Vatican offers brief update as Pope Francis begins 21st day in hospital

(LONDON) — Increasingly squeezed by allies and enemies alike, Ukraine’s armed forces are still setting records in their stubborn defense against Russia’s 3-year-old invasion, which — if President Donald Trump’s peace talks bear fruit — may soon see a partial ceasefire.

Month after month, Ukraine has increased the size and scope of its drone assaults within Russia. The high watermark this month came on March 10 as Kyiv launched at least 343 drones into Russia — according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow — representing Kyiv’s largest ever such attack. More than 90 drones were shot down over Moscow, the capital’s mayor describing the assault as “massive.”

The timing was pointed, coming hours before American and Ukrainian officials gathered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for ceasefire talks.

While straining to prove to the White House they were ready to discuss peace with Moscow, the Ukrainians were also exhibiting their ever-evolving capability to wage war deep inside Russia.

“We keep developing a lot of different types of long-range deep strikes,” Yehor Cherniv — a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News.

“Our capacity is growing to destroy the capacity of Russia to continue this war,” he added.

Ukraine’s strikes against Russian critical infrastructure, energy facilities, military-industrial targets and military bases have mirrored Moscow’s own long-range campaign against Ukraine. Cross-border barrages in both directions have grown in size and complexity throughout the full-scale war.

Ukrainian short-range drones are harrying Russian forces on the devastated battlefields while long-range strike craft hit targets closer to home. Kyiv this month even claimed the first successful use of its domestically produced Neptune cruise missile, with a range of 600 miles.

Since the opening of U.S.-Russian talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, Russia’s Defense Ministry claims to have shot down a total of 1,879 long-range Ukrainian drones — an average of more than 53 each day. On four occasions, the ministry reported intercepting more than 100 drones over a 24-hour period.

“Ukraine is pulling every single lever that it can, as hard as it can, to get it the kind of lethal strike capability that it needs for both of those campaigns,” Nick Reynolds, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, told ABC News.

Three years of Russia’s full-scale war have supercharged drone innovation in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s armed forces and intelligence services have lauded what they call their “drone sanctions” — a tongue-in-cheek reference to drone attacks on Russian fossil fuel, military industrial and other infrastructure targets far beyond the front.

“Our Ukrainian production of drones and their continuous modernization are a key part of our system of deterrence against Russia, which is crucial for ensuring Ukraine’s security in the long term,” Zelenskyy said in a recent Telegram post.

Ukrainian drones have hit targets more than 700 miles inside Russia, have regularly forced the temporary closures of major Russian airports and have bombarded the power centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg. At sea, Ukraine’s naval drones have confined Russia’s fleet to the eastern portion of the Black Sea and made its bases in Crimea untenable.

It is no longer unusual for more than 100 attack drones to cross into Russian territory in the course of one night. Meanwhile, Kyiv is pushing to replace its relatively low-tech propeller-driven unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, with more jet-powered craft — potentially extending range, payload and survivability. “The number of rocket drones production will grow just like our long-range strike drones production did,” Zelenskyy said last summer.

Kyiv’s strikes have particularly disrupted Russia’s lucrative oil refining and export industry, prompting concerns abroad — including in the U.S. — that the Ukrainian campaign is driving up oil prices globally.

Federico Borsari of the Center for European Policy Analysis think tank told ABC News that Ukraine’s evolving long-range strike industry represents a “strategic advantage,” especially if Kyiv is able to protect its industrial sites from Russian strikes and stockpile weapons for future use.

“Ukraine has damaged Russian oil refining facilities hard since 2024 and destroyed several key storage bases of the artillery shells,” Pavel Luzin, a Russian political analyst at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, told ABC News. “So, the Russians are highly concerned about this.”

“The amount of financial loss and material damage is huge,” Borsari added.

Drones of all ranges are expected to serve a key role in Ukraine’s future deterrence of repeat Russian aggression. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, for example, said Kyiv is planning a 6- to 9-mile drone “kill zone” to buffer any future post-war frontier with Russia, “making enemy advances impossible.”

