In Case You Missed It – Thursday, May 8, 2025

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6:07 p.m. Rome time. White smoke. We have a pope! Likely 4th ballot.

@CatholicNewsSvc

Black smoke again pours from Sistine Chapel, signaling no new Pope chosen

Black smoke again poured from Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday, indicating no pope elected after second or third ballots of the conclave.

Read more at NBCChicago

Watch for White Smoke in real time

Fast, pray fervently, and stay tuned for the white smoke.

Watch at VaticanNews/live

Wondering when to watch for white smoke?

Here's a schedule for conclave voting times –

View at @FatherKirby on X

10 Critical Issues Facing the Next Pope

[W]hat could be critical areas that the next pope needs to address? Here is a list of 10 possible priorities ...

Read more at EdwardPentin.com

The history of the names of the Successors of Peter

The first act of the new Pope, immediately after accepting his canonical election as Supreme Pontiff and before fulfilling other obligations, is the choice of his name. This name is announced by the Cardinal Protodeacon after the famous formula “Habemus Papam”, followed by the Pope’s baptismal name in Latin.

Read more at Vatican News

Catholic women release pink smoke near Vatican to protest male domination

In a park on a hill overlooking the dome of St Peter’s and the church’s Vatican headquarters, campaigners released pink smoke from flares, and demanded that women be allowed to seek ordination.

Read more at The New Zealand Herald

Video available @breedail on X

The Conclave Is a Crossroads in History

So, here we are, at a crossroads in history, sacred as well as secular. The suspense is intense because papal elections are fraught with historical significance. They can bring about turning points and paradigm shifts for the Church and the world. Or they can ensure continuities and prevent change. Sometimes, unfortunately, despite all prayers to the Holy Spirit, political infighting eclipses piety and conclaves turn disastrous ...

Read more at FirstThings

Defrocked NYC priest and booted Texas bishop look for Hail Mary reinstatement from new pope

Two booted Catholic clerics — including a defrocked Staten Island priest who once put an aborted fetus on an altar — told The Post they are hoping for a Hail Mary reinstatement from the new pontiff.

Read more at the New York Post

Tagle, the cardinal who loves casinos

The name of the Filipino cardinal is one of the most popular among the candidates: he talks a lot about the poor (and is so moved in every speech), but he likes to visit the billionaires who control the casinos of the Pacific, and several sources concord that he himself regularly gambles in the casinos of Macau.

Read more at the Daily Compass

Cardinal Czerny Causes Furor With Comments on a Potential African Pope

Pope Francis’ former point man on migrants has drawn criticism by saying in an article published Sunday that some African cardinals make him “shudder” and that he believes “conservatives” are calling for an African pope to further their agenda. 

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a Jesuit who served as prefect at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in the last years of Pope Francis’ pontificate, made the derisive comments to The New York Times in the context of the African continent being deeply opposed to the LGBTQ agenda.

Read Ed Pentin's article at the National Catholic Register

‘INSANE ORWELLIAN WORLD’: Ted Cruz Speaks Out as Accused Tesla Vandal Released to Receive ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

A court released from jail a suspect who allegedly set fire to Tesla vehicles in Kansas City, Missouri, in order to allow the suspect to continue receiving “gender-affirming care.”

Read more at The Daily Signal

Undercover investigation reveals Planned Parenthood readily dispenses trans hormones to minors 

 A new undercover investigation by Live Action has revealed that Planned Parenthood facilities in multiple states are willing to prescribe cross-sex hormones to minors – often without therapy, in-person evaluation, or parental consent.

The investigation, released Wednesday, features a Live Action investigator posing as a 16-year-old girl seeking testosterone to begin a so-called “gender transition.” 

Read/view at CatholicVote

The Wisdom of The Donald

You may have noticed that Donald Trump is not the most self-reflective person. At least, not in public. But last week at the University of Alabama, Trump delivered a commencement address that revealed more about his mind than any speech since taking office. Naturally, the press missed the story. ...

Read more at The Free Press

Trump shockingly pulls nomination of former Fox News star for top administration role

President Donald Trump on Wednesday withdrew the nomination of a former Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat for U.S. Surgeon General, choosing Dr. Casey Means to serve in the position instead.

'Casey has impeccable “MAHA” credentials, and will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ensure ...

Read more at the Daily Mail 

Michael Goodwin: As Houthis wave the white flag to Trump, Iran now firmly in admin’s crosshairs

Take a moment to savor President Trump’s shocking announcement that the Houthis waved the white flag and the US agreed to stop its devastating bombing campaign of the Yemeni terrorists. 

“They just don’t want to fight,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

“We will stop the bombings and they have capitulated. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.” 

Read more at the New York Post

DNI Tulsi Gabbard: On Iran, Trump Favors Diplomacy, Not Neocon Rush To War

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, in an interview with Megyn Kelly, explains how she is advising President Trump on the Iran nuclear crisis:

Read/view interview at RealClear Politics

Columbia University: Police Arrest Pro-Palestinian Protesters Occupying Library

Police arrested multiple pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied the Butler Library on the Columbia University campus on Wednesday.

The protesters, many wearing masks and kaffiyehs, were seen pushing through the security entrance at the Butler Library on Wednesday afternoon, where they played drums and “posted signs and stickers to free Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia grad who’s been detained by ICE,” per the New York Times. The protesters occupied the building in an attempt to recreate the events from last year.

Read more at Breitbart

Billionaire Bill Ackman Warns Harvard Endowment Faces Financial Reckoning

Harvard University’s endowment is heading for rough waters unless it changes course, direction and speed as the Ivy League exemplar deliberates as to whether to offload private equity holdings while battling the Trump administration over federal research funding.

Read more at Breitbart

Essay: Another Ivy League University Living in Woke Fairyland

The lack of political diversity on Yale University’s new trust building committee emphasizes why the public doesn’t trust higher education.

Read more at The American Spectator

Anti-Israel Radicals Torch UW Building, Block First Responders, Chant 'Death to Police'

In yet another example of escalating campus chaos, anti-Israel agitators at the University of Washington took over an academic building and vandalized property. They even started fires—all under the guise of protest. The group occupied the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, blocking entrances and disrupting operations. ... University officials condemned the actions ...

Read more at Townhall

Essay: How should a conflicted Catholic pray for the papacy this conclave?

The bells of Rome have tolled. The See of Peter stands empty once more. With the death of Pope Francis, who reigned from 2013 to 2025, the Church finds herself again poised between grief and expectancy, with a conclave looming beneath the frescoed gaze of Michelangelo.

Smoke shall rise soon from the Sistine chimney, but before it turns white, the faithful must reckon with a subtler, deeper matter: how should a Catholic pray in this hour?

Not just for whom, but how.

Read more at the Catholic Herald

Cardinal Raymond Burke urges prayers for the Sacred College of Cardinals

Video here

Prayer here

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Editor-in-Chief, Souls and Liberty