03 January 2025
Germany Gripped By Migrant Violence On New Year’s Eve
Germany has been "gripped by migrant violence on New Year's Eve" for the past several years. Anytime there are large crowds, there are jihadists taking advantage of them for attacks.
From The European Conservative
By Zoltán Kottász
In many major Western European cities, police and emergency services were again targeted with fireworks and Molotov cocktails—in what’s becoming an annual event.
Germany's cities once again had to endure a night of aggression, as young men were allowed to wreak havoc by launching fireworks in public areas, setting buildings ablaze, and attacking emergency services during New Year’s Eve.
Though major news agencies failed to name the perpetrators, videos circulating on social media made it quite clear that young migrant men were to blame, with right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party pointing the finger at the failed migration policies of the past.
In Berlin, 30 police officers and one firefighter were injured in confrontations or attacks during New Year’s Eve, leading to 400 arrests. Hundreds of police officers from across the country were deployed to the capital to help prevent further violence.
Explosions of very strong, illegal fireworks in Berlin also caused extensive damage in two neighborhoods and injured numerous people, some of them seriously.
In a video circulating on social media an Arab influencer named Attalah Younes can be seen shooting a firework rocket at a residential building. In the apartment, the rocket explodes, accompanied by a bright flash of light that lights up the entire apartment.
As with last year’s festivities, police in the capital city Berlin evaluated the events of New Year’s Eve from their perspective as a “success,” saying that there had been no major violence. The violence on the last day of 2023 had also been called a “return to normal,” because the number of arrests and injured police officers had not reached the same level as in 2022.
On Wednesday, January 1st, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser boasted:
The deployment of strong police forces from the federal states and the federal police and an early and consistent crackdown are the right means against perpetrators of violence and chaos.
However, not everyone was satisfied with this conclusion. According to Rainer Wendt, the head of the German Police Trade Union (DPolG):
There are areas where young, highly violent young men, many with migration backgrounds, have claimed control of the public space for themselves. Peaceful people no longer go there for fear of violence.
Police in Hamburg spoke of being “literally shot at” with the explosives, whilst in the city of Leipzig police officers reported being attacked by large groups of people with fireworks and bottles.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the anti-immigration AfD, called the scenes witnessed on New Year’s Eve “civil war-like conditions.” She said that citizens who simply wanted to celebrate once again had to pay the price of previous governments’ migration policies.
Scholar of Islam Susanne Schröter told daily Bild that a “free space for violence” now exists in Germany, as well as a taboo on naming migrant perpetrators. For that reason, many women and children prefer to stay at home on New Year’s Eve.
“Parents now forbid their adolescent children to leave their house because they rightly fear for their safety,” the professor said, adding that at least 111 of the 145 perpetrators arrested in Berlin two years ago were immigrants or descendants of immigrants.
In Italy, New Year’s Eve was barely more peaceful. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the anti-immigration Lega party posted a video montage consisting of young migrant men chanting anti-Italian and pro-Palestinian slogans, as well as a street fight breaking out between many youngsters.
“Don’t they like our country? Let them go back to where they came from. We don’t need them,” Salvini tweeted.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Egyptian man injured five people with a knife on New Year’s Eve in the city of Rimini, before he was shot dead by police. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating whether the incident was a terrorist attack. According to news reports, the man had entered Italy illegally in 2022, and applied for protection status, which was granted to him.
In Belgium, rioters set at least 60 cars on fire and then threw Molotov cocktails at the emergency services when they came to deal with the blazes. There were 159 arrests. Police responded to more than 1,700 incidents across the city. Another 49 people were arrested in Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city.
In the Netherlands, a chaotic and violent New Year’s Eve led to the arrest of more than 200 people. Police officers and emergency responders were specifically targeted by rioters. Similar scenes unfolded in France, where police officers were attacked, and cars set on fire.
Happy Birthday Professor Tolkien
From The Hobbit, by Bilbo as he sets off on his adventure:
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
Stations of the Cross According to St Francis of Assisi
1. Must be done before stations of the cross legitimately erected.
2. 14 stations are required. Although it is customary for the icons to represent pictures or images, 14 simple crosses will suffice.
3. The common practice consists of fourteen pious readings to which some vocal prayers are added.. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.
4. A movement from one station to the next is required. But if the stations are made publicly and it is not possible for everyone taking part to go from station to station, it suffices if at least the one conducting the exercise goes from station to station, the others remaining in their places.
