Your World Tonight - Pope Leo's inaugural mass, Joe Biden diagnosed with cancer, predicting volcanic eruptions and more

Episode Date: May 18, 2025

People from around the world descended on Saint Peter's Square this morning for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XVI. World leaders also attended the event, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The more than two hour long event featured song, symbolism and a message of Peace. We'll take you to The Vatican for the day's events.Also: Former U.S. President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Our Washington bureau has more details.And: 45 years ago today, ash rained down on parts of western Canada, as Mount Saint Helens erupted near Seattle. Dozens of people were killed, and scientists say it's going to happen again. But this time - new technology could people prepare for an predict future eruptions.Plus: Three children killed in Toronto car crash, the "shrubification" destroying Arctic ecosystems, and more.

How did the internet go from this? You could actually find what you were looking for right away, bound to this. I feel like I'm in hell. Spoiler alert, it was not an accident. I'm Cory Doctorow, host of Who Broke the Internet from CBC's Understood. In this four-part series, I'm going to tell you

why the internet sucks now, whose fault it is, and my plan to fix it. Find Who Broke the Internet on whatever terrible app you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Stephanie Scanderis and this is your World Tonight. I will leave Rome tomorrow morning more convinced than ever that Canada has what the world wants. Prime Minister Mark Carney's trip to Rome has been one of faith and foreign affairs, meeting with fellow world leaders as well as the new pope.

Also on the podcast, Indigenous leaders hope the new pontiff fulfills a promise from the last one and returns important artifacts to their communities. Plus, what's the deal with shrubification? That is when plants like this one, shrubs, are growing larger and they are becoming more abundant. But those big shrubs are bad for Arctic biodiversity. We'll tell you why. biodiversity. We'll tell you why. [♪techno music playing on video.♪

[♪techno music playing on video.♪ People from around the world descended on St. Peter's Square this morning, tens of thousands at the Vatican for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV. World leaders also attended the event, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The more than two-hour long service featured song, symbolism, and a message of peace. Tom Perry reports from the Vatican. Music rising from St. Peter's Square. The heart of the Vatican, filled with pilgrims, gathered under sunny skies to worship, pray, and listen to the words of the new

head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV. During the Mass, I felt the spiritual presence of Pope Francis. The new pontiff telling the faithful that in this inaugural mass, he feels the spiritual presence of Pope Francis, who he says accompanies them from heaven. Francis, Leo's predecessor who died late last month at the age of 88, was a relentless advocate for peace and justice. His message echoed today by Leo, who called for an end to the suffering in Ukraine and Gaza.

In the joy of faith and communion we cannot forget our brothers and sisters who suffer from wars, he says. In Gaza, children, families and elderly survivors are starving, while Ukraine, he says, awaits negotiations for a just and lasting peace. That message heard at the front of the crowd by official delegations and leaders who traveled to the Vatican from around the world. Among them, Prime Minister Mark Carney, a devout Catholic accompanied by his wife and daughter, heading a Canadian contingent made up of indigenous leaders, Catholic clergy, senators, and liberal MPs. Carney and his family met briefly with the Pope after the ceremony, but the Prime Minister has used his time in Rome to speak with European leaders. Italy's Prime Minister

Giorgia Maloney, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Carney as well, meeting today with US Vice President JD Vance. Laying the groundwork, he says, for the G7 summit the Prime Minister will host in Cananascus, Alberta next month. So there's a tremendous opportunity for Canada to help lead a world that is being reshaped to the advantage of Canadians and in the spirit of today's proceedings to the advantage of all in the world.

All corners of the world were represented in St. Peter's Square today with many in the crowd waving flags from countries around the globe including Canada. Gabriel Wu came from Toronto with his family of nine spanning three generations. Yeah it wasn't easy bringing the whole group here as you can imagine. There's the young and there's the older but I think this is what you know hopefully we'll all remember and the kids will remember this for you know the rest of their lives that they were here not just with you know their siblings and their parents but also all four grandparents. The family counting themselves fortunate, even blessed, to be here among fellow Catholics

at a historic moment. A new pope carrying on an ancient tradition. A church that has spanned centuries, making a new start. Tom Perry, CBC News, The Vatican. The Prime Minister also announced from Rome there will be no federal budget this spring. The last federal budget was tabled more than 400 days ago in April 2024. The House of Commons resumes sitting on May 26th and will rise less than a month later. Carney says he doesn't see a point in tabling one right now. There is not much value in my judgment and it's considered judgment and it's judgment

based on experience that there is not much value in trying to rush through a budget in a very narrow window three weeks with a new cabinet. Carney says the Liberals will table a budget in the fall. Now the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and the President of the Metis National Council are also part of the delegation to Rome. They are calling on the Vatican to return thousands of important cultural artifacts, something Pope Francis committed to doing three years ago.

