Global News Podcast - World bids farewell to Pope Francis who told people to 'build bridges, not walls'

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

Pope Francis has been laid to rest at his favourite church in Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, after a private service. Also: fatalities after a huge explosion at key Iranian port.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Bernadette Keough and in the early hours of Sunday the 27th of April, these are our main stories. Pope Francis has been buried at his favourite church in Rome after a funeral attended by hundreds of thousands of people. thousands of people. President Trump has criticised the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine, suggesting that perhaps Vladimir Putin doesn't want the war to stop. Also in this podcast, Iranian media say a huge fire at one of Iran's largest ports is becoming more intense and could spread. Iranians were saying that at first they said it's a result of negligence, but later they said that the explosion happened at a storage facility

storing inflammable materials. Pope Francis has been laid to rest at his favourite church in Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, after a private service. Officials say 400,000 people lined the streets on Saturday to see his coffin being taken from the Vatican on an adapted Pope mobile. He's the first pope in more than 120 years to be buried outside the Vatican. Earlier dozens of heads of state and royal guests joined other mourners for the main service at St Peter's Basilica. People will be able to visit Pope Francis's tomb from today. Our

religion editor, Alim MacBool, followed Saturday's events in the Vatican. Saturday's events in the Vatican. From the early hours, tens of thousands flocked to St Peter's Square to be part of this moving, historic day. Ahead of the funeral mass, inside the basilica, visiting dignitaries took a final chance to pay their respects beside the coffin. But by mid-morning they'd taken their seats, clergy on the left, politicians and sovereigns on the right. But other guests invited at Pope Francis' request included prison inmates, migrants and torture victims. And then to start proceedings the body of Pope Francis was brought through the Basilica.

There was gentle, spontaneous applause through the huge crowds as the coffin emerged into the light, its 14 pallbearers taking it to the front of the breathtaking stage overlooking the square. Presenting it to the world not on a platform, Pope Francis had asked that his coffin be placed on the ground. It was the Dean of the College of Cardinals, 91-year-old Giovanni Battista Ray, who presided over the Mass and delivered the homily, reflecting on the causes championed by Pope Francis, his opposition to war, his passion for the environment and for the dignity of migrants,

talking of notable trips the Pope had made. It's significant that Pope Francis' first journey was to Lampedusa, he said, an island that symbolises the tragedy of migration, with thousands of people drowning at sea, as well as the celebration of mass on the border between Mexico and the United States. At talk of these causes, the crowd applauded, though there may have been discomfort for some politicians. After the blessing at the end of the two-hour mass,

Pope Francis was to undertake his final journey. 150,000 people lined a half-hour route to the center of Rome. Unusually, Pope Francis asked not to be buried in the crypt of St. Peter's, but instead another basilica he loved the crypt of St Peter's, but instead another basilica he loved, that of St Mary Major, who was transported there in a converted Pope-mobile.

At the basilica he was greeted by a group of people who accessed homeless centres, alongside the clergy who, behind closed doors, would perform the burial. In a reflection of some of the simplicity he wanted to introduce to the day, Pope Francis now lies in a tomb inscribed with just one word, the Latin version of his chosen name, Franciscus. Alim Macboul in Rome. Pope Francis was active in trying to bring peace in places of

conflict around the world. He made 47 trips outside Italy including traveling to Colombia in 2017 and to South Sudan in 2023. Paul Henley spoke to two people who met him during those visits. Paola Andrea Garcia helped to organize the Pope's visit to Colombia and Anthony Kumi works for the Catholic charity Caritas. The Pope's visit to South Sudan was very historic. He came at the time when the country was in conflict. His coming has actually brought hope to the people of South Sudan but also a spirit of healing and reconciliation. His empathy was really felt by all the South Sudanese.

