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Vatican Announces Funeral Details for Pope Francis

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Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican Announces Funeral Details for Pope Francis

 

The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that the funeral Mass for Pope Francis will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM in St. Peter’s Square.

 

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the Mass, which will be concelebrated by Patriarchs, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and priests from around the world.

 

The Eucharistic celebration will conclude with the Ultima commendatio* and the Valedictio, traditional rites that mark the start of the Novemdiales—nine days of mourning and liturgies offered for the repose of the late pontiff’s soul.

 

Following the funeral, Pope Francis’ body will be carried into St. Peter’s Basilica and then to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for entombment.

 

Preparations will begin earlier in the week. On Wednesday, April 23, the coffin bearing the Pope’s body will be moved from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful will be invited to pay their respects.

 

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of translation, beginning at 9:00 AM with a moment of prayer.

 

The procession, according to the Holy See Press Office, “will pass through Santa Marta Square and the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs.” It will then exit through the Arch of the Bells into St. Peter’s Square before entering the Vatican Basilica through the central door.

 

At the Altar of the Confession, Cardinal Farrell will lead a Liturgy of the Word. Public visitation to the body of the Roman Pontiff will begin immediately afterward.

 

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2026 UTME: JAMB Calls For Calm As Exam Disruptions Persist.

As the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) exercise enters day 2, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has assured candidates whose examinations were disrupted that they would be rescheduled to write them at a later date.

Public Communication Advisor of JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin stated this during the The Senate Committee on Tertiary Education monitoring of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Abuja on Friday.

Benjamin was responding to questions raised by disgruntled parents and candidates whose examinations were disrupted at the Good Success Computer Based Test (CBT) Center, Utako

On his part, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Senator Mohammed Dandutse agreed that JAMB and CBT centers were faced with a lot of challenges but promised
to resolve them.

“From what we have seen, we have seen progress and we have seen a lot of challenges faced by the centres.

“And this one is not only in Abuja, it’s throughout the country. As a matter of fact, we sincerely appreciate what we have seen so far. Because the other issue is a technical issue, it happened yesterday and it also happened today, which was explained by the supervisor. But the truth of the matter, it has been a constraint to JAMB because these issues need to be addressed even before the exam takes place.

“As senators who are solely responsible for oversight and investigating the matters arising to this JAMB exam, I think we are going to look into how best JAMB will improve in most of the activities.

“We have already instructed them and told them to, as a matter of urgency, to take a definitive action so that the student will write the exam. And at the same time, we are going to review all the activities in JAMB so that we can make sure that these things do not happened again.

“So definitely we are going to address it and we are going to make sure that all the CBT centers are well functional and efficient. Because there is no moral justification for somebody to come from far away and will be living in trauma without writing the exam”, he said.

JAMB Spokesperson however maintained that the glitches were expected:

“Naturally, you should have one or two challenges here and there. It is not unusual and I don’t think there is anybody that will condone the exam using one thousand centers and then you expect that you won’t have any problem. But the most important thing is that if this problem do occur, are you prepared to handle them? And that is what we have just done there.

“That all those candidates will be rescheduled to another date, another center where they will sit the examination. It is natural to have a problem.

“As Nigerians, as citizens, that at least they are paying us with public funds, we are using public funds, they will expect 100%. But we know as operators that it is not easy, it is not possible for you to give 100%.

“But by the time you score 90%, at least you should have a term of. But for the candidate that have gone there, used the whole hours and sat inside the hall and then they didn’t take the exam, it is expected that they should vent their frustration. But it is natural”, he said.

Benjamin however, reassured that the Board would do the needful:

“We are assuring all Nigerians that every candidate who have registered for this exam will be given the opportunity to sit this exam. If your center fails today, you will be rescheduled again to take the exam. For any reason, even when you are rescheduled, and for any reason again, you are unable to sit the examination, you will be rescheduled again.

“That is why when we finish the exam, we have what we call the mop-up. The mop-up is to ensure that candidates whose center failed and they could not take the exam, we mop them up, give them a particular date for them to sit the examination. Because it’s a contract we have entered with them, they must sit the examination.

“But we’ll continue to do our best to ensure that we have minimal failure of these centers. And that is what we are doing. Out of 957 that we are using for this examination, I’m not sure we’ve had up to 10 or 8 centers that have failed”, he added.

