"The Pope’s inauguration of a nativity scene that showed baby Jesus cradled in a Palestinian keffiyeh is an affront to Jesus, the Bible, and the 80% of Christians who have fled Bethlehem since the Palestinian Authority took over the city,” President of Proclaiming Justice to The Nations, Laurie Cardoza-Moore said shortly after the unveiling.

“Let’s be clear. The Pope can’t rewrite the Bible - Jesus was a Jew from Judea, not a Palestinian. He was born to a Jewish mother in Bethlehem, in Judea – there was no Palestine," Cardoza-Moore continued.

Pope Francis also suggested the global community study whether Israel's military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism of Israel last November.

During his 2014 visit to the Western Wall, the pontiff left a handwritten note calling for unity. “How happy I am that I was told: ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord,’” Francis wrote in the Western Wall’s visitor book, referencing Psalms. “Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem... This visit fills me with joy. I feel deeply moved and grateful to my elder brothers. I came here to pray and to ask God to bring peace — the goodness of peace. ‘They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks’ (Isaiah).”

I want to clarify one thing here, as most reading this article won't know this: the Roman Catholic Church is regarded by Christians who are not a part of it as being a heretical organization that does NOT follow Yeshua's teachings, which is why he said the things he did... Do not confuse "Christian" with "Roman Catholic." They are two completely different groups.

On this, Pope Francis delivered. For 12 years he managed to keep the various factions of the church together, diverting their attention and, in so doing, avoiding the fight many of them have been itching for. The discussion shifted — not to what they could do now, but to what must happen once Francis had gone. That’s the fight that’s now about to begin.

The basic tension is the same we see in every Christian faith: what’s best? To modernise, to try to update with changing culture and social norms? Or lean in to the counter-cultural aspects of faith, to dine out on what’s different? Specifically: how far to accept gay relationships? What about married or female priests? Catholicism has so far dealt with such issues by pretending to discuss them but never changing. This was Pope Francis’s tactic: to talk the language of major reform without enacting any.

Francis’s legacy is scratchier. He seemed abrasively dismissive of traditional Catholics and uninterested in liturgy. Rather like Donald Trump – he appeared oddly sympathetic to tyrannies, favouring Russia over Ukraine and failing to defend the rights of the faithful in Hong Kong and China. On the other hand, Francis had the attractive air of the robust shepherd who knows and loves his flock and won’t take much nonsense. He stood up boldly for raw Christianity against pietism and clericalism.

Now will come a great generational change. Francis was the last Pope who came to manhood before the huge changes of the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s. Although he is associated with the council’s liberalism, he exhibited a pre-Vatican II priestly authoritarianism in his dealings with others. The next Pope will probably have to act more tolerantly. Paradoxically, he will also need to be more welcoming to the deep traditions of his Church.

He shed light on the origins of the term 'ultra-processed food': "So about 12 years ago, the definition was developed to describe a western industrial American diet. And it was done by a team in Brazil, and much of the best work on this stuff has been done by teams in Central and South America."

While many Catholics often consult the Bible for guidance, they can also turn to the teachings of the Pope, which govern the Church's beliefs and practices. About half of all Christians worldwide are Roman Catholics. Other denominations, including Protestants and Orthodox Christians, do not recognise the Pope's authority.

The Pope lives in Vatican City, the smallest independent state in the world. It is surrounded by the Italian capital, Rome. The Pope does not receive a salary, but all his travel costs and living expenses are paid for by the Vatican.

What happens when the Pope dies?

A papal funeral has traditionally been an elaborate affair, but Pope Francis recently approved plans to make the whole procedure less complex. Previous pontiffs were buried in three nested coffins made of cypress, lead and oak. Pope Francis has opted for a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc. He has also scrapped the tradition of placing the Pope's body on a raised platform - known as a catafalque - in St Peter's Basilica for public viewing.

Instead, mourners will be invited to pay their respects while his body remains inside the coffin, with the lid removed. Francis will also be the first Pope in more than a century to be buried outside the Vatican. He will be laid to rest in the Basilica of St Mary Major, one of four major papal basilicas in Rome.

Who chooses the new Pope?

The new Pope has to be chosen by the Catholic Church's most senior officials, known as the College of Cardinals. All men, they are appointed directly by the Pope, and are usually ordained bishops.

There are currently 252 Catholic cardinals, 138 of whom are eligible to vote for the new Pope. The others are over the age of 80, which means they cannot take part in the election, although they can join in the debate over who should be selected.

How is the Pope chosen and what is the conclave?

When the Pope dies, the cardinals are summoned to a meeting at the Vatican, followed by the conclave, as the election is known. The election is held in strict secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel, famously painted by Michelangelo. Individual cardinals vote for their preferred candidate until a winner is determined, a process which can take several days. In previous centuries, voting has gone on for weeks or months. Some cardinals have even died during conclaves.

The only clue about how the election is proceeding is the smoke that emerges twice a day from burning the cardinals' ballot papers. Black signals failure. The traditional white smoke means the new Pope has been chosen.

Who can become the Pope?

In theory, any Roman Catholic man who has been baptised can be considered for election to become Pope. In practice, however, the cardinals prefer to select one of their own. When the Argentine-born Pope Francis was chosen at the previous conclave in 2013, he became the first pontiff ever to hail from South America, a region that accounts for roughly 28% of the world's Catholics. But historical precedent suggests the cardinals are far more likely to pick a European - and especially an Italian. Of the 266 popes chosen to date, 217 have been from Italy.

