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    Previously Unpublished: A Look at One of the Last Things Pope Francis Wrote

    In a foreword to a book, he articulated the church’s position on marriage.In the days since his death, Pope Francis has been called a reformer, outsider, influencer and modernizer. He was all of these things. But he was also the steward of the oldest institution in the Western world. He protected the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine — even if he did so in his own style.That is evident in one of Francis’ last writings, which was provided to The New York Times and has not previously been published. It’s a short foreword to a book, written for young Catholics, about the church’s teachings on love and marriage. The book is from the YOUCAT Foundation (short for youth catechism, or doctrine), an organization approved by the Vatican to publish the church’s teachings in a way that young people can understand. The foundation distributes books in 70 languages around the world.In the foreword, Francis articulates the church’s position on marriage: that it is a priority, one of sacred importance, and is only between a man and a woman. He breaks no new doctrinal ground. Still, the letter illustrates who Francis was as a pope: a pragmatic and compassionate communicator who skillfully repackaged, without necessarily changing, the church’s doctrine for a modern era. (Read the full text here.)“It’s a confirmation of a legacy,” Raúl Zegarra, a professor of Catholicism at Harvard, said. “It’s really a classic text by the pope.”His rhetorical styleIn his opening lines, Francis captures much of his approach to the papacy.“In my homeland of Argentina, there is a dance I love very much, one that I often participated in when I was young: the tango,” Francis, the first Latin American pope, writes. He then compares the tango, in all of its “discipline and dignity,” to marriage.“I am always touched to see young people who love each other and have the courage to transform their love into something great: ‘I want to love you until death do us part.’ What an extraordinary promise!”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Painting From Memory, Salman Toor Conjures Passion and Freedom

    Salman Toor needed a better perspective.Backing slowly away from his easel, the 42-year-old artist closed one eye and raised a thumb. He arched his back to gain a few more centimeters of distance and then snapped upright. Exasperation led to acceptance. He buried any doubts and raised a paintbrush, once again, to the emerald-green portrait of his mystery man in heart-shaped sunglasses.There is only one rule in the airy Brooklyn loft where Toor paints: Everything must come from memory.Fleeting impressions of a friend’s face, the arch of a lover’s eyebrows, and a smirk maybe sourced from a Velázquez drawing merge into the composite creatures that occupy his paintings.But there are no photographs, wooden models or reclining muses allowed in the studio, which is mostly empty except for a couch, some plants and a table used to hold brushes, pigments and oils.On a morning in March, the walls were covered with dozens of new drawings, paintings and etchings that Toor has created over the last few years in anticipation of his largest exhibition to date, “Wish Maker,” which opens May 2 across Luhring Augustine’s two galleries in Manhattan. The show aims to reintroduce the artist — who was born in Lahore, Pakistan — as one of the most fascinating painters of his generation, capable of remixing old European techniques into contemporary scenes of queer desire and the immigrant experience.This was Toor’s first chance at seeing everything in one room to decide which pictures he is comfortable exhibiting at a time when his work has become more politically conflicted and emotionally raw.“There is a lingering question,” the artist said. “What am I doing here in America?”Toor is one of the most fascinating painters of his generation, capable of remixing old European techniques into contemporary scenes of queer desire and the immigrant experience.Receiving his United States citizenship in 2019 and committing to life in New York felt like he was leaving his family behind to some degree. His parents remained supportive but distant; they have never seen one of his major shows in person because, he suggested, of the frank depictions of queer sexuality that run counter to their conservative community in Pakistan.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Pope Francis on Tango, and Lasting Marriage

