U.S. authorities agreed to release this Afghan refugee to join family in Canada. Ottawa has refused to let him in
The 57-year-old Afghan mother should have been thrilled when she, her husband and four children were granted refugee status to start a new life here on Wednesday. But there's little to celebrate.
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Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
‘They're real people': Mob focus of JFK assassination flick filmed in Winnipeg
Nicholas Celozzi has spent much of his life revisiting the events leading up to the assassination of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Hushed stories filled his childhood home. Conversations with his uncle Joseph (Pepe) Giancana, brother to Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana, later helped shed light on his family's possible involvement in one of the most debated moments in American history. After decades of film and television portrayals of Sam Giancana, Celozzi is reconceptualizing the 1963 shooting of Kennedy with a focus on the major players in the Chicago Outfit, a powerful Italian-American criminal organization. For Celozzi, his latest screenwriting endeavour is about more than telling another assassination story. It's about family. 'My family, my cousins, really got tired of people using our name, monetizing our name and telling a fake story,' Celozzi said in an interview. Story continues below advertisement 'These aren't fictional people … they're real people. They're vulnerable, they have nerves, they make mistakes, they are not quite sure about things.' Sam Giancana, head of the Chicago Outfit in the 1950s and 1960s, was widely known for his ties to the Kennedy family. He was gunned down in his home in 1975, and his killing remains unsolved. 2:18 JFK assassination files released on Trump's order Many have speculated the Mob group also played a role in Kennedy's assassination, and this is explored in Celozzi's 'November 1963,' which began filming in Winnipeg this summer. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Relying on Pepe Giancana's stories, Celozzi focuses on the 48 hours leading up to the assassination. Giancana, a fill-in driver for his brother, had been a fly on the wall in the days leading up to the assassination, said Celozzi, who is also one of the producers on the independent film. Story continues below advertisement Many conversations led to what Celozzi calls the 'Pepe chronicles,' a series of stories detailing the family's Mob ties. 'I was always aware of who they were. These aren't things that everybody just kind of goes home and talks about. It's an awareness. It's kind of a strange reality that you're born into,' said Celozzi. Pepe Giancana died in the mid-'90s, leaving his stories with Celozzi. 2:11 Local film industry questions Trump's proposed film tariff The writer said he knew he wanted to do something to honour his family's history without degrading them to caricatures often found in Mob flicks. So he began working with Sam Giancana's daughter Bonnie Giancana to craft the script. Over the course of several years and rewrites, Celozzi said they worked to ensure every detail was accurate. Story continues below advertisement 'I needed to keep that honest with the story Pepe gave me, or why do it at all? If I wasn't going to be truthful to what he gave me, there was no purpose in me doing it,' said Celozzi. He brought veteran Canadian producer Kevin DeWalt of Minds Eye Entertainment on board to produce the movie, which wrapped shooting in Winnipeg last week and goes into post-production in Saskatchewan. 'I don't think the family's proud of what happened … it was important for them to tell the truth before they die,' DeWalt said. The cast includes John Travolta, Dermot Mulroney and Mandy Patinkin and is directed by Academy Award nominated English filmmaker Roland Joffé. When it came time to pick a location that could mimic 1960s Chicago and the landmark Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where Kennedy was killed, producers chose Winnipeg over other major cities such as Atlanta and New Orleans in part because of its Exchange District neighbourhood. Producers decided Winnipeg was a perfect stand-in for the Windy City. Dealey Plaza, and the famous Grassy Knoll, was built from scratch at Birds Hill Provincial Park, northeast of Winnipeg. The film features 1,500 extras and 75 to 80 period cars to accurately portray the time period. DeWalt said he expects viewers will be blown away by the film's ability to bring a new level of authenticity and validity to the moment in history. Story continues below advertisement 'People will walk out of the theatre with their own impressions about what it all means,' he said. 'At the end of the day, at least we've given them the tools for one of these things that's been told, and they can make their own impressions in terms of how they feel about it.' When asked if he thinks the film might ruffle feathers with historians, governments or Mob members, Celozzi said that's not his goal. 'What I'm doing is just putting in that missing piece, not glamorizing, just writing it.'
Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Vancouver Sun
A convicted priest is back at work. Child advocates want Pope Leo to act
VATICAN CITY – He was the personification of shame in the Vatican, the lone prisoner in the three-cell jail of the world's smallest sovereign state. Now, the Rev. Carlo Alberto Capella – convicted of possessing and distributing a 'large quantity' of child pornography while serving as a Vatican diplomat in Washington – is presenting Pope Leo XIV, the new American pontiff, with one of the first challenges of his papacy. Capella, a 58-year-old Italian priest, was investigated by U.S. and Canadian authorities for almost two years for gathering and sharing child pornography while a senior diplomat at the Holy See's embassy in Washington. In 2017, the U.S. State Department asked the Vatican to waive his diplomatic immunity, a request it denied. Instead, Capella was recalled to Rome, where he admitted to tracking down 'repugnant' images and, in a rare Vatican criminal trial a year later, was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. In recent weeks, reports have emerged on Catholic blogs of his 2022 release and quiet return to work at the Holy See's Secretariat of State. His restoration to the powerful department has outraged advocates for the survivors of abuse by Catholic clerics. They insist that even though he was never accused of sexual abuse, a convicted priest who consumed child pornography has no place in a prominent Vatican office. 'Why not give him a job scrubbing floors, or bathrooms, at the Vatican,' said Peter Isely, a member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. 'Why is he still an official member of the state department? It's wrong on every level.' As Pope Leo is confronted with demands to act, he becomes the fourth pontiff since the 1990s to face scrutiny, and potentially judgement, over how he handles the still-emerging cases of sexual crimes committed by clerics. Pope John Paul II faced both contemporary and posthumous criticism for his handling of abuse cases. The issue dogged Benedict XVI even more, with a chorus of complaints seen as one of several factors contributing to his historic decision to retire. Pope Francis enacted reforms aimed at addressing the scandals, yet survivor groups routinely took him to task for failing to adopt a policy of zero tolerance including mandatory reporting to civil authorities. Now advocate groups are looking to Leo to chart a different course, and even reverse Francis on the Capella case. Capella's attorney, Roberto Borgogno, said in an interview that his client was released a year early, in the first part of 2022, for 'good behavior' and resumed work at the secretariat in January 2023. Pope Francis, Borgogno said, approved Capella's return and had at least one direct post-release conversation with him about his contrition. 'These are certainly decisions made logically, rationally, by the pontiff at the time,' Borgogno said. The direct involvement of Francis and the specifics of Capella's living arrangement and monitoring have not been previously reported. Capella, whose work is limited to checking translations and doing archival work, now lives just outside the Vatican, in a center for retired diplomats, his lawyer said. His work computer is monitored by Vatican officials, though he has an unmonitored personal cellphone. Borgogno noted that while Capella had not been defrocked, Vatican authorities stripped him of his elevated title of monsignor. Though he returned to the secretariat in 2023, Capella was considered to be 'on probation' and only recently appeared on the Holy See's official personnel registry. 'It's merely a desk job,' Borgogno said. 'He won't be carrying out pastoral work; he won't be in contact with people on the outside.' Through Borgogno, Capella declined an interview request. The renewed focus on Capella comes as Archbishop Guy de Kerimel of Toulouse, France, faces criticism for appointing a priest, convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy in 1993, to the senior post of archdiocesan chancellor, citing the moral imperative of forgiveness. Victims groups are now calling on Leo to intervene in both instances. 'This is a test,' said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of a watchdog group that tracks abuse cases in the Catholic Church. 'To me, it brings up bigger questions of the Vatican's continued rejection of zero tolerance for sex offenders. I think these two things together really put all eyes on Pope Leo. We're all wondering if he will be tougher on sex abusers than Pope Francis was.' The Secretariat of State did not respond to a detailed request for comment. A senior Vatican official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter said he didn't know whether Leo had been briefed on the cases or intended to take specific action. It's hardly unheard of for a pope to reverse a predecessor's decision – Francis, for instance, curbed use of the traditional Latin Mass after Pope Benedict XVI had relaxed restrictions on it. 'The pope clearly has jurisdiction in the matter … it will all be up to him,' said Giovanni Maria Vian, former editor of the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, and a historian of early Christianity. 'He's likely aware of the [Capella] case. It wouldn't be unusual if he took action.' The official described Capella's job as one in which he has minimal contact with the public and can 'earn his keep.' His return to work is a chance for Capella to 'redeem' himself, the official said, arguing that no punishment for such priests will ever 'be enough' for some victims advocates. If everyone who does wrong 'gets shunned,' the official said, 'few of us would still be standing.' The Washington Post reported in 2021 that Capella had been allowed to participate in a work-release program in which he spent mornings at the small Vatican office that sells certificates of papal blessings for personal occasions. Now, Capella's case is once again underscoring how the Holy See routinely approaches wrongdoing by clerics – from the religious standpoint of mercy and a spirit of Catholic atonement. That vision has clashed with that of victims advocates, who see Capella's return to the secretariat in any capacity, as well as the senior appointment of a convicted rapist in France, as evidence of an overly lenient approach. The demands for action have raised questions about how the new pope will handle perhaps the thorniest issue facing the faith he leads: tainted priests. Under Francis, the Vatican sought to address widespread allegations of church complicity. In 2019, he convened an unprecedented summit on clerical sexual abuse, later imposing a sweeping law requiring church officials to report accusations of abuse or official cover-ups to their superiors. But the law did not require allegations to be reported to civil authorities, and victims groups have pointed to more-recent scandals in Switzerland and elsewhere as evidence that not enough has changed. They say Leo should remove Capella from the secretariat and overturn the recent French appointment to show his commitment to zero tolerance. Leo has a mixed record on handling abuse cases. As a bishop in Peru, for instance, he won praise for moving against the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae – a secretive, archconservative Catholic group that expanded from Lima to several countries and was accused of systematic sexual and psychological abuse. At the same time, he was accused of lax oversight in the handling of abuse allegations by three women in his diocese of Chiclayo. Last month, in a note honoring a Peruvian journalist whose work helped expose sexual abuse within the Sodalitium group, Leo called for a cultural shift inside the church. It is necessary to instill 'throughout the Church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse: abuse of power or authority, of conscience or spirituality, of sexual abuse,' he wrote. 08-02-2025 01:57PM Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here .
Toronto Star
4 hours ago
- Toronto Star
‘They're real people': Mob focus of JFK assassination flick filmed in Winnipeg
WINNIPEG - Nicholas Celozzi has spent much of his life revisiting the events leading up to the assassination of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Hushed stories filled his childhood home. Conversations with his uncle Joseph (Pepe) Giancana, brother to Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana, later helped shed light on his family's possible involvement in one of the most debated moments in American history.
