“Thousands of homes in the north of England have been affected by severe flooding, some for the second or even third time in the past few years. In South America, where El Niño flooding has been responsible for at least eight deaths, more than 144,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Paraguay, at least 20,000 in Argentina and several thousand in Uruguay and southern Brazil” (The Guardian, December 28, 2015).
Pope Francis recently received the Charlemagne Prize, awarded to the “outstanding contributor to the modern cause of European unity” (The Economist, December 27, 2015). “He is the first non-European pope in 1,300 years.
In 2014 Dr. Paul Church, a urologist in Boston, was fired for comments he made about the health risks of homosexuality. “The evidence is irrefutable that behaviours common within the homosexual community are unhealthy and high risk for a host of serious medical consequences, including STD’s, HIV and AIDS, anal cancer, hepatitis, parasitic intestinal infections, and psychiatric disorders… Life expectancy is significantly decreased as a result of HIV/AIDS, complications from the other health problems, and suicide.