But as Alexander Silberman reports, there's concern the new Pope might not keep that promise. Wow. Cindy Woodhouse-Nipanak is looking at pieces of indigenous history that she can only view in photos. There's spiritual things in there as well, right? A rare Western Arctic kayak, Cree embroidered gloves, all among the vast collection stored in the Vatican's museums and archives. They need to return it.

I think that's a big signal from the Church, if they do, to try to find a new page and turning forward. The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations is renewing the fight to return these objects to Canada, calling on newly elected Pope Leo to commit to their repatriation. I think this would be huge, monumental, a big piece of righting the wrongs of the past. We're optimistic that we move in a good way

and in a positive way. In 2022, a delegation of Indigenous leaders traveled to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. Church officials also gave them a private tour of some of the artifacts. Francis formally apologized for the role of some members of the Catholic Church and promised Indigenous artifacts would be returned to their home communities. But progress to get them home has been slow. When you bring back these objects, it will awaken people. Lloyd Fable is unpacking a recently returned eagle staff,

now on display at a museum at the Poundmaker Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. The curator says colonization, removed identity, and repatriation helps restore what was lost. So it strengthens our link with the past. We need that more in these days because our languages and our cultures, they're very much threatened. Catholic missionaries around the world

sent thousands of indigenous artifacts to Rome in the early 1900s. It's unclear how many are from Canada and how they came to be in the church's possession. The Vatican says they were gifts, but indigenous leaders refute that narrative. These are crucial items that belonged to First Nations. Chief Bobby Cameron leads the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, which represents communities in Saskatchewan. Work with First Nations, work with the residential school survivors to give those back to the rightful owners.

Indigenous leaders say their optimistic, newly elected Pope Leo will uphold the promise of his predecessor, but plan to continue pressing for their precious cultural belongings to be returned home. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, Regina. Still ahead 45 years ago today, ash rained down on parts of western Canada as Mount St. Helens erupted near Seattle. Dozens of people were killed and scientists say it's going to erupt again. But this time we have a chance to prepare. You'll hear about the technology making that possible coming up on your world tonight.

Joe Biden's office says the former U.S. president has been diagnosed with cancer. The announcement coming late Sunday afternoon. Katie Simpson is tracking the story from Washington. Katie, I understand limited details so far, but what do we know? Yeah, Joe Biden has been diagnosed with what his office is calling an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The news being shared by the former president in a statement this afternoon. It reads, last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.

On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management. The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians. Biden will have access to some of the best medical care in the U.S., if not the world. The 82 year old left office earlier this year. He of course dropped his re-election bid months before the last election over concerns about his health and fitness. The US Centers for Disease Control says among men prostate cancer is the second

most common type of cancer with age being a key risk factor. Biden is reportedly spending the weekend at home with his family in Delaware as he figures out what to do next. Okay, Katie, thanks so much. Thanks. Katie Simpson reporting from Washington. Israel says it'll allow a limited amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza. No food or medical supplies have been allowed into the Palestinian territory since March, part of a strategy by Israel to pressure Hamas to release all remaining hostages. But that blockade has led to acute food shortages and UN

experts warning Gaza is at a critical risk of famine. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering of Palestinian civilians, accusing the militant group of stealing food aid. Tragedy struck early this morning in Toronto near Pearson Airport. Three children are dead and three other people injured. In a crash police say involved an impaired driver. Cameron Mahler has more. This is a result a family is torn apart. Three children are dead following a fatal accident involving two minivans early Sunday morning. Stopped at a red light on Renforth Drive, four children, their mother and a family friend were struck. Toronto Police Inspector, Baheer Sarbanandan.

It's alleged the Dutch caravan was travelling at a high rate of speed, lost control, went over the raised median, collided with the minivan that was stopped. Two of the children, a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old, were pronounced dead at the scene. A six-year-old was transported to a nearby trauma center but was later pronounced dead as well. The mother, family friend and fourth child were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police allege the driver that struck the family was impaired.

We're here again listening to a story about another family who has suffered such significant loss. Steve Sullivan is the CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada. He said young men between the ages of 18 and 32 are the most likely to be impaired behind the wheel. That's the highest risk category for a lot of dangerous and risky behaviour, but certainly for impaired driving. And it's the younger you are, the more challenging because you haven't been driving for that long. Sullivan says his organization has been targeting young men for this very reason. Their new campaign called Heroes

is aimed at young men making safe decisions. Handing over their keys, waiting for a bus, waiting for a ride sharing Uber. They're young men. They're not really thinking about long-term consequences. Police have charged 19-year-old Ethan L'Houlier with three counts of dangerous driving causing death ride-sharing Uber. They're young men. They're not really thinking about long-term consequences. Police have charged 19-year-old Ethan L'Houlier with three counts of dangerous driving causing death and three counts causing bodily harm, as well as three counts of impaired driving

causing death and three causing bodily harm. Toronto police say they're still investigating a reconstruction of the collision. Cameron Mahler, CBC News, Kitchener, Ontario. The Transportation Safety Board is investigating a train collision in Alberta. It happened just outside the town of Edson, about 190 kilometres west of Edmonton. RCMP say two freight trains crashed into each other early Sunday morning. One was carrying grain, the other carried batteries. Police say there are no reports of injuries and there are no environmental concerns related to the crash. An evacuation order has been partially lifted for Lac de Bonne,

