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Pope Francis dead at 88, Vatican says
Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, who worked to instill progressive influences on the global church while maintaining unity with conservatives amid years of turmoil, died Monday morning, Vatican camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced.
He was 88 years old.
«Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church,» Farrell announced.
«He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.»
U.S. Vice President JD Vance had just met with the pope on Sunday.
«I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. 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. 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,» Vance said early Monday morning in a post on X.
Pope Francis meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his delegation during an audience at Casa Santa Marta on April 20, 2025, in Vatican City, Vatican. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
The pope preached frequently on the Catholic virtues of mercy, kindness and humility. He did not shy away from controversy, and American presidents, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, were not immune from his views.
Less than a month into President Donald Trump’s presidency, the pontiff criticized the Republican’s plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and «will end badly.»
In a strongly worded letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops, the pope appeared to counter remarks made by Vice President JD Vance — who had recently converted to Catholicism — after he suggested Americans should care for family, communities and the country before caring about others.
«Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,» the pontiff wrote. «Worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations.»
POPE FRANCIS EXPOSES CONFIDENTIAL DETAILS ABOUT HIS ELECTION AND RELATIONSHIPS IN LENGTHY INTERVIEW
Pope Francis meets with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians and pastoral workers in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Reuters/Pavel Mikheyev)
Pope Francis in 2015 became the first pontiff to ever address a Joint Meeting of Congress where he spoke on a range of topics including immigration, family, the death penalty, climate change, extremism, religious freedom and the refugee crisis.
He joined American bishops and urged American leaders to abolish capital punishment and said Congress has a «role to play» in addressing global warming.
In 2022 he questioned then President Biden’s conscience on abortion in an interview during which he described the commander-in-chief’s religious identity and views on abortion as incoherent. «A month after conception, the DNA of the fetus is already there and the organs are aligned. There is human life,» the pontiff said in the interview with Spanish-language outlet Univision.
He also weighed in on candidates Trump and Harris during the election campaign, where he bashed them both, saying, «Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ he said, according to the Associated Press.
Just weeks before President Trump’s second inauguration, he appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy to be the Archbishop of Washington. McElroy had been critical of Trump’s immigration policies during his first term as president.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents in Argentina, Francis made history as the first pope from the Americas — as well as the first Jesuit to hold the office.
He was elected pope in 2013 after the almost unprecedented retirement of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Bergolio’s father, Mario, was an accountant for the railway industry, and his mother, Regina, was a homemaker and caregiver for her five children.
POPE FRANCIS FUELS NEW SPECULATION ON FUTURE OF PONTIFICATE
Pope Francis, born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is shown here with his family. From left to right, standing, brother Alberto Horacio, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Oscar Adrian and sister Marta Regina, sitting, sister Maria Elena, mother Regina and father Mario Jose Francisco. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Throughout his early years, the future pope worked a number of menial jobs. He labored briefly in the stocking factory where his father was an accountant before moving on to other opportunities, including jobs as a bar bouncer and janitor.
He eventually sought a career as a chemical technician, receiving a diploma in chemistry from the secondary school Escuela Técnica Industrial N° 27 Hipólito Yrigoyen. He also worked briefly in a food laboratory. However, his career in chemistry was short-lived.
He entered the priesthood at the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto in Argentina. Francis was ordained a priest in 1969 and made his final profession with the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, in 1973. The same year, he was appointed as a provincial for the order.
His appointment as provincial was concurrent with the Dirty War, a period of intense state-led persecution of left-wing leaders and political dissidents. Bergolio experienced constant threats to his own safety as he worked to hide or aid in the escape of government targets, including many Catholic faithful.
Pope Francis’ is a fan of Argentina’s San Lorenzo Futbol Club. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
During that time, two Jesuit priests under his supervision were disappeared by the government, drugged and left barely alive in a field five months after their kidnapping. Pope Francis has said he was forced to negotiate with the regime for their release.
Bergolio would spend the next two decades bouncing from position to position at the direction of his superiors. He served as a professor of theology, seminary instructor, rector, doctoral student and parish priest.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed Bergolio as titular Bishop of Auca and as an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. This was done at the request of Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who consecrated him to the episcopacy.
