President Donald Trump endorsed Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., calling the lawmaker ‘a Great Man, and TREMENDOUS Senator’ in a post on Truth Social.

‘I love Montana, won every one of my Races there by a landslide, and would only recommend the best to represent you in the Senate!’ the president declared. 

‘Senator Steve Daines, of the Great State of Montana, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!’

Daines served as National Republican Senatorial Committee chair prior to current chair, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

‘As Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Steve worked tirelessly with me in the last Election to help elect smart, tough, and sincere America First Patriots. In the Senate, Steve is fighting hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes, Secure the Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Military/Vets, Unleash American Energy Dominance, Restore PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment,’ Trump declared in his post.

Daines, who has served in the Senate since 2015, thanked Trump for the endorsement.

‘I’m honored to have your support as we fight to protect Montana values, secure our border, cut taxes, and Make America Great Again! Together, we’ll deliver results for our state and nation,’ Daines noted in a tweet. 

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., also backed Daines for re-election.

‘Steve Daines is a champion for the America First agenda and hardworking Montanans. Working with President Trump, he helped deliver our Republican Senate majority and is fighting to cut taxes, secure the border, unleash American energy, and lower costs for families in The Treasure State,’ Sheehy said in a post on X.

‘I’m proud to join @realDonaldTrump in endorsing my friend @SteveDaines so he can keep fighting for Montana,’ the senator noted.

There have been 266 papal leaders of the Catholic Church since Jesus Christ’s death in the AD 30s through Pope Francis – Jorge Mario Bergoglio – who died on Easter Monday at 88.

The most prominent pope is considered to be St. Peter, the first holder of the title.

Christ had appointed him the inaugural Bishop of Rome, and the papal church – St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City – is named in his honor.

St. Peter’s writings to persecuted people in the Asia Minor region are also chronicled in the New Testament’s epistles.

Peter reportedly died around 64 and was succeeded by Pope Linus.

In the present day, there is wide agreement across the Catholic world that one of the most recent popes, John Paul II, deserves to be in consideration as the most influential pontiff.

John Paul II was also the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian in the 1500s. Born Karol Wojtyla in Poland, John Paul’s lengthy three decades in the Vatican were marked with very prominent situations for the Catholic Church.

John Paul II oversaw the movement into the digital age, but he continued to be a prolific writer.

He revised the Canon Laws for the church, wrote more than a dozen encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, nearly 50 apostolic letters and several books, as chronicled by Father William Saunders in his cataloging of ‘great’ popes.

While Pope John Paul II has not officially been dubbed John Paul the Great, there is wide consensus that one day he will be.

John Paul notably held a Mass praying for God’s forgiveness for the past sins of the Catholic Church itself and made more than 100 state visits, which included engaging with non-Christians, Saunders wrote in Catholic Answers.

One of those visits featured the pope offering Mass to 80,000 people at Yankees Stadium in The Bronx, New York in 1979.

Only a few popes – Leo I, Gregory I and Nicholas I – have been given the moniker ‘the great.’

In the 400s, Pope Leo met with Attila the Hun and prevented a siege of Rome, though the Vandals took it over later.

Pope Gregory I was the Catholic leader who in the late 500s stylized ‘Gregorian Chant’ – a tradition still present in many Catholic churches today.

Born wealthy, Gregory I later gave up his riches and moved into a monastery and aided the poor.

Gregory was considered the treasurer of Rome, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, which chronicles his efforts to prevent sieges from groups like the Lombards.

He also repaired Roman infrastructure, sought détente with the Lombards and Gauls and enforced government laws he personally disagreed with and protested against – explaining that he did his duty to obey [Emperor Maurice] while not ‘restrain[ing] what ought to be said on God’s behalf.’

Pope Nicholas became pontiff in the mid 800s. He notably urged against the attempt by a king to divorce his wife and marry another woman. He also believed the Holy See was the head of the Catholic Church and urged the ‘supremacy of Rome,’ according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Other popes may not have been monikered ‘the great’ but have had lasting impact on the world and society.

One such pontiff was Pope Gregory XIII. 

Purported miscalculations in the Julian calendar spurred Gregory XIII to decree a new calendar in 1582 – as the spring equinox had fallen back to early March over a span of 1,400 years.

