo Scola told La Repubblica, when asked if Christianity supported the vision of a divine punishment behind the coronavirus. "Of course, God knows and predicts events but does not determine them," Scola told the leftwing Italian newspaper in an interview Thursday. The prelate, once considered a runner-up for papal office, cites verses from Luke's gospel in defense of his claim: When asked if the 18 people who died under the collapse of the tower of Siloam had particularly sinned, Jesus dismisses the question. "Do you suppose this proves that they were more sinful than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I say to you, they were no more guilty than all the inhabitants of Jerusalem." However, quoting only the first part of the text from Luke 13:4-5, Scola leaves out Jesus' stinging warning: "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Distinguished Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei blasted Scola's response to the crisis hitting Milan and other parts of northern Italy. "Once, men were able to read God's messages in all events occurring beyond their will. The archbishop emeritus of Milan has lost this ability to grasp the profound reason at the base of things," Mattei told Church Militant. "Those who live immersed in practical atheism, like, alas, most of our bishops, are unable to understand the action of Providence, which gives a reason for everything that happens, even tragedies, such as epidemics or earthquakes," Mattei explained. "The Catholic faith teaches that if individual men die unrepentant, they are punished for eternity; but cities and peoples, which have no eternal destiny, are punished in the temporal time for their sins," he added, quoting Pope Benedict XV, "who during World War I, stated that 'private misfortunes are deserved punishment, or at least an exercise of virtue for individuals, while public scourges are atonement for the sins committed by public authorities and nations that have turned away from God' (speech to Rome Lenten preachers on February 19, 1917)." Not being available to hear confessions is really something incomprehensible.Tweet In his interview, Scola appealed to Catholics to follow the example of St. Charles Borromeo and live in self-giving relationships without fear of contracting the virus: "In 1576 Milan was hit by the plague. They called it the plague of San Carlo because he lived it differently, without fear." But Prof. Mattei told Church Militant that St. Charles Borromeo was convinced that the main cause of the scourge was the sins of the community. As an act of repentance, "Borromeo organized three large processions, for three consecutive days and stood with the people, barefoot, with a large rope around his neck." Mattei elaborated: On the last day, St. Charles — holding the Holy Nail of Our Lord in his hands, which Milan church had owned since early ancient time — concluded the procession with a sermon titled: Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem (Jerusalem has grievously sinned). The artists who depicted the 1576 plague in their paintings recall that the ending of the plague, was announced by God to St. Charles, as it had been for St. Gregory the Great, through the vision of an angel who placed the sword with which he was armed back in his scabbard. "As a child I remember the white coffins of my cousins, who died with pneumonia and tuberculosis, I myself was affected by this disease at 20 years of age," but "God wants our good, God loves us and God is close to us. The relationship with him is personal, it is a relationship of freedom," Scola stressed. Scola used the opportunity to warn people against irrational fear, particularly the fear of migrants: "The search for an enemy to blame and the poisoning of social relationships are natural reactions of those who live in fear," and "this is a bit what happens today with regard to migration. The different frightens." Meanwhile, sources in Northern Italy told Church Militant that the closing of churches on Ash Wednesday and Lent was an overreaction to the coronavirus scare. Faithful Catholics expressed concern over the indefinite closure of the churches and were particularly worried that the traditional Latin Mass would be permanently axed uisng the coronovirus as a pretext. Catholics also said that measures like refusing the faithful Communion on the tongue and sprinkling ash (in Roman parishes) instead of making the Sign of the Cross on the forehead on Ash Wednesday were "more a sign of fear than of faith" on the part of the hierarchy. Remainder of the article at the link....
I'm afraid, DeGaulle, that I can't boast of having great moral courage. I, too, have received in the hand rather than draw attention to myself. Fortunately, I can choose to go to Mass in churches where I'm not the only person receiving on the tongue, although altar rails are as rare as hen's teeth in our diocese and I know of only one church where the altar rails are used.
Ya, on an earthly level this is about population control, political control (NWO), fear, money. On a spiritual level, God allows this to bring his people to repentance.
