Headline News: 2025 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leo XIV

On May 8, 2025, the Roman Catholic Church elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States as the 267th pope. He chose the papal name Pope Leo XIV to champion the principles of Pope Leo XIII, who held to improving worker's rights, the plight of the downtrodden, and a commitment to social issues. Prevost is the first U.S.-born pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church.

Answer: Using TikTok and Instagram

Psychological studies have questioned the strong potential of a relationship between a minor's mental health and the use of social media. Australia became the first country to officially ban the use of social media accounts for those under the age of 16 on December 10, 2025.

The accounts included TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. The concern was that social media can influence a person's self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

Answer: Taylor Swift

The romance between Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce, and pop star Taylor Swift began in 2023 after he attended her Eras Tour concert and asked her out. She was seen at many of his football games while captured on the television feeds. They announced their engagement on Instagram on August 26, 2025.

Answer: 19th Century Jewelry

On October 19, 2025, in just eight minutes, thieves broke into two display cases containing royal French jewelry. The robbery took place during the daytime and among the jewels was Empress Eugenie's pearl and diamond diadem with 212 pearls and 1,998 diamonds. During their escape, the Crown of Empress Eugenie was dropped and found damaged on the street near the Louvre.

Answer: "Anora"

Not many Oscar winning films begin in a strip club, but "Anora" was a surprise winner for the Academy Awards Best Picture held on March 2, 2025. "Anora" starred Mikey Madison in the lead role as a Brooklyn exotic dancer who impulsively marries Vanya, the son of a powerful, reckless, and wealthy Russian oligarch.

Many predicted Demi Moore in "The Substance" or possibly "Conclave" would have taken home the two major awards.

Answer: True

Men's tennis in 2025 was essentially a two-man race. Jannik Sinner from Italy and Carlos Alcaraz from Spain were the two most dominant players on the tour. In three of the four majors, they competed head to head for the title. In the Australian Open, Sinner beat Alexander Zverev in straight sets.

In the French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open finals, they were won by Alcaraz, Sinner, and Alcaraz respectfully.

Answer: J.D. Vance

Donald J. Trump's running mate during his first term was Mike Pence. But when Trump was re-elected in 2025, J.D. Vance, a former Senator from Ohio became the new Vice President. Vance shared Trump's vision of the Make America Great Again philosophy and Pence and Trump had a falling out at the end of Trump's first term. Vance's birth name is James Donald Bowman but changed his last name to Vance to honor his grandparents.

Answer: Fire

California was under drought conditions in 2025 and when the Santa Ana winds kicked up in January of 2025, rapid wildfires spread throughout Southern California. The destruction to homes in Malibu, Eaton, and the Palisades of Los Angeles ranked among the costliest natural disasters in California history.

The area hit included some of the richest homes in the state and major businesses. Estimations from insurance claims put the damages at over 250 billion dollars.

Answer: The successful transplant of a human liver into a pig

In May 2024, a genetically modified pig's liver was successfully transplanted into a human, not the other way around. In China, a 71 year old man received the modified liver at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. They didn't replace his existing liver but added the pig's liver as an auxiliary organ to lessen the load on his damaged liver. Each of the other advances occurred in 2025 and gave hope to many battling serious medical conditions.

Answer: "Stranger Things"

Despite debuting in late 2025, by the end of the year, the new and last season of "Stranger Things" broke streaming records with over eight billion streams in 2025. The sci-fi series starred Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and David Harbour as Jim Hopper.

The series was set in Hawkins, Indiana, and had an evil supernatural force from the "Upside Down" world threatening the future of mankind. Rerun seasons of "Bluey" and "Grey's Anatomy" had more streams than "Stranger Things", but they were not new and original series in 2025.