Bergoglio proved vital to the nation’s Catholic community, and he was quickly raised to the dignity of Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving alongside Quarracino and taking over the archdiocese entirely after his death the following year.
Bergoglio was given the crimson hat of a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
In 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Bergoglio was elected to the papacy, selecting the pontifical name «Francis» after St. Francis of Assisi — a choice that set the tone for the rest of his papacy.
POPE DERIDES BIDEN’S ABORTION VIEWS, CATHOLIC SELF-IDENTITY AS ‘INCOHERENCE’
Newly elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, at the Vatican on March 13, 2013. White smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney, and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out, signaling at the time that the Roman Catholic cardinals had elected a pope to succeed Benedict XVI. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)
Pope Francis’s teachings as a priest, bishop, cardinal and pope were deeply influenced by his Jesuit vocation — viewing each person as a unique creation of God, with whom they can have a personal relationship. His ministry and leadership were committed to keeping doors open and making the church approachable to the public.
It was not only American politics that he had strong opinions of.
He faced criticism for specific remarks he made against Israel’s military operation in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave «very serious and shameful.» During that same speech, he condemned the growth of antisemitism throughout the world, Reuters reported. He also called for an end to the war in Ukraine and expressed concerns over climate change.
In 2023, seemingly looking to strike a balance, he formally allowed Catholic priests to give same-sex couples a blessing, which was seen as being a radical shift in church policy, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Pope Francis is also remembered for living a life of intense simplicity, denying himself a lavish papal apartment in the Vatican upon his election, and opting instead for a two-room suite in the Domus Santa Marta, a residence built by Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis celebrates the traditional rite of the washing of feet at the Casal del Marmo juvenile penitentiary on April 6, 2023, in Rome, Italy. On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis went to the outskirts of Rome to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Casal del Marmo juvenile penitentiary, where he carried out the traditional rite of the washing of the feet of twelve of the young people there. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In contrast to his immediate predecessors, Pope Francis eschewed ornate robes or luxurious clothing. His outfit rarely consisted of more than a plain, white cassock tied with a papal fascia.
Pope Francis even dressed down his Ring of the Fisherman — a piece of gold jewelry worn by popes to signify their office — by having it made with silver and only wearing it for ceremonies.
Francis’s tenure continued the ongoing efforts to investigate decades of sexual abuse claims against priests across the world, including in the United States, with Francis vowing transparency in 2019.
«Transparency is now being implemented at the highest level,» said Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Archbishop of Malta and Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after Francis gave legal authorities access to documents about sexual abuse cases and abolished the «pontifical secret» of the cases.
POPE FRANCIS DEFROCKS NOTORIOUS BISHOP WHO CONFESSED TO ABUSING HIS NEPHEW
Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump during his first term in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace with his wife, Melania, his daughter, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. (Vatican/Pool/Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori via Getty Images)
He continued Benedict’s work to root malicious clerics out of the Church hierarchy «with the wrath of God,» appointing task forces and establishing victim aid groups.
Pope Francis proved frustrating for a wide variety of conservatives, liberals, traditionalists and progressives.
His gentle — at times vague and confusing — language on key social issues, such as sexuality and divorce, frustrated conservatives hoping for a more aggressive champion of Catholic moral teaching.
In July 2017, a group of Catholic clergy and academics sent Pope Francis a «Filial Correction» document alleging seven serious theological mistakes made by the pontiff in public statements. The document’s assertions proved controversial within the Catholic Church and the document was never explicitly addressed.
Conversely, his refusal to back down from traditional church teachings on abortion, gay marriage, women’s ordination and priestly celibacy frustrated progressives hoping for a more modern church.
Echoing his time as a prelate in Argentina, Pope Francis was at times criticized from both sides of the aisle for his heavy hand enforcing Catholic unity on national and international levels.
Traditionalists voiced intense opposition to his apostolic letter «Traditionis custodes,» which restricted the celebration of the traditional Latin mass in an attempt to squash increasingly separatist conservative movements within the Church.
Pope Francis meets with then-President Joe Biden during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 29, 2021 in Vatican City. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool)
He similarly shut down discussion of many social issues that progressives have sought to reform.
