David Farrier joined anti-5G Facebook groups after receiving online abuse for appearing in a pro-5G commercial.

He told The Project that memberships in these groups have swelled since the pandemic.

One of the larger groups has grown from 3,000 people before the crisis to 13,000 and climbing.

In a tweet Farrier said he had filed police reports about death threats against the prime minister he had seen in some of the Facebook groups.

"For them, this flat denial from the government just proved their theories correct.

This was a conspiracy that went right to the top.

And in the groups, they continued to cheer the arsonists on."

New Zealanders were already wary of 5G: A survey released in December found 46 per cent of people were worried the network could affect human health, according to Newsroom.

But since the coronavirus has become a pandemic and New Zealand went into a strict lockdown, conspiracy theories have become more popular.

The Prime Minister's chief science advisor, Juliet Gerrard, has launched a website aimed at correcting misapprehensions around 5G.

"There is no evidence whatsoever that coronavirus is in any way connected to 5G," it reads.

"It has all the ingredients for leading people to conspiracy theories," said Karen M. Douglas, a social psychologist who studies belief in conspiracies at the University of Kent.

Source

• nytimes.com
• newshub.co.nz
• twitter
• newsroom.co.nz
• nytimes.com
• rnz.co.nz
• Image: rnz.co.nz

Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias told The Tablet the story indicates there are people who want to damage the Pope.

"It's the first thought that came to me. Somebody is trying to weaken the Pope's position and to indicate 'Ok now that's it, he is just here for a short time'," said Cardinal Gracias.

The cardinal thought the motivation for the story could be to try to "put the brakes" on the Pope's reforms.

"It has something to do with his popularity. What he is saying is just the Gospel so I can't see why they are upset up about it," he added.

Cardinal Gracias is a member of the Pope's advisory "C9" council of cardinals.

German Cardinal Walter Kasper said of the story: "It's evident to me that some people don't like this Pope. Maybe they were trying to influence us (in the synod)."

"Certain people, both inside and outside the Church, are nervous about the outcome of the synod," he said.

The tumour story was an attempt to "upset" the final days of deliberation at the gathering, the cardinal said.

The story alleging Pope Francis saw a Japanese neurosurgeon about a brain tumour was denounced by the Vatican as "completely false".

The editor of Quotidiano Nazionale, the Italian newspaper that first published the story, has denied assertions that he is part of a conspiracy against the Pope.

Andrea Cangini said that "time will tell who was right"—the newspaper or the Vatican.

Cangini said he would not violate a confidentiality agreement with his source for the story.

Brain cancer specialist Dr Takanori Fukushima released a statement saying that he had never medically examined the Pope.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Catholic Culture
• The Telegraph
• Image: Church Militant

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone announced that the position document for the beatification of Pope John Paul I will be submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the northern autumn.

This sets out the pros and cons for the case for beatification.

Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected pope on August 26, 1978.

He died after 33 days in office, prompting many conspiracy theories that he had been murdered.

One miracle has already been attributed to John Paul I's intercession: the healing of Giuseppe Denora from a malignant stomach tumour in 1992.

John Paul I was declared a Servant of God by his successor in 2003.

The only 20th century popes who have not yet begun the process toward sainthood are Benedict XV and Pius XI.

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Their action was reported by the Russian news agency Interfax, which also carried a Russian Orthodox statement that it "vividly indicates Russia's high authority in the Middle East, especially among the Christian minorities living there".

"It is for the first time since the Nativity of Christ that we Christians of Qalamoun living in the villages of Saidnaya, Maara Saidnaya, Maaloula and Maaroun are under threat of banishment from our land," said a letter from the residents to the Russian leadership and the Russian Orthodox Church.

"We prefer death to exile and life in refugee camps, and so we will defend our land, honour and faith, and will not leave the land on which Christ walked.

"The Christians of Qalamoun believe that the purpose of the Western-backed terrorists is to eliminate our presence in what is our native land, and with some of the most revolting methods as well, including savage murders of ordinary people," they added.

"We see the Russian Federation as a powerful factor of global peace and stability. Russia pursues a firm line in the defense of Syria, its people and its territorial integrity."

The letter adds: "None of the about 50,000 people — physicians, engineers, lawyers, entrepreneurs — who are willing to sign this application want to leave their homes. We possess all that we need, we are not asking for money."

Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, an official of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church, said the granting of citizenship was "hardly possible from a judicial standpoint".

He said he believed the residents' action was guided by the intention to stress that "the Christians of the East have known for centuries that no other country would take care of their interests better than Russia".

Meanwhile, the leader of the Melkite Catholic Church, Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, has said more than 450,000 Christians have fled during Syria's civil war, out of a total Christian population of about 1.75 million.

Sources:

Interfax

Interfax

BBC

Image: Beliefnet