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Sri Lankan Catholics offered prayers for Pope Francis on Monday, the sixth anniversary of the Easter bombings that killed 279 people, recalling his “deep empathy” for the victims.Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said the pontiff had met with a 41-member delegation of survivors at the Vatican three years ago, comforting each one individually and pledging continued support to ensure justice.”The Holy Father deviated from a prepared text to urge the Sri Lankan government to ensure a transparent investigation,” Ranjith said during a commemorative service for the victims at St Sebastian’s Church.Shortly before the pope’s death was announced, Ranjith told another commemorative service in the capital Colombo that the Vatican had recognised 167 Catholics killed in the Easter attacks as “Witnesses of the Faith”.The move, which followed a process that began a year ago, places the Catholic victims on a path to possible sainthood.”The purpose of this is to propagate and preserve the memory of the witness in perpetuity,” Ranjith said.St Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, a village north of Colombo, was the worst affected by the coordinated suicide bombings.Ranjith read out the names of 116 victims at the St Sebastian shrine and 41 others at St Anthony’s Church who were honoured by the Vatican.He said the pontiff had shed tears when shown a video of the aftermath of the April 21, 2019 bombings.”I saw the tears in the Holy Father’s eyes,” Ranjith said. “He had deep empathy for the victims.”Several investigations into the bombings — which targeted three churches and three hotels — concluded that the attacks were carried out by homegrown jihadists who claimed affiliation with the Islamic State group.However, the Church has accused successive governments of protecting those behind the attacks, and several high-level investigations have identified links between military intelligence units and the bombers.

Pope Francis, who died Monday aged 88, will go down in history as a radical pontiff, a champion of underdogs who forged a more compassionate Catholic Church while stopping short of overhauling centuries-old dogma.Dubbed “the people’s Pope”, the Argentine pontiff loved being among his flock and was popular with the faithful, though he faced bitter opposition from traditionalists within the Church.The first pope from the Americas and the southern hemisphere, he staunchly defended the most disadvantaged, from migrants to communities battered by climate change, which he warned was a crisis caused by humankind.But while he confronted head-on the global scandal of sex abuse by priests, survivors’ groups said concrete measures were slow in coming.From his election in March 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was eager to make his mark as the leader of the Catholic Church. He became the first pope to take the name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic who renounced his wealth and devoted his life to the poor.”How I would like a poor church for the poor,” he said three days after his election as the 266th pope.He was a humble figurehead who wore plain robes, eschewed the sumptuous papal palaces and made his own phone calls, some of them to widows, rape victims or prisoners.The football-loving former archbishop of Buenos Aires was also more accessible than his predecessors, chatting with young people about issues ranging from social media to pornography — and talking openly about his health.Francis always left the door open to retiring like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to step down.After Benedict died in December 2022, Francis became the first sitting pope in modern history to lead a papal funeral.He suffered increasingly poor health, from colon surgery in 2021 and a hernia in June 2023 to bouts of bronchitis and knee pain that forced him to use a wheelchair.His fourth hospitalisation, of more than a month for bronchitis in both lungs, was his longest, raising speculation he might step down. But he brushed off talk of quitting, saying in February 2023 that papal resignations should not become “a normal thing”.In a 2024 memoir, he wrote that resignation was a “distant possibility” justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”.- Kissed prisoners’ feet -Before his first Easter at the Vatican, he washed and kissed the feet of prisoners at a Rome prison.It was the first in a series of powerful symbolic gestures that helped him achieve enthusiastic global admiration that eluded his predecessor.For his first trip abroad, Francis chose the Italian island of Lampedusa, the point of entry for tens of thousands of migrants hoping to reach Europe, and slammed the “globalisation of indifference”.He also condemned plans by US President Donald Trump during his first term to build a border wall against Mexico as un-Christian.After Trump’s re-election, Francis denounced his planned migrant deportations as a “major crisis” that “will end badly”.In 2016, with Europe’s migration crisis at a peak, Francis flew to the Greek island of Lesbos and returned to Rome with three families of asylum-seeking Syrian Muslims.He was also committed to inter-faith reconciliation, kissing the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in a historic February 2016 encounter, and making a joint call for freedom of belief with leading Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb in 2019.Francis re-energised Vatican diplomacy in other ways, helping facilitate a historic rapprochement between the United States and Cuba, and encouraging the peace process in Colombia.And he sought to improve ties with China through a historic — but criticised — 2018 accord on the naming of bishops.