Pope Francis Health Updates; Transgender Sports Showdown; Israel-Hamas Tensions Escalate After Horrific Handover

Plus: The Chosen Season 5 trailer and did archeologists discover the Pharaoh of Exodus' tomb?

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Magnetic North: Pope Francis Health Updates

Pope Francis has been in hospital for 11 days with what started as bronchitis and turned to pneumonia. Reports now indicate he is in critical condition with “mild kidney failure.” The 88-year-old pontiff lost half a lung when he was 21 and has suffered respiratory illnesses his whole life. Thousands have gathered in Vatican City and around the world to pray for Pope Francis.

If Pope Francis dies, the College of Cardinals will begin the conclave process.

Photo by Ashwin Vaswani on Unsplash

To the East: Culture

Transgenders in sports is teed up for its first major showdown.

California, Maine, and Minnesota are openly flouting President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to keep men out of women's sports. Last week President Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills had a fiery face-to-face clash that could cost Maine schools $250 million in federal funding. The exchange ended with Mills saying “We’ll see you in court.”

Billy Hallowell spoke to State Rep. Laurel Libby of Maine about the governor’s and Maine Principals Association’s decision to allow a biological male to compete and win a state championship in the girl’s pole vault in an indoor track event.

To the South: World

Phase 1 of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is drawing to a close and tensions are still extremely high.

Last week, the return of four sets of hostage remains went terribly wrong. Israel said that the remains of Shiri Bibi, mother to the youngest captives Kfir and Ariel, were of an unidentified individual. Hamas claimed Shiri and the boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike which caused her remains to be mixed with others. Shiri’s remains were returned a day later and properly identified by Israeli officials. A medical examination of Kfir and Ariel revealed that contrary to Hamas’ claims, the boys were actually beaten to death.

“The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities … This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that supports these findings,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, adding the children were killed in Gaza “no later” than November 2023 — a month after the massacre.

Hamas released a propaganda video, in which two hostages were forced to watch other hostages be released. Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal were held at gunpoint in a van as six hostages were released on February 22.

In response, Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and there is talk that Phase 1 of the ceasefire will be extended to negotiate the release of additional Israeli captives.

To the West: Entertainment

Big news for The Chosen fans: Season 5 will premiere in theaters in a three-part series starting March 28 leading up to Easter. The timing is especially appropriate as the season will focus on Jesus’ last week on Earth before the crucifixion. The official trailer was also released and has racked up 2.2 million views in four days. Previous seasons are free to stream on The Chosen app.

Compass Rose

For the first time in a century, a new tomb of a “missing pharaoh” was discovered in Egypt.

British archaeologist Piers Litherland had explored the western wadis near the Valley of the Kings for nearly a decade when he found a staircase leading to a tomb. The tomb was later identified as that of Thutmose II, who reigned from 1493 to 1479 BC and could have possibly been in power during the time of the Exodus.

The Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology’s “Who Was the Pharaoh of the Exodus?” is a very deep dive into the various biblical and historical timelines that try to decipher this complex question.

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