By Nate Nkumbu
Popes by natures are supposed to be holy men, ordained by God and the church to lead the Catholic faith.
Not every pope however follows those church rules.
One pope that was infamous for breaking rules was Pope Alexander VI.
Born Roderic Borgia, Pope Alexander VI was the leader of the papacy from 1492 to his death in 1503.
A controversial pope who had fathered children with many mistresses, Alexander VI’s name is now a stand in for all of the vice and nepotism that was once associated with the Catholic church.
He embraced the temporal role of the church and his family wielded real power in the affairs of war and politics.
Not exactly a Pope Peter lookalike.
One of Rome’s few memorials of the first Borgia pope, Calixtus III, from the tail end of the fifteenth century. Photo Credit: Anthony Majanlahti/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
According to Lawrence Cunningham, a Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, while Alexander VI might have been a bad Pope to the Catholic Church, he was beloved and respected by people during his time.
“He was great patronage of the arts during the renaissance and commissioned the likes of Michelangelo and Raphael to work for the vatican and for him,” Cunningham said in an interview with RISE NEWS. “He was important to the new world as he corresponded with the Spanish crown about confirming the discovery.”
Interestingly enough, while often thought as a family only found in a history book, the Borgia’s are still around today.
Borgia’s children that he sired with his mistresses left a legacy of their own.
One of his children’s descendants, Rodrigo Borja Cevallos became president of Ecuador in 1988 at a time when Ecuador was suffering one it’s worst economic crisis.
There was not much Cevallos could do to fix the situation and he was ousted within four years.
But still. How cool is that?
The Borgia family legacy isn’t just held to a descendant becoming president of Ecuador.
Cunningham said that his direct line had influenced The Renaissance and the rise of political realism in a major way.
“Pope Alexander’s daughter Lucrezia would become source for Machiavelli’s The Prince,” Cunningham said. “The Borgia family would have people become dukes, lords and so on. So Pope Alexander VI’s influence still exists to this day.”
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Sharat Ganapati/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Announcing the RISE NEWS Fellowship Program
Ever wanted to improve your writing and reporting skills while learning more about how new media works?
Ever wanted the chance to be treated like a professional reporter and have the opportunity to work on stories that can make a change?
We have something cool to tell you then.
RISE NEWS, a fast growing and highly impactful millennial focused news organization is seeking intelligent, hard-working young people to join our team as editorial fellows.
We are based in Miami, FL but you don’t have to be in order to be a fellow.
Here’s what you need to know:
Our fellows will be treated like professional reporters and will be expected to:
– produce at least three stories per week
– commit to at least 15 hours of RISE related work per week (You can do more of course)
– participate in a weekly team Skype call
– follow news and build relationships in your coverage beat areas.
– promote your stories on social media.
A quick bit on pay:
Our fellows will earn 70% of whatever their stories make from advertising or other means. Don’t do this fellowship for the pay as you probably won’t be making a whole lot. Think of the pay as a plus. And if some of your pieces go really viral, then we want to be able to properly compensate you.
The program will be starting on March 28, but we will be accepting applications on a rolling basis until June. You can start at any time and the fellowship can run for as long as you want it to. (End dates will be discussed during interview process)
What will you be doing?:
You will act as a beat reporter focusing on either a geographical area (South Florida or Alabama if you are from either one of them) or a specific thematic topic if you don’t live in one of our local focus markets (including Culture, American Politics, International Affairs, Tech, Human Interest, etc).
How to apply:
Send an email to [email protected] to the attention of our publisher Rich Robinson with the following:
1) updated resume
2) three writing samples (academic papers accepted, but published journalistic work preferred)
If you have any questions about the process, shoot an email to [email protected] as well.
Cover Photo Credit: www.miamism.com/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Missouri SGA President Retracts FB Post Saying That KKK Has Been Spotted On Campus As Violent Threats Surface
Updated: 12:54 AM EST
Peyton Head, the president of the Missouri Students Association (student government) took down a post he made on Facebook saying that the Ku Klux Klan had been “confirmed to be sighted on campus”.
Head has since taken down the post without explanation.
The now deleted statement from the campus leader comes after a series of threatening messages were posted to the anonymous location-based messaging app, Yik Yak.
Here are what the messages said according to the Mizzou student government:
Unacceptable @Mizzou Tigers. pic.twitter.com/w3p3OeHVNV
— M.S.A. (@MSAmizzou) November 11, 2015
Reporters for the campus newspaper, the Maneater have been doing a terrific job sorting through fact and fiction as rumors have run rampant.
“There’s absolutely nothing to indicate that (the KKK is on campus),” MUPD Maj. Brian Weimer said. @TheManeater — Hailey Stolze (@HaileyStolze) November 11, 2015
Nothing extraordinary going on around greektown here at Mizzou. Just quiet. @TheManeater
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) November 11, 2015
The official alert system for MU has asked for people to stop spreading rumors on social media about the alleged threats.
There is no immediate threat to campus. Please do not spread rumors and follow @MUAlert at https://t.co/6BXzIBsDxU for updates. — MU Alert (@MUalert) November 11, 2015
This is a developing story that we will update frequently.
Have a news tip? Send to [email protected]
Cover Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Twitter
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Could Gay Rights Rip Apart Netanyahu’s Conservative Government?
On Dec. 28th, 2015, the first openly gay member of the ruling Likud party, and the third ever in Israel, was sworn into the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).
Amir Ohana took office, following former Member of Knesset (MK) Silvan Shalom’s resignation after Shalom, the then Interior Minister faced a barrage of sexual harassment complaints.
Ohana will take over as Interior Minister, replacing Shalom.
Noticeably absent from the 120 member parliament were 13 members of Israel’s right wing coalition, of which Likud chairs. All of the absentees were from the Shas and the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) parties.
UTJ admits that Ohana’s potential advocacy for the LGBT community led to their boycott of his swearing in, while Shas claimed ignorance of the event altogether.
Regardless of whether Shas is feigning ignorance to save face, this demonstrates one of the peculiar cleavages in the Likud led Israeli coalition.
Regardless of whether Shas is feigning ignorance to save face, this demonstrates one of the peculiar cleavages in the Likud led Israeli coalition.
Both Shas and UTJ are Orthodox Jewish parties, and thus inclined to hold more socially conservative positions than the secular Likud party.
Navigating between the secular and religious movements in the Israeli Right presents a strong problem for the coalition.
One such instance includes UTJ leaving the 1999 coalition due to a turbine delivery on the Sabbath.
Israeli Knesset Building. Photo Credit: Chris Yunker/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
These cleavages further present themselves in discussion of the Palestinian residents of Israel, and Palestinian Administered regions.
While UTJ trends against expansion of the Israeli state to encompass the West Bank and Gaza, Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home Party (another right wing partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government) and the current minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs has inserted himself in several controversies related to the Palestinian question, including claiming there is “no problem” with killing Arabs, and banning a book from school curriculums about a pair of lovers separated by the Israel Palestine conflict.
This new exposure brought about by the swearing in of Ohana of these cleavages only reveal longstanding issues between various religious and Zionist flavors in the conservative coalition.
While this show of disrespect to the Likud party may be an isolated incident, Netanyahu ought to take care not to allow these instances, or growing instability in the PA, to break up his narrow majority in Knesset.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. Anyone can write for you us as long as you are fiercely interested in making the world a better place.
Cover Photo Credit: Nadav Shushu Siman Tov/Facebook
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