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2025-05-09

2025-05-09

Top reads and historical moments for this date. 6 min read

Top Reads

12 articles
Pope Leo XIV
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Pope Leo XIV

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Pope Leo XIV is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenships, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second from the Americas.

Pope Francis
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Pope Francis
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Pope Francis was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. H…

List of popes
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List of popes
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This chronological list of the popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under t…

7
Pope
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On This Day

10 events
2012
Yakovlev_SJ-100
The pilots of a Sukhoi Superjet, ignoring alerts from the terrain warning system, crashed the aircraft into Mount Salak in Indonesia, resulting in the deaths of all 45 people on board.
2005
Pope_Benedict_XVI
Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required after the nominee's death.
2001
Accra_Sports_Stadium
Police at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, Ghana, fired tear gas to quell unrest at a football match, leading to a stampede that killed 126 people.
1992
Methane
An underground methane explosion occurred at the Westray Mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, killing all 26 Canadian coal miners who were working at the time.
1980
Sunshine_Skyway_Bridge
Part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after a pier was struck by MV Summit Venture, killing 35 people.
1979
Iranian_Jews
Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after having been convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges, triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran.
1977
Amsterdam
The Hotel Polen in Amsterdam was destroyed by fire (pictured), leaving 33 people dead.
1968
Bucks_County_Community_College
About 200 students at Bucks County Community College held a protest after the college canceled a planned speech by gay rights activist Dick Leitsch.
1964
Ngô_Đình_Cẩn
Ngô Đình Cẩn, a younger brother and the confidant of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, was executed by Nguyễn Khánh's military junta.
1961
Federal_Communications_Commission
In a speech to U.S. broadcasters, FCC chairman Newton Minow described commercial television programming as "a vast wasteland".

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