Ivan Stupak, a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine, told ABC News that Ukraine’s drone threat could also prove an important lever in ongoing negotiations with both Moscow and Washington, neither of which want continued — or expanded — drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure and other sensitive targets.

The weapons could also be vital to future deterrence of repeat Russian aggression, Stupak said, as Ukraine pursues a “hedgehog” strategy by which the country would make itself too “prickly” for Moscow to attempt to swallow again.

Ukraine’s success has not gone unnoticed by its foreign partners. Kyiv appears to be carving out a potentially lucrative niche in providing long-range, low-cost strike platforms.

“There is immense interest from our friends around the world in Ukraine’s developments, our capabilities and our technological production,” Zelenskyy said recently.

Last fall, reports emerged indicating that Ukraine was considering lifting a wartime ban on drone exports, seeking to take advantage of growing demand worth as much as $20 billion annually, per an estimate by Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Marikovskyi.

Ukraine’s military and intelligence services collaborate with domestic and international private companies to expand their drone capabilities. Kyiv has estimated there are more than 200 domestic companies working in the sector. This year, Zelenskyy wants Ukraine to produce 30,000 long-range drones and 3,000 ballistic missiles.

This month’s brief U.S. aid and intelligence freeze has raised concerns within Ukraine’s domestic drone industry, arguably one of the most insulated and resilient areas of the country’s defense sector.

“The reality is that Western-provided intelligence — and the Americans are a big part of that — does feed into a better targeting picture,” Reynolds said. “The efficiency and effectiveness is, in part, tied to that.”

“Ukraine became partly blinded as to how and where Russian anti-aircraft and electronic warfare systems are being deployed,” Stupak said.

If such a freeze is repeated, “I suppose it will be more difficult for Ukraine to avoid anti-aircraft and electronic warfare systems and maybe we will see decreased levels of successful strikes,” he said.

Ukraine’s largest drone attack of the war thus far came days after the U.S. announced its intelligence sharing freeze. It is not clear whether Ukraine used previously shared intelligence to carry out the strike, in which scores of craft reached Moscow.

Some targets are easier to find than others. Airfields — like Engels strategic bomber air base — oil refineries, ports and the like are static and their locations known to Ukrainian military planners.

Still, a lack of intelligence would make it harder for Kyiv to locate and avoid Russian defensive systems. The pause in American intelligence sharing was brief, but for Ukrainians highlighted their level of reliance on U.S. assistance.

A long-lasting paucity of intelligence would represent “an important vulnerability,” Borsari said. “For very long-range targets, they require satellite information, satellite imagery — and most of the time this information comes from Western allies.”

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(OTTAWA) — Just five months ago, a Conservative Party victory in Canada seemed all but certain.

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, was widely unpopular, and polls showed the Conservatives with what seemed like an insurmountable 25-point lead.

Then U.S. voters went to the polls. Donald Trump’s victory started to reverberate in Canada.

He imposed tariffs, including a 25% levy on Canadian goods; claimed fentanyl from China was pouring into the U.S. from the northern border; and threatened Canadian sovereignty, saying Canada should be made the 51st state as well as referring to Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”

Many Canadians became angry. Visits to the U.S. began falling and some boycotted American products. Then, Trudeau resigned in March, and the Liberals elected Mark Carney as their new leader.

The 25-point lead the Conservatives once had has been eviscerated, and support for the Liberals has grown.

Now, with an election set for Monday, April 28, pollsters are saying the Conservatives have lost too much ground to make up. Polls are predicting a loss for the Conservatives and leader Pierre Poilievre.

Canada has a parliamentary system. Hence, if Liberals win a majority of seats in the election, or are able to form a minority government with members of another party, Carney becomes Prime Minister.

Political experts and Canadians said that Trump undoubtedly changed the course of the election.

“There is no rebound for the Liberal Party if Donald Trump doesn’t intervene in the way that he does,” Tari Ajadi, an assistant professor in the department of political science at McGill University in Montreal, told ABC News.