Paola, you have a personal reason to cherish the Pope's visit to Colombia, don't you? He blessed your unborn baby, is that right? My husband and I have been married for 15 years. We spent 8 years trying to be pregnant. When I found out that I would be able to stand in front of the Pope, this day my doctor called me and said, you are pregnant. Very special moment for my husband and me, for my baby. My baby is now 7 years old. Congratulations. And once again, the Pope showed his personal touch. He sat with victims of the war and heard their stories. Is that right? Colombia, for the first time, listened to the victims. All time we have been polarised. Very, very long time, taking political stands, taking one side or

the other. Anthony, in trying to bring about peace in South Sudan, the Pope was firmly in the political arena, wasn't he? How comfortable do you think he was with what was a political as well as a spiritual role? He played more of a spiritual role. When the political leaders from South Sudan had the retreat to the Vatican, you could still remember that he knelt down to actually kiss the feet of the political leaders in a plea for them to bring peace to the people of South Sudan who are actually suffering and for them to reconcile and forgive each

other. Peace of course did not come to South Sudan. Kissing the feet of those waging war didn't actually work, did it? I think there's a very deep feeling within the political leaders in terms of trying to put differences aside. Similarly, Paola, in Colombia, we're looking at a time of rising violence right now, of heated political tensions. What legacy do you think the Pope has there? Pope Francis in Colombia called it to us to transform pain into a source of life and

resurrection and to learn the power of forgiveness, the greatness of love. That's where he's worked and it's for us, for humanity, no political issue or more. No, no, it's humanity. Paola Andrea Garcia from Colombia and Anthony Kumi speaking to Paul Henley. Colombia and Anthony Kumi speaking to Paul Henley. Before the funeral, Ukraine's President Zelensky and President Trump met in the Vatican as efforts continued to secure a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Later in a post on social media, President Trump questioned whether Russia really wanted to end the conflict, but a Kremlin spokesman said President Putin was ready to hold peace talks with Kiev without any preconditions. Joe Inwood reports.

Even on a day that was supposed to be above politics, some was unavoidable. President Zelensky and Trump had a brief meeting before the ceremony. Shepherded by Sakir Starmer and President Macron of France, the two men had an intense conversation. Afterwards, Ukraine's president struck a positive, if cautious, note. I don't want to go into a lot of details, if it's possible, because the questions, very sensitive questions, are on, of course, totally, how to bring peace closer and how was resulted positive Paris and London and we want to continue such meetings to bring peace to Ukraine. It was certainly better tempered than the last time Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky

met. You're gambling with World War III and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country. Their now infamous clash in the White House was followed by a pause of US military and intelligence support, with severe consequences for Ukraine. Since then, the US has increased its engagement with Russia, with the most recent meeting between Mr Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Putin. After those talks in Moscow, President Trump said Russia and Ukraine were very close to a deal. But he posted on social media, there was no reason for Putin to be

shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war. He's just tapping me along and has to be dealt with differently. President Zelensky said today's meeting with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the funeral of a Pope who'd always called for peace had the potential to be historic. Jo Inwood. Even as peace for Ukraine was being discussed in Rome, Russia said it had driven the last Ukrainian troops out of the Russian region of Kursk. It was never a huge advance but the Ukrainian incursion last August had some symbolic value. But Russia attacked relentlessly and now says it's achieved its

aim though Ukraine denies this. Orlando Teal reports. Russia's chief of military general staff Valeriy Garasimov made the announcement in a video presentation addressed to Vladimir Putin. Today, the last settlement in the Kursk region, the village of Gornal, was liberated from Ukrainian units. Thus, the defeat of the armed formation of the Ukrainian forces that invaded the Kursk region was completed. The plans of the Kiev regime to create a so-called strategic bridgehead and disrupt our offensive in Donbas has failed.

Valery Garasimov especially praised North Korean soldiers for what he called their heroism in the fighting in Kursk. President Putin said the achievement would enable further successes on other fronts in the war in Ukraine. But Ukraine's military says its forces are continuing their operations in some districts of Kursk, as well as in Belgorod, another Russian border region. Ukraine launched the surprising incursion last summer in an attempt to counter Russian advances into eastern Ukraine and as the possible bargaining chip in peace negotiations. But its forces have gradually been pushed back. Orlando Teal.

Next to Iran. State media in the country say a huge explosion at one of the country's largest ports has killed at least 14 people. More than 700 people have reportedly been taken to hospital following the explosion in the southern port of Shaheed Rajayee. Local officials said several containers exploded in the port which is near the city of Bandar Abbas. The explosion came as the US and Iran held talks in Oman on Iran's nuclear program. I spoke with Kazra Najee from BBC Persian, who told me about the explosion.