On Oct. 4, 1582, Gregory XIII ordered the next day be considered Oct. 15, not Oct. 5 – therefore fixing the lunar discrepancy. By the end of the 16th century, most Western lands had come around to following the new ‘Gregorian calendar.’

Another historically influential pontiff was Pope Innocent III. Around 1200, Innocent III launched several ‘Crusades’ against Muslim-held lands in what is now France, Spain and Portugal, as well as an effort to take back the historic Holy Land near today’s Israel and Jordan.

He also extended his power into personal affairs, ordering King Philip of France to return to his separated wife.

The most recent pope, Francis, was considered influential in that he was one of few to delve more into the political sphere than past pontiffs.

In 2015, Francis published the first papal encyclical to be focused on the environment: Laudato Si.

Among its repercussions, it helped foreshadow that year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, which led to a global warming treaty between 196 countries, according to Vatican News.

He was also known for his critiques on Western market capitalism, once calling the ‘unfettered pursuit of money’ the ‘dung of the devil’ during a speech.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary Easter ceasefire in his country’s war with Ukraine, the Kremlin said Saturday.

The war has raged for more than three years and cost the lives of tens of thousands of people on both sides. 

‘Guided by humanitarian considerations, today from 18:00 to 00:00 from Sunday to Monday, the Russian side declares an Easter truce,’’ Putin said in a video posted by the Russian ministry of Foreign Affairs.

‘I order that all military actions be stopped for this period.’

In the video, Putin is joined by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

The move appeared to be scoffed at by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who said shortly after the announcement that air raid alerts were ringing out across Ukraine.

‘As for yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives—at this moment, air raid alerts are spreading across Ukraine,’ Zelenskyy wrote on X while giving an update on troop positions. It wasn’t entirely clear of he was addressing the truce.

‘At 17:15, Russian attack drones were detected in our skies. Ukrainian air defense and aviation have already begun working to protect us. Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin’s true attitude toward Easter and toward human life.’

Zelenskyy wrote that Ukrainian forces were battling in the Kursk region and holding their positions. 

‘In the Belgorod region, our warriors have advanced and expanded our zone of control,’ he wrote.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, however, said its forces pushed Ukrainian troops from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops staged a surprise incursion last year.

The temporary ceasefire comes after President Donald Trump on Thursday said an 80-page minerals deal will be signed with Ukraine in one week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later amended that it would likely be signed on April 26. 

Details on the agreement still remain relatively unknown, though recent reporting by Bloomberg has suggested the U.S. has eased back its demands of repayment for its aid in Ukraine’s fight against Russia from $300 billion to $100 billion. 

On Friday, Trump said the U.S. will ‘just take a pass’ at peace efforts for Ukraine if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to agree to ceasefire terms. 

‘If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass,’ Trump told reporters. ‘But hopefully we won’t have to do that.’

Fox News’ Caitlin McFall and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Antisemitism in Canada has exploded in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, reaching record numbers last year and becoming a central issue for the country’s Jewish community ahead of an April 28 federal election.

Last week, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, the main challenger to Prime Minister Mark Carney accused pro-Hamas protesters of staging ‘hate marches’ and vowing to deport antisemitic foreigners from Canada.

‘The rampaging chaos that we see in our streets, the targeting of synagogues and Jewish schools with hate, vandalism, violence, fire bombings … these things were unheard of 10 years ago,’ Poilievre said. 

He also had a warning for foreign agitators. ‘Anyone who is here on a visitor visa who carries out lawbreaking will be deported from this country,’ Poilievre said.

‘To Canada’s Jewish community,’ Poilievre added, ‘you are not alone, you have friends. Canadians stand with you. You have the right to wear your Star of David, your kippah, and have your mezuzah on your door. You should feel proud to be Jewish and should never have to hide your Jewishness in order to stay safe.’

On Friday, Poilievre shared on X the Montreal Jewish Community Council’s call for Jewish voters to endorse him. In the video, the group’s executive director, Rabbi Saul Emanuel, referencing Poilievre’s support for the community, stated, ‘We remember who stood with us when it mattered most, and now we can all make a difference.’

Emanuel noted that Jewish voters could play a decisive role in as many as 14 districts in Canada. ‘Our vote matters, our voice matters. That’s why I am proud to support Pierre Poilievre and I urge you to do the same,’ he said.

