But behind the ethereal sound of the castrato singers lay an unspeakable truth. To preserve the high, angelic tone of boyhood, thousands of young boys were castrated.

The unvirginal hands of a gay man decorated the walls and ceilings the most famous church in the world: the Sistine Chapel.

Pope Leo XIV was installed as the head of the Catholic Church after being elected in the papal Conclave on May 8.

A view of the Sistine Chapel where cardinals gather to elect the new pope, at the Vatican, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP) A view of the Sistine Chapel where cardinals gather to elect ...

From the outside, it looks like any other New England church building: a boxy, white structure with a single steeple surrounded by an old stone wall, set against rolling hills and pine forest.

"Even though we didn’t actually see the smoke or see the new pope, the feeling of being there, it was in everybody's heart.

Pope Leo XIV, right, stands in the Sistine Chapel among cardinals after being elected at the Vatican on May 8, 2025. He ...

Between the excitement over Pope Leo XIV and the Jubilee celebrations, Rome is the place to be this summer. The travel ...

Habemus papam, we have a pope!” exclaimed Levi Meyer, a junior at St. John Vianney College Seminary (SJV) in St. Paul who is ...

Odds-makers likely had an easier time 20 years ago, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stepped onto the balcony overlooking St.

Once Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the news anchors and reporters and podcasters – and anyone else ...

Whitey Rigsby had just landed in Chicago to attend a Villanova function and was still on the plane when his wife, Becky, called after the white smoke rose from the ...