
Cardinals Begin Placing Stickers On Vatican Relics They Want When Pope Francis Dies
VATICAN CITY—With many remarking that they'd had their eyes on the holy artifacts since they first saw them, cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church reportedly began placing stickers this week on the Vatican relics they wanted when Pope Francis dies. 'I'll take these fragments of the true cross, I'll take St. Peter's bones, and before someone else claims it, I'll take the Shroud of Turin,' said His Eminence Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, who placed an adhesive red dot onto the Veil of Veronica and remarked that it would bring a much needed pop of color to his otherwise drab bedroom. 'Honestly, Pope Francis and I already talked about my inheritance, but I don't want to miss out on the good stuff like I did when John Paul died. There's no way Cardinal Mamberti is getting his grubby little hands on my crown of thorn fragments. Or my favorite, the holy foreskin.' At press time, Cardinal Re was kicking himself after a fellow prelate had beaten him to the punch and placed a sticker on the Holy Lance.
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New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
Five Key Discoveries in the Family Tree of Pope Leo XIV
On May 8, an American cardinal named Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV. Later that day, The Times, drawing on research by Jari C. Honora, a genealogist, reported that Prevost had recent African American ancestors. This revelation came from going back just three generations — what else might be found by looking even further into the past? Certainly, the fans of 'Finding Your Roots,' the PBS show I have hosted for 13 years, wanted to know. My inbox was flooded with emails asking us to trace the new pope's ancestry. In collaboration with the genealogists at American Ancestors and the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, we were able to go back as far his 12th-great-grandparents, who were born in the early 1500s. Here are some of our discoveries, which you can read in detail in The New York Times Magazine feature. Pope Leo's lineage is surprisingly international. His diverse ancestry reflects the history of American immigration. The forebears identified so far were born in France (40), Italy (24), Spain (21), the United States (22), Cuba (10), Canada (6), Haiti (1) and Guadeloupe (1). The birthplaces are unknown for another nine ancestors who have been identified. Many of Pope Leo's American-born ancestors were Black. Seventeen of the pope's American ancestors were Black, described in historical records in terms ranging from 'negresse' and 'free person of color' to 'mulâtresse créole' and 'quadroon.' Another Black ancestor, the pope's grandfather Joseph Nerval Martínez, was born in Haiti, to which his African Americans parents migrated from New Orleans before returning to the city in 1866. A dozen of the pope's ancestors were slaveholders — including several who were Black. We Traced Pope Leo XIV's Ancestry Back 500 Years. Here's What We Found. Noblemen, enslaved people, freedom fighters, slaveowners: what the complex family tree of the first American pontiff reveals. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.


The Hill
04-06-2025
- The Hill
Ukraine's war will be won by soldiers, not speeches
In the old days, you turned on the television to get the news. If the antenna was properly connected, a presenter would deliver what the editors wanted you to hear. Things have changed. Today, modern TVs let us switch quickly between bulletins, letting us cross-examine the news. Then there are mobile phones, tablets, laptops and dozens of social networks filled with statements from world leaders, analysts and bloggers. So, do we really understand the true background of political confrontations any better than we did during the Vietnam War or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? Are the motives of presidents and prime ministers more transparent? How much can we trust the public words or social media posts of world leaders? They're often contradictory and inconsistent — politicians seem to forget what they said yesterday and rarely consider what they'll say tomorrow. At least, that's how it looks from Ukraine. 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Many analysts say time favors Russia: more manpower, weapons and economy. But Ukrainian soldiers see it differently: 'We'll win.' Why do I believe them, despite logic, exhaustion and despair? Because their conviction echoes the resolve of most Ukrainians, including me. We have no right to capitulate. Too many refuse to live ashamed of losing this war. It began as a fierce defense of our land against brutal aggression. It has become a test of endurance, demanding every last reserve of strength, costing hundreds of thousands of lives. It cannot end in disgrace, surrendered ground and raised hands. That's what Trump and Putin don't understand. They see Zelensky as a stubborn obstacle but don't see the millions behind him ready to fight until the enemy bleeds out. With or without Western support, this disgraceful ending will not happen in Ukraine. Kyiv didn't fall in two weeks in 2022 — not because Putin's tanks got 'stuck in the mud,' as Trump says, but because of Ukrainian strategy and heroism. Peace didn't come in 24 hours, didn't come from Istanbul negotiations and won't come from phone calls between Washington and Moscow. The war won't end because the White House calls it a 'bloodbath' or the Kremlin says 'Russia is for a peaceful settlement.' War's winners and losers are decided on the battlefield. More than three years in, what do we see? Russia, which Trump falsely called '20 times' the size of Ukraine, spends months taking yards of ground, littering the soil with corpses. Yes, numbers matter, but conviction matters more. There was unwavering conviction in that soldier's words. That's why I believe him and not politicians who imagine they hold all the cards. The battlefield is not a gaming table. The real winner will wear military camouflage, sweaty and bloody, with the yellow and blue emblem of Ukraine, existing as long as soldiers believe in victory. Sergey Maidukov is a Ukrainian author with a particular focus on cultural and political dynamics in post-Soviet space.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Yahoo
AJ Francis Makes First WWE NXT Appearance In Four Years
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