“In 2024, the People’s Liberation Party demonstrated growing capabilities through persistent pressure operations with military pressure against Taiwan increasing by 300 percent,” Paparo testified, adding, “China’s increasingly aggressive actions near Taiwan are not just exercises, they are rehearsals.”

Paparo said the US can no longer sit back amid “unprecedented aggression and military modernization” by the nation. The Chinese military conducted large-scale drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan earlier this month that included an aircraft carrier battle group.

The export halt applies to all countries, but access to elements like dysprosium and yttrium are critical to US industry — especially in the tech, electric vehicle, aircraft and defense sectors, according to Drew Horn, who served as the top US official on strategic minerals and energy supply chain development in President Trump’s first administration.

“Rare earths are in everything,” he told The Post Monday, singling out “the EV and auto space … [and] everything from cell phones, defense key components, [and] space travel.” “China,” Horn added, “has essentially created an all-powerful monopoly with them.”

Anatel, Brazil’s telecom regulator, has provided documentation confirming that the iPhone 16e is being assembled in Brazil, China, and India. The locally assembled iPhone 16e is priced at approximately $890 in Brazil, although it can be found at retailers for as low as $670, likely due to tariff exemptions for domestic production. In comparison, the phone starts at $600 in the United States. These phones are apparently not yet available in America, but the quick change indicates that Apple is not wedded to China as its main base of operations, despite signing a massive deal with the communist country.

In contrast, products from Brazil have only been subject to a 10 percent tariff, making it an attractive alternative for Apple to import iPhones from Brazil rather than China. The company flew multiple planes carrying hundreds of tons of iPhones and other products from India and China before the tariffs took effect, in an effort to minimize the immediate impact on its supply chain.

The neo-Democrats unleashed millions of unvetted criminals and terrorists on us with open borders. Many are getting services illegally thanks to Democrats in the previous administration twisting the laws. Our educational system was transformed into Marxist-based ideological factories from DEI to transgender ideology. Our economy faces an existential threat of interest and debt, having become a debtor nation.

Even more unsettling, western democracies are being compelled — albeit rightly — to assume greater responsibility for their own defence while being attacked, verbally and economically, by the White House. If anyone doubts just how far “through the looking glass” we are, they should contemplate the events of February 24, when the United States sided with Russia, Belarus and North Korea to oppose a draft European resolution in the United Nations condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I have become alarmed by some of the parallels, as well as the contrasts, between the 1940s and the present. As we approach the 80th anniversary of VE Day, it seems more important than ever to learn the lessons of 1939-1945, and the coalition that triumphed over fascism.

Until March 1941, when Congress agreed to “lend” the beleaguered empire the tools, if not to “finish the job” then at least to remain in the war, the British were forced to pay in dollars or gold for all their war purchases. On January 10, 1941, a US cruiser arrived off South Africa to carry away £42 million worth of Britain’s last remaining gold reserves. “I am afraid they may misuse their strength”, wrote the British diplomat Roger Makins, lamenting the “dangerous” American tendency to “strip us to the bone.”

By February 1945, when the big three met at Yalta in Crimea, there was little the western powers could actually do to prevent Stalin from dominating eastern Europe. The Red Army was already in possession of the Baltic States, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria...

Today, the situation is quite different. Putin’s military cannot even defeat a former Soviet satellite state, albeit one supported by western funds and materiel. Relative to Russia, the West is far stronger in 2025 than in 1945 and yet it is the West that is fracturing and Putin that is gaining by Trump’s inversion of US foreign policy. “The only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without them” is a verity that even the American government may come to appreciate one day.

Rare earth minerals are highly important due to their diverse and crucial applications in modern technology, energy, and defense. They are essential for manufacturing a wide range of products, from electronic devices and electric vehicles to wind turbines and military equipment. Their unique properties, including magnetic and luminous qualities, make them indispensable for many modern technologies.

Beijing has fired an extraordinary new broadside at America amid growing trade war anger – with a senior Chinese official declaring ‘Let those peasants in the United States wail in front of 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation’. Xia Baolong, a top Chinese official who oversees Hong Kong affairs, branded the US tariffs as ‘extremely shameless’ and warned that bullying has never worked on Chinese people in a televised speech today.

We know that both sides have already been conducting cyberattacks on one another. In fact, the Chinese are now publicly accusing the NSA of conducting cyberattacks inside China just two months ago… A cyberattack is an act of war. So the fact that both sides are already conducting cyberattacks should deeply concern all of us. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, because if we stay on the path that we are currently on this story is not going to end well.

The Abraham Accords, involving Gulf countries normalizing with Israel, have been on hold since the Gaza war began, and Riyadh and Tehran have over the last couple years been making strides for peace and full normalization with each other. This doesn't bode well for US or Israeli interests, also given the Saudis have of late declared that no country can use their airspace for attacks on Iran.

Last October, Iran and Saudi Arabia took their improving ties a huge step further by conducting an unprecedented joint naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman. The two countries' populations have also been religious rivals for centuries. Tehran has always been the heart of the Shia world, while the Saudi kingdom leads Sunni Muslims. Sunnis tend to consider Shia to be heretics, and historic, fierce battles have been fought over interpretations of the Quran. More recently, they waged proxy war for Syria, and before that Iraq.

China has been the big power which has mediated the Iran-Saudi rapprochement, at a moment when the US is widely viewed as in retreat in the region.