Weekly News Roundup - 4/25/25

The world pauses from its madness to consider the example of Pope Francis

This is the 17th Weekly News Roundup of 2025. The archive for all weekly news roundups is here.

These weekly dispatches are designed for those who may not have time to do more than glance at the headlines, or those who want to stay informed without becoming obsessed by politics and news. These roundups are a targeted way to get a sense of the shape of the past week on the national level. Without such a map, we can be disoriented, not knowing where we have been over the past several days, or where we may be going.

But by spending concentrated, limited time thinking about the big picture, we can devote more of our time to where “agency and justice begin and end,” as Karen Swallow Prior put it: “on the ground, bodily, in community and real relationships, in flesh and blood.”

Quotes of the Week

He was the pope of the last ones, of the poor and he was loved by the faithful and the non-faithful. - Ilaria Toselli

A person who thinks only about building walls … and not building bridges is not Christian. - Pope Francis

There is a rumbling afoot that our world is entering an uncharted age, what I might call a hybrid age, one where the technofuture that is assured and the medieval enchantment that is reawakening collide in unpredictable, quite possibly wild ways. If this is true, and I think there’s something to it, rational formulas are just not going to cut it. A deeper magic will be needed. A new language will be needed. Artists and prophets will be needed. Women, frankly, will be needed. - Anne Snyder

One indelible image was seeing Francis visibly moved, his voice tight, as he came face-to-face in Bangladesh with members of the Rohingya ethnic minority group who had suffered enormous persecution. For me, that hammered home how much the pope cared about the plight of migrants, the displaced victims of war no matter their religion, and the most forgotten and marginalized among us. For him it was real. - Jason Horowitz

Rather than assert papal authority as Benedict had done so often and so rigidly, he sought a simple moral authority — by embracing the grotesquely disfigured, listening intently to small children, washing the feet of male and female prisoners, eschewing the Papal palace for a simple apartment, and inviting transgender men and women on the streets to lunch with him in the Vatican. Faith for Francis was not rigidity, it was not always certain, and it was not words. It was a way of life, of giving, of loving, of emptying oneself to listen to God without trying to force a conclusion — of discernment, as the Jesuits like to say. - Andrew Sullivan

Big Stories This Week:

• Pope Francis died 12 years after becoming the leader of the Catholic church. It sets in motion days of reckoning with what he represented, what the Catholic church stands for, and the role of faith in a rapidly changing world. Francis emphasized living the faith over having the precisely correct views. "We need to remember that all religious teaching ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher’s way of life," he wrote. In a word, he stood for integrity in a world of hypocrites. He focused on serving the poor and marginalized, welcoming outsiders, empowering the common person in the pews (ie the laity), and building bridges with other faiths. In this way, he picked up the banner of the Vatican II reforms of the 1960's that had been stymied or reversed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict. He rejected purity tests of doctrine or ideology that serve those who obsess about who is "in" and who is "out." Raised by parents who fled Fascist Italy, Francis always held migrants and refugees in special regard. A funeral is set for Saturday in Rome.

  

  Dili, East Timor, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

• The Trump administration leaned hard on Ukraine to accept a ceasefire deal that would grant Russia control of all the territory it has taken during its invasion of Ukraine.

• Trump's poll numbers continued to sink as the public reacts negatively to his extralegal maneuvers on immigration, his tariffs, and his foreign policy. Two thirds of those surveyed in a new Siena poll said Trump's first 100 days in office have been "chaotic" and nearly that number called it "scary."

• The Trump administration went into damage control mode on the economy, toning down attacks on China and the Federal Reserve, seeking to calm markets and stem the damage of a growing global loss of confidence in the U.S. as an economic leader.

Week in Review

Saturday, April 19

• An hour after midnight, the U.S. Supreme Court issues an emergency order temporarily barring the Trump administration from deporting migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, following frantic legal efforts to prevent another group of Venezuelans to El Salvador. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissent.

• Hundreds of protests against the Trump administration are held across the country.

• A number of Republicans, including a top lawyer for President Trump in his first term, sign a letter calling on Trump to rescind presidential memos directing the Justice department to investigate Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs. Taylor has criticized Trump and Krebs upheld the legitimacy of the 2020 election as a senior government official. "For a president to personally and publicly direct the levers of the federal government against publicly named citizens for political reasons sets a new and perilous precedent in our republic. It brings to mind the abuses of power that characterize authoritarian nations, not the United States," the letter states.

• Vice President J.D. Vance meets with the Vatican's Secretary of State in Rome. The Vatican says afterward the meeting yielded an "exchange of opinions ... with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners." It's a clear reference to criticism of the Trump administration by Pope Francis of its mass deportation policy, its hostility towards Ukraine, and its practice of rounding up people to send them to El Salvador without due process. The statement also says that the Catholic church's "valuable service to the most vulnerable people was acknowledged.” Vance in January criticized the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops work to settle refugees, claiming they were motivated by greed. This drew a strong rebuke from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who prayed at Trump's inauguration.

Sunday, April 20

• Christians celebrate Easter Sunday, the day that commemorates the foundation of their hope, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and defeated death and evil.

