He is the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine — commonly known as the Augustinians — and the second pope from the Americas, following Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025.
Three Filipino cardinals—Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Cardinal Jose Advincula and Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David—are among the cardinal-electors in this year's conclave.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/...hilippines
What happened to the very first church after Jesus's ascencion? And how did Rome became the center of Christianity?
Its mind boggling to think that the people who killed Jesus, destroyed the temple where God is worshipped and then gets to form the new religion.
Not only did the Romans created the theology (Tertullian coined the term Trinity) they also Latinised the churches, and Romanised the Christian calender.
This was where Christianity became a westernised religion and jettisoned its Jewish roots
Constanstine's conversion to Christianity in the 200s AD (i think) was the pivotal moment
At that time, he was presiding over a Roman Empire where Christianity was spreading. But in those days the Christians were divided over what to make of Jesus. Was he divine?Was he eternal? Or partly eternal?
If the empire was to remain united, the people needed to have one common belief.
To unite the Empire, the Romans convened the council of nicea attended by hundreds of bishops, to adopt the theology where Jesus was believed to be divine & eternal
Of course, in doing so, others with different opinions were dismissed