Pope Francis has died at the age of 88. The Argentinian-born Jesuit had led the Catholic Church since 2013, when he made history by becoming the first pope from Latin America. Francis was a vocal champion for the poor and marginalized, migrants’ rights, and often spoke out about the climate crisis. “When he addressed almost any issue, he would begin with the experience of people at the margins,” says Marie Dennis, director of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative.

We speak with Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, just back from El Salvador, where he met Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father whom the Trump administration says they forcibly transferred to an El Salvador mega-prison last month by “administrative error.” “We will keep fighting for his constitutional rights, because if we deny the constitutional rights for one person, we threaten them for everybody,” says Van Hollen.

Fatma Hassona, the 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist and subject of the upcoming documentary film Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, was killed with her family Wednesday by an Israeli missile that targeted her building in northern Gaza. The strike occurred just one day after she learned that the film centered around her life and work had been selected to premiere at the ACID Cannes 2025 film festival. Director Sepideh Farsi remembers Hassona for her talent, integrity and hope.

“These were otherwise healthy school-age children who didn’t have to die.” We speak to the world-renowned pediatrician, virologist and vaccine expert, Dr. Peter Hotez, about the dangerous anti-vaccine agenda of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Amid a growing number of measles cases in the United States, RFK Jr. has promoted skepticism of the efficacy of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

We speak with the award-winning author and journalist Omar El Akkad, whose new book about the war on Gaza is titled One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. The book expands on a viral tweet El Akkad sent in October 2023, just weeks into Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian territory, decrying the muted response to the carnage and destruction unfolding on the ground.

President Trump’s Africa envoy Massad Boulos has finished a tour of several East African nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he discussed a peace deal that could involve the U.S. tapping the country’s rich mineral resources, including cobalt and lithium. Several Western mining companies are already reportedly lined up to take part in the U.S.-backed mineral resources partnership.