The former pope Benedict XVI reportedly wants his name removed from a controversial book that appears to undermine his successor, Pope Francis, on issues of priestly celibacy. The book hit stores Wednesday in France, the first country to publish it. But despite the furor the book has stirred in the press, many French readers appear underwhelmed.

The book, “Des Profondeurs de Nos Coeurs,” meaning “From the Depths of Our Hearts,”  defends priestly celibacy at a time when Pope Francis is considering whether to lift restrictions on married priests in remote areas. Cardinal Robert Sarah, who co-authored the book, rejects accusations he manipulated Benedict regarding the content.  

The furor, which appears to lay bare spiritual divisions between the two popes, has made news headlines, but hasn’t stirred up much public interest.  

Parisian Brigitte Gallay says she has heard about the book, but notes Protestant ministers are married with children. She sees nothing wrong about a church that’s closer to the lives of ordinary people — even though some Catholics might be shocked at the thought of married priests.  

The Catholic Church has taken a hit in France, not just because of declining attendance, but also because of a major pedophilia scandal — the theme of a recent movie. A trial opened this month against a priest at the heart of the scandal, which has helped fuel debate about the dangers of priestly celibacy.  

At Paris bookstore Gibert Joseph, social worker Alexander Monnot adds the book to a pile of others he’s planning to buy. Monnot says he supports celibacy for priests.  

“The fact is, at the very beginning of the Church, there was Jesus and 12 apostles,” Monnot said. “And even some were married. They all left their families to preach. Jesus was not married. And priests should be an incarnation, a continuation of Jesus.”

Monnot says he is looking forward to reading the book’s arguments in favor of celibacy, but that’s not the only reason he’s buying it. He predicts the French publisher will recall this edition, which has Benedict’s name as co-author, meaning the copy he’s buying may one day be a collector’s item.
 

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The United States and China agreed to a ‘Phase 1’ trade deal on Wednesday that includes the protection of intellectual property rights and agricultural policy.

Both countries say they plan to continue working on issues.  “

The parties intend to continue implementation and improvement of existing mechanisms for bilateral communication on agricultural policy,” according to the text of the agreement.

Substantial U.S.-China talks outside of trade have been in limbo for months.   

While there was no particular mention of resuming regular talks under the so-called Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED), the world’s two leading economies agreed on the “regular interaction through meetings and other communications” on the protection of intellectual property rights and other pragmatic cooperation.  

CED is one of four mechanisms initiated under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to deal with China-related issues. The others are Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (DSD), the Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue, and the Social and Cultural Issues Dialogue.  

The annual Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (DSD) was last held in Washington more than a year ago in November.

Citing Washington’s call for a “results-oriented” relationship with Beijing, U.S. officials are reportedly not anxious to resume the DSD, which is perceived as highly symbolic.

On Jan. 3, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi by phone after the U.S.- targeted killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.   Yang raised the resumption of DSD with Pompeo, according to a diplomatic source.

“We are not going to comment on the details of our diplomatic conversations or engagements,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.

One of the top issues on the U.S. agenda is persuading China to halt the purchase of oil from Iran, which Washington says has fueled Tehran’s nuclear and missile ambitions. Trump has also called on China and other signatories of the so-called JCPOA Iran nuclear deal to “walk away from the 2015 deal.”

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While senior administration officials say they have repeatedly emphasized to Beijing “the threat posed to regional stability by Iran’s nuclear and missile programs,” some experts are skeptical that China, a traditional ally of Iran, will cooperate with the U.S. against Tehran.

Jon Alterman, CSIS’s director of the Middle East, said he is doubtful China could use its influence over Iran to help ease tensions in the Middle East.  “

I wouldn’t expect China is able to play a useful role in de-escalating this conflict,” Alterman said. “China might wish to be included in a larger grouping of countries as it was in the JCPOA process, but even so, I’d expect its role to be quite passive.”  

Others say China welcomes a distracted U.S., which would provide Beijing with breathing space to continue to build its comprehensive national power. “

The Chinese Communist Party would welcome developments in the Middle East that siphon U.S. resources and attention away from U.S. efforts to deter Chinese aggression,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

 

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planning what’s dubbed ‘the construction project of the decade’, a massive canal connecting Turkey’s Marmara and Black Sea. The canal will provide an alternative route to the Bosporus, one of the world’s busiest waterways, which divides Istanbul. But the project is proving controversial, both domestically and internationally. Dorian Jones reports.

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The seventh Democratic presidential candidate debates took place Tuesday in Des Moines, Iowa. The candidates were peppered with questions on a range of issues, including U.S. military action in Iran, health care and foreign policy.

Here are some comments from each of the seven  candidates:

Former Vice President Joe Biden, called his 2002 vote to authorize the use of U.S. military force in Iraq a “mistake” but pivoted to his overall record. “I said 13 years ago it was a mistake to give the president the authority to go to war. … It was a mistake.” However, “I acknowledged that. I think my record overall on everything I’ve ever done, I’m prepared to compare it to anybody on this stage,” he said.

Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said if elected, he would seek a three-year expiration date on legislation authorizing the use of U.S. military overseas. “When I am president, anytime, which I hope will never happen, but anytime I am compelled to use force and seek that authorization, we will have a three-year sunset, so that the American people are included, not only in the decision about whether to send troops, but whether to continue.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, responding to a question on foreign policy, said she would leave some U.S. combat troops in Iraq, saying, “I would leave some troops there, but not in the level that Donald Trump is taking us right now.” She added that, if elected, she would keep a small number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, performing counterterrorism and training duties.  

Senator Bernie Sanders, in answering a question about making affordable child care a priority if elected president, said, “Hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. Tax breaks for billionaires and then tell moms and dads, we cannot have high-quality affordable child care. That is wrong.”

Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and environmentalist, speaking about U.S. corporations’ affect on the health care system, said, “We’re spending way too much because corporations own the system. And we’re not negotiating against those corporations. And we’ve given tax cuts to the richest Americans and the biggest corporations for decades. That’s all this is. We have corporations who are having their way with the American people and people are suffering.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, in discussing whether Sanders made a comment about the electability of a woman as president, said, “The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women: Amy (Klobuchar) and me. And the only person who has beaten an incumbent Republican any time in the past 30 years is me.”

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Democratic presidential contenders clashed over a number of issues in their latest debate Tuesday, held less than three weeks before voters in Iowa head to the polls to kick off the 2020 primary season. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more on the debate held in Des Moines, Iowa, and sponsored by CNN and The Des Moines Register newspaper.

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Iranian students have staged noisy rallies at four Tehran universities in a fourth day of protests against Iran’s Islamist rulers after they admitted to mistakenly shooting down a passenger jet full of Iranians.

Video clips obtained by VOA appeared to show dozens of students chanting anti-government slogans in Tuesday protests at Tehran University, Amirkabir University of Technology, Shahid Beheshti University and Tehran University of Art. VOA could not independently verify the authenticity of the clips.

There were no immediate reports of Iranian police action against any of the student demonstrations, which appeared to be peaceful.

Iranians in Tehran and other cities have been holding daily anti-government protests since officials admitted on Saturday that their forces shot down a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 shortly after it took off from Tehran on a flight to Kyiv on January 8. For three days, Iranian leaders insisted that mechanical problems likely caused the crash that killed all 176 people on board, until acknowledging that Iranian military personnel downed the plane after misidentifying it as an enemy threat.

The dead included 82 Iranians and 57 Canadians, many of them Iranian students with dual citizenship who were flying to Kyiv en route to Canada to resume university studies after the winter break.

The pre-dawn crash happened hours after Iran fired missiles at U.S. forces in Iraq and was bracing for a U.S. counterstrike that never came. Iran’s missile attacks, which caused no casualties, were in retaliation for what the U.S. called a self-defensive strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3.

Western news agencies with journalists in Tehran said more than 200 anti-government protesters took part in Tuesday’s rally at Tehran University.

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In one clip, students gathered in a large circle near the campus’ science faculty, chanting: “Resign, resign, incompetent officials,” and, “We cry out against so much injustice.”

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In another clip, students assembled near the university’s medical school chanted, “Our state television is our disgrace.”

Iranian state TV network IRIB had broadcasted the government’s initial denials that Iran was responsible for the plane crash. Several presenters for the network have since resigned, in a reflection of public anger toward the erroneous denials.

Student supporters of the government also made their presence felt at Tehran University, holding a joint memorial for the victims of the plane crash and for Soleimani at the campus mosque. Images provided by Western news agencies showed some of the pro-government activists also burning American and British flags outside the mosque and chanting slogans vowing never to give in to Iran’s “enemies.”

A video that appeared to be from Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University showed students denouncing government officials who said they were mourning the plane crash while insisting it was not their fault. “If you are grieving, why have you waited for three days?” the students asked.

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At Tehran University of Art, students appeared to be chanting, “Death to the liar”, and, “Our hands are bare, so put away your truncheons.”

Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholhossein Esmaili said authorities had detained 30 protesters since the anti-government demonstrations began late Saturday. Widely-circulated online video of Sunday’s protests in Tehran appeared to show people suffering the effects of tear gas fired by police.

Esmaili said authorities were treating the protesters with leniency.

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Other video apparently filmed after nightfall Tuesday showed students at Amirkabir University denouncing Iranian security forces as “shameless”.

Earlier Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed to punish those responsible for the “unforgivable” downing of the Ukrainian plane. In a televised speech, he also called for a special court to be set up to handle prosecutions.

Esmaili, the judiciary spokesman, said some of those suspected of having a role in the plane shoot-down had been arrested, but did not say how many or identify them.

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. VOA’s Extremism Watch Desk contributed. 

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