In 2019, Pope Francis told a nun asking him to approve the ordination of women that «if the Lord didn’t want a sacramental ministry for women, it can’t go forward,» adding, «We are Catholics, but if anyone wants to found another church they are free [to do so].»
The hyper-progressive leadership of the Catholic Church in Germany was a target of his ire after the country’s clerical leaders attempted an upheaval of traditional teachings regarding gender and sexuality. The Vatican issued a series of letters, approved by Pope Francis, accusing the German church of risking separation from the Catholic Communion.
The conflict with German bishops encapsulated his papacy’s recurring themes of authority and unity, best exemplified in a passage from his «Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany.»
POPE FRANCIS URGES CATHOLIC VOTERS TO ‘CHOOSE THE LESSER EVIL’ BETWEEN TRUMP AND HARRIS
Pope Francis delivers a speech during the Holy Mass with newly appointed Cardinals. (Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In the letter, Pope Francis wrote, «The universal Church lives in and of the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church. If they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die. Hence, the need always to ensure that communion with the whole body of the Church is alive and effective.»
Pope Francis visited dozens of countries, including the United States and Cuba in 2015, and went as far afield as Papua New Guinea, as well as visits to predominantly Muslim countries including Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.
Pope Francis struggled with health complications throughout his reign.
The pontiff dealt for many years with sciatica, a nerve condition that caused immense pain in his leg and at times hindered his ability to walk.
In 2021, Pope Francis was hospitalized for an intestinal surgery that removed 13 inches of his colon.
In March 2023, Francis was again taken to the hospital after experiencing intense chest pain and difficulty breathing. He was treated for a respiratory infection and released after antibiotic treatment.
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Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at the Apostolic Prefecture on Sept. 1, 2023 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. According to the Vatican, the trip was Pope Francis’s 43rd Apostolic Journey abroad and the 61st country he visited as Pope. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In June of the same year, the pope was brought back for another abdominal surgery to repair an incisional hernia. He was released after making a full recovery.
He took a fall at his residence and suffered a contusion on his right arm in January 2025.
In February, he was once again hospitalized after a bout of bronchitis.
Following Pope Francis’ death, the Vatican has entered a time of sede vacante — in English, «empty seat.»
The Associated Press, Reuters and Fox News’ Annie Butterworth contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
Le robó la identidad a su amiga para sacar un préstamo millonario, la asesinó y simuló un crimen sexual: el caso de «Angie» Molina
El cuerpo de una mujer fue encontrado en febrero de 2008 en un departamento alquilado en el barrio de Gracia, en Barcelona. La víctima estaba desnuda, recostada sobre un sillón, con una bolsa de plástico colocada en la cabeza y cinta adhesiva ajustada alrededor del cuello.
El lugar estaba ordenado y no presentaba signos de pelea ni de ingreso forzado, una escena que desde el inicio llamó la atención de los investigadores por su aparente prolijidad y por los indicios de una muerte planificada.
Leé también: Contrató a un sicario para matar a su esposo pero la policía la descubrió tras un operativo de película
Con el avance de la investigación, la Justicia estableció que la víctima era Ana María Páez Capitán, una diseñadora de moda de 36 años, y que detrás del crimen no había un hecho casual ni un ataque impulsivo.
Poco después se descubrió que María Ángeles Molina, una de las mejores amigas de la mujer asesinada, planificó el homicidio durante días mientras llevaba a cabo una rutina común y sin levantar sospechas.
El macabro hallazgo y las primeras dudas
El 19 de febrero de 2008, una empleada de limpieza ingresó a un departamento que había ido alquilado por pocos días. En el living encontró el cuerpo de una mujer recostada sobre un sillón. En el piso había una peluca negra y un par de botas de caña alta.
El lugar estaba ordenado, no había signos de pelea ni de ingreso forzado. Tampoco se encontraron documentos, billetera ni un celular que permitieran identificar rápidamente a la víctima. La Policía constató que la mujer llevaba varios días muerta.