- Climate appeal -Experts credited Francis with having influenced the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords with his “Laudato Si” encyclical, an appeal for action on climate change that was grounded in science.He argued that developed economies were to blame for an impending environmental catastrophe, and in a fresh appeal in 2023 warned that some of the damage was “already irreversible”.An advocate of peace, the pontiff repeatedly denounced arms manufacturers and argued that in the myriad of conflicts seen around the globe, a Third World War was underway.But his interventions were not always well received, and he sparked outrage from Kyiv after praising those in war-torn Ukraine who had the “courage to raise the white flag and negotiate”.In his modest rooms in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta guesthouse, Francis dealt with stress by writing down his problems in letters to Saint Joseph.”From the moment I was elected I had a very particular feeling of profound peace. And that has never left me,” he said in 2017.He also loved classical music and tango, stopping off once at a shop in Rome to buy records.- ‘Who am I to judge?’ -Francis’s admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of an institution beset by scandals when he took over, helping to bring lapsed believers back into the fold.He will be remembered as the pope who, on the subject of gay Catholics, said: “Who am I to judge?”He allowed divorced and remarried believers to receive communion, and approved the baptism of transgender believers as well as blessings for same-sex couples.But he dropped the idea of letting priests marry after an outcry, and despite nominating several women to leading positions inside the Vatican, he disappointed those who wanted women allowed to be ordained.Critics accused him of tampering dangerously with tenets of Catholic teaching, and he faced strong opposition to many of his reforms.In 2017, four conservatives cardinals made an almost unheard of public challenge to his authority, saying his changes had sown doctrinal confusion among believers.But his Church showed no inclination to relax its ban on artificial contraception or opposition to gay marriage — and he insisted that abortion was “murder”.Francis also pushed reforms within the Vatican, from allowing cardinals to be tried by civilian courts to overhauling the Holy See’s banking system.He also sought to address the enormously damaging issue of sex abuse by priests by meeting victims and vowing to hold those responsible accountable.He opened up Vatican archives to civil courts and made it compulsory to report suspicions of abuse or its cover-up to Church authorities.But critics say his legacy will be a Church that remains reluctant to hand paedophile priests over to the police.- ‘Raised on pasta’ -Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born into an Italian emigrant family in Flores, a middle-class district of Buenos Aires, on December 17, 1936.The eldest of five children, he was “born an Argentine but raised on pasta”, wrote biographer Paul Vallely.From 13, he worked afternoons in a hosiery factory while studying to become a chemical technician in the mornings. Later he had a brief stint as a nightclub bouncer.He was said to have liked dancing and girls, even coming close to proposing to one before, at age 17, he found a religious vocation.Francis later recounted a period of turmoil during his Jesuit training, when he became besotted with a woman he met at a family wedding.By then he had survived a near-fatal infection that resulted in the removal of part of a lung. His impaired breathing scuppered his hopes of becoming a missionary in Japan.He was ordained a priest in 1969 and appointed the provincial, or leader, of the Jesuits in Argentina just four years later.His time at the helm of the order, which spanned the country’s years of military dictatorship, was difficult.Critics accused him of betraying two radical priests who were imprisoned and tortured by the regime. No convincing evidence of the claim ever emerged but his leadership of the order was divisive and, in 1990, he was demoted and exiled to Argentina’s second-largest city, Cordoba.Then, in his 50s, Bergoglio is seen by most biographers as having undergone a midlife crisis.He emerged to embark on a new career in the mainstream of the Catholic hierarchy, reinventing himself first as the “Bishop of the Slums” in Buenos Aires and later as the pope who would break the mould.

