Free Republic

Next week, the California Department of Education will vote on a new statewide ethnic studies curriculum that advocates for the “decolonization” of American society and elevates Aztec religious symbolism—all in the service of a left-wing political ideology. The new program, called the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, seeks to extend the Left’s cultural dominance of California’s public university system, 50 years in the making, to the state’s entire primary and secondary education system, which consists of 10,000 public schools serving a total of 6 million students. In theoretical terms, the new ethnic studies curriculum is based on the “pedagogy of the...

An American Pope Leo 14th

Robert Francis Prevost, now Leo XIV, was named the first American pope of the Catholic Church on Thursday — and his lineage traces back to New Orleans, according to Jari Honora, a local genealogist and historian. When Honora heard the last name "Prevost," he started digging, on the odd chance Leo XIV's paternal line might be French Canadian or Acadian with Louisiana ties. What he found, to his surprise, was that Prevost's mother, Mildred Martinez, was the one with familial cords to the city. In less than an hour, Honora — who works as a historian for The Historic New...

Former President Obama congratulated Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native, on his selection as the next pontiff for the Roman Catholic Church. “Michelle and I send our congratulations to a fellow Chicagoan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV,’ Obama wrote in a Thursday post on X. “This is a historic day for the United States, and we will pray for him as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church and setting an example for so many, regardless of faith,” he added. Leo, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Peru. He is...

Rome -- No one knows who the new pope will be, but every expert, veteran observer and informed source agrees on one thing -- it won't be an American. Eleven U.S. cardinals will be among the 115 princes of the church to convene the April 18 conclave to elect the man to succeed Pope John Paul II. There's much talk as to whether the new pope will be from Africa or Latin America, or whether the church will return to its tradition of an Italian pope, or perhaps elect someone from another European nation. But absolutely no one has put,...