Weekend roundup: Pope Francis dies hours after Easter; Trump admin versus Harvard; more deportation battles; China threatens US trade partners

Pope Francis dead at 88

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at 7:35 a.m. at the Vatican, according to the Associated Press, just hours after an Easter Sunday visit with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Vance, a convert to Catholicism who sometimes argued with Francis over U.S. immigration policy, offered his condolences on the passing of the pope as the vice president traveled to India. 

“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” said Vance on X. “I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the … homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful.” 

“May God rest his soul,” Vance added. 

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was the first pontiff from the Americas and the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years. He was previously the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and was elected to the papal position in March 2013 after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Francis had a penchant for creating his own customs, including living in a modest guest house rather than the papal residence at the Vatican.  

In the next 20 days, the College of Catholic Cardinals will meet to select his successor. 

Trump admin pulls more money from Harvard 

The Trump administration will pull an additional $1 billion in funding from Harvard University in a growing dispute about the Ivy League college’s woke policies, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

The decision comes after Harvard President Alan M. Garber publicly rejected a list of government demands. 

The Harvard Crimson reported the Trump administration is requiring the university to “dismantle its diversity programming, limit student protests and submit to far-reaching federal audits in exchange for its federal funding.”  

The Trump administration is also angry with what it perceives as the whitewashing of antisemitism on campus at Harvard. 

Harvard has convened an antisemitism task force, but the effort has been criticized by insiders and outsiders for not taking antisemitism on campus seriously enough. The Trump administration has demanded that Harvard turn over any reports, including any drafts, of the task force’s work and the names of everyone involved. 

House Democrats visit deported Salvadoran citizen with alleged gang ties 

Four Democrat lawmakers visited El Salvador over the weekend to do a photo op with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported by the Trump administration because of alleged ties to the street gang MS-13 and because of his illegal immigration status. 

Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon made the visit after Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland visited with the alleged gang member last week in El Salvador. 

“What happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not just one family’s nightmare – it is a constitutional crisis that should outrage every single one of us,” Dexter said in a separate statement, according to Politico. 

Abrego Garcia has been dubbed by the mainstream media as the “Maryland man” in what critics say obscures his status as a non-U.S. citizen and possible gang ties. 

The Democratic delegation was previously refused official status by GOP leaders in the U.S. House, which called the trip to El Salvador on the taxpayers’ dime a waste of money.  

Justice Alito slams Supreme Court in late dissent  

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito filed a dissent to the court’s decision to temporarily halt deportations by the Trump administration under the Alien Enemies Act, the same type of deportation that applied to Abrego Garcia.  

The order was filed early Saturday morning. 

“In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the Court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order,” Alito wrote in the dissent, which was also joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, according to Reuters.  

Alito said that both the courts and the executive have the duty “to follow the law,” an allusion to conservative complaints that the courts are acting as out-of-control, left-wing activists, and thereby undermining faith in the judiciary. 

China bullies other countries on trade deals with U.S. 

China is threatening countries that make trade deals with U.S. with counter measures. 

“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the country’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday, adding that it would respond “resolutely” with reciprocal countermeasures should such a situation arise, according to The Wall Street Journal.  

The message from China could be a veiled threat aimed at Southeast Asian countries that are attempting to negotiate trade deals with the Trump administration this week. 

Several economic ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations are in Washington, D.C., to talk trade deals. Countries include Thailand and Indonesia, with the Malaysian minister expected to arrive later in the week, said Reuters. 

Photo: JD Vance visits with Pope Francis on Easter 2025 (via X, @VP)