“If Donald Trump hadn’t won a second term, I don’t think there would be any hope for the Liberals, regardless of whether or not they changed leader at this point,” he said. “But once Trump did win that second term, and once Trump did try to infringe upon Canadian sovereignty, it changed the entire race.”

Trump fractures U.S.-Canada alliance

At the beginning of 2025, the Liberal Party was facing a crisis. Trudeau, who had been prime minister since November 2015, had initially been “extremely popular,” according to Adam Chapnick, a professor of defense studies at Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

However, he was plagued by unpopularity in later years due to an escalated cost-of-living crisis in Canada, and minor scandals. Several of his cabinet ministers resigned in 2024 amid lack of confidence in his leadership.

Trudeau was required by Canadian law to call an election by October 2025, and his party seemed sure to lose.

Frank Graves, a Canadian pollster and founder of Ekos Research Associates, told ABC News that in January 2025, things did not look good for the Liberal Party.

“The Liberals reached a modern low of 19-point support. That’s very little for the Liberal Party,” he said. “In fact, [that] was a record for the 20th century. At the same time, the Conservative Party was running at 44 points, with a massive 25-point lead, which would have been a sure majority.”

He went on, “It looks like the Conservatives are in a position to just sip beer and cruise to the finish line and get their majority.”

As early as December, just weeks after Trump won his second term, Trump made comments that Canada should become the 51st state and referred to Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”

Although initially brushed off by Canadian officials, Trump continued to float 51st state rhetoric and began threats of imposing tariffs on Canada in January.

Trump also began arguing that the border drawn between the U.S. and Canada is just arbitrary.

Ajadi said that although Trudeau decided to resign as prime minister and Liberal Party leader, it still looked like the Liberals would lose no matter who emerged as the next leader — but that’s when Trump’s comments kicked into high gear.

“It still looked like the Liberals were dead in the water, regardless of who would come in as prime minister,” he said. “But when Donald Trump really started amping up this 51st state rhetoric, when he threatened the tariffs and eventually implemented the tariffs … it completely shifted the way that the polls were going.”

Carney gains support

In early March, Canada’s Liberal Party announced Mark Carney was chosen to succeed Trudeau after party members voted in a nominating contest between four candidates.

Carney, who was governor of the Bank of Canada, is credited with helping to guide the country through the worst of the 2008 financial crisis and, as former governor of the Bank of England, helping guide the U.K. through Brexit.

Ajadi said that Carney has come across to voters as “incredibly capable and well-educated” and as someone who can navigate challenges posed by Trump’s rhetoric.

“He can say, ‘Look at my resume. I’ve been able to help countries navigate and I’ve been able to negotiate things for two different G7 countries,'” Ajadi said. “Like, ‘I have this wealth of experience and, no, I’m not a politician, but I am someone who has been able to navigate really contentious political conversations.'”

This had led to a net-22 positive rating for Carney in the polls, according to Graves.

Poilievre loses support

While Carney and the Liberals have seen increasing support, Poilievre and the Conservatives have seen decreasing support.

Although opposition leaders have tried to paint Poilievre as being equivalent to Trump, political experts told ABC News he has many policies that differ from Trump.

However, some of Poilievre’s rhetoric has been viewed by Canadians as Trump-esque, such as his embrace of populist sentiments and calling opponents by nicknames, experts have said.

Additionally, Graves said Poilievre struggled to pivot his campaign from a series of mantras about how “Canada is broken” to addressing threats from the Trump administration.

“It’s hard to abandon a strategy which had propelled you to such a comfortable position in the polls overnight, which is almost what was required,” Graves said.

Throughout February, the Conservatives’ lead in the polls began to evaporate, according to Graves. He said by the end of February, Liberals achieved a solid lead, which has since extended since Carney became prime minister.

Graves added that taking on the U.S. is the biggest issue now to Canadians, more than the cost of living. When poll participants were asked who they have the most confidence in, Carney had a significant advantage.