Bangladesh ended the second day of the first Test against Zimbabwe on Monday trailing by only 25 runs after spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz took five wickets to restrict the visitors to 273 in their first innings.It was a comeback for Bangladesh after a disappointing first day when skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss in Sylhet and decided to bat first.However, his batters failed to capitalise and were bowled out by an impressive Zimbabwe attack for a modest 191.Zimbabwe then piled on the misery by racing to 67-0 by the end of play on the first day.Starting from a commanding position, both Zimbabwe openers fell early on the second day to aggressive pace bowling by Nahid Rana.Ben Curran was the first to go on 18 and his partner Brian Bennett, who hit an aggressive 64-ball 57, was removed soon after with the score on 88-2.Sean Williams (59) was the only other Zimbabwe batter to reach fifty.Wessly Madhevere (24), Nyasha Mayavo (35) and Richard Ngarava (28) all failed to build bigger scores.Off-spinner Mehidy took the key wickets of Williams, Mayavo and Ngarava to finish with 5-52 on a wicket that was expected to help the pace bowlers.Nahid took 3-74 with aggressive bowling in support of Mehidy.Starting the second innings with an 82-run deficit, Bangladesh lost Shadman Islam on 4 to Blessing Muzarabani with the score on 13. His opening partner Mahmudul Hasan Joy soldiered on to 28 in an unbeaten 44-run partnership with Mominul Haque, on 15, to end the day at 57-1.Shanto must now hope that they can make the most of the friendly home conditions to set an imposing target for the visitors.Bangladesh have been formidable on the slow and spin-friendly home pitches but have several veterans missing.They have won eight of the 18 Tests against Zimbabwe, their highest total against any Test side, including four of the past five.The second and final Test will be played in Chattogram from April 28.Day 2 scores:1st innings: Bangladesh 191 all out (Mominul Haque 56, Najmul Hossain Shanto 40; Blessing Muzarabani 3-50, Wellington Masakadza 3-21)1st innings: Zimbabwe 273 all out (Brian Bennett 57, Sean Williams 59; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 5-52, Nahid Rana 3-74)2nd innings: Bangladesh 57-1 (Mahmudul Hasan Joy 28 not out, Mominul Haque 15 not out; Blessing Muzarabani 1-21)

Locals in Catholic-majority East Timor held prayers after the death of Pope Francis on Monday, while others refused to accept the news of the late pontiff’s passing.In capital Dili, Catholic worshippers took a moment to remember the pope, who died aged 88 months after he received a rockstar welcome in the city as part of a marathon four-nation tour.”When I hear and see (the news) on social media, I was… very, very sad because of the loss of a Pope that was known in the world, particularly in East Timor,” said 40-year-old Maria at a Catholic church, declining to give her last name.”He was a simple man, a very humble man, a figure that gets close with the common people. We really miss Pope Francis.”East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who hosted Pope Francis, mourned his death but hailed his “very brave” fight for peace and the world’s poorest people.Cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, the archbishop of Dili, said the Vatican flag would be flown at half mast at his residence, while a mass would be held across the country’s churches in the coming days.The Argentine pontiff visited East Timor — one of the world’s poorest countries — in September on a trip that included Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore in between bouts of ill health.He held a mass on the outskirts of Dili that authorities said attracted almost half of the country’s 1.3 million people.”I am very shocked and sad to hear this news. I enjoyed seeing so many enthusiastic people who wanted to see the Pope,” said student Glenn Bawakana Soares, 22.On that visit the first Latin American pontiff made a pointed call to East Timor’s leaders to do more on all forms of abuse, after several high-profile child abuse scandals involving members of the nation’s clergy.”We are all called to do everything possible to prevent every kind of abuse and guarantee a healthy and peaceful childhood for all young people,” he said in a speech in Dili.- ‘Don’t accept’ -Recent abuse cases in East Timor include Nobel-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who the Vatican secretly punished over allegations he sexually abused young children for decades.In another case, defrocked American priest Richard Daschbach was found guilty in 2021 of abusing orphaned, disadvantaged girls and sentenced to 12 years in prison.Pope Francis did not mention a specific case or acknowledge any Vatican responsibility. Meanwhile some Timorese were refusing to accept that the energetic reformer had died, especially on Easter Monday.”There are those who believe it and also think this is a lie. They think this is fake news,” student Soares said. “They don’t accept reality.”Others saw his legacy as one paving a path for future pontiffs to speak out for the most underprivileged in society.”A revolutionary pope, he is the hope of marginalised people but his health did not let him live long enough to defend his work,” Ato Lekinawa Costa, chief editor of Timorese news site Neon Metin, told AFP.”The wave of goodbye in his visit last year means forever now, but hopefully next Pope will carry on Pope Francis good work and commitment.”

