THE BIG STORIES
Pope Francis returns “to the house of the Father” | Anger as MSP accuses judges of “bigotry”

📣 The Vatican said Pope Francis “returned to the house of the Father” early on Easter Monday, as it announced his death at the age of 88.

It later confirmed he had died after a stroke and “irreversible heart failure” the day after he had greeted vast crowds at the Vatican. (BBC)

Cardinals will meet in Rome today to decide on the date of the Pope’s funeral, starting a process that will culminate in the election of a new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. (Guardian)

Mourners gathered in front of St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican to commemorate his life, one of countless vigils around the world. In London, at Westminster Cathedral, more than 1,000 mourners gathered: one of three masses there honouring the pontiff. (Daily Mail)

More global reaction is in the next section. Developments today include:

• The final days of Pope Francis, who defied doctors’ orders to join the Vatican crowds on Easter Sunday (BBC)

• Meet Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born American cardinal appointed as “camerlengo”, running the Holy See between popes (AP)

• John Swinney led Scottish tributes to Pope Francis (The Sun)

• The rites and rituals after a pope dies (AP)

• How the next pope will be chosen (BBC)

• The cardinals seen as contenders to be the next pope (although nobody - nobody - really knows…) (The Scotsman)

📣 Green MSP Maggie Chapman has been criticised after she accused Supreme Court justices of “bigotry, prejudice and hatred” after their landmark judgement on the legal definition of a woman. Chapman made the comments in Aberdeen during a protest over the judgment.

Akua Reindorf KC, a Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, was highly critical of Chapman, branding her comments “disgraceful”. Other legal and political figures are also weighing in.

MSPs have a legal obligation to uphold the independence of the judiciary, enshrined in their code of conduct, and she could now be referred to the Scottish Parliament’s standards committee. (The Herald) (The Express)

• Former SNP health secretary Jeane Freeman has called on the SNP to scrap its gender policies after the Supreme Court ruling (The Times £)

• Nicola Sturgeon has remained silent on the legal ruling - but has posted a selfie from the gym (Daily Mail)

IDEAS
The world remembers Pope Francis

🗣️ Millions of words have been written about Pope Francis over the last 23 hours: among those that struck me most were written by someone who reported on the pontiff for the duration of his Papacy. Jason Horowitz, Rome bureau chief for The New York Times, describes a “constant, looming presence” in his life, a “pope of surprises” who was passionate about the fate of refugees, keen to highlight humanitarian causes, and also “a savvy political operator not to be trifled with”.

“On the papal plane,” writes Horowitz, “he was an easygoing guy with a good sense of humor, better at glad-handing the news media than all of the presidential candidates and presidents I had covered. He willingly compared notes with me on getting stuck in elevators after a week in which we had both gotten stuck in elevators. I saw him accept enough sweets to feed an army.

“In the Vatican, he surprised me with a governing style that his critics considered authoritarian […] At other times, he stunned me with his apparent indecision, punting important decisions, like allowing some older, married men to serve as priests in remote locations.” (The New York Times - 🎁gift link)

🗣️The Wall Street Journal’s sweeping obituary remembers “a pope of firsts”: “He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Jesuit order, and the first to take the name Francis. He was the first in almost six centuries to become pope after his predecessor resigned. Francis also gave the papacy a less formal and more approachable image by spurning regal attire, riding in compact cars and making headlines with blunt comments at news conferences.”

It notes his openly political approach, and his neutrality on the war in Ukraine, where he deplored the suffering of Ukrainians but suggested the West had provoked the conflict. (WSJ - 🎁 gift link)

🗣️ “The old man has died, leaving us … orphaned,” the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge García Cuerva, said. He said the late Pope’s homeland were “orphans of a father who loved his country deeply and had to learn to be the father of the world”.

The Tablet reports: “Despite tears – mirrored in the faces of many in the congregation – Cuerva continued: ‘Now, all of us have to be a bit like Francis and not forget, discriminate or leave out the most marginalised people of all.’ (The Tablet)

🗣️ Francis’s reputation in Argentina was complex, however, writes AP‘s Isabel Debre, based in Buenos Aires, “a spiritual north star whose remarkable life traced their country’s turbulent history.”

Conservatives in the country were particularly critical of his warm meetings with former President Cristina Kirchner, “a divisive left-leaning populist” who many blame for the country’s economic decline. His views on her successor - former President Mauricio Macri - were perhaps clear from the photograph they run of the pair standing next to each other at the Vatican in 2016.

Francis decided not to return to Argentina after becoming Pope, likely because of its “polarising politics,” writes Debre. “Tensions reached a head under current libertarian President Milei, who insulted Francis as a ‘filthy leftist’ and ‘the representative of the evil one on earth’ before he took office in December 2023. (AP)

AROUND SCOTLAND

📣 Unions are calling for “green bonds” and other borrowing to support the replacement of Scotland’s ageing train fleet. They commissioned research from academics at the University of Glasgow to make the case. (The Scotsman)

📣 Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says the SNP cannot be trusted to lead the fight against far-right politics, saying they helped create the conditions in which Reform UK have taken hold. (The Herald)

📣 A Scottish nurse who pedalled “scamdemic” conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 pandemic has officially quit the profession. (Daily Record)

AROUND THE UK

📣 Ministers are privately ruling out scrapping the two-child benefits cap because the cap is “popular with key voters”, despite warnings it could cause very high levels of child poverty. (The Guardian)

📣 The Prince and Princess of Wales will spend their 14th wedding anniversary next week on the Isle of Mull. (The Times £)

📣 Gary Lineker says he felt the BBC wanted him to leave his £1.35m-a-year role presenting Match of The Day. (BBC)

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

💰 US stocks and the dollar plunged yesterday as Donald Trump continued his series of social media attacks on the US central bank boss Jerome Powell, calling him “a major loser” for not cutting interest rates. (BBC)

💰 Rachel Reeves will fly to Washington this weekend amid hopes of a UK/US trade deal. She will also meet G7, G20 and IMF counterparts during a three-day visit. (Sky News)

💰 My first Edinburgh Festival date is set: Make It Happen will offer a “biting satire” on the rise and fall of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Set in Edinburgh, the play will see Succession star Brian Cox return to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade as Adam Smith, the ghost of fiscal past. Sandy Grierson takes on the role of Fred “the shred” Goodwin. (Scottish Financial Review) (Book tickets)

SPORT

⚽️ The takeover of Rangers by US sports company 49ers Enterprises is proceeding apace, with the buyers now confident of securing more than half of Rangers’ shares. Rangers Review reports an announcement is still weeks away, but a source says “it is only the legals and regulatory approvals that are holding things up”. (Rangers Review has the exclusive)

⚽️ Leeds and Burnley will be Premier League teams again next season: they both secured automatic promotion yesterday.

• Burnley captain Josh Brownhill said Burnley “bored our way to the Premier League” after beating Sheffield United 2-1 last night. That’s a reference to their defence-first style of play which has seen them concede only 15 times across a gruelling season. (BBC) (Burnley Express)

• Leeds United are a more exciting prospect: they blew Stoke City away 6-0 in their game yesterday to secure promotion with two games to go. No late dramas this year. (BBC) (Yorkshire Evening Post)