By the look of it, the new WordPress engine will not work with the instructions posted here:
https://www.themehorse.com/theme-instruction/meta-news/#frontpagetemplate
I understand that the templating code has not been updated to work with WordPress 6+
I used this snippet to force the template under a page.
/**
* Assign Front Page Template to HOME page only
* Replace HOME_PAGE_ID with your actual HOME page ID
* Remove this code after running once
*/
function meta_news_assign_front_page_template() {
$home_page_id = HOME_PAGE_ID; // Replace with your HOME page ID
if ( get_post_type( $home_page_id ) === ‘page’ ) {
update_post_meta( $home_page_id, ‘_wp_page_template’, ‘templates/front-page-template.php’ );
}
}
// Uncomment the line below, replace HOME_PAGE_ID, visit any page, then comment it back
// add_action(‘init’, ‘meta_news_assign_front_page_template’, 999);
.
.