Until today, nearly every Vatican insider agreed on one thing: The United States would never produce a pope, at least not while the country remains a superpower. A citizen of the world’s dominant nation could not become the leader of the world’s largest religious organization without dramatically upsetting the global balance of geopolitical and cultural power. Or so the thinking went.

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One indicator about the health of the nation is how many lower federal judges a regular news consumer can name—and reel off biographical details about—without much hesitation.
By now, many know James Boasberg, who is handling the matter of deportation flights to El Salvador.

The surgeon general, America’s doctor, is the public face of medicine in the United States. The job is more educational than it is technical. Vivek Murthy, who was appointed as surgeon general during both the Obama and Biden administrations, went on Sesame Street to stress the importance of vaccinations and put out a guidebook to hosting dinner parties as a cure for loneliness.
In many ways, Casey Means is the perfect person for that job.

The conflict between India and Pakistan has just escalated faster than at any previous point since they both acquired nuclear weapons at the end of the 20th century. That may be because the two countries’ regimes have never been more alike.
In the past, India’s commitment to secularism and democracy stood in sharp contrast to Pakistan’s religious orientation and military dictatorship.

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We live in an age of loud egos. Scholars have documented a large increase since the late 1970s in the percentage of people with a narcissistic personality, a trend that is especially clear among young adults.