Horas después, los investigadores constataron que se trataba de Ana Páez Capitán, a quien su familia estaba buscando desde hace días tras perder contacto con ella. Ana había dicho que la noche que desapareció iba a cenar con una amiga, María Ángeles Molina.
Angie junto a su marido. (Foto: La Tercera)
Molina declaró ante la Policía que el encuentro nunca se había concretado y aseguró que había viajado a Zaragoza para retirar las cenizas de su madre y que no sabía nada del paradero de Ana. Incluso asistió al funeral y acompañar a la familia, sin despertar sospechas en ese momento.
Sin embargo, los investigadores comenzaron a detectar inconsistencias. Por un lado, los familiares de Páez indicaron que ella no tenía en su entorno a nadie a quien pudiera considerar su “enemigo”.
A su vez, se descubrió que el alquiler del departamento había sido abonado con una tarjeta vinculada a la víctima, pero había movimientos bancarios posteriores a la fecha en la que Ana ya estaba desaparecida.
La autopsia determinó que la causa de muerte había sido asfixia. No hubo signos de abuso sexual ni de defensa, ni tampoco lesiones compatibles con una pelea. Para los forenses, la víctima habría sido atacada cuando se encontraba confiada o incapacitada para resistirse.
En un primer momento, se evaluó la posibilidad de una muerte accidental en un contexto sexual, pero esa hipótesis fue descartada rápidamente. De algo estaban seguros: el cuerpo había sido manipulado y la escena parecía preparada para desviar la investigación.
Una prueba clave y un asesinato planificado
El punto de quiebre de la causa llegó cuando los investigadores analizaron las cámaras de seguridad de una sucursal bancaria. El mismo día de la desaparición de Ana, una mujer había retirado dinero de su cuenta.
En las imágenes se veía claramente a una mujer con pelo negro realizando la operación. En cuanto el video fue mostrado a la pareja de Páez, la respuesta fue inmediata: no era Ana, era María Ángeles Molina usando una peluca.
A partir de ese momento, la investigación se concentró en ella y la Justicia ordenó un allanamiento en su casa. Allí, los efectivos encontraron documentación personal de la víctima, tarjetas bancarias, fotocopias relacionadas a sus finanzas y varias pelucas. De esta manera, se estableció la hipótesis de que María Ángeles, apodada como “Angie”, había suplantado la identidad de su amiga durante meses.
Angie Molina se convirtió en la principal sospechosa tras una prueba clave. (Foto: La Sexta)
Con esos datos, había solicitado créditos, realizado movimientos financieros y contratado seguros de vida a nombre de Páez por un monto cercano al millón de euros. Parte de ese dinero ya había sido cobrado antes del homicidio.
Para los investigadores, el móvil era económico ya que Molina necesitaba dinero y había construido una doble vida usando la identidad de su amiga.
Según la reconstrucción de los hechos, Angie citó a su amiga en el departamento con una excusa y la habría sedado con una sustancia que no pudo ser identificada. Luego, la asfixió con una bolsa de plástico y después construyó una escena del crimen.
Para reforzar la teoría de una “práctica sexual que salió mal”, Molina había contratado previamente a trabajadores sexuales, a quienes pagó para obtener muestras de semen que conservó en frascos. Luego las utilizó para contaminar el cuerpo de la víctima. La idea era que se creyera que Ana había participado de un trío sexual y que murió en ese contexto.
El juicio y la condena
María Ángeles Molina fue detenida en marzo de 2008, pocas semanas después del crimen, luego de que los investigadores reunieran pruebas que la ubicaban en el centro de la maniobra.
Al ser detenida, declaró por primera vez ante la Justicia y sostuvo que no tenía relación con la muerte de Ana María Páez. En su lugar, aseguró que ese día se encontraba en Zaragoza, donde había viajado para retirar las cenizas de su madre, según su versión.
Desde el inicio, afirmó que era víctima de una investigación injusta y negó de manera reiterada cualquier participación en el homicidio. María Ángeles Molina fue acusada de fingir la muerte de su amiga para quedarse con su fortuna. (Foto: El Mundo)
El juicio comenzó en marzo de 2012 y se llevó a cabo en la Audiencia de Barcelona, tras pasar casi cuatro años de prisión preventiva. Durante las audiencias, la fiscalía expuso un entramado de pruebas que incluyó registros bancarios, imágenes de cámaras de seguridad, documentos falsificados y testimonios clave que demostraron la suplantación de identidad de la víctima y la planificación del crimen.