Asian crime networks running multi-billion-dollar cyber scam centres are expanding their operations across the world as they seek new victims and new ways to launder money, the UN said on Monday.Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs are raking in tens of billions of dollars a year targeting victims through investment, cryptocurrency, romance and other scams — using an army of workers often trafficked and forced to toil in squalid compounds.The activity has largely been focused in Myanmar’s lawless border areas and dubious “special economic zones” set up in Cambodia and Laos.But a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned the networks are building up operations in South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific islands.”We are seeing a global expansion of East and Southeast Asian organised crime groups,” said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC Acting Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.”This reflects both a natural expansion as the industry grows and seeks new ways and places to do business, but also a hedging against future risks should disruption continue and intensify in Southeast Asia.”Countries in east and southeast Asia lost an estimated $37 billion to cyber fraud in 2023, the UNODC report said, adding that “much larger estimated losses” were reported around the world.The syndicates have expanded in Africa — notably in Zambia, Angola and Namibia — as well as Pacific islands such as Fiji, Palau, Tonga and Vanuatu.- Laundering through crypto -Besides seeking new bases and new victims, the criminal gangs are broadening their horizons to help launder their illicit income, the report said, pointing to team-ups with “South American drug cartels, the Italian mafia, and Irish mob, among many others”.Illicit cryptocurrency mining — unregulated and anonymous — has become a “powerful tool” for the networks to launder money, the report said.In June 2023 a sophisticated crypto mining operation in a militia-controlled territory in Libya, equipped with high-powered computers and high-voltage cooling units, was raided and 50 Chinese nationals arrested.The global spread of the syndicates’ operations has been driven in part by pressure from authorities in Southeast Asia.A major crackdown on scam centres in Myanmar this year, pushed by Beijing, led to around 7,000 workers from at least two dozen counrties being freed.But the UN report warns that while such efforts disrupt the scam gangs’ immediate activities, they have shown themselves able to adapt and relocate swiftly.”It spreads like a cancer,” UNODC’s Hoffman said.”Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear, they simply migrate.”Alongside the scam centres, staffed by a workforce estimated by the UN to be in the hundreds of thousands, the industry is further enabled by new technological developments.Operators have developed their own online ecosystems with payment applications, encrypted messaging platforms and cryptocurrencies, to get round mainstream platforms that might be targeted by law enforcement.

Snowfall in Asia’s Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain range has reached a 23-year low, threatening nearly two billion people dependent on snowmelt for water, scientists warned in a report on Monday.The Hindu Kush-Himalayan range, which stretches from Afghanistan to Myanmar, holds the largest reserves of ice and snow outside the Arctic and Antarctica and is a vital source of fresh water for about two billion people.Researchers found “a significant decline in seasonal snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with snow persistence (the time snow remains on the ground) 23.6 percent below normal — the lowest in 23 years,” the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said. “This trend, now in its third consecutive year, threatens water security for nearly two billion people,” it said in its Snow Update Report.The study also warned of “potential lower river flows, increased groundwater reliance, and heightened drought risk”. Sher Muhammad, the lead author of the ICIMOD report, told AFP that “this year the snowfall started late in January and remained low in the winter season on average”.Several countries in the region have already issued drought warnings,  with upcoming harvests and access to water at risk for populations already facing longer, hotter, and more frequent heatwaves.The inter-governmental ICIMOD organisation is made up of member countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.It urged countries that rely on the 12 major river basins in the region to develop “improved water management, stronger drought preparedness, better early warning systems, and greater regional cooperation”.The Mekong and Salween basins — the two longest rivers in Southeast Asia supplying water to China and Myanmar — had lost around half of their snow cover, it noted.Pema Gyamtsho, ICIMOD’s director general, called for changes in policy to address the low snow levels in the long term.”Carbon emissions have already locked in an irreversible course of recurrent snow anomalies in the HKH (Hindu Kush-Himalayas),” Gyamtsho said.Asia is the region most affected by climate-related disasters, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization, which reported last month that five of the past six years have seen the most rapid glacier retreat on record.