    A transcript of one of the last things he wrote before he died.This is the full text of a foreword written by Pope Francis to a book outlining Catholic teachings on love and marriage for young people. It was translated from Italian by Isabella Corletto. Read more about the letter here.Dear friends,In my homeland of Argentina, there is a dance I love very much, one that I often participated in when I was young: the tango. Tango is a wonderful, free game between man and woman, filled with erotic charm and attraction. The male and female dancers court each other and experience closeness and distance, sensuality, attention, discipline and dignity. They rejoice in love and understand what it might mean to give themselves to someone completely. Perhaps it is due to my distant memory of this dance that I have called my great apostolic exhortation on marriage “Amoris Laetitia”: the joy of love.I am always touched to see young people who love each other and have the courage to transform their love into something great: “I want to love you until death do us part.” What an extraordinary promise! Of course, I am not blind, and neither are you. How many marriages today fail after three, five, seven years? Maybe your parents, too, began the sacrament of marriage with that same courage, but were unable to take their love to completion. Wouldn’t it be better, then, to avoid the pain, to touch each other only as though in a passing dance, to enjoy each other, play together, and then leave?Do not believe this! Believe in love, believe in God, and believe that you are capable of taking on the adventure of a love that lasts a lifetime. Love wants to be permanent; “until further notice” isn’t love. We humans have the desire to be accepted without reservations, and those who do not have this experience often — unknowingly — carry a wound for the rest of their lives. Instead, those who enter into a union lose nothing, but gain everything: life at its fullest.Holy Scripture is very clear: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). One flesh! Jesus takes this all to its culmination: “So they are no longer two, but one flesh” (Mark 10:8). One single body. One single home. One single life. One single family. One single love.In order to help you build a foundation for your relationship based on God’s faithful love, I have called upon the whole Church to do much more for you. We cannot continue on as before: many only see the beautiful ritual. And then, after some years, they separate. Faith is destroyed. Wounds are opened. There are often children who are missing a father or a mother. To me, this is like dancing tango poorly. Tango is a dance that must be learned. This is all the more true when it comes to marriage and family. Before receiving the sacrament of marriage, a proper preparation is necessary. A catechumenate, I would even venture to say, because all life takes place in love, and love is not something to take lightly.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Fill in the Blank: Which U.S. Cities Are in These Book Titles?

    A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary geography quiz highlights fictional works with the names of real U.S. cities in their titles. To play, just make your selection in the multiple-choice list and the correct answer will be revealed. Links to the books will be listed at the end of the quiz if you’d like to do further reading. More

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    5 Places to Turn for Accurate Health Information

    Changes to federal health websites have raised concerns about their reliability. These independent sources offer an alternative.Soon after President Donald J. Trump took office for his second term, thousands of health websites run by the federal government that kept the public informed about infectious diseases, mental health, vaccines and more were taken offline.Many eventually returned — in large part because a judge ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to temporarily restore the pages — but some had been altered, with sections on topics such as health equity and teen pregnancy deleted. The changes, along with uncertainty around the future of these sites, has led some public health experts to question whether the websites can still be trusted as the gold standard of trustworthy health information, as they’ve long been regarded.Federal health agencies are already facing a crisis of confidence. When a recent national poll asked respondents how much trust they had in the C.D.C. to make the right health recommendations, more than one-third replied “not much” or “not at all.” Nearly half said the same about the Food and Drug Administration.Experts fear that with less trust in public health institutions, more people seeking medical information might turn to social media, where misinformation is rampant. That has made it all the more valuable for the public to find evidenced-based sources of health information.Here are five websites run by independent organizations that have accurate, easy-to-understand information.1. Vaccine Education CenterOf all the health information on federal websites, medical experts have been increasingly concerned about the availability of accurate vaccine information. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, has been a longtime critic of vaccines and has spread misinformation about their safety for years.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Canada’s Political Landscape Upended by Trump, Trudeau and Tariffs

    After nearly a decade in power, the Liberal Party seemed destined to be swept out on a wave of anti-incumbency sentiment. Then events took a surprising turn.Until January, polls suggested that the Conservative Party would handily regain power from the Liberals in any Canadian election held this year.Two things overturned that expectation: the resignation of Justin Trudeau as prime minister and President Trump’s trade war with Canada, along with his threat to annex the country and make it the 51st state by sowing economic chaos.Trump’s Trade WarWhile Mr. Trump pulled back from his initial threat of tariffs on everything imported from Canada, he has imposed several measures that hit key sectors of Canada’s economy: a 25 percent tariff on automobiles, aluminum and steel, and a similar one on Canadian exports that do not qualify as North American goods under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which he signed during his first term in office. An auto parts tariff of 25 percent is scheduled to take effect on Saturday. Last week, Mr. Trump suggested that the automobile tariffs, which are reduced based on their U.S.-made content, could be increased. He offered no specifics.Autos and auto parts are Canada’s largest exports to the United States, outside oil and gas. Canada Hits BackUnder Mr. Trudeau, Canada placed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods coming into Canada that are expected to generate 30 billion Canadian dollars, about $22 billion, in revenue over a year.After becoming prime minister in March, Mark Carney imposed an additional 8 billion Canadian dollars, about $5.7 billion, in tariffs, including a 25 percent levy on autos made in the United States — but not on auto parts. Automakers with assembly lines in Canada will still largely be able to bring in American-made cars of those brands duty free.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump Says He’s Reinstating Columbus Day. It Was Never Canceled.