5. Those who are "impeded" can gain the same indulgence if they spend at least one half and hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
King Louis XIV: The Most Famous French Monarch?
Explore the fascinating life and reign of King Louis XIV, one of the most iconic and influential monarchs in French history.
Why Do You Desire to KNOW? Human Nature & Philosophy
With Fr Gregory Pine, OP, BA, STL, Assistant Director for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute & Therese Cory, PhD, John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies, Notre Dame.
Why do human beings desire knowledge? Why should YOU care about philosophy? Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Therese Cory about the role of wonder in philosophy, the right temperament with which to approach philosophy, how philosophy educators can awaken the desire to understand in their students, how to create space for healthy discourse, and what the future of philosophical conversations could look like.
How To Bless Your Home With Epiphany Chalk
From Aleteia
Each year around the feast of the Epiphany many parishes throughout the world participate in an annual blessing of chalk. It is an ancient tradition that not only places God at the entrance of your home, it places your entire family under his protection.
The Epiphany blessing of chalk and homes is a centuries old tradition where priests would visit each home in their parish after the Feast of the Epiphany. Over time it became more difficult to accomplish such a feat as parishes became larger and larger and priests were stretched thin. For this reason it became an accepted tradition that a member of the household is able to lead this blessing in place of the priest.
The blessing has biblical roots, deeply tied to the Passover in the book of Exodus.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt ... "take some of the blood [of the lamb], and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it ... The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."
Exodus 12:1-13
It is no coincidence that the Epiphany blessing is traditionally written on the lintel of the main doorway and even some of the prayers echo God’s words of protection that he gave to Moses. While the Epiphany blessing was not given in the same manner as it was to Moses, the Church provides it for our own spiritual benefit. The Church desires our salvation and so gives us beautiful sacramentals to assist us along the path to Eternal Life.
Traditionally a priest blesses chalk on the Feast of the Epiphany by saying the following prayer (from the Roman Ritual):
Bless, + O Lord God, this creature, chalk, and let it be a help to mankind. Grant that those who will use it with faith in your most holy name, and with it inscribe on the doors of their homes the names of your saints, Casper, Melchior, and Baltassar, may through their merits and intercession enjoy health in body and protection of soul; through Christ our Lord.
The chalk is then distributed after Mass. If your local parish does not administer such a blessing, inquire around and see if any neighboring parishes do. Parishioners then take the chalk home and use it while invoking God's blessing upon their home.
It is a beautiful blessing, one that brings many graces upon those who practice it in faith and is an added protection against any spiritual enemies that may be lurking around.
How to bless your home with Epiphany chalk
Once you acquire the blessed chalk, either a priest or another member of the household can bless the home in the following manner (adapted from the Roman Ritual):
Upon entering the house [or at the front door]:
Priest/Head of Household: Peace be to this house.
All: And to all who dwell herein.
Priest: From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.
During the Magnificat, the room is sprinkled with holy water and incensed.
All: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
After this is completed:
All: From the east came the Magi to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasures they offered precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial.
Priest: Our Father Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead and lead us not into temptation,
All: But deliver us from evil.
Priest: All they from Saba shall come
All: Bringing gold and frankincense.
Priest: O Lord, hear my prayer.
All: And let my cry come unto Thee.
Priest:
Let us pray. O God, who by the guidance of a star didst on this day manifest Thine only-begotten Son to the Gentiles, mercifully grant that we who know Thee by faith may also attain the vision of Thy glorious majesty. Through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Priest: Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee– Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.
All: And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light and kings in the splendor of thy rising, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee.
Priest: Let us pray. Bless, O Lord God almighty, this home, that in it there may be health, purity, the strength of victory, humility, goodness and mercy, the fulfillment of Thy law, the thanksgiving to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. And may this blessing remain upon this home and upon all who dwell herein. Through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
After the prayers of the blessing are recited, walk through the house and bless each room by sprinkling with Epiphany/holy water and incensing it.
Take the blessed chalk and first write the initials of the three Wise Men, connected with Crosses, over the inside of your front door (on the lintel, if possible). Then write the year, breaking up the numbers and the year so that they fall on both sides of the initials. It should look like this, for example
20 C+M+B 2x
with the “20 “being the millennium and century, the “C” standing for the first Wise Man, Caspar, the “M” standing for Melchior, the “B” standing for Balthasar, and the “2x” standing for the decade and year, for example '23, '24, '25, etc.
It is also popularly believed that the Kings’ initials stand for “Christus mansionem benedicat” (“Christ bless this house”).