Pope dead. Francis, the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader, breathed his last this morning.
■ A professor of religious studies: He “embraced the marginalized in ways that no pope had done before” …
■ … but that legacy will be shadowed by his handling of the church’s sexual abuse scandals.
■ The Conversation: What will happen at his funeral …
■ … and how his successor will be chosen.
■ One of his last visitors was Vice President Vance …
■ … prompting a poem from Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten …
■ … and snark from columnist Jack Mirkinson: “Was meeting with JD Vance … a dreadful enough experience that Pope Francis chose to die rather than risk it ever happening again?”
■ … and snark from columnist Jack Mirkinson: “Was meeting with JD Vance … a dreadful enough experience that Pope Francis chose to die rather than risk it ever happening again?”
■ Historian Heather Cox Richardson: “It’s hard not to read desperation in … Trump’s posts as Americans seem increasingly concerned about the loss of the rule of law.”
■ Jennifer Rubin at The Contrarian: “Stop waiting for a formal declaration of ‘crisis.’ It is here.”
■ Economist Paul Krugman is ever-so-slightly upbeat: “America as we know it may yet perish. But at this point we seem to have a chance.”
■ The Washington Post: Those “five things” email requirements for federal workers are going away. (Gift link.)
‘The Supreme Court told Trump NO, for a change!’ Wonkette’s Marcie Jones: “ACLU lawyers got the Supreme Court to stop deportations … that were fixing to happen with no due process.”
■ But it’s just a temporary halt—and Justices Alito and Thomas are itching to reverse course.
■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich decries “the latest Republican fad—the Slave-Labor Gulag Photo Op.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance: “The coming week promises to be a critical one, especially as the risk that the administration will bust democracy wide open by directly disobeying a court order remains a serious prospect.”
■ American Crisis columnist Margaret Sullivan: “Trump pretends he’s a dictator—and the credulous media too often nods along.”
‘The month from hell.’ In a damning 1,200-word opinion piece for Politico, a departing Pentagon spokesman suggests Trump might soon yank Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
■ Columnist Dan Pfeiffer: “Hegseth is a national security disaster.”
■ On Tyranny author Timothy Snyder: “The present government invites a terror attack. Most of the people directing the relevant agencies are incompetent; the next few layers down have been purged in culture wars; much [of] the remaining personnel have resigned, been fired, or are demoralized.”
‘We in the U.S. cannot help anyone else if we do not crush these fascists FIRST.’ In an open letter to the organizers of Saturday’s protest in Chicago, columnist Amy Parker* warns that a disproportionate focus on the plight of the Palestinian people threatens to divide opposition to Trump’s “illegal regime.”
■ The Intercept: Serving as “unwitting handmaidens of the deportation machine,” universities told students to leave the country—but ICE now says they didn’t have to.
‘The L is in trouble.’ Chicago magazine’s Tal Rosenberg surveys the challenges facing CTA train service as ridership lags …
■ … which brings to mind that time in 2020 that then-Mayor Lightfoot dismissed Chicago Public Square’s question about a “public transit death spiral” as “offensive” and “racist” (at 39:43 in this video).
■ But the CTA’s adding night and weekend service on two of its lines.
Traveling? Wired counsels how to protect yourself from phone searches at the U.S. border.
■ Chicago TV news veteran Jennifer Schulze: “Your summer 2025 travel itinerary could include understaffed national parks, less reliable weather forecasts, raging fires, germy cruise ships and burner phones.”
■ The Washington Post: How to use your ancestry to get dual citizenship abroad.
■ Block Club Chicago: “As Trump moves to screen immigrants’ social media, experts warn of ‘chilling effect’ on free speech.”
■ PolitiFact rates “Mostly False” the assertion that, under the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act pending before the Senate, “as long as you have a Real ID … it should be easy for you to register to vote.”
Thank you. Not one but several readers stepped up to cover the increased cost of ChicagoPublicSquare.com’s domain registration: David Henkhaus, Rick Hutt, Mike Barson, Jerry Delaney, Carolyn Hosticka, Susan Manning, Steve Ignots, Patty Wallenberg, David Drew, Deborah Wess, Patrick Olsen, Susan Beach, Sandra Slater and Marlen Garcia.
■ Join their ranks—for as little as $1, just once—and see your name added to The Legion of Chicago Public Squarians page.
* And former WXRT colleague to your Square columnist.
