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The chestnut trees of Europe tell a hidden story charting the fortunes of ancient Rome and the legacy it left in the continent's forests. The ancient Romans left an indelible imprint on the world they enveloped into their empire. The straight, long-distance roads they built can still be followed beneath the asphalt of some modern highways. They spread aqueducts, sewers, public baths and the Latin language across much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. But what's perhaps less well known is the surprising way they transformed Europe's forests. ... Romans had something of a penchant for sweet chestnut...

Want to know how long the new pope has been active in pro-life? - Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was co-founder of the campus right-to-life organization “Villanovans for Life”—the oldest college pro-life club in the U.S. (he was Class of 1977)! @samuelhlee - @JennieMFL Love that our new Pope is a marcher for Life! 🎉🎈👏 - Robert Prevost @drprevost Marcha por la vida en Chiclayo. ¡Defendamos la vida humana en todo momento! - @CatHadro And in a sentence I never thought I would write - Pope Leo XIV once retweeted my husband’s news article. “Catholic group to Illinois...

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...

New Pope Elected.

White smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday, signaling that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church. That means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers.

White smoke has risen above the Sistine Chapel, the signal that cardinals have chosen a new pope on the second day of the conclave.

This morning the Holy Mass "pro eligendo Romano Pontifice" took place. In his homily, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re noted: We are here to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, to implore his light and strength so that the Pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history. That's an understatement. Certainly, the selection of the next head of the Holy See is of interest to Catholics and even non-Catholics given the influence a Pope can wield in non-church matters. For my part, I would like to see...

Have you ever walked through a city and wondered what might be hidden underneath? In this video, we explore the fascinating phenomenon of layered cities, where entire civilizations were built on top of one another. From the buried ruins beneath the Roman Forum and the Basilica of San Clemente to the multi-layered city of Troy and the sunken streets of Seattle, learn how history gets hidden underground and why street levels rise over time. Why Ancient Ruins Are Underground | 8:31 Primal Space | 1.54M subscribers | 85,234 views | May 3, 2025

Dozens of witnesses reportedly looked on in horror as a U.S. tourist visiting Rome screamed in pain after impaling himself on a metal fence at the Colosseum. The man — a 47-year-old American citizen living in Taiwan — was stabbed in the spine while attempting to climb over the historic monument's fence. He was possibly attempting to get a better view, according to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. Bystanders who saw the horrific event called for help as the tourist, stuck on the fence, screamed until he lost consciousness. Law enforcement and paramedics quickly arrived at the scene, but it took...

An American tourist in Rome impaled himself on a metal fence at the Colosseum while possibly trying to take a selfie — screaming in pain as he was left helplessly dangling for more than 20 minutes. The unidentified visitor, a 47-year-old US man based in Taiwan, pierced his spine and needed 80 stitches after the Friday afternoon horror at the Piazza del Colosseo, according to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. It took paramedics more than 20 minutes to remove the man from the metal railing. He screamed till he lost consciousness and then hung lifelessly from the fence in horrifying...

Former MSNBC host Joy Reid recently delivered a peculiar history lesson to her social media audience. In her mind a reproach to Donald Trump, Reid warned that the Roman Empire “died because it wasn’t diverse enough,” implying that sticking with “just white folks” leads to inevitable civilizational decline. If history were written by cable news soundbites, we might soon learn that Napoleon lost Waterloo because he lacked a DEI department.In reality, Rome didn’t fall because of a lack of diversity. Nor is Europe today crumbling because of too many white people. Societies fail for many…Former MSNBC host Joy Reid recently...

Former President Joe Biden (D) plans to attend Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome. The news comes after President Donald Trump announced he will be in attendance. Former First Lady Jill Biden will accompany her husband to the funeral on Saturday to honor the late pope, who died at 88 years old, the Hill reported on Friday. In a social media post on Monday, the day the Vatican announced the Catholic spiritual leader had died, Biden said, “Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him.” The...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke via phone on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump, the American leader said, declaring that the pair “are on the same side of every issue.” The call covered “numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, adding that the conversation went “very well.” Notably, Trump did not include Gaza or the 59 hostages being held there in his list of topics discussed amid the ongoing impasse in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. However, according to a report in Axios, the pair did talk about efforts to reach...

Washington and Tehran are expected to hold a second round of nuclear talks this Saturday, April 19, in Rome, following what Axios described as a “serious and substantive” first meeting in Oman. On April 12, Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi held the highest-level US-Iran dialogue in eight years. Trump later said the talks are "going ok".

From ancient Rome to modern America, the impulse to wall off economies in times of crisis has proven consistently disastrous. Whether through tariff wars, currency debasement, or autarkic fantasies, economic nationalism has repeatedly triggered collapse -- not recovery Politicising structural economic fundamentals always leads to chaos, as history tells us. In the early 1930s, American President Herbert Hoover faced an agonising decision. The global economy, already reeling from the crash of 1929 and the calamity of the Great Depression, presented Hoover with mounting demands from his supporters for protectionism as a means of shielding the American economy from further harm....

Newly-declassified FBI documents shine new light on the FBI’s mishandling of its relationship with anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele, on the FBI’s double standards on defensive briefings given to Trump and Hillary Clinton, and other key elements of the debunked collusion saga. Just the News already revealed on Thursday that declassified documents show that Stefan Halper, a key FBI informant in the widely-debunked Russia collusion case, was paid nearly $1.2 million over three decades and was motivated in part by "monetary compensation" — and that he continued snitching for the bureau even after agents concluded he told them an inaccurate...

U.S. Army Private Ethan Melzer Sent Sensitive U.S. Military Information to Members of a Neo-Nazi Group in an Attempt to Facilitate a “Mass Casualty” Attack on Melzer’s Army Unit The Department of Justice announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging Ethan Melzer, 22, of Louisville, Kentucky, for allegedly planning an attack on his U.S. Army unit by sending sensitive details about the unit – including information about its location, movements, and security – to members of an extremist organization named Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), an occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group.   Melzer is charged with conspiring and...

We dive deep into the controversial case of Blessed Carlo Acutis and the troubling evolution of the Church's canonization process. Since Pope John Paul II removed the adversarial "devil's advocate" role, canonizations have exploded in number, with one priest lamenting, "We're becoming a factory here." Friends of Carlo share surprising revelations that cast doubt on the narrative around his extraordinary sanctity, raising uncomfortable questions about manufactured devotion versus authentic veneration.

When it emerged from the ground in 1853 at West Lodge, England, the so-called Colchester Vase was immediately deemed an important find due to its remarkable decorative relief depicting a gladiatorial battle, which dated the piece back to Roman Britain. It was also considered a cremation vessel, having been found containing human remains. But new studies have found that the jar was no ordinary grave object—it could represent the earliest form of sports memorabilia.Conducted by researchers at the Colchester and Ipswich Museums, where the artifact is held, the latest tests reveal that the vase was crafted out of local clay...

If you’d have asked a Roman citizen on New Year in the year 1 AD what kind of a nation he lived in, he’d have likely said a Republic. And he would have been right. That year, just a few years after Jesus was born, Rome was ostensibly a proud republic. While they had a Senate, which was an unelected aristocratic, they also had Consuls, a two-man quasi executive which was elected by representatives of the people. They had Tribunes, who were elected by the people (sans the aristocrats) and who acted as a check on the Senate and Consuls....