Carney has also used social media to condemn antisemitism. In a tweet wishing Jewish Canadians a happy Passover, he condemned the growing incidents, stating in part, ‘Together, we must confront and denounce the rising tide of antisemitism, and the threat it poses to Jewish life and safety in communities across Canada.’

Yet despite his strong words against antisemitism, Carney recently faced criticism following a campaign rally in Calgary, where someone yelled at the Liberal Party leader, ‘There’s a genocide happening in Palestine.’

‘I’m aware,’ Carney replied. ‘That’s why we have an arms embargo [on Israel].’

The next day, Carney, who in March replaced longtime Premier Justin Trudeau, claimed he had not heard the anti-Israel demonstrator correctly.

His backtracking did not stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from entering the fray. He posted on X that ‘Canada has always sided with civilization. So should Mr. Carney.

‘But instead of supporting Israel, a democracy that is fighting a just war with just means against the barbarians of Hamas, he attacks the one and only Jewish state,’ Netanyahu posted.

According to an annual audit released this month by B’nai Brith Canada, the total number of reported cases of Jew hatred in the country hit 6,219 in 2024, a 7.4% increase over 2023 and the highest number since the survey’s inception in 1982.

Antisemitic incidents in Canada have skyrocketed by 124.6% since 2022.

‘Over the last 18 months, a new baseline has been established for antisemitism in Canada, and it’s having a detrimental effect on the lives of Jewish people,’ Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, told Fox News Digital. ‘We are seeing an increase in certain forms of antisemitism, specifically anti-Zionism.’

Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister and attorney general of Canada for the Liberal Party, told Fox News Digital ‘antisemitism has become mainstream, normalized and legitimized in the political, popular, academic, media, entertainment and sport cultures. All this happened in the absence of outrage,’ he said.

‘I hope that whichever party gets elected, we will see deliverables in combating specific hate crime, hate speech, harassment, assault, vandalism and all the things you find reported in the [B’nai Brith] annual report. From my experience, even those statistics are not telling the true story. They are underreported.’

‘The community of democracies must act because the security of our collective freedom is at stake,’ Cotler warned.

Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed told Fox News Digital many local Jews ‘feel vulnerable, unsafe and unprotected by law enforcement bodies, governments and education systems that have stood by as antisemitism reached crisis levels.’ 

He noted that Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people, is obligated to act when Jews in the Diaspora are in distress.

‘Equipping teachers with the resources to teach about antisemitism and the Holocaust is essential to ensure future generations understand the dangers of hatred and continue to embrace peace, tolerance and equality,’ he added.

The antisemitism survey highlighted numerous incidents, ranging from Quebec daily La Presse publishing a cartoon depicting Netanyahu as Nosferatu, a vampire associated with Jews in Nazi-era propaganda and a pro-Hamas protester at the University of Toronto shouting at a Jewish student that Hitler should have ‘murdered all of you.’

In May, an arsonist ignited a fire at the entrance to the Schara Tzedeck Synagogue in Vancouver as prayers concluded. The same month, shots were fired at the Bais Chaya Mushka girls’ school in Toronto, and the school has since been targeted twice more by gunfire. In August, a bomb threat affected Jewish institutions across the country. In December, a firebomb struck Congregation Beth Tikvah in Montreal, the second such attack since Oct. 7, 2023.

Thereafter, Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the Canadian government to take action to ‘stamp out’ antisemitism. 

‘The world must wake up. Words are not enough. Synagogues burned. Jews attacked. Never again is now,’ he said, employing the adage stressing a commitment to preventing another Holocaust.

Anthony Housefather is the MP in the House of Commons for Mount Royal, an area with a large Jewish population held by the Liberals since 1940 being viewed as a bellwether for where the community stands.

‘The alarming numbers [of antisemitic incidents] make it clear as to why every level of government in the country needs to work together to implement all the recommendations set out in the justice committee report of last December and the commitments made at the national summit on antisemitism in March,’ Housefather told Fox News Digital.

Trudeau, who was widely panned for failing to adequately address the groundswell of antisemitism, had announced the summit within hours of Herzog’s condemnation.

Neil Oberman, the Conservative Party candidate running against Housefather, told Fox News Digital that in Mount Royal ‘personal safety and security have become serious issues.

‘It’s a stark reminder of the urgent need for a federal government consisting of adults implementing actions instead of putting together summits and position papers and blaming everybody else to combat hate and protect vulnerable communities,’ Oberman said.