“Because the [Conservatives were] still focused on the government, there was an opportunity for the Liberal leadership to take control of the narrative on how to respond to the president, and Mr. Carney did so,” Chapnick said. “And as Mr. Carney became associated with the leader who was going to stop Canada from becoming the 51st state, Liberal support skyrocketed.”

Canadians are put off by Trump’s actions

Political experts said they’ve noticed the anger Canadians have toward the U.S. in the wake of Trump’s rhetoric.

“Canadians are trying not to travel to the United States,” Chapnick said. “They’re trying not to buy American products. This idea that we can no longer rely on the United States has led to some pretty significant changes.”

Airlines and state tourism boards said they’ve seen travel from Canada to the U.S. drop in February and March.

Canadian citizen Garry Liboiron told ABC News he views Poilievre as a “mini Trump,” which will “definitely play against him.”

Garry Liboiron and his wife, Liz Liboiron, said that “the name-calling and all the childish rhetoric” has led them to sell their summer home in San Tan Valley, Arizona, a place they typically retreat to when their hometown of Coburg — which is an hour east of Toronto — is pummeled with snow in the winter months.

“It’s pretty sad because we’re not forced to leave, but we almost feel like we’re being pushed with the rhetoric that’s coming out of Washington these days toward Canadians and Canada,” Liz Liboiron told ABC News.

The two are on their “farewell tour” of the U.S., traveling to their favorite places for the last time, with no real indication they will ever return due to the “present circumstances” of the Trump administration.

“Liz and I don’t understand how this is allowed to go on and the things that are happening just seem to get more and more scary as each day goes on. So, we said, ‘Let’s sell now,'” Garry Liboiron said.

Garry Liboiron said he thinks the Canadian election will result in a Liberal majority win. He has noticed Carney’s popularity “[shoot] up like a rocket.”

Canadian Cam Hayden, who has traveled to 45 of the 50 states and is a frequent visitor of the U.S., also decided to boycott the nation shortly after the presidential election.

When Trump made claims of annexing Canada, it was a moment Hayden calls “the breaking point.”

“I said, ‘Forget it, I’m never going back until there’s a change in the administration and a change in attitude,'” Hayden told ABC News.

Hayden, the owner of the Edmonton Music Festival, used to travel to the U.S. to see different performers. He made many friends in America over the years, but said he cannot support the country with the current administration in place.

“I keep in touch with my friends [in the U.S.], and we’re still good friends. It’s just that I cannot see myself supporting an administration that has made the comment that they would like to annex the country I live in,” Hayden said.

ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Bill Hutchinson, Ivan Pereira and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.

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(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis, whose time as head of the Catholic Church was noted for an everyman humility and outreach efforts to people of disparate backgrounds and faiths, has died at 88, the Vatican has confirmed.

“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,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell said on Monday.

Pope Francis was hospitalized for just over five weeks beginning in February 2025 to address what the Vatican initially said was a respiratory tract infection, for which he began receiving treatment. Four days after his hospitalization, the Vatican revealed that Francis had been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

The pontiff’s health remained precarious in the ensuing weeks, including a “prolonged” asthmatic respiratory crisis that the Vatican said required doctors to administer him supplemental oxygen, as well as transfusions to address low blood platelets, which are cells that circulate in the blood and help it clot. He also experienced two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” in early March, according to the Vatican, that required “noninvasive mechanical ventilation” at night to help him breathe.

Pope Francis was released from the hospital and returned to the Vatican on March 23, where his physicians said he would require additional months of recovery. Two weeks later, he made his first public appearance since his discharge from the hospital, sitting in a wheelchair while using supplemental oxygen as he briefly greeted people in St. Peter’s Square. He also made an appearance on Easter Sunday from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, following a earlier meeting with Vice President JD Vance.

Pope Francis was said to be alert and aware throughout the health episodes and occasionally posted messages on X, acknowledging the good wishes sent his way.