    President Trump said in a post on social media that he was “reinstating Columbus Day.” It was never canceled as a federal holiday.President Trump declared on Sunday that he would bring “Columbus Day back from the ashes” and reinstate its celebration as a holiday.“I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!” the president said in a post on Truth Social, referring to the federal holiday named for Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who sailed to the Americas on behalf of Spain more than 500 years ago.The holiday has long been criticized by those who condemn the explorer for paving the way for European colonialism, which brought catastrophic diseases and led to the decimation of Indigenous populations in America.But Columbus Day was never canceled as a federal holiday, and the second Monday in October is still widely referred to as such in the United States, and for many, it remains an important part of Italian American heritage.With his declaration, Mr. Trump appeared to be referring to a proclamation issued by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2021. That decree also recognized the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which recognizes the Indigenous communities that have lived in the Americas for thousands of years, and called for it to be celebrated alongside Columbus Day.“The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much,” Mr. Trump claimed in his social media post on Sunday.In 2021, Mr. Biden became the first American president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, vowing to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.”But Mr. Biden did not rename the longstanding holiday, which is still officially known as Columbus Day. While several states and dozens of cities recognize the holiday as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, it is not considered a federal holiday, though there have been occasional efforts in Congress to make it one.Mr. Biden’s 2021 declaration came amid heightened public debate about the erasure of Indigenous people in celebrations of Christopher Columbus, whose landing in North America led to centuries of exploitation and slaughter of Native American populations. At the time, dozens of Christopher Columbus statues were taken down, many in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020. More

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    In ‘Krapp’s Last Tape,’ Gary Oldman Hits Rewind

    The star actor returns to the theater where he started almost a half-century ago, with Samuel Beckett’s bleak one-man play.For Gary Oldman, it is a homecoming of sorts. The English actor got his first professional gig at the Theater Royal in York, a small city 210 miles north of London, playing the titular feline in a 1979 pantomime production of “Dick Whittington and His Wonderful Cat.” He went on, of course, to establish himself as a screen star, achieving global fame through acclaimed performances in movies such as “J.F.K.,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” and “Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy.” Now, almost half a century after his York debut, Oldman — who lives in Palm Springs — has returned to the Theater Royal to direct himself in a revival of Samuel Beckett’s 1958 one-man play, “Krapp’s Last Tape.” The run, through May 17, is almost sold out, and the playhouse has gone to town on merch, with signed posters and T-shirts on sale in the lobby.The story of this production is like an inversion of the play’s: Oldman, 67, fondly revisiting a haunt of his youth in the twilight of an illustrious career, plays Krapp, an unsuccessful writer who, on his 69th birthday, looks back at his past self and sees only abject failure.Krapp emerges onstage, coughing and doddering, into a dusty study and sits down at a desk to rehearse an annual ritual: recording a monologue on a chunky, reel-to-reel tape recorder. First, though, he retrieves an old spool of tape, recorded 30 years earlier, shortly after a romantic breakup, and plays it back, pausing now and then to reflect and ruminate. The tape suggests a life waylaid by misdirected amorous energies and a penchant for drink. When Krapp finally passes comment, it is to condemn, matter-of-factly, “the stupid bastard I took myself for 30 years ago.”The recorded voice has more lines than the flesh-and-blood Krapp; for the actor playing him onstage, the challenge is to achieve the right quality of stillness and silence, and to render the subtle shifts as he listens to the recording. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More