Connect with us

INTERNACIONAL

Pope Francis and US presidents: A look back at his legacy with the nation’s leaders

Published

on


U.S. presidents mourned the death of Pope Francis, who served as the leader of the Catholic Church for 12 years, on Monday following the Vatican’s announcement of the pope’s passing. 

«Rest in Peace Pope Francis!» President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday. «May God Bless him and all who loved him!»

Advertisement

The College of Cardinals elected Pope Francis, 88, to serve as the pope following Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013. His election marked the first time a non-European served as pope in more than 1,000 years. Pope Francis, born with the name Jorge Mario Bergoglio, originally hailed from Argentina. 

Pope Francis, who was hospitalized in February due to complications stemming from bronchitis and pneumonia, died Monday at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. 

Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, met with Pope Francis on Sunday in one of the reception rooms of the Vatican hotel just hours before the pope’s death. Vance acknowledged the visit in a post on X Monday while expressing his condolences to Christians who loved the pope, and shared a link to the transcript of one of the pope’s 2020 homilies. 

Advertisement

POPE FRANCIS DEAD AT 88, VATICAN SAYS

Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP)

«My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill,» Vance said in a post on X on Monday. «But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul.»

Advertisement

Trump also signed an executive order Monday ordering all U.S. flags be flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels to remember Francis. The order also applies to all U.S. embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

Here’s a look at Pope Francis’ legacy with other U.S. leaders:

Barack Obama

Pope Francis met with former President Barack Obama at the Vatican in March 2014. The two met again in September of the following year during Pope Francis’ visit to the White House, where the pope delivered a statement urging action on climate change. Following his visit to the White House, Francis also visited New York City and Philadelphia. 

Advertisement

Obama issued a statement Monday morning lauding the pope for his leadership. 

POPE FRANCIS EXPOSES CONFIDENTIAL DETAILS ABOUT HIS ELECTION AND RELATIONSHIPS IN LENGTHY INTERVIEW 

President Barack Obama and Pope Francis walk down the Colonnade before meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 23, 2015. 

President Barack Obama and Pope Francis walk down the Colonnade before meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 23, 2015. 

«In his humility and his gestures at once simple and profound – embracing the sick, ministering to the homeless, washing the feet of young prisoners – he shook us out of our complacency and reminded us that we are all bound by moral obligations to God and one another,» Obama said in a post on X Monday morning. 

Advertisement

«Today, Michelle and I mourn with everyone around the world – Catholic and non-Catholic alike – who drew strength and inspiration from the Pope’s example,» Obama said. «May we continue to heed his call to ‘never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope.’»

Donald Trump

Trump met with Pope Francis in 2017 during a trip to the Vatican, and told reporters later that they had a «fantastic meeting.» However, the two remained at odds with one another over Trump’s border policies for the last decade. 

«A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,» Pope Francis said in February 2016 amid Trump’s push on the campaign trail to build a border wall and crack down on illegal immigration. 

Advertisement
Pope Francis obituary, file image of the dead pontiff

Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on May 24, 2017. (Vatican/Pool/Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori via Getty Images)

In response, Trump said: «For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.»

Pope Francis routinely issued similar statements, and in February penned a letter to U.S. Catholic bishops and voiced concern about the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans. 

«The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,» Pope Francis said in the letter. 

Advertisement

Joe Biden

Former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president, visited the Vatican in October 2021, where he and Pope Francis met to discuss topics including climate change and advocacy for the poor, according to a readout of the meeting. 

Biden had previously met Pope Francis on several other occasions, including during the pope’s visit to the U.S. in 2015. 

Biden also met with Pope Francis in June at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Apulia, Italy, where the two discussed the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, according to a readout of the meeting. 

Advertisement

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Pope Francis meets Joe Biden and and Jill Biden

Pope Francis meets President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 29, 2021 in Vatican City, Vatican.  (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

Biden, who awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January, described him as a «consequential» leader on Monday who was a «Pope for everyone.» 

