Free Republic

VATICAN CITY — Two-and-a-half years ago, Pope Francis was trying to fill a big job. For decades, that position — heading the powerful office that helps vet and select bishops — had gone to consummate Vatican insiders. But Francis had staked his papacy on expanding the boundaries of the Catholic Church. And he had his eye on a surprise contender: an American-born missionary operating in the coastal plains of Peru, some 6,000 miles from Rome.“You know that I am very happy in Peru,” the missionary, then-Bishop Robert Prevost, recalled telling Francis. “But if you ask me to take on a...

Robert Prevost has been named as the new Pope and will become Francis' successor following two days of voting inside the Sistine Chapel. The pontiff, who will be named Pope Leo XIV, is the 267th Holy Father - becoming the religious leader of Catholics across the globe. The 69-year-old is also history's first American pope. His name was announced after cardinal Mamberti uttered the words 'Habemus papam!' Latin for 'We have a pope!' from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica. Chants of 'Leon, Leon' ran through the crowds who had gathered in St Peter's Square, with some appearing to be...

Many of the 33 mummies uncovered near Chiclayo, Peru, were those of girls—a rarity, experts say. Their throats slit, the girls were probably killed in a bid for agricultural fertility. Research into 33 mummies discovered in Peru has revealed most of the bodies were girls, most likely sacrificed in the belief their deaths would bring fertility to the peoples farmlands. Utah Valley University professor Haagen Klaus is an expert in bio-archaeology and has been examining the human remains found in 2007 at the Chotuna Huaca, a site located north east of Chiclayo, Peru.

The site, near the Pacific coastal city of Chiclayo, probably dates to the Wari culture which ruled the Andes of modern Peru between the 7th and 12th Century. The once buried city showed evidence of human sacrifice