• Vance, still in Rome, has a brief meeting with Pope Francis. Francis, too ill to preach to an Easter Mass crowd in St. Peter's Square, still rides through the throngs to greet them. His message to the crowd is read by an aide and picks up on his theme of love for the dispossessed. "How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!” he says. "On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!"

Monday, April 21

• Pope Francis dies at 88 years old, weeks after battling pneumonia. His successor will be chosen by the college of Cardinals in the coming weeks. "Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a pope of firsts. He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Jesuit order, and the first to take the name Francis," the Wall Street Journal writes. Francis "sought to refocus the Catholic Church on promoting social and economic justice rather than traditional moral teachings but presided over growing divisions in the church and struggled with the lingering scandal of clerical sex abuse." James K.A. Smith writes that Francis was witness to "a form of Christianity I could believe in ... He sought out the poor. He embraced the despised. He included the marginalized. He apologized for injustice. He championed solidarity. He listened to the cries of the earth. He laughed. He hoped. He was a pastor to the world."

• Rep. Don Bacon of Indiana becomes the first Republican in Congress to call on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to be replaced, after learning new details of Hegseth's use of a private messaging app to share classified material.

• Trump attacks Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell again on social media, angry that the central bank has not reduced interest rates. The stock market takes another nosedive at the prospect of political inference in the central bank's economic policy.

Tuesday, April 22

• Trump walks back his criticism of Fed Chairman Powell. "I have no intention of firing him," Trump says. Trump also seeks to calm economic concerns about his tariffs and trade war with China, claiming that negotiations are taking place to reach an agreement.

• Trump pressures Ukraine to accept a ceasefire agreement with Russia that hands all of the territory occupied by Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky says "there is nothing to talk about" and that Russia's invasion "violated our Constitution. This is our territory, the territory of Ukraine.”

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces a sweeping reorganization of the State Department.

Wednesday, April 23

• Talks continue in London over a ceasefire in Ukraine. Progress is made and there is some optimism from Americans who are backers of Ukraine.

• Over 5,000 people in New Jersey evacuate their homes after a wildfire in the Pine Barrens grows to over 13,000 acres and forces the closure of the New Jersey Parkway.

• Crowds pack St. Peter's Square in Rome on the first day of three in which Pope Francis' body will lie in state to allow mourners to offer their respects. People wait hours and pass by his coffin until 3 a.m. in the morning.

Thursday, April 24

• Russia launches its largest attack on Ukraine's capital of Kyiv, killing at least 12 people and injuring another 90. The attack draws the ire of Trump, who writes on social media: “I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!”

Friday, April 25

• China says they are not negotiating with the Trump administration over a deal to end the trade war: "China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs. The United States should not confuse the public," says Guo Jiakun, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry.

• The FBI arrests a Circuit Court Judge in Milwaukee on suspicion of helping a man evade immigration authorities. Given Trump's escalated rhetoric against members of the judiciary, it raises concerns about violations of the separation of powers.

• A Trump administration lawyer announces in a court hearing that the government is reversing its cancellation of more than 1,500 student visas held by international students.

• Pope Francis' body lies in state for a third and final day, as heads of state arrive in Rome from around the world for his funeral, set to take place on Saturday.

Interesting Reads

• Pope Francis: An appreciation, by Thomas Reese for Religion News Service

• A Christianity one could believe in, by James K.A. Smith for Quid Amo

• Which cardinals are seen as contenders to be the next pope? by The Associated Press

• A Francis Admirer and a Francis Skeptic Debate the Pope’s Legacy, by Ross Douthat for The New York Times

• How Pope Francis changed the church, by Heidi Schlumpf for U.S. Catholic

• Why I Loved Pope Francis, by Andrew Sullivan for The Daily Dish

• Pope Francis bestowed a special nickname on AP’s Vatican reporter for her often-tough questions, by Nicole Winfield for The Associated Press

• What Due Process Was Owed to Kilmar Abrego Garcia? by Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up to Politics

• Sweden Has the Tanks. Finland Has the Troops. Welcome to the Pan-Nordic Army, by Sune Engel Rasmussen for The Wall Street Journal

• Trump Is Taking On America’s Institutions but Resistance Is Building, by Sadie Gurman, Aaron Zitner and Meridith McGraw for The Wall Street Journal

• Europe Really Is Jailing People for Online Speech, by Yascha Mounk

• How the G.O.P. Fell in Love With Putin’s Russia, by Jonathan Mahler for The New York Times Magazine

• Alleged FSU Shooter Falsely Portrayed as Radical Anti-Trumper by NewsGuard

• What Elon Musk Didn’t Budget For: Firing Workers Costs Money, Too, by Elizabeth Williamson for The New York Times

• Kennedy Described My Daughter’s Reality, by Emily May for The New York Times

• So you saw ‘Conclave’ the movie. Here’s what it got right – and wrong – about real-life conclaves, by Holly Meyer for The Associated Press

• Pope Francis, the Unlikely Movie Star: 6 Films Show His Cinematic Appeal, by Alissa Wilkinson for The New York Times

• Piercing the Shadows of the Pope’s Favorite Painting, by Jason Farago for The New York Times

• Gaza's Catholics mourn Pope Francis. 'He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night' by Anas Baba and Jane Arraf for NPR