A mourner holds a portrait of Pope Francis at the Basílica de San José de Flores in Buenos Aires, a church where the pope worshipped in his youth. AP Photo/Gustavo Garello
Pope Francis, whose papacy blended tradition with pushes for inclusion and reform, died on April, 21, 2025 – Easter Monday – at the age of 88.
Here we spotlight five stories from The Conversation’s archive about his roots, faith, leadership and legacy.
1. A Jesuit pope
Jorge Mario Bergoglio became a pope of many firsts: the first modern pope from outside Europe, the first whose papal name honors St. Francis of Assisi, and the first Jesuit – a Catholic religious order founded in the 16th century.
Those Jesuit roots shed light on Pope Francis’ approach to some of the world’s most pressing problems, argues Timothy Gabrielli, a theologian at the University of Dayton.
Gabrielli highlights the Jesuits’ “Spiritual Exercises,” which prompt Catholics to deepen their relationship with God and carefully discern how to respond to problems. He argues that this spiritual pattern of looking beyond “presenting problems” to the deeper roots comes through in Francis’ writings, shaping the pope’s response to everything from climate change and inequality to clerical sex abuse.
2. LGBTQ+ issues
Early on in his papacy, Francis famously told an interviewer, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Over the years, he has repeatedly called on Catholics to love LGBTQ+ people and spoken against laws that target them.An LGBTQ couple embrace after a pastoral worker blesses them at a Catholic church in Germany, in defiance of practices approved by Rome. Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
But “Francis’ inclusiveness is not actually radical,” explains Steven Millies, a scholar at the Catholic Theological Union. “His remarks generally correspond to what the church teaches and calls on Catholics to do,” without changing doctrine – such as that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Rather, Francis’ comments “express what the Catholic Church says about human dignity,” Millies writes. “Francis is calling on Catholics to take note that they should be concerned about justice for all people.”
3. Asking forgiveness
At times, Francis did something that was once unthinkable for a pope: He apologized.
He was not the first pontiff to do so, however. Pope John Paul II declared a sweeping “Day of Pardon” in 2000, asking forgiveness for the church’s sins, and Pope Benedict XVI apologized to victims of sexual abuse. During Francis’ papacy, he acknowledged the church’s historic role in Canada’s residential school system for Indigenous children and apologized for abuses in the system.
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But what does it mean for a pope to say, “I’m sorry”?Members of the Assembly of First Nations perform in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 31, 2022, ahead of an Indigenous delegation’s meeting with Pope Francis. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
Annie Selak, a theologian at Georgetown University, unpacks the history and significance of papal apologies, which can speak for the entire church, past and present. Often, she notes, statements skirt an actual admission of wrongdoing.
Still, apologies “do say something important,” Selak writes. A pope “apologizes both to the church and on behalf of the church to the world. These apologies are necessary starting points on the path to forgiveness and healing.”
4. A church that listens
Many popes convene meetings of the Synod of Bishops to advise the Vatican on church governance. But under Francis, these gatherings took on special meaning.
The Synod on Synodality was a multiyear, worldwide conversation where Catholics could share concerns and challenges with local church leaders, informing the topics synod participants would eventually discuss in Rome. What’s more, the synod’s voting members included not only bishops but lay Catholics – a first for the church.Participants arrive for a vigil prayer led by Pope Francis and other religious leaders before the 2023 Synod of Bishops assembly. Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The process “pictures the Catholic Church not as a top-down hierarchy but rather as an open conversation,” writes University of Dayton religious studies scholar Daniel Speed Thompson – one in which everyone in the church has a voice and listens to others’ voices.
5. Global dance
In 2024, University of Notre Dame professor David Lantigua had a cup of maté tea with some “porteños,” as people from Buenos Aires are known. They shared a surprising take on the Argentine pope: “a theologian of the tango.”Pope Francis drinks maté, the national beverage of Argentina, in St. Peter’s Square on his birthday on Dec. 17, 2014. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images
Francis does love the dance – in 2014, thousands of Catholics tangoed in St. Peter’s Square to honor his birthday. But there’s more to it, Lantigua explains. Francis’ vision for the church was “based on relationships of trust and solidarity,” like a pair of dance partners. And part of his task as pope was to “tango” with all the world’s Catholics, carefully navigating culture wars and an increasingly diverse church.
Francis was “less interested in ivory tower theology than the faith of people on the streets,” where Argentina’s beloved dance was born.
This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.
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Artemis II’s long countdown – a space historian explains why it has taken over 50 years to return to the Moon
Why has it taken 50+ years to return to the Moon? A space historian explains the technical, political, and financial complexities behind Artemis II’s long journey.
Last Updated on April 10, 2026 by Daily News StaffThe Artemis I crew and service modules with the Moon and Earth in the distance on Nov. 28, 2022. NASA
While I was leading a tour of the National Air and Space Museum in January 2026, a visitor posed this insightful question: “Why has it taken so long to return to the Moon?”
After all, NASA had the know-how and technology to send humans to the lunar surface more than 50 years ago as part of the Apollo program. And, as another tour guest reminded us, computers today can do so much more than they could back then, as evidenced by the smartphones most of us carry in our pockets. Shouldn’t it be easier to get to the Moon than ever before?
The truth is that sending humans into space safely continues to be difficult, especially as missions increase in complexity.The Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft Integrity en route from the vehicle assembly building to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, Jan. 17, 2026. NASA/John Kraus
New technologies require years of study, development and testing before they can be certified for flight. And even then, systems and materials can behave in ways that surprise and worry engineers and mission planners; look no further than Boeing’s Starliner CFT mission or the performance of the Orion heat shield on Artemis I.
