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20251776 Club

Cardinals elect Robert Prevost pope on the fourth ballot; he takes the name Leo XIV

133 electors convened in the Sistine Chapel after the death of Francis; Prevost is the new leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide.

In the wake of Pope Francis's death, the world watched with bated breath as 133 cardinal electors convened in the Sistine Chapel. The stakes were monumental: choosing a leader for over a billion Catholics worldwide. After intense deliberations and four ballots, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost emerged as Pope Leo XIV, marking a new era for the Catholic Church…

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More from May 8
1639

Coddington founds Newport; a new settlement opens on Aquidneck Island for those driven out by the Antinomian Controversy

The colony takes shape as Coddington plants a settlement built around the promise of religious freedom in Rhode Island.
1846

Taylor's army beats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande; a war is now underway

American troops hold their ground in the first major engagement of the border dispute, with the armies still in the field and the outcome of the wider conflict far from settled.
1976

Six Flags opens the world's first modern looping coaster; the Great American Revolution launches at Magic Mountain

The ride debuts in the park's Bicentennial summer, sending riders through a complete vertical loop for the first time on a modern steel coaster.
19421776 Club
Carrier aircraft do all the fighting as Allied forces move to block a Japanese thrust into the South Pacific.
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More from Modern America
2024

Biden's debate voice fails him; the 81-year-old leaves his economic record undefended on national television

Speaking in a halting, hoarse voice and repeatedly mixing "billion" with "million," the president leaves Democrats across the country asking what they saw tonight.
2007

Apple's iPhone goes on sale; thousands who camped for days outside stores are first in line

Jobs unveiled the 3.5-inch touchscreen device in January as "an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator" in one, and today the wait ends at Apple and AT&T stores nationwide.
2019

Trump steps across the DMZ line; no sitting president has stood on North Korean soil before today

Kim tells him "I never expected to meet you at this place," and the two go on to talk privately for 53 minutes inside Freedom House, South Korea's Moon kept out at Pyongyang's request.
2011

Atlantis clears the tower; the shuttle program's last mission is airborne

Ferguson, Hurley, Magnus and Walheim lift off from Complex 39A at 11:29 a.m., hauling 9,400 pounds of supplies to the space station.
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