NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-21-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Local parishioners gathered to pray and light candles at a church in Buenos Aires shortly after the death of Pope Francis was announced today. Francis was the first Latin American pope and his legacy resonated deeply in his homeland, Argentina. In Vatican City, bells tolled at St. Peter's Basilica as crowds flooded to the square to pay tribute to the pope. Francis is being remembered for his humility and his unwavering commitment to the poor and marginalized. The Vatican has released the official cause of the pope's death. NPR's

Jason DeRose has the details. Jason DeRose, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News

Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, NPR News Agency, history of acute respiratory failure caused by double pneumonia, high blood pressure,

and type 2 diabetes. Earlier this year, Francis was hospitalized for more than a month due to pneumonia. As late as Sunday, he attended Easter Mass and met with world leaders and the faithful at the Vatican. Pope Francis was 88 years old. Jason DeRose, NPR News. With the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church now begins the ancient and secretive process of choosing his successor. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports Francis opened up the College of Cardinals globally. He has appointed Catholic cardinals from parts of the world that had never been represented at the Vatican. So now what happens is once these hundred plus

cardinals meet in Rome, probably within the next week or so, many of them don't know each other. So it's all all better off of who the next Pope could be. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reporting from Rome. Stalks on Wall Street tumbled today as President Trump renewed his attacks on the chairman of the Federal Reserve. NPR's Scott Horsley reports. President Trump took to social media once again to complain the Federal Reserve has been too slow to lower interest rates.

Trump's own tariffs are making it more difficult for the Fed to cut rates. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned last week, taxing nearly everything the U.S. imports is likely to push inflation higher, at least temporarily. Trump dismissed that threat and belittled Powell, calling the Fed chairman a major loser. Investors who were already rattled by the President's trade war are not likely to be reassured by his attacks on the central bank, oil prices fell on fears of a global economic slowdown, and the yield on 10-year treasuries rose. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down 971 points. The Nasdaq was down 415.

This is NPR News in Washington. Beijing is threatening to retaliate against any country that negotiates a trade deal with the U.S. that hurts China. The governments of Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea have been holding talks with the U.S. since President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports. Veterans Affairs officials recently issued a memo in response to widespread concern that mental health therapists would not have privacy due to overcrowding at VA facilities. NPR's Katie Ariddle reports.

The memo appears to mandate that VA therapists have private spaces. It follows reporting from NPR suggesting clinicians at the VA would have to conduct telehealth therapy sessions with headsets in shared offices. Lynn Buffett is with the American Psychological Association. The organization raised alarm about privacy. Lynn Buffett, MD, MS, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN,

MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MSN, MS therapist or hearing what's being said. The VA has said repeatedly that veterans will be guaranteed private therapy sessions. Katie Arrett, NPR News. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering changes to how it tracks carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Such gases are the main cause of climate change. The EPA currently requires thousands of factories and other industrial sites to report their greenhouse gas emissions, but now the agency is considering changing those guidelines. Some industrial sites could be exempted from the reporting rules. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.