Pope Francis, whose papacy blended tradition with pushes for inclusion and reform, died on April, 21, 2025 – Easter Monday – at the age of 88.

Here we spotlight five stories from The Conversation’s archive about his roots, faith, leadership and legacy.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio became a pope of many firsts: the first modern ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s efforts to curb immigration are coming at a precarious time for the U.S. labor market, threatening to choke off a key growth engine just as tariffs are poised to drag down economic activity.

Crossings of undocumented migrants essentially came to a halt last month after surging to unprecedented levels in the aftermath ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Authorities fatally shot a man in Reseda on Sunday evening after he allegedly fired a gun at a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter.

The deadly shooting began with a call to police around 6:25 p.m. about an assault with a deadly weapon in the 6400 block of Reseda Boulevard, according to the LAPD. Upon arriving, officers said...Read more

President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin have announced their intent to reconsider dozens of current regulations in an effort to loosen standards originally imposed to protect the environment and public health. But it’s not as simple as Trump and Zeldin just saying so.

A few of the changes,...Read more

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 foreign university students since January 2025. Many of the individual cases that have made headlines center on foreign-born university students who participated in Palestinian rights protests.

In early March, the federal government arrested, detained and began ...Read more

The 88-year-old pontiff had been well aware of his fragile state and advanced age. As early as 2015, Pope Francis had expressed the desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, a fifth-century church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was so devoted to Mary and her basilica that after each of his more than 100 ...Read more

With the death of Pope Francis, attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The next pope will be chosen in what is called a “conclave,” a Latin word meaning “a room that can be locked up,” or, more simply, “a closed room.”

Members of the College of Cardinals will cast their votes behind the closed and locked ...Read more

Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America, whose warm, humble, no-nonsense manner galvanized the Roman Catholic Church and drew widespread admiration from outsiders almost from the moment of his surprise election to the throne of St. Peter in 2013, has died.

The church’s 266th leader, Francis died Monday morning, the Vatican ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — For years, this lot just south of the West Oakland BART station has sat vacant, surrounded by RVs and broken-down vehicles.

This was supposed to be housing — a 222-unit tower with 16 apartments set aside for low-income renters. But soon after Oakland’s planning commission signed off on the project, the decision was ...Read more

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”

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Overcome by worries, Lynette Isbell dialed a mental health hotline in April 2022. She wanted to talk to someone about her midlife troubles: divorce, an empty nest, and the demands of caring for ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- For nearly two decades, more Asians have immigrated to California than Latin Americans.

This trend, which takes into account documented and undocumented arrivals, has reshaped the immigrant experience in California in dramatic ways that are now coming into view.

In the workforce, California data are showing more high-skilled ...Read more

New patients have recently begun streaming into Del-Kar Pharmacy — an independent, 65-year-old drugstore in North Lawndale — after nearby Walgreens stores closed.

The new customers would be a blessing for many businesses, but for Del-Kar it means losing money on many prescriptions. The reimbursements the drugstore receives for filling ...Read more

When Emily logged on for work on April Fools’ Day, the unease in the atmosphere was reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Philadelphia-area employee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she had seen the layoffs and restructuring taking place across her agency that morning.

“It feels like those ...Read more

The National Institutes of Health’s sweeping cuts of grants that fund scientific research are inflicting pain almost universally across the U.S., including in most states that backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

A KFF Health News analysis underscores that the terminations are sparing no part of the country, politically or ...Read more

A Texas man was busted for trafficking vulnerable Mexican baby spider monkeys, who were too young to be separated from their mothers, into San Diego and selling them on Facebook.

Sarmad Ghaled Dafar, 33, was recently sentenced to four months in custody and 180 days of home confinement for trafficking six of the young primates, according to the ...Read more