The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/21 at 06:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/21 at 06:00 EDT

When they predict we'll fall, we rise to the challenge. When they say we're not a country, we stand on guard. This land taught us to be brave and caring, to protect our values, to leave no one behind. Canada is on the line, and it's time to vote as though our country depends on it, because like never before, it does. I'm Jonathan Pedneau, co-leader of the Green Party of Canada.

This election, each vote makes a difference. Authorized by the Registeredleader of the Green Party of Canada, this election, each vote, makes a difference. Authorized by the Registered Agent of the Green Party of Canada. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Gina Louise Stillens. We begin with breaking news from the Vatican. Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, is dead at the age of 88. In a statement this morning, the Church says Francis died at 7.35 a.m. Vatican City time

on Easter Monday. Francis had been suffering from health problems in recent months, including double pneumonia. Megan Williams reports. Pope Francis was the progressive pope. He was less concerned about church doctrine and more about advocating for migrants, prisoners and the poor. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires in 1936, he was elected in 2013 under remarkable circumstances. After Benedict XVI became the first pope in centuries to step down. A series of firsts went on to mark Bergoglio's papacy,

the first pope from the Western Hemisphere, Latin America, the first from the Jesuit order, and the first to take the name Francis. Upon election, he shunned the opulence of the Apostolic Palace, choosing instead to live in the small guest house inside Vatican City. Francis made history when he traveled to Canada in 2022 on what he called a penitential tour, apologizing to Indigenous peoples for the deplorable conduct of some members of the Catholic Church in the residential school system. It was an important step towards reconciliation,

but he stopped short of saying the church itself was responsible. Megan Williams, CBC News, The Vatican. Well with one week left in the federal election campaign, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is predicting Mark Carney and the Liberals have sealed the deal. Last night on a highly watched Radio-Canada TV show, he predicted the outcome of the federal vote. Raffy Boudjoukanian has more. Voici le chef du Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet.

Tout le monde en parle is an institution in Quebec. Up to a million viewers a week tune into the popular Radio-Canada talk show. An audience bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is still hoping to capture. Even as he tells them it's pretty clear Liberal Mark Carney, his chief rival in the vote-rich province, will end up Prime Minister. As predictions go, it's a lot less bold than the one Blanchet made at the start of the 2021 campaign, that he would send 40 MPs to Parliament, more than half the number of seats available in this province.

Polls suggest the Bloc could lose up to 10 seats in this election. Blanchet is saying he could still be efficient with fewer MPs, but hopes to make a couple of gains with one last prediction. He very much doubts he will resign after election night. Rafi Bouducan, NCBC News, Quebec City. The New York Times is reporting another bombshell story involving the U.S. Defense Secretary, Pete Hagseth. The Times says he created a second group chat on the messaging service Signal. He apparently shared details with his own family of a March military airstrike

against Houthi militants in Yemen. Sabrina Singh is a former deputy press secretary at the Pentagon. I mean it's truly shocking I think when I saw this reporting coming out from the New York Times at first you know there was no question there were going to be more signal threads. This one in particular was started by Pete Hegseth and for him to add, you know, his wife, his brother, his personal attorney, people that don't need access or need to know about classified information about operations involving the Houthis in any way, I mean this is something that we would never do under a previous administration. In a statement last night, the Pentagon said quote,

there was no classified information in any signal chat. And finally in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs took game one of their first round series against the Ottawa Senators last night. Final score 6-2. Game two is on Tuesday. And that is Your World This Hour. You can listen to us on a podcast updated every hour, seven days a week. For CBC News, I'm Gina Louise Phillips.