Sri Lanka’s Catholics marked on Monday the sixth anniversary of the Easter bombings that killed 279 people with a silent march and demands for justice.Several investigations into the April 21, 2019, bombings, which targeted three churches and three hotels, concluded that the attacks were carried out by homegrown jihadists who claimed affiliation with the Islamic State group.However, the island’s Catholic Church has accused successive governments of protecting those behind the attack and several high-level investigations have identified links between military intelligence units and the bombers.The head of the Church in Sri Lanka, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, led the march in the capital Colombo, where he presided over a multi-religious ceremony for the victims, who included 45 foreigners.Hundreds of relatives of the victims marched from St Lucia’s Cathedral to the nearby St Anthony’s Church, where the first suicide attack took place.All radio and television channels across the country muted their broadcasts for two minutes as a mark of respect.Ranjith announced that the Vatican had recognised 167 Catholics killed as “Witnesses of the Faith”, placing them on a path to possible sainthood.”The purpose of this is to propagate and preserve the memory of the witness in perpetuity,” Ranjith said.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on the eve of the anniversary there would be a review of the final report of the 2021 presidential commission of inquiry.Dissanayake’s office said the report had been handed to the police for action against those linked to the attacks.Church leaders have alleged that military intelligence officers orchestrated the bombings to bolster the political prospects of retired army officer Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was campaigning on a platform of national security.He won the presidency seven months later.Rajapaksa was forced out of office in July 2022 following months of protests over an unprecedented economic crisis that led to shortages of food, fuel, and medicine.

US Vice President JD Vance began a four-day visit to India on Monday as New Delhi looks to seal an early trade deal and stave off punishing US tariffs.Vance’s visit comes two months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House.A red carpet welcome with an honour guard and troupes of folk dancers greeted Vance after he stepped out into the sweltering sunshine of New Delhi, where he is set to meet with Modi.Vance, 40, a devout Catholic convert who arrived in New Delhi a day after meeting Pope Francis in the Vatican, toured a vast Hindu temple with his family on one of his first stops.The US vice president is accompanied by his wife Usha, the daughter of Indian immigrants, and his three children, who visited the Akshardham Temple dressed in traditional flowing Indian attire.Vance’s tour will include a trip on Tuesday to Jaipur in Rajasthan — site of the medieval Amber fort — and to Agra a day after, for a visit to the white marble mausoleum of the Taj Mahal.More important will be the meeting later on Monday between Modi and Vance.They are expected to “review the progress” in relations” and “exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest”, according to India’s foreign ministry.India and the United States are negotiating the first tranche of a trade deal, which New Delhi hopes to secure within the 90-day pause on tariffs announced by Trump this month. “We are very positive that the visit will give a further boost to our bilateral ties,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last week.- ‘Special bond’ -Vance’s visit comes during an escalating trade war between the United States and China. India’s neighbour and rival faces US levies of up to 145 percent on many products.Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.India, hit with tariffs of 26 percent before Trump’s pause, has reacted cautiously so far.India’s Department of Commerce said after the tariffs were announced it was “carefully examining the implications”, adding it was “also studying the opportunities that may arise”.Modi, who visited the White House in February, has an acknowledged rapport with Trump, who said he shares a “special bond” with the Indian leader. Trump, speaking while unveiling the tariffs, said Modi was a “great friend” but that he had not been “treating us right”.Modi said during his visit to Washington that the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies would work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement”.The United States is a crucial market for India’s information technology and services sectors but Washington in turn has made billions of dollars in new military hardware sales to New Delhi in recent years.Trump could visit India later this year for a summit of heads of state from the “Quad” — a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

US Vice President JD Vance began a four-day visit to India on Monday as New Delhi looks to seal an early trade deal and stave off punishing US tariffs.Vance’s visit comes two months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House.A red carpet welcome with an honour guard and troupes of folk dancers greeted Vance after he stepped out into the sweltering sunshine of New Delhi, where he is set to meet with Modi.Vance’s tour also includes a trip to Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, the white marble mausoleum commissioned by a Mughal emperor.The US vice president is accompanied by his family, including his wife Usha, who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, with New Delhi’s broadcasters dubbing the visit “semi-private”.Modi, 74, and Vance, 40, are expected to “review the progress in bilateral relations” and also “exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest”, India’s foreign ministry said last week.India and the United States are negotiating the first tranche of a trade deal, which New Delhi hopes to secure within the 90-day pause on tariffs announced by Trump earlier this month. “We are very positive that the visit will give a further boost to our bilateral ties,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last week.Vance was welcomed at the airport by Ashwini Vaishnaw, a senior member of Modi’s government.