“I would like to thank you for your prayers, which rise up to the Lord from the hearts of so many faithful from many parts of the world,” Francis posted on March 2. “I feel all your affection and closeness and, at this particular time, I feel as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people.”

Four days later, the pope offered his first public comments since his hospitalization in the form of a recorded audio message in Spanish that was played in St. Peter’s Square.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the Square, I accompany you from here,” the pope said. “May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you,”

Pope Francis’ respiratory health was a lifelong issue for him; he had part of one lung removed at age 21 because of a respiratory infection. As he grew older, he began to experience gastrointestinal issues that led to a section of his colon being surgically removed in 2021 because of intestinal inflammation. He also began using a wheelchair and cane in 2023 because of strained knee ligaments and a small knee fracture that made walking and standing difficult.

As the leader of the Catholic Church, Francis captured the imaginations of believers and non-believers alike, with his populist style giving the church’s message of social justice far greater resonance than that of many of his predecessors.

Argentinian-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the Catholic Church’s 266th pope and the first ever from Latin America. He took the name Francis after the well-known St. Francis of Assisi, who ministered to the poor.

Like his namesake, the pontiff earned a reputation for living a humble life and eschewing the pomp of his predecessors. While Pope Benedict XVI had a flair for papal fashion, Francis chose the simple white cassock with few embellishments for everyday wear. When he was elected pope on March 13, 2013, he didn’t send an aide to pay his hotel bill in Rome, but took care of it himself.

He was also arguably more approachable than his predecessors, known to pose with tourists for selfies and for allowing children join him on the popemobile during his weekly public audience in the square. He once welcomed a child with Down syndrome to sit next to him, and held her hand while he delivered a speech.

Francis also chose not to live in the ornate papal apartments, preferring instead to reside with others in the simple quarters of the Vatican guest house. Rather than travel in a limousine, he made a point of traveling about in smaller, more ordinary vehicles when leaving the Vatican and on his trips.

He reached out to those on the margins of society, and to Catholics who felt alienated by church doctrine.

First Latin American pope

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of five siblings. His father was an Italian immigrant employed as a railway worker, while his mother was the Argentine-born daughter of Italian immigrants.

Stricken with a lung infection as a teenager, Bergoglio ultimately had part of his right lung removed at age 21. He went on to hold various odd jobs, including working as a bouncer at a club, sweeping floors, and running tests in a chemical laboratory, before deciding to join the Jesuit order in 1958, becoming a priest just shy of 12 years later.

The same sense of social justice he embodied as Pope Francis can be traced back to when the pontiff was the archbishop of Buenos Aires. He made a name for himself then by reportedly leading a simple life – preparing his own meals, living in a spartan apartment and riding public transportation – eschewing the luxurious lifestyle typically associated with his position.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis in 2012 notably criticized priests who refused to baptize children born out of wedlock.

“They are the hypocrites of today,” said Francis. “They turn God’s people away from salvation. And that poor girl who could have sent her child back to the sender but had the courage to bring him into the world goes on pilgrimage from parish to parish to have him baptized.”

Outreach as pope

From the start, Pope Francis’ tenure was marked by a more populist ministry than that of his predecessors, demonstrated both by his outreach to groups traditionally ignored or criticized by the church, and his broader efforts to reform and contemporize the church itself.

On his first trip after becoming pope, Francis chose symbolically to travel to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, in southern Italy, one of the first points of entry into Europe for poor and desperate refugees and migrants from North Africa, who risk their lives to make the crossing in often unsafe vessels. He also used his first Christmas address as pontiff to call on people to “place ourselves at the service of the poor, make ourselves small and poor with them.”

In a February 2016 mass delivered on the U.S.-Mexico border, and with anti-immigrant sentiments on the rise, the pope called for people in the U.S. and around the world to keep “open hearts” regarding immigrants fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands.

With the church under broadside criticism for sex-abuse scandals involving prominent clergy, Pope Francis both met with and apologized to sex abuse victims, calling them “heralds of mercy” and acknowledging that the church had failed them, declaring, “God weeps.”