Manitoba. A wildfire there killed two residents who were trapped in their home. Several fires are still burning in the province. Ian Fraze reports on the efforts to contain them and brings us a story of survival from some who escaped. That area has been deemed safe now. The wildfire that swept through Lac du Bonnet has started to ease a little. After nearly a week, around 100 to 150 evacuees can return home. Lauren Schinkel is Lac du Bonnet's reef. We really appreciate their patience. Warren Shinkle is Lactobon's reef. The town lifted part of its evacuation order late Sunday afternoon, but 850 more still have to wait.

A little relief for a community that's lost property and lives. A married couple died last week, trapped by the fast moving fire. However, southeastern Manitoba remains on high alert. Several fires in the area are still raging. Some feel lucky they made it out. They were coming to tell us it's a fire. These backcountry campers were flown out last week. And next thing you know a chopper starts circling around our campsite. Eric Goche was camping on Garner Lake near the Ontario border with his friend Pascal

Breton and their two sons. They had no phone service, no idea of the evacuation order or that a wall of fire was approaching. Breton says a friend who knew where they were called for their rescue. And when the chopper landed, conservation came out and said, you know, we got to get you guys out of here. Only when they were flying out of Nopaming Provincial Park did they notice the devastation. Breton's six-year-old son Remy Gotron Breton was in shock.

I was not even thinking the camping trip was like already done, but it was done. The long weekend brought some other relief. Rain. It may be 5 to 10, 10 to 15, enough to wet the ground and to create optimism. David Phillips is with Environment Canada. It's been kind of cloudy and it's certainly coolish, but they haven't got the monsoonal kind of rains that they needed. The province also needs firefighters and it's getting them. It says 21 more BC firefighters have arrived

and 40 are coming from Alberta. Just over the border in Ontario, more than 90 BC firefighters are helping local crews respond to a blaze and they are changing tactics. We have an opportunity to get people closer to that fire perimeter as the fire behavior is much reduced and safer for those personnel to approach. Environment Canada says there's no rain in the upcoming forecast, but the cooler temperatures and calmer winds will help. Ian Frayes, CBC News, Winnipeg.

Winnipeg. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. Forty-five years ago today, the eruption of Mount St. Helens south of Seattle, Washington, killed nearly 60 people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and sent ash as far away as southeastern B.C. and parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. It was the deadliest and most destructive volcanic eruption in US history and scientists say it will happen again in our lifetime.

But as Johanna Wagstaff tells us, today's technology is giving us an early warning system. The sound of Mount St. Helens blowing out 45 years ago is one John Clegg won't soon forget. There was this huge, huge, what sounded to me like an explosion. There was a sound wave from the eruption of the, as it turned out, from the volcano. Scientists say it's likely Mount St. Helens will erupt again within our lifetime. But it's not going to play out the way you might think. Here's what we know and why we're so confident it will happen. So first of all, the when. Mount St. Helens is an active, explosive, regularly scheduled volcano.

It's erupted more than any other in the continental US over the past few centuries. And volcanoes like this tend to blow about once every 30 to 100 years. Yep, we're getting into that window. But here's the thing, these eruptions don't come out of nowhere. Professor Emeritus John Clegg from Simon Fraser University says we will see it coming. That these things don't necessarily occur out of the blue because there had been this swarm of earthquakes around the volcano that indicated that molten magma was moving up the throat of the volcano. And the other thing that was kind of ominous was the volcano was swelling. And I think, you know, at that point they issued an evacuation.

That was 1980. But Mount St. Helens is still very much alive. Just last June, there was another spike in earthquake activity. Magma started moving again. It didn't reach the surface, but scientists call this a recharging event, a sign that the system is priming itself. So, yes, it will erupt again, and yes, we'll get warning signs. But here's why the next eruption won't look like 1980. That one didn't blow straight up. It blew sideways. Because the mountain's flank had been weakened by a large body of molten rock inside. Eventually, that slope gave way, a landslide triggered a rapid pressure drop and the magma exploded out the side in what's called a lateral blast. That sideways eruption is what caught people off guard.