«He was unlike any who came before him,» Biden said in a post on X Monday morning. «Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him. For decades, he served the most vulnerable across Argentina and his mission of serving the poor never ceased. As Pope, he was a loving pastor and challenging teacher who reached out to different faiths.»

Advertisement

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

Pope Francis,White House,Vatican News & Updates,Trump’s First 100 Days,Donald Trump

INTERNACIONAL

Federal judge extends ban on Trump’s order targeting Harvard international students

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A federal judge in Boston agreed Monday to extend a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump’s attempt to block international students from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard. 

Advertisement

The update is a near-term win for the nation’s oldest university in its months-long fight with the Trump administration.

Lawyers for Harvard had urged U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs on Monday to extend two restraining orders that blocked the Trump administration from revoking its credentials under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, or SEVP, and which temporarily blocked a proclamation Trump signed earlier this month that barred foreign nationals from traveling to the U.S. if they planned to study or research at Harvard. 

«The proclamation is a plain violation of the First Amendment,» Ian Gershengorn, a lawyer for Harvard, told Judge Burroughs in court on Monday in seeking a preliminary injunction, a more lasting form of court-ordered relief. 

Advertisement

CONTINUED COURT FIGHTS COULD PUT HARVARD IN UNWINNABLE POSITION VS TRUMP

Banners on the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg)

Burroughs extended the temporary restraining order through June 23, noting that she needed more time to formally rule on the request for injunctive relief.

Advertisement

«We’ll kick out an opinion as soon as we can,» she told the court Monday afternoon, shortly before proceedings wrapped for the day.

At issue is a push to revoke Harvard’s credentials under its SEVP program, announced by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in May; and a separate proclamation signed by Trump in June, seeking to block foreign nationals from entering the U.S. if they were planning to study or conduct research at Harvard. 

Both actions were temporarily blocked by Burroughs. Now, lawyers for the school are pushing for a more permanent form of relief known as a preliminary injunction.

Advertisement

In the interim, lawyers for Harvard said that the Trump administration’s actions have injected «unnecessary uncertainty for Harvard and its students, who may yet again have their status as lawfully present nonimmigrants in the United States abruptly and categorically rescinded.»

Harvard argued that the Trump administration’s actions would violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment – injecting «continued chaos and lasting damage on Harvard for no compelling reason,» they said in a filing.

STATE DEPARTMENT NOW SCRUTINIZING ALL VISA HOLDERS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVARD

Advertisement
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller addresses reporters

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump officials have accused Harvard University of «fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,» according to a statement earlier this year, and for failing to account for «known illegal activity» on its campus. 

Lawyers for Harvard told Burroughs in court on Monday that these actions have already injected uncertainty into the lives of their international students. 

They noted that some foreign students were incorrectly denied visas after indicating their plans to study at Harvard, while at least four other students were wrongfully detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials earlier this month upon arriving in the U.S. at Boston’s Logan International Airport. 

Advertisement

TRUMP NOMINATES FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY

Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledges an extended round of applause during Harvard University's commencement ceremonies, Thursday, May 29, 2025 in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledges an extended round of applause during Harvard University’s commencement ceremonies, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass.  (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Harvard is also fighting to retain its SEVP accreditation. The program is run by the Department of Homeland Security and allows universities to sponsor international students for U.S. visas for the duration of their enrollment at a public university.

If it loses that status, experts previously told Fox News, thousands of international students currently enrolled at Harvard will have a narrow window to either transfer to another U.S. university, or risk losing their student visas within 180 days.

Advertisement

Lawyers for Harvard previously told Burroughs that ending their SEVP certification would affect roughly 7,000 international students at Harvard – or some 27% of its total student body. 

Monday’s hearing was the latest in a string of legal dust-ups that have pitted Harvard against the Trump administration – or vice versa – in Trump’s second White House term.

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

Advertisement
Harvard graduation anti-Israel protest

Cambridge, MA – May 23: Hundreds of graduates walked out of the 2024 Commencement in Harvard Yard to call attention to the plight of Palestinians.  (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Since Trump took office in January, the administration has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts awarded to the university, and is proposing to end its tax-exempt status, among other things. 