It happened in the mid-morning local time, and Saturday is the first day of the working week in Iran. So I suppose a lot of people were at the port. And Iranians were saying that at first they said it's a result of negligence. They didn't say what kind but later they said that the explosion happened at a storage facility storing inflammable materials. How significant is the port and what impact will the explosion have?

The port is probably the biggest port in Iran. It handles about 80% of Iran's imports and exports. And the port is closed now. I don't know for how many days, but nevertheless, it's going to have an impact on Iran's trade. There are speculations, by the way, because there's so much stuff going on social media saying that it may have been an explosion to do with the material that Iran thousands of tons of chemicals Iran recently imported from China and these chemicals are used for making fuel for medium-range missiles in Iran. There are speculations that those materials were the reason for the fire in that place,

but that remains really speculation, nothing more at this stage. And just briefly, Qasr, the US and Iran have been holding nuclear talks. Is there any progress there? Today they held seven hours of talks in Oman. These were the third round of talks between Iran and the US. The US wants Iran to stop having access to a nuclear weapon or ability to build a nuclear weapon and Iran wants sanctions lifted. So the talks are going on and it looks as if today

were the most positive round of these talks and they are hoping that they can continue but they don't say when yet but we expect it probably next Saturday. Kazran Aji. Hamas has said it's open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released. A delegation is in Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators, but Hamas has said it's not willing to lay down its weapons. Our correspondent Shyma Khalil is in Jerusalem. This has been in the making for weeks now.

We understand from Hamas officials and from the delegation that's currently in Cairo and the talks are underway, that they are ready and open for an attempt at a ceasefire. And what this envisages is that it includes a cessation of hostilities from five to seven years, a one-time release of all the hostages, given that it would be a complete end of the war in Gaza, and then the exchange of hostages will be in return of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The one thing that they said was not up for negotiation and that this is a red line for

actually for both Israel and Hamas is that they said our weapons are not up for negotiations. They did actually seem quite flexible about giving up governance eventually of the Gaza Strip. An official close to the talks has actually told our colleague Rishi Abulov earlier this week, he said that we could be ready to talk about this with the Egyptians, with the Qataris, so that they can take this to the Americans,

to the Trump administration, about possibly giving away the governance of Gaza to another Palestinian body, be it the PA or be it another body that would be chosen. But they did say the disarmament of Hamas giving up weapons was not up for negotiation. An Israeli key demand for any sit down of talks was the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip. Shai McAleel. Still to come. Gaza Strip. Shyamaka Lil.

Still to come. I very politely, with a smile, asked them to stop using speakerphone and to put headphones in. Are you irritated by noisy mobile phones on public transport? Next to Western Australia and a woman described as a champion of victims of sexual abuse has been found dead at her home. 41-year-old Virginia Geffrey is thought to have taken her own life. She'd been one of the most prominent accusers against the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein and said she'd been forced to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew, which he denied. I spoke to our correspondent Katie Watson, who was standing next to a locked gate of the isolated farm in Neogabie

where Virginia Dufray died. So what do we know about her death? West Australia police, they were called to a farm where I am in fact in the near Gabby area which is about an hour north of Perth and they found Miss Jaffray unresponsive and short while later they declared her dead and that death is being investigated by detectives but they have said that the death is not being treated as suspicious. Questions remain unanswered though. The statement that the relatives gave on Friday was very powerful. They said that she'd been a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse, that the toll of abuse had become unbearable.

They confirmed that she'd lost her life to suicide because after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking I think you know that she had remained a very vocal advocate and a strong opponent of sex trafficking ever since that her allegations came to light and that's something that you know people who were very close to her have been talking about since news of her death. Well Virginia Dufray was one of the most prominent accusers of Jeffrey Epstein. What was her involvement in bringing Epstein's crimes to knowledge? She alleged that Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, had trafficked her to Prince

Andrew when she was 17 and that is something that the Prince has always denied. He did reach an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022, and in that settlement there was a statement in which he expressed his regret for his association with Epstein. It contained no admission of liability or apology. A lot more detail came out at the time. She said that she'd become a victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager. And so from there she was probably the most prominent accuser of Jeffrey Epstein and has been to this day.

