Reuters World News - Pope's final hours, papal candidates, Trump vs Powell and Iran

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Cardinals are due to meet to plan Pope Francis’ funeral – we look at who could be in the running to be the next pontiff. U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell shakes markets and rattles investors. And what’s next in this week’s round of Iran-US talks. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, the Pope's final hours, and who could take his place in the Catholic Church? Trump's attacks on the Fed chair rattle traders. And what to expect next in US-Iran talks. It's Tuesday, April 22nd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. From St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to Buenos Aires, and to Cape Town, South Africa.

Although we must seem we know that he's with Jesus. His last words were happy Easter to everyone. Isn't that unbelievable? Billions of worshippers are mourning Pope Francis, who died on Monday of a stroke and heart failure. The 88-year-old had spent more than five weeks in hospital for a bout of double pneumonia. The Pope defied doctor's orders for rest and instead kept working until the end of Easter Sunday. The Vatican has confirmed that his funeral will take place on Saturday at St. Peter's Basilica.

Francis will be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, according to his wishes. Joshua McElwy is our Vatican correspondent. Joshua, what do we know so far about the Pope's final hours? We know that after returning from hospital, the Vatican said he had the help of a 24-hour care nurse. We don't know if that nurse was in the room with him when he died at his residence, the Casa Santa Marto. His doctors had asked him to take two months' convalescence after returning back to the Vatican on March 23rd. But the Pope, who is someone who enjoyed working and took his job as leader of the war, world's Catholics very seriously. The last words the Pope had spoken in public on Sunday was to

wish everyone in St. Peter's Square a happy Easter. You saw a Pope who looked okay, but certainly limited and perhaps straining to make a public commitment. So who's seen as a leading candidate right now who might become the next Pope? The scenario of a conclave when the Cardinals meet behind closed doors to check, to elect the new Pope is not for at least a few weeks at this point. Some names that are often floated are Cardinal Pietro Periline, who has been the kind of the number two official at the Vatican during Pope Francis's tenure. He's been the Vatican Secretary of State. Another top official at the Vatican who is often mentioned is Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagli. He's originally from the Philippines.

He's a former Archbishop of Manila, but Pope Francis asked him to come to the Vatican a few years ago to take on a job as the Vatican's leading evangelism official. There are 135 cardinals who we expect will vote in the conclave. And often as it was with Pope Francis, the cardinal who becomes Pope is one a lot of people weren't expecting. How will Pope Francis's selection of cardinals across the world possibly impact the outcome of the conclave? At his death, he had appointed about 80% of the cardinals who will elect his successor. But that doesn't quite mean that his successor will look a lot like Pope Francis.

Francis really emphasized that he wanted people who had been pastors and people who were coming from different parts of the world who had never been cardinals before to be cardinal. And so it's hard to say exactly who the cardinals would be looking for. And of course, these 135 men are coming from very different parts of the world. Some of them probably only met each other in brief passing. And now they will come to Rome and need to talk to one another and decide who should be Pope.

Harvard is suing the Trump administration in an attempt to block the freezing of billions of dollars in federal funding. The lawsuit comes after the university rejected a list of White House demands that it said would undermine its independence. The White House says it's seeking to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses. U.S. President Donald Trump says he's standing behind his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, after reports that Hegseth texted sensitive U.S. military strike plans from his personal phone to his wife, brother, attorney and others.

The White House has denied an NPR report that the Trump administration had begun searching for his replacement. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is open to direct peace talks with Ukraine. Ukrainian president Volodymy Zelenskyy says Kiev is prepared for any discussion to halt attacks on civilian targets. And Trump's approval rating has dipped. That's according to the latest Reuters Ipsos poll, is now at the lowest level since his return to the White House. US stocks suffered steep losses on Monday as Trump ramped up his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump, on social media, calling his own Fed appointee a, quote, major loser and Mr Too Late, demanding that he lower interest rates immediately. The continued attacks have investors worried about the central bank Thanks, independence, even as they grapple with the effects of Trump's erratic trade war. Dan Burns is our economics editor. Dan, what would happen if Trump really tried to fire Powell? Trying to fire Powell would create a genuine crisis, and in moments of crisis, there is, it means extensive uncertainty, and uncertainty is never the friend of investors.

So, in all likelihood, an attempt to fire a pal would mean a fall in stock prices, quite possibly a fall in U.S. treasury prices, as we've already seen, and a further weakening of the dollar. And it would be a significant assault on the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve. And that's important because the Fed is seen widely as the most important central bank in the world and its credibility, through that avenue of independence is really central to the stability of key U.S. assets like U.S. treasuries and to the value of the dollar. There's a case pending before the Supreme Court on whether Trump can fire Democratic members of two federal labor boards that's being closely watched as a potential precedent for whether Trump can remove power. But at this point, can he? It's probably a little bit more complicated than that in the case of the Fed, given just how much higher the stakes are. But that is a starting point. The firing of those Democrats from the Labor Board are what people are watching right now. It's not clear is the unsatisfactory answer. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 that established the Fed specifically says that the Board of Governors members, including the chair, may not be dismissed for anything other than cause, which effectively means committing a crime while in the chair

while in the role. That's not what's happened. Iran and the U.S. will hold another round of talks this week in hopes of reaching a possible deal over Tehran's nuclear weapons program. Deputy Foreign Affairs editor, Humaira Pamuk, lays out what's next in the rapid-paced negotiations. A U.S. official described the Rome talks as yielding very good progress. So that's really important. Now, next phase is expert level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. That means that basically they're going to sit down and start to go into the specifics.

And we'll see how that goes because that's when the negotiation actually gets much more heated. We're going to have to see if there is going to be breakthrough on important points. So where does this leave? Israel. The American position so far has been a little bit confusing because we have seen from Trump's top negotiator, his special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, say in one instance that it's okay that if the Iranian government would continue enrichment to a certain extent, he had a specific percentage, only to have to walk it back less than 24 hours later saying, no, no, no, Iran has to completely dismantle its all nuclear program.

So we're going to have to see what is the bottom line for United States. And that's going to be 100% up to President Donald Trump. How much he wants to have this deal. What is he prepared to give up for it? What is he prepared to say okay to? And for today's recommended read, a collection of photos from Pripyat, Ukraine, near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

They show a region frozen in time after the nuclear disaster. There's a link to the pictures in today's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player and we'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.