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Cardinals elect Robert Francis Prevost, first American pope to lead Catholic church

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The College of Cardinals elected a new pope Thursday, the first from America in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Robert Francis Prevost, native of Chicago with dual citizenship in Peru, was announced as the church’s 267th pontiff by Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon. They appeared on the St. Peter’s balcony just after 7 p.m. local time overlooking St. Peter’s Square where crowds had gathered following the signal of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.

He took the name Pope Leo XIV.

Leo has been an archbishop in Peru. He was chosen in 2023 by Pope Francis to lead the office vetting bishop nominations.

The pope serves as the leader of the church for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. His selection came from 133 Cardinals in the papal conclave sequestered since Wednesday.

“Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope,” President Donald Trump said on Truth Social. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

About 53 million Catholic adults live in the U.S., about 19% of the U.S. population. Catholics are the second-largest faith group in the U.S., a nation founded by protestants. Protestants, who are non-Catholic Christians, make up about 40% of the U.S. population, including Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center report.

Pope Francis died in April. He had served as pope since 2013, and his official cause of death was a cerebral stroke that led to a coma, though he has had ongoing health issues for months. The pope’s health had been waning over several years, and in the months before he passed, he was hospitalized for double pneumonia.

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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Watch your a** Petro. Trump threatens Colombian President

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President Trump delivered one of his bluntest warnings yet to Colombian President Gustavo Petro during a Saturday press conference, brushing aside Petro’s claim that he had no concerns about his own safety following the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. Asked directly about Petro’s remarks, Trump pointed to Colombia’s role in the global cocaine trade and made clear he was not backing off earlier threats. Petro, Trump said, presides over cocaine production facilities whose product is being funneled into the United States, adding that the Colombian leader “does have to watch his a**.”

The exchange revived tensions that have been simmering since December, when Trump publicly warned Petro to shut down multiple major cocaine labs inside Colombia. At the time, Trump said U.S. authorities had precise intelligence on their locations and openly labeled Petro a “troublemaker,” cautioning him to “watch it.” Since returning to office, Trump has taken a far more confrontational posture toward leftist leaders in the hemisphere, and Petro — a self-described Marxist and former guerrilla — has repeatedly found himself in Washington’s crosshairs.

Petro’s clashes with the United States extend well beyond rhetoric. He was previously sanctioned by the Treasury Department and had his U.S. visa revoked after urging American service members to defy Trump’s orders and join what he described as a multinational force to “free Palestine.” He has also triggered diplomatic flare-ups over deportation flights, branded Trump an “obstacle to democracy,” and drew widespread condemnation last October after suggesting humanity should “get rid of Trump,” punctuating the comment with a finger snap during a televised interview.

Those remarks now hang over a far more consequential moment in U.S.–Latin American relations. Trump’s comments came in the immediate aftermath of the high-risk operation that resulted in Maduro’s capture and removal from Venezuela — a move the president hailed as a “brilliant operation.” Carried out under the banner of Operation Absolute Resolve, the joint military and law enforcement mission ended with Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, flown to the United States without the loss of American personnel or equipment. The takedown marked the most aggressive assertion of U.S. power in the region in decades, with administration officials openly framing it as a modern enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine — rechristened by Trump as the “Donroe Doctrine.”

Maduro’s legal exposure is extensive. Indicted in 2020, the longtime socialist ruler has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of leading the Cartel de los Soles, a transnational cocaine trafficking network. According to the indictment unsealed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Maduro’s regime worked hand-in-glove with Colombian insurgent groups including the FARC and ELN, as well as Mexican cartels such as Sinaloa and Los Zetas, to move enormous quantities of cocaine into the United States. He and Flores now face charges ranging from narco-terrorism and cocaine importation conspiracy to weapons offenses involving machine guns and destructive devices.

Petro has tried, cautiously, to put distance between himself and the fallen Venezuelan dictator. In late 2025, he referred to Maduro as a dictator for the first time, but stopped short of acknowledging the narco-trafficking allegations that have followed Caracas for years. Even after Maduro’s arrest, Petro has continued to dismiss U.S. accusations as a manufactured “narrative,” despite a trail of indictments and evidence stretching back more than half a decade.

For Trump, the message Saturday was unmistakable. The Maduro operation was not a one-off, and public defiance from regional leaders will be met with pressure, exposure, and consequences. Petro may insist he has nothing to worry about — but Trump made clear he disagrees, and he is no longer content to issue quiet warnings.

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Nearly half of Netflix kids shows push LGBTQ content, watchdog warns

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Nearly a quarter of TV-Y7-rated shows crossed into what it labeled explicit territory, including direct statements about sexual orientation or gender identity and depictions of related behavior. The group argued that this goes well beyond background representation and enters the realm of ideological messaging directed at children who are still years away from adolescence.

A new year-end analysis is raising fresh questions about what major streaming platforms are serving to young audiences, and whether parents are being given an honest picture of that content. According to a report released by Concerned Women for America, more than four in ten children’s programs labeled as suitable for general audiences on Netflix now include LGBTQ-themed material, despite ratings that suggest the shows are appropriate for very young viewers. The group’s review of 2025 programming found that 41 percent of Netflix shows rated TV-G contained what it described as overt gay or transgender content. Even in the TV-Y category, which is meant for children up to age seven, 21 percent of programs included similar material. For slightly older children, the share jumped sharply, with 41 percent of TV-Y7 programs containing LGBTQ themes. Taken together, CWA concluded that roughly one-third of all Netflix programming across the three primary child-rated categories — TV-G, TV-Y, and TV-Y7 — now includes such content.

Beyond simple presence, the report also attempted to measure intensity. Programs were categorized on a scale ranging from “meta” references and implied messaging to “queer-coded” characters and fully explicit content. CWA found that nearly a quarter of TV-Y7-rated shows crossed into what it labeled explicit territory, including direct statements about sexual orientation or gender identity and depictions of related behavior. The group argued that this goes well beyond background representation and enters the realm of ideological messaging directed at children who are still years away from adolescence.

The report also points to a noticeable pattern in reboots and long-running franchises. According to CWA, revived or extended versions of familiar children’s shows often introduce LGBTQ characters or storylines that were absent from the originals. Titles cited include The Magic School Bus, Power Rangers, The Baby-Sitter’s Club, She-Ra, and The Fairly OddParents. CWA said this trend suggests a deliberate choice by creators to reshape legacy brands that parents may trust based on earlier iterations.

To place the shift in a broader cultural context, the report traces the normalization of LGBTQ representation in television back several decades. When Ellen DeGeneres’ character came out on the sitcom Ellen in 1997, it was widely viewed as a watershed moment in entertainment. What once sparked national debate, the group notes, has since become routine — driven in part by sustained pressure from advocacy organizations such as GLAAD, which has tracked and promoted increased representation through its annual “Where We Are on TV” reports. GLAAD’s most recent assessment claimed another year-over-year increase in LGBTQ characters across television.

CWA argues that the implications are different when that momentum is applied to children’s programming. In its view, the growing volume of LGBTQ content aimed at young audiences — coupled with the unapologetic defense of those choices by showrunners and studios — reflects a belief within the industry that children’s entertainment should actively shape cultural attitudes rather than simply entertain. For parents relying on ratings systems to make informed decisions, the group warns, the labels no longer tell the full story.

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