Angie Molina declaró en su defensa, volvió a proclamarse inocente y afirmó que no tenía motivos económicos para matar a su amiga, aunque la acusación sostuvo que el objetivo era cobrar seguros de vida y créditos contratados a nombre de Ana.
Leé también: Un adolescente asesinó a puñaladas a su hermana gemela y dijo que lo hizo mientras estaba sonámbulo
Finalmente, en 2012, la Audiencia de Barcelona la condenó a 22 años de prisión por el homicidio de Ana María Páez y por los delitos vinculados a la falsificación de documentos.
Sin embargo, el Tribunal Supremo revisó el fallo y redujo la pena a 18 años al considerar que no había quedado probado de forma absoluta que la víctima se encontrara completamente indefensa al momento del ataque, lo que llevó a recalificar el delito.
Molina fue trasladada a la cárcel de Mas d’Enric, ubicada en la provincia de Tarragona, donde continúa cumpliendo su condena, que está prevista que finalice en 2027.
España, Asesinato, amiga
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Conservative justice swipes at DOJ in trans sports case: ‘I don’t think you’re a PhD in this stuff’
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Justice Neil Gorsuch pressed the Department of Justice on Tuesday about the potential nationwide consequences of a Supreme Court ruling allowing states to ban transgender athletes who identify as women from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
Gorsuch grilled Principal Deputy Solicitor General Hashim Mooppan, who appeared on behalf of the government, during oral arguments about a case examining West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act. Gorsuch asked Mooppan how a decision in favor of West Virginia’s law, which blocked biological boys from participating in girls’ sports, would jibe with Title IX and the Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Gorsuch used a hypothetical involving other academic programs to test how far sex-based distinctions could extend under Title IX, which bans sex-based discrimination in education.
SUPREME COURT WEIGHS STATES’ POWER TO SET SEX-BASED RULES IN SCHOOL SPORTS
Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch stands during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)
«What about the hypothetical I posed earlier that, when it comes to high school performance, girls sure are a lot better than boys, and so we’re only going to have remedial classes for boys, and girls aren’t free to attend. … Let’s say I’ve got really good science,» Gorsuch said. «I mean, it’s all about the science, right? I got the science.»
Mooppan said that while men and women are typically equal under laws and the Constitution, «real, enduring obvious differences» mattered in sports. Mooppan sought to dismiss any «pseudoscience» Gorsuch was suggesting.
«With all respect, I don’t think there’s any science anywhere that is suggesting that these sort of intellectual differences are traceable to biological differences,» he said.
Gorsuch shot back: «With respect, I don’t think you’re a PhD in this stuff, and neither – I know I’m not, but I’m asking to deal with a hypothetical.»
A demonstrator holds a sign outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Gorsuch continued to question how potentially allowing West Virginia to discriminate on the basis of sex was possible in sports but not in other areas of education.
«The statute says no discrimination on the basis of sex, and you’re saying, ‘yeah, it’s okay when they’re not similarly situated.’ And when you’re worried about locker rooms, great. I appreciate that, but I’m worried about that math remedial class or the chess club or whatever,» Gorsuch said.
Gorsuch was more confrontational with the states and the DOJ than the other Republican-appointed justices. At one point, however, he observed an increase in recent decades in women and girls participating in sports and grappled with the idea that transgender athletes competing with them could potentially «undermine» that progress.
Appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017, Gorsuch famously wrote the majority opinion in another case about gender identity, Bostock v. Clayton County. Gorsuch sided in that case with the liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts, resulting in a 6-3 decision that employees cannot be discriminated against based on sex, and that sex included sexual orientation and gender identity.
Gorsuch repeatedly raised that decision Tuesday, asking Mooppan at one point: «Bostock does not control here because – fill in the blank.»