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Meghan Markle Says She Was the “Most Trolled Person in the Entire World”

Meghan Markle reflected on the cyber bullying she’s received over the last decade since she and Prince Harry began dating: “I’m still here.”

Meghan Markel knows the pitfalls of social media firsthand.

And when visiting with students from Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology with Prince Harry, the Duchess of of Sussex recounted the struggles she’s experienced on the internet.

“For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked,” she told the students, “And I was the most trolled person in the entire world. Now I’m still here.”

Meghan noted how social media companies are not necessarily “incentivized to stop” harassment, something that’s on her mind as she considers the future for younger generations.

“When I think of all of you and what you’re experiencing,” the 44-year-old continued. ‘’I think so much of that is having to realize that you know that industry, that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks, that’s not going to change. So, you have to be stronger than that.”

This is not the first time Meghan has spoken out against the abuse she’s received online in the years since she and Harry began dating in 2016 an occurrence she said reached its height when she was pregnant with her and Harry’s kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet now 6 and 4 respectively.

What Meghan said should be a “tender and sacred” time in her life, she recounted on a SXSW Conference in 2024, instead led to the “bulk of the bullying and abuse” she’d experienced.

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Retro Football Shirts Make Comeback As Clubs, Brands Embrace Nostalgia Ahead 2026 World Cup.

La Liga clubs roll out vintage-inspired kits as global football, fashion industries tap into ‘retro boom’ ahead of expanded World Cup.

As the global football calendar builds toward the 2026 FIFA World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico, a wave of nostalgia is sweeping through the sport, with retro-inspired jerseys dominating both elite football and fashion spaces.

In Spain, nearly 40 professional clubs across La Liga’s top two divisions are set to feature specially designed kits inspired by their historical identities.

The uniforms, first unveiled at Madrid Fashion Week, form part of a wider cultural campaign celebrating Spain’s deep-rooted football heritage and its growing intersection with fashion.

The retro trend is not limited to Europe. Ten weeks ahead of the World Cup, the largest in history with 48 teams and 104 matches, global sportswear giants are also leaning heavily into vintage aesthetics.

Adidas, for instance, has released new away kits featuring a 1990s-inspired design language, updated with a modern finish.

The brand’s iconic trefoil logo, absent from World Cup jerseys for over 30 years, has also made a return.

Industry experts say the shift reflects a deeper cultural movement where the past is no longer simply remembered but actively recreated and worn.

Football historian Alex Ireland, author of Pretty Poly: The History of the Football Shirt, noted that replica jerseys were not widely accessible until the 1970s and only became mainstream fashion items in the 1990s.

He explained that earlier designs, such as England’s Euro 1996 away kit, were already being styled for everyday wear beyond stadiums.

Adidas football chief Sam Handy said jerseys are strongly tied to memory and emotion, noting that many fans associate specific kits with defining life moments, especially World Cups.

Collectors and retailers say this emotional attachment has evolved into a booming global market.

Once limited to flea markets and early online resale platforms, vintage football shirts are now a multi-million-dollar industry driven by dedicated platforms such as Classic Football Shirts and Cult Kits.

Co-founder of Cult Kits, David Jones, described today’s buyers as split between nostalgia-driven fans and fashion-conscious consumers adopting football jerseys as lifestyle wear.

Pop culture has further accelerated the trend, with celebrities frequently spotted in vintage national team shirts, turning them into mainstream fashion statements.

Cultural theorists also point to what they describe as “historical nostalgia”, a longing for eras not personally experienced, as a key driver of demand among younger generations.

Adidas says its current design philosophy aims to merge eras rather than separate them, allowing past aesthetics and modern innovation to coexist in a single product line.

The brand noted that its trefoil logo has now returned on multiple World Cup kits for the first time in decades.

One of the most iconic references in the revival remains the United States’ 1994 World Cup away shirt, widely regarded as a cult classic despite initial mixed reactions.

All replicas produced for fans eventually sold out, underscoring its lasting appeal.

For US midfielder Tyler Adams, the goal is clear: to create jerseys that remain iconic decades later, becoming part of football history rather than just seasonal apparel.

From stadiums to streetwear, football shirts are no longer just matchday uniforms, they are cultural artefacts being continuously reimagined for a new generation.

 

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