Now her death comes just a short while after she posted that she had been involved in a serious road accident. What do we know of that? Yeah, it was a few weeks ago she posted on social media that she'd been involved in a serious accident and saying that she had just days to live. After that her family said that she had not meant to post that publicly. The local police also differed as to the facts on whether this was a serious accident or not. So there were a lot of question marks over that. She really,

in the last, certainly in the last few months, she came out on social media to talk about the challenges in her life and concerns, obviously with the accident, talking about the family, it's believed that her 22 year marriage had also recently ended. Katie Watson. North Korea has unveiled its largest ever warship at a special ceremony attended by its leader Kim Jong Un. State media said the vessel would be armed with the most powerful weapons. Our Asia Pacific editor, Miki Brista, reports. Mr Kim said the 5,000 ton destroyer could carry a range of weapons systems,

including nuclear missiles. It's part of North Korea's efforts to upgrade its maritime capabilities. On paper it already has a large navy, including submarines, but analysts don't believe its aging fleet is able to operate far beyond its coastal waters or compete with other far more advanced navies, including South Korea's. These launch events, though, are also about North Korea promoting itself as a major military power. Mickey Bristow Noisy mobile phones on public transport are a source of irritation for many. Here in Britain, one opposition political party, the Liberal Democrats, wants to change the law to explicitly

ban playing music and videos out loud from a phone on trains and buses. Those who continue to be what the party calls headphone dodgers would face a fine of up to £1,000, about $1,300. Adam Silverstein has written on this very subject for the Times newspaper. He described to Sean Lay what happened when he started to challenge this behaviour on his daily commute on the London Underground Transport System, locally known as the Tube. I very politely, with a smile, asked them to stop using speakerphone and to put headphones in. And what sort of reactions did you get? Most people were apologetic and they looked quite embarrassed.

I was quite surprised by their lack of self-awareness. However, I did get some more testy responses. It was probably the bravest thing I've done, speaking to these people, because I'm a good Brit. I'm non-confrontational to the max. You usually grumble behind your newspaper, do you? Absolutely. Absolutely. Just passive aggressively, silently wishing for their day to go badly as they're ruining my journey. Most people did put headphones in or they were apologetic.

However, I didn't enjoy speaking to a couple of teenagers who didn't speak to me. One of them just stared at me in response or a woman who was face timing hering her mother from Finchley Road to Stammore which is a which is a long journey and even her mother on facetime asked her to put headphones in and she refused so even her mum she refused her mum well you had no chance what is it you find particularly annoying for me this is one of the greatest ills of the 21st century I just cannot believe how inconsiderate it is. It's funny because the iPhone was released in 2007 and it had speakerphone, but I've only really noticed this since the pandemic, this amount of rude behaviour.

Is there a danger that we're looking to the state to police this, because we ourselves are not prepared to take responsibility? The state already polices smoking, it polices drinking on the tube, and the speakerphone causes as much of a public nuisance as they do. Nobody likes the smell of a cigarette on the tube. That's now illegal, I think, just for the record. But just in terms of this specific thing, do you think a fine is going to change behaviour? Do we need to increase our empathy for those around us?

I think we're too far gone as a society to increase our empathy. These phones are with us now and the only way forward is a fine and I think a £1,000 fine is the right way. It has to be heavy, it has to be drastic. Adam Silverstein. Let's return to our main story. Pope Francis has been buried at his favourite church in Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore, after a funeral attended by world leaders, royalty, clergy and a quarter of a million mourners. At the ceremony in St Peter's Square, the 88-year-old was remembered for his work supporting migrants, the poor and the marginalised. These were the sounds at the Vatican on Saturday.

I extend respectful greetings and heartfelt thanks to the heads of state, heads of government and official delegations who have come from many countries to express their affection, veneration and esteem for our late Holy Father. Faced with the raging wars of recent years and their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace. Let us commend to God's tender mercy the soul of Pope Francis, Bishop of the Catholic Church, who confirmed his brothers and sisters in the faith of the resurrection. Sounds in Rome at the funeral of Pope Francis.

And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Zabihullah Quresh. The producer was Liam McShephry. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernadette Keough. Until next time, goodbye.