WASHINGTON POST URGES SUPREME COURT TO ‘SAVE WOMEN’S SPORTS’ AHEAD OF MAJOR TRANS ATHLETE CASE
A protester drapes themselves in a transgender pride flag outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
West Virginia attorneys argued in court papers that Bostock was irrelevant to their case because Bostock dealt with Title VII, which governs discrimination in the workplace, whereas Title IX deals with education, where «biological differences are critical to athletic fairness.» Sex was less relevant in the workplace than in education, they argued.
West Virginia v. B.P.J. centers on a 15-year-old transgender athlete who identifies as a girl and who argued the state’s ban violated both the Constitution and Title IX.
The case was one of two the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday about state laws that ban transgender athletes who identify as female from participating in sports exclusive to women or girls. The conservative justices largely appeared sympathetic to those laws, but it was not immediately clear where each of them would land on the issue.
A decision by the court, expected by early summer, could have far-reaching impacts.
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A ruling in favor of the states could not only uphold their bans and those in some two dozen other states but could also influence other transgender policy disputes, such as bathroom policies and sex designation on documents, including passports and driver’s licenses.
A ruling in favor of the transgender plaintiffs could serve to limit states’ ability to adopt similar bans and broaden interpretations of federal anti-discrimination laws.
supreme court,judiciary,sports
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South Korean prosecutor seeks death penalty for ex-President Yoon over martial law declaration: ‘Self-coup’
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A South Korean court heard arguments Tuesday seeking the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, as prosecutors accused the ousted leader of orchestrating a rebellion through his controversial martial law declaration in December 2024.
Independent counsel Cho Eun-suk asked the Seoul Central District Court to impose the sentence, arguing that Yoon’s actions amounted to «anti-state activities» and describing the decree as a «self-coup.»
Yoon, a conservative who was removed from office last spring, remains in custody while facing multiple criminal proceedings tied to the martial law episode and other controversies from his presidency. Prosecutors say the rebellion charge carries the most severe potential punishment.
SOUTH KOREAN PROSECUTORS INDICT IMPEACHED PRESIDENT WHO DECLARED MARTIAL LAW
Then South Korea’s ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is facing charges of orchestrating a rebellion when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, arrives to attend his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Cho’s team argued in court that Yoon sought to prolong his hold on power by undermining South Korea’s constitutional system of governance.
Yoon has rejected the accusations, telling the court that the investigations into his conduct have been «frenzied» and marked by «manipulation» and «distortion.»
He has maintained that the declaration of martial law was intended to alert the public to what he viewed as the growing threat posed by the opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to block his political agenda.
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces eight trials over various criminal charges in connection with his controversial martial law decree and other scandals. (AP)
Yoon argued that the exercise of presidential emergency powers cannot be treated as rebellion under the law.
The court is expected to deliver a verdict next month. Legal experts have said a life sentence is more likely than execution, noting that South Korea has not carried out a death penalty since 1997.
SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT REMOVED FROM OFFICE FOUR MONTHS AFTER DECLARING MARTIAL LAW
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol criticized investigations on his rebellion charges, saying they have been «frenzied» and that they have involved «manipulation» and «distortion.» (AP)
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Yoon is the first South Korean president who has faced a potential death penalty after leaving office since Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death in 1996 for various crimes. Chun’s death sentence was later commuted to life in prison, and he was subsequently pardoned and freed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
south korea,asia world regions,world,politics,crime
Vitor Roque se dispara: vale 85 millones
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Le robó la identidad a su amiga para sacar un préstamo millonario, la asesinó y simuló un crimen sexual: el caso de «Angie» Molina
Conservative justice swipes at DOJ in trans sports case: ‘I don’t think you’re a PhD in this stuff’
South Korean prosecutor seeks death penalty for ex-President Yoon over martial law declaration: ‘Self-coup’
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INTERNACIONAL3 días agoMurió el cantante colombiano Yeison Jiménez en un accidente de avión: el video del día que predijo la tragedia
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La triste despedida de Jorge “Corcho” Rodríguez a Pía, su asistente por 30 años: “Gracias por tu amor”
- POLITICA1 día ago
La AFA giró US$8 millones a cinco empresas en Miami que ya no existen: un argentino disolvió hace seis días una firma clave