Today that slope is gone. In its place a deep crater and that crater acts like a pressure valve. If magma builds again it's more likely to vent upwards or into the crater instead of pushing through a plugged unstable slope. But don't get too comfortable. An eruption straight up doesn't necessarily mean it's safer, says John Clegg. You know, damage and death is difficult to predict, but you can use the form of the volcano to kind of give you some idea. And the earthquakes now can be located so precisely with the seismic monitoring equipment that you can kind of even track how that magma is moving up through the throat in more detail than was possible in 1980. So 45 years later, we're not only expecting

another eruption, we have better tools, better models, and a better sense of timing. But the force of nature, that's still very real. It could have been a ship exploding in the harbor, but it was actually the eruption of Mount St. Helens. It was totally remarkable. Johanna Weckstaff, CBC News, Vancouver. Shrubs are not usually considered threatening plants but in the Arctic tundra, shrubbification is destroying entire ecosystems and threatening important wildlife like caribou. As the Arctic continues to warm

faster than anywhere else on earth, scientists are just starting to understand the full scope of the problem. Darius Madhavi has the story. So this is the growth chamber room where we have our Arctic plants. In a basement lab at the University of British Columbia, Anya Bordman is looking for signs of life. And then we have some new growth in here. We have like little buds coming out. 21 pots of soil kept at a chilly four degrees under bright grow lights.

We brought these back from the tundra last summer. Most pots appear barren. Blades of grass sprout from a handful. From one, a single leaf pokes through the dirt. If I had to guess I would say this is Salix arctica. Boardman is the lab and field coordinator for Team Shrub, a research group dedicated to understanding how plant communities in the Arctic are changing. Sometimes when I tell people I'm an Arctic plant researcher, their first thing they say is wait, there are plants in the Arctic. So the Arctic is actually incredibly biodiverse. But that biodiversity is under threat.

In certain places in the Arctic, like on Svalbard, they've already seen four degrees of warming. Overall, the Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average. In the winter, that number is way higher. The winter average temperature is increasing by 10 or even 15 degrees. That is simply too fast for many species to keep up. But in places like Svalbard and other places in the Arctic, some of the changes are not just coming, they are here and they've been here. Team Shrub researchers were part of a major new report, which drew on over 40 years of

data collected across more than 2,000 sites in the Arctic. The study found that the overall number of plant species in the Arctic is actually holding steady, but that doesn't mean nothing has changed. It's really important to look place to place because even if overall the number of species aren't changing, regionally the species within a certain site are changing quite dramatically. One of the biggest changes? Shrubification. That is when plants like this one, shrubs, are growing larger and they are becoming more abundant.

And despite their name, Team Shrub isn't just interested in the plants themselves. The shrubs impact a bunch of different functions of the Arctic tundra. Jordan Sider is a PhD student and scientist with Team Shrub. Caribou, particularly like, they eat a lot of lichen. But as shrubs grow larger and across more of the tundra, they are out competing the lichens. That's a huge loss of their diet and it will be detrimental to the caribou,

their body condition, their ability to raise calves. And then there's the caribou migration. It's also difficult to move around. Shrubs can be a couple meters tall, surprisingly, in some areas and that makes it difficult to avoid predators. When caribou decline, the knock-on effects can hit ecosystems hard, as well as communities up north. Caribou are such an iconic species across the country, and particularly for the northern Inuit and First Nations people. So in the fall when they go out hunting, if there's no caribou, that's a big deficit.

In the tundra, there are no easy answers. But whether in the lab or in the field, Arctic researchers are hard at work tackling the tough questions. Darius Badawi, CBC News, Vancouver. Elton John has made some of the most recognizable and creatively original music there is, and he's trying to make sure younger artists can do the same. Earlier this month, he was one of more than 400 British musicians, writers, and artists who signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to update copyright laws

so that artists are protected from AI. Those who signed include Paul McCartney, Ian McKellen, Kate Bush, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, playwright Tom Stoppard, and Dua Lipa. Well, I thought and thought I kept it here Cold, cold heart This week, the British government sided with the AI companies, rejecting proposals

that would force them to disclose whatever artists' content they use to develop their programs. Generative AI companies learn from things like pictures and music so they can seem more human-like. Disclosing their use of copyright-protected work could give the creators a chance to charge money for their work. Instead, John says they could lose that ability. Here's what he told the BBC. Some people aren't like me. They don't earn as much as I do.

But when they're creative and it comes from the human soul, and not a machine, because a machine isn't capable of writing anything with any soul in it, if you've got to get rid of that and you've got to rob young people of their legacy and their income, it's a criminal offence, I think. I think the government are just being absolute losers. And I'm very angry about it, as you can tell. He also describes the technology secretary as a bit of a moron and says the PM needs to wise up and that if the government doesn't change its mind, he'd be ready to fight it

all the way in court. As he gears up for that, we'll leave you with some more from Elton John on your world tonight. This is I'm Still Standing and I'm Stephanie Scanderis. Thank you for listening. Good night.