VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday called on wealthy countries and institutions to substantially reduce if not outright cancel debt as a matter of justice on the occasion of the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee Year.
In a message for world peace, Francis referred to St. John Paul II’s admonition in Jubilee Year 2000 that debt “threatens the future of many nations.”
He noted that many countries “are in no condition to repay the amount they owe,’’ and called for a new financial framework “lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness.”
A new framework should be based on “solidarity and harmony between people,’’ said the Argentine-born pope, who has repeatedly called for debt relief for the poorer southern hemisphere.
The pope has underlined the Jubilee Year as an opportunity to cancel debt. The once-every-quarter-century event formally begins on Christmas Eve, when Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica. It is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome.
Pope Francis attends his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Colder weather began to return Thursday after a storm that swept up the East Coast delivered a blow to New England, packing powerful gusts that knocked out power along with a deluge of rain and warming temperatures that washed away snow and dampened ski resorts.
An atmospheric river transported moisture northward from the tropics and brought heavy rain Wednesday.
The city of Portland, Maine, got 2.33 inches (5.92 centimeters) of rain Wednesday, breaking a record of 2.01 inches (5.1 centimeters) for the date set in 1887, the National Weather Service said.
Utility workers were deployed to handle power outages after winds peaked Wednesday night into Thursday. Nearly 90,000 customers in Maine had lost power as of Thursday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
A deepening low pressure system was responsible for winds that lashed the region, said Derek Schroeter, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. Some areas in Maine had wind gusts of over 50 mph (80 kph).
Forecasters were concerned about bombogenesis, or a “bomb cyclone,” marked by a rapid intensification over a 24-hour period.
“Is that what they’re calling it?” said Jen Roberts, co-owner of Onion River Outdoors sporting goods store in Montpelier, Vermont. She lamented that a five-day stretch of snowfall that lured ski customers into the store was being washed way, underscoring the region’s fickle weather. “But you know, this is New England. We know this is what happens.”
Ski resort operators called it bad luck as the holidays approach.
“We don’t say the ‘r-word’ around here. It’s a forbidden word,” said Jamie Cobbett, marketing director at Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire, which was pelted by rain on Wednesday. “We’re getting some moist wet weather today. We’ll put the mountain back together."
Skier Marcus Caston was waterlogged but shrugged it off. “The conditions are actually pretty good. The rain is making the snow nice and soft. It’s super fun,” he said while skiing at Vermont's Sugarbush.
More seasonal low temperatures suitable for snowmaking were returning Thursday.
New England wasn’t the only region experiencing wild weather. Heavy lake-effect snow was expected through Thursday in parts of Michigan, along the Lake Michigan shoreline, and dangerous cold enveloped parts of the Upper Midwest. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in several counties in anticipation of heavy snowfall expected off of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario into Thursday.
But New England's weather brought the biggest variety, with the storm bringing a little bit of everything. It started early Wednesday with freezing rain. Then came a deluge of regular rain and warming temperatures — topping 50 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland, for example.
Alex Hobbs, a Boston college student, hoped that the weather wouldn't interfere with her plans to return home to San Francisco soon. "I’m a little worried about getting delays with heavy wind and rain, possibly snow,” she said Wednesday.
Associated Press writers Lisa Rathke in Waitfield, Vermont, Michael Casey in Boston, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this story.
This Dec. 11. 2024 image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows a storm passing through the U.S. Atlantic east coast. (NOAA via AP)
Rain water from a winter storm flows through the empty parking lot near the Panorama lift at the Gunstock Mountain Resort ski area , Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Gilford, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A man walks a dog as light rain falls during a winter storm, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Ducks stand on the rain water covered ice on Adams Pond during a winter storm, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A construction worker is bundled up in winter clothes while installing weather sheathing on a building during a rain storm, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A jogger runs along the harbor as rain falls in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood on Wednesday Dec 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
A person walks through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A person walks through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A tractor-trailer hauling a load of oranges sits on the side of the road after sliding off the Maine Turnpike early on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/David Sharp)
Rain and snow falls near the Presumpscot River in Falmouth, Maine as officials are watching for flooding on New England rivers, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)
People walk through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A tractor-trailer hauling a load of oranges sits on the side of the road after sliding off the Maine Turnpike early on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/David Sharp)
Passengers disembark from a ferry in a steady downpour of rain in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood on Wednesday Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)
People walk through the rain as a storm system and possible "bomb cyclone" hit the U.S. East Coast, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
A tractor-trailer hauling a load of oranges sits on the side of the road after sliding off the Maine Turnpike early on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in New Gloucester, Maine. (AP Photo/David Sharp)