- ‘Special bond’ -Vance’s visit comes during an escalating trade war between the United States and China. India’s neighbour and rival faces US levies of up to 145 percent on many products.Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.India has so far reacted cautiously.After the tariffs were announced, India’s Department of Commerce said it was “carefully examining the implications”, adding it was “also studying the opportunities that may arise”.Modi, who visited the White House in February, has an acknowledged rapport with Trump, who said he shares a “special bond” with the Indian leader. Trump, speaking while unveiling the tariffs, said Modi was a “great friend” but that he had not been “treating us right”.During his visit to Washington, Modi said that the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies would work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement”.While the United States is a crucial market for India’s information technology and services sectors, Washington has made billions of dollars in new military hardware sales to New Delhi in recent years.Trump could visit India later this year for a summit of heads of state from the Quad — a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

When the Dalai Lama turns 90 in July, the Buddhist monk, who for many exiled Tibetans personifies dreams of a free homeland, will ask if they want a successor.For the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, his landmark birthday will be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and address whether there will be another Dalai Lama.The answer, at least according to his translator of nearly four decades, is clear: yes.”I know for a fact that he has received petitions from across the Tibetan Buddhism communities, including some from inside Tibet,” said Thupten Jinpa, 66, a Buddhist scholar who helped produce the leader’s latest book, “Voice for the Voiceless”.Jinpa believes the post, which he likens to a Buddhist “papal institution” not only for Tibet but also encompassing the Himalayan regions of India, Bhutan and Nepal, as well as Mongolia and some Russian republics, will continue.”My hope is that before his birthday, July 6, he will issue a final statement,” Jinpa said, speaking in India, where the Dalai Lama has been based since fleeing into exile in 1959.”If my guess is right, and he says that the continuity of the institution will remain, that means then there will be a new Dalai Lama.”Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name a successor to bolster control over a land it poured troops into in 1950.- ‘Almost unthinkable’ -The current Dalai Lama was identified in 1936 when, aged two, he passed a test by pointing to objects that had belonged to the post’s previous occupier.He was hailed as the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, a role that stretches back more than 600 years.”One constant in everybody’s life has been the presence of the Dalai Lama,” said Jinpa, who fled Tibet with his parents as a baby, around the same time the Dalai Lama escaped.If there is to be a 15th, the Dalai Lama has said he will “leave clear written instructions” on what will happen after his death.Jinpa, who trained as a monk before completing his doctorate at the University of Cambridge, said that a foundational principle of Buddhism was the contemplation of impermanence.”Anything that comes into being will come to an end,” he said. “Where there is birth, there will be death.”But he said the Dalai Lama — who has said he wants to live until he is 113 — also wants followers to confront a future, someday, without him.”The idea of a world without him is almost unthinkable,” Jinpa said. “But that will happen, and His Holiness has himself been very explicit in making sure that people are thinking about it.”- ‘Symbol of a nation’ -Jinpa said that plans for the future had long been in progress.The Dalai Lama stepped down as his people’s political head in 2011, passing the baton of secular power to a government chosen democratically by 130,000 Tibetans around the world.”He has already prepared the formal political structure for carrying on the struggles of the Tibetan cause beyond his lifetime,” Jinpa said.”But one of the things that he can’t just transfer to an elected body… is the moral authority, and his status as the symbol of a nation, and a symbol of the aspiration of the Tibetan people,” he added.”This is why the continuity of the Dalai Lama institution becomes important.”China, which says Tibet is an integral part of the country, insists the Dalai Lama “has no right to represent the Tibetan people”.Jinpa said the Dalai Lama is only advocating for greater Tibetan autonomy.”If we were asking for independence, it’s a completely different thing,” he said.- ‘People’s heart’ -The Dalai Lama has already said that if there “is a consensus that the Dalai Lama institution should continue”, then the Office of the Dalai Lama — the Gaden Phodrang Trust in India’s Himalayan hill town of McLeod Ganj — would hold the responsibility for the recognition of the next leader.He has also made it clear that any successor would by necessity be “born in the free world”.In 1995, Beijing selected its own child as the Panchen Lama, another influential Tibetan religious figure, and detained a Dalai Lama-recognised six-year-old, described by rights groups as the world’s youngest political prisoner.”The Chinese will choose another ‘Dalai Lama’, that’s for sure,” Jinpa said. “It will be ridiculous, but they will do it.”But he is confident that Tibetans will not acknowledge whoever Beijing selects.”They can suppress, they can ban, they can force,” said Jinpa, noting that Beijing forbids the Dalai Lama’s photograph in Tibet.”But you can never change people’s heart. What’s in the heart belongs to the individual, and the loyalty will always be to this Dalai Lama, and whoever is going to be chosen through the traditional system.”