Vatican officials have said Pope Francis has developed pneumonia in both lungs. The 88-year-old pontiff was hospitalized Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. On Monday, doctors said he had developed a mix of infections in his respiratory tract, further complicating his recovery.
Today, the Vatican said Pope Francis “had a tranquil night, woke up and had breakfast,” saying he was in good spirits.
Supporters of Native American activist Leonard Peltier plan to welcome him back to his North Dakota community today, a day after his release from a Florida prison where he had been serving a life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. Then-President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s life sentence to home confinement.
FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed, and while Peltier acknowledged firing shots during the confrontation, he denied being the person whose shots killed the men. Native Americans widely believe he was a political prisoner who was wrongly convicted because he fought for tribal rights as a member of the American Indian Movement.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed health and human services secretary, and Brooke Rollins, the new agriculture secretary, have both signaled that they favor banning sugary drinks, candy and other processed foods from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Kennedy has been most vocal, calling for the government to stop allowing the nearly $113 billion program that serves about 42 million Americans to use benefits to pay for such foods.
Eli Bieker can be reached at biek1966@stthomas.edu.