The administration is also targeting Harvard with investigations led by six separate federal agencies. 

Combined, these actions have created a wide degree of uncertainty at Harvard.

Advertisement

Legal experts noted the court is wading into largely uncharted territory. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Asked how it might play out, many scholars pointed to a lack of precedent and offered no clear answer.

Advertisement

 «As with many things that Trump does, the answer is unclear, because it hasn’t been done before,» Josh Blackman, a law professor at South Texas College of Law, said last month. «No president has tried to do this before, so I don’t think there’s a clear precedent on the answer.»

Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

Israel activates ‘Barak Magen’ aerial defenses for system’s first ever interception

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Israel activated a new aerial defense system – dubbed «Barak Magen,» meaning «lightning shield» – for the first time on Sunday night, saying it intercepted and destroyed multiple Iranian drones.

Advertisement

The Israeli Navy intercepted eight Iranian drones using the «Barak Magen» and its long-range air defense (LRAD) interceptor, which were launched from an Israeli navy Sa’ar 6 missile ship, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

John Hannah, senior fellow at The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) and the co-author of a report published earlier this month on Israel’s defense against two massive Iranian missile attacks in 2024, told Fox News Digital on Monday that the air defense system «significantly enhances» the air and missile defense architecture of Israel’s navy.

«The Barak Magen is simply another arrow in the expanding quiver of Israel’s highly sophisticated and increasingly diverse multi-tiered missile defense architecture – which was already, by leaps and bounds, the most advanced and experienced air defense system fielded by any country in the world,» Hannah said.

Advertisement

USS NIMITZ CARRIER STRIKE GROUP SAILING TOWARD MIDDLE EAST AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, US OFFICIAL SAYS

The «Barak Magen» interceptors were launched from an Israeli navy Sa’ar 6 missile ship. (Israel Defense Forces)

The system can intercept a «wide range of threats,» according to the IDF, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles, high-trajectory threats and shore-to-sea missiles.

Advertisement

Hannah said the system not only provides force protection for the Israeli fleet but also gives long-distance protection to Israel’s expanding oil and gas infrastructure in the eastern Mediterranean, along with critical infrastructure and population centers located along Israel’s coastline.

«It allows Israel to conduct interceptions at significant distances from the Israeli homeland, both out in the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and thereby adds critically important strategic depth when defending Israel’s tiny geographic area,» he said.

The IDF said that the Israeli Navy’s missile ship flotilla has intercepted about 25 UAVs that posed a threat to Israel since the conflict with Iran escalated.

Advertisement

ISRAEL SAYS IT HAS AERIAL SUPERIORITY OVER TEHRAN, IRANIAN INTELLIGENCE LEADER KILLED

Israel and Iran traded missile strikes for the fourth day on Monday, with Iran firing a new wave of strikes that killed at least eight people and wounded dozens more.

Fire and smoke rise from an Iranian oil depot

An Israeli attack on the Shahran oil depot on June 15, 2025, in Tehran, Iran.  (Stringer/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed it had achieved air superiority above Tehran, warning about 330,000 people in a central part of the Iranian capital to evacuate ahead of new strikes.


Advertisement
Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

Video: así fue el intenso bombardeo de Irán a Tel Aviv en el que murieron 10 personas

Published

on


El brutal bombardeo de Irán a Tel Aviv de este sábado por la noche dejó 10 muertos y decenas de heridos. También dejó varias imágenes impactantes grabadas por los propios ciudadanos israelíes.

La ofensiva iraní estuvo dirigida sobre el norte del país, más precisamente en la zona de Haifa. Las autoridades israelíes informaron que sufrieron el impacto de misiles en zonas residenciales.