Francis also criticized the church itself for what he called its obsession with issues including same-sex marriage, abortion and contraception, although he stopped short of challenging the church’s traditional positions on them.

When a journalist asked him a question about gay priests on his first foreign trip in 2013, just four months after his election, Francis stunned people with his response: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

As recently as August of 2023, Francis reiterated in comments during World Youth Day in Portugal that the Catholic Church is for “everyone,” including LGBTQ+ people, although they were still excluded from the sacraments. The following December, Francis approved a Vatican declaration titled “On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings” which noted that, while the church’s official policy remained opposed to same-sex marriage, “when people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it. For, those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection.”

Health problems

Pope Francis’ respiratory health was a lifelong issue for him; he had part of one lung removed at age 21 because of a respiratory infection. As he grew older, he began to experience gastrointestinal issues, including a bout of diverticulitis that led to a 10-day hospital stay in July 2021, during which time a section of his colon was surgically removed. He also began using a wheelchair and cane in 2023 because of strained knee ligaments and a knee fracture that made walking and standing difficult.

On a flight home from a trip to Canada in July 2022, where he had been using a wheelchair, Francis hinted he would have to slow down future travels and maybe resign one day.

“This trip was a bit of a test. It’s true you can’t do trips in this state, maybe we have to change a bit the style, reduce, pay the debts of the trips that I still have to do and reorganize,” Francis said.

He added that “the door is open” for him to resign if he couldn’t carry on.

Even so, Francis continued traveling in 2023, with a total of five trips that year despite increasing health issues.

In January of 2023, then-86-year-old Pope Francis revealed his diverticulitis had returned but was being managed. The following March, he was hospitalized for three days with acute bronchitis.

“I am touched by the many messages received in these hours and I express my gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” Francis wrote on Twitter at the time.

In June of 2023, Francis was back in the hospital, where he underwent three hours of abdominal surgery to address intestinal blockages caused by scarring from previous surgeries. That following November, the Vatican announced that the pontiff had developed a “pulmonary inflammation that has caused some breathing difficulties,” and for which he was being treated with intravenous antibiotics. He subsequently canceled a planned trip to attend a climate conference in Dubai.

Pope Francis’ health continued to be an issue into 2024, prompting the cancellation of some events in late February of that year due to what the Vatican press office described as “mild flu symptoms,” which also saw him visit Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for what the Vatican called “diagnostic tests.”

In January 2025, the Vatican announced that Francis had injured his arm in a fall at his residence, suffering “a bruise to his right forearm, without fractures.” The Pope was seen using a soft sling to support his arm in a photograph released by the Vatican.

Pope Francis continued to experience respiratory issues and was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 14, 2025 for what the Vatican described as “necessary tests” and was subsequently diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection, also according to the Vatican, for which he began receiving treatment. Four days later, the Vatican revealed that Francis had been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, for which he was receiving “additional drug therapy.”

“Thank you for the affection, prayer and closeness with which you are accompanying me in these days,” the pope posted on X on Feb. 16.

Pope Francis subsequently suffered a “prolonged” asthmatic respiratory crisis on Feb. 22, according to the Vatican, that required doctors to administer him supplemental oxygen, and that he remained in critical condition. Francis had also received transfusions to address low blood platelets, the Vatican said.

What happens next

A nine-day period of mourning is expected to be observed. The Pope’s funeral will be held after his body lies in state for public viewing in St. Peter’s Basilica.

During this time, all cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to participate are summoned to Rome to prepare for the secret conclave inside the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pontiff, a gathering that typically commences between 15 to 20 days after the pope’s death.

The cardinal-electors will cast as many as four ballots in a single day. Black smoke from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney will indicate an inconclusive vote, while white smoke will signify a new pope has been elected.

The new man chosen to lead the Catholic Church will then prepare to make his public debut at the central balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica.

ABC News’ Christopher Watson contributed to this report.

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