April News Round-up 

Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, died early Monday at age 88. His death comes after several weeks of health challenges, including double pneumonia and mild kidney failure. I wrote about that in an article from February, which you can read here.

His Holiness began his pontificate in March of 2013 after being elected following the death of Pope Benedict XVI. He was known for his sympathetic views on womens’ involvement in the Church, LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage, and the death penalty. His views significantly reshaped the Church, and his pontificate had profound impacts on the world’s perception of Catholicism. 

With the death of the pope, the College of Cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope in a secretive process called a conclave. Cardinals are sequestered in the Chapel to work through as many ballots as it takes to choose a new pope — usually chosen from the College itself. However, any baptized Catholic man can be elected pope, so if that is something you’ve aspired to do — and you fit the terms — it’s technically possible.

The papal conclave was portrayed in the 2024 drama Conclave, which followed the process from the death of the pope to the election of a new one. 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man, was accidentally deported to El Salvador last month in what the Trump Administration called a ‘clerical error.’ Abrego Garcia was deported as part of the administration’s crackdown on gang members and illegal immigrants (though he was just the latter), and sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, a facility built by the government to support their own crackdown on gangs. 

The country is now planning to double the capacity of the prison — already 40,000 — to accommodate the flood of inmates being sent from the United States. Abrego Garcia was not a gang member, according to all available information about him, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from claiming he is part of MS-13 and vowing to never return him to the United States. 

Multiple judges from across the country have ruled the Trump administration must ‘facilitate the return’ of Abrego Garcia, though it’s largely up to El Salvador and its increasingly dictatorial president Nayib Bukele as to whether that happens. Abrego Garcia’s accidental deportation sheds light on the lack of due process in the mass deportation effort since the start of the second Trump administration, and the violations that happen when individuals are sent out of the country without their day in court. 

Abrego Garcia’s Senator, Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen, visited him last week on a trip to El Salvador to work on understanding what it would take to get him released. The two met in the restaurant of the hotel Van Hollen’s delegation was staying at, with Hollen later saying that Abrego Garcia was ‘traumatized,’ but that he had been moved to a different facility. 

Whether Abrego Garcia is returned — and whether the due process in deportations continues — remains to be seen. But today, Abrego Garcia is still in El Salvador, thousands of miles from his wife and children back in Maryland. 

Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos-founded and owned space technology company, launched an all-female suborbital flight with their New Shepard rocket last week. The flight notably carried CBS personality Gayle King and pop star Katy Perry.

The flight continues Blue Origin’s foray into the world of space tourism. Tickets on a Blue Origin capsule — which reaches the Karman Line and treads slightly into space — sometimes go for as much as $28 million, like they did at auction in 2021. Last week’s celebrity flight launched from West Texas and flew for 11 minutes before it returned to Earth, giving the six passengers a zero-gravity experience as they left Earth’s atmosphere. On board were activist Amanda Nguyen, journalist and Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, and Perry and King.

If you’re looking for a new show to watch, here are some of the best on streaming now (in no particular order!)

The White Lotus — on Crave, this show follows guests at luxurious resorts all around the world over a weeklong vacation, with each season ending with one of them dying. Three seasons are available, with between six and nine episodes each.

Your Friends & Neighbors — on Apple TV+, this show follows a New York hedge fund manager who gets fired from his cushy job and needs to get resourceful to maintain his lifestyle. Three episodes are out now, with six more on the way.

The Last of Us — on Crave, this show follows the post-apocalyptic exploits of society after a pandemic of a fungal infection wipes out much of the world’s population. One season is available now, with two episodes aired into a seven-episode second season run.

Adolescence — on Netflix, each episode of this show is filmed in one take and follows the fallout after a 13-year-old boy is arrested for murdering his schoolmate, and his parents need to come to terms with the consequences. All four episodes are available now.

Hacks — on Crave, this show follows the mentorship between a legendary Vegas comic and an up-and-coming, entitled comedy writer as she searches for new opportunities. Three seasons are available now, with the fourth three episodes into a ten-episode run.

Running Point — on Netflix, this show follows an underestimated party girl who is left in charge of her family’s NBA team and discovers the trials and tribulations that come with the power she’s always wanted. All ten episodes are available now.