Advertisement

Leé también: Noche de terror en Medio Oriente: diez muertos y destrozos en Tel Aviv por un nuevo ataque iraní

Las alarmas de emergencia se activaron en la zona durante la noche del sábado y las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel confirmaron el ataque con misiles por parte del ejército iraní. También detallaron a la población que el sistema de defensa antiaéreo conocido como “La Cúpula de Hierro” estaba operativo.

Los vecinos grabaron el momento en que los misiles comenzaron a caer en territorio israelí: decenas de luces comenzaron a sobrevolar por los edificios.

Advertisement

Algunos pudieron detectar el momento en que la Cúpula de Hierro interceptó los misiles, mientras que otros videos muestran el impacto de los mismos sobre el territorio israelí.

Uno de los bombardeos provocó el derrumbe de un edificio de cuatro pisos y causó la muerte de al menos ocho personas.

La ofensiva iraní estuvo dirigida sobre el norte del país, más precisamente en la zona de Haifa. (Video: X/@NoaGresiva).

Advertisement

Una vez finalizado el ataque, varios civiles se acercaron al edificio derrumbado y registraron cómo el edificio había pasado a ser escombros.

El bombardeo de este sábado por la noche se produjo después de una jornada intensa de ofensivas israelíes sobre diversos puntos de Irán, incluidos sitios estratégicos para su programa militar y nuclear.

De hecho, mientras respondía a la amenaza que cayó este sábado, la Fuerza Aérea israelí continuaba operando sobre Teherán.

Advertisement
Video Placeholder

Una vez finalizado el ataque, varias personas se acercaron al edificio derrumbado y registraron cómo el edificio había pasado a ser escombros. (Video: X/@NoaGresiva).

Según confirmaron las propias autoridades iraníes, fueron alcanzados el Ministerio de Defensa —donde se registraron daños leves— y dos depósitos de combustible. Se trataría de los depósitos de Shahran, al noroeste de Teherán, y otro embalse al sur de la ciudad.

Más temprano, las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel (FDI) habían confirmado una maniobra contra una instalación militar subterránea en el oeste de Irán, un punto estratégico previamente revelado por las autoridades y exhibido como parte de su demostración de poderío militar.

Tel Aviv, a través de sus canales oficiales, confirmó la operación y detalló que se habían alcanzado con éxito “los túneles de almacenamiento para misiles tierra-tierra y de crucero, así como los múltiples pozos de lanzamiento”.

Advertisement
Video Placeholder

Las alarmas de emergencia se activaron en la zona durante la noche del sábado y las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel confirmaron el ataque con misiles por parte del ejército iraní. (Video: X/@NoaGresiva).

En las primeras horas de este sábado, las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel anunciaron haber alcanzado el yacimiento de gas South Pars, la refinería de gas natural Fajr Jam y el puerto de GNL de Kangan, ubicados en la provincia de Bushehr, en el sur del país.

Según los informes de las agencias Tasnim y Fars, un dron israelí impactó una de las refinerías de la Fase 14 de South Pars, causando una explosión e incendio que obligaron a suspender las operaciones temporalmente.

“Muy pronto verán aviones de la Fuerza Aérea israelí sobre los cielos de Teherán. Atacaremos todos los objetivos del régimen de los ayatolás”, declaró Benjamin Netanyahu en las últimas horas, antes de advertir que las imágenes actuales «no son nada» comparado con las que se verán en los próximos días.

Advertisement

Leé también: Pese al ataque de Israel, el programa nuclear de Irán seguiría en marcha y el rol de EE.UU. se vuelve clave

Por su parte, el ministro de Defensa de Israel, Israel Katz, había asegurado que “Teherán arderá” si continúan los ataques y sumó que el pueblo iraní pagará “un alto precio” por poner en peligro a los ciudadanos israelíes. Horas más tarde, tras el ataque iraní sobre su país y la respuesta de la Fuerza Aérea, dijo: “Arde Teherán”.

Israel, Irán, bombardeo

Advertisement
Continue Reading

LO MAS LEIDO

Tendencias

Copyright © 2025 NDM - Noticias del Momento | #Noticias #Chimentos #Política #Fútbol #Economía #Sociedad