Issues with Starliner’s thrusters led NASA to return the spacecraft from the International Space Station without its crew. Unanticipated chipping of the Orion heat shield resulted in years of research, culminating in NASA altering the atmospheric reentry plans for the Artemis II mission.
NASA’s programs also require sustained political will and financial support across multiple presidential administrations, Congresses and fiscal years. As a historian of human spaceflight, I have studied the space agency’s efforts to engage the broader public to convince American taxpayers that their programs hold value for the nation.
NASA is now on the eve of the first crewed flight to the Moon since the Apollo era: Artemis II. A crew of four will conduct a lunar flyby, laying the groundwork, the agency hopes, for a landing on the Artemis IV mission.
In early 1970, with two successful Moon landings on the books, President Richard Nixon sought to reduce NASA’s budget to better align with his administration’s priorities. This decision put the space agency in a difficult position, which ultimately led to the cancellation of three planned Apollo missions to conserve funding for its plans for long-term human activity in low Earth orbit.
NASA repurposed the third stage of a Saturn V rocket to create the first U.S. space station, Skylab, which operated from 1973 to 1974. The space agency used leftover Saturn IB rockets and Apollo command and service modules to send crews to the station.
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Over the next three decades, NASA developed and operated the space shuttle. The fleet of space shuttle orbiters supported satellite deployment and microgravity research on orbital missions of up to 17 days. This work was meant to enable future long-duration human missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. For example, data from protein crystal growth experiments have informed the development of medicines.
The space shuttle program facilitated the construction, maintenance and staffing of a continuously inhabited research platform in orbit, the International Space Station. The first modules launched in late 1998.Space shuttle Endeavour’s robotic arm begins the sequence to deploy the Unity module of the International Space Station on Dec. 5, 1998. NASA
Where to next?
As the new millennium approached, the Clinton administration tasked NASA to think beyond the space station. What could robots and humans do next in space? And where could they do it? Notably, the White House expressed an interest in locations beyond low Earth orbit.
NASA, it turned out, was well positioned to meet the administration’s request. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin was already thinking about preparing proposals for the next presidential administration and had recently sponsored a human lunar return study. In 1999, he established a team to investigate new technologies, missions and destinations for the 21st century.
This work took on new significance following the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia crew in February 2003. Many people, including those in the new George W. Bush White House, wondered whether the human spaceflight program should continue – and, if so, how.
Administration discussions culminated in Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration in 2004, which directed NASA to retire the space shuttle after the completion of the space station. It called for returning humans to the Moon on a crew exploration vehicle designed for destinations beyond low Earth orbit.
It also called for continuing robotic exploration of Mars and engaging companies and international partners in space. Fifteen years earlier, President George H. W. Bush had also announced a Moon and Mars exploration program, but congressional concerns about cost kept space travelers close to home.President George W. Bush announces his administration’s Vision for Space Exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2004. NASA/Bill Ingalls
The Constellation program’s legacy
In December 2004, NASA began the process of finding a manufacturer for the crew exploration vehicle. By August 2006, the space agency awarded Lockheed Martin the contract to build the capsule, which it had named Orion – the same Orion planned to carry Artemis astronauts to the Moon.
Years of research, development and testing followed for Orion as well as the Ares I crew and Ares V cargo launch vehicles. Together, these technologies made up the Constellation program.An illustration of the Ares rockets from the Constellation program. The Ares I rocket with Orion spacecraft on top is on the left − it was intended for activities in low Earth orbit. The Ares V heavy-lift rocket, on the right, was designed for lunar missions. NASA
Constellation had two primary objectives: in the near term, to help transport crew to and from the space station after the space shuttle program ended; in the long term, to enable human lunar exploration.
Building systems that could work in both Earth orbit and around the Moon was supposed to save the time and cost of developing two vehicles. Similarly, adapting space shuttle program hardware could supposedly cut costs.
During the first months of Barack Obama’s presidency in 2009, the administration initiated an independent review of NASA’s human spaceflight plans. The Augustine Committee, chaired by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine, found that the agency’s ambitions outstripped its limited budget, leading to significant delays. The first Orion spacecraft was likely to arrive after the space station ceased operations.
The committee proposed several paths forward at the current funding level, which prioritized space shuttle and space station programs. An additional annual investment of US$3 billion would allow for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Ultimately, the Obama administration canceled Constellation, but two of its technologies lived on, thanks to U.S. senators from states that would have been affected by cuts.
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The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 funded Orion’s continued development, shifting responsibility for space station crew transportation to commercial vehicles. It also directed NASA to develop the space launch system, a redesigned Ares V heavy booster, to send Orion to the Moon. The technical strategy had political benefits, too, preserving jobs in numerous congressional districts by providing continuity for aerospace contractors.
In December 2014, a Delta IV heavy rocket launched the first Orion capsule on a test flight, providing engineers with data on spacecraft systems and the heat shield. By October 2015, the space launch system had completed a critical design review, the last step before manufacturing could begin.In this photo, the Orion capsule awaits recovery after splashdown after a test flight on Dec. 5, 2014. U.S. Navy, CC BY-NC
Introducing Artemis
In December 2017, the new Trump administration issued a policy directive shifting the focus of NASA’s human spaceflight program back to the Moon. The space agency would use Orion and the space launch system in a race to meet an ambitious 2024 landing date. NASA officially named the program Artemis in May 2019.
The 25-day Artemis I mission, launched in November 2022, was a major milestone for the program. This uncrewed flight was the first flight of the space launch system and the first to integrate SLS and Orion. It laid the groundwork for Artemis II, which will be the first crewed flight of the SLS.
Over more than 50 years, each new presidential administration has reassessed the place of spaceflight among its priorities, either encouraging or curtailing NASA’s efforts to return humans to the lunar surface.
Each crewed flight requires the alignment of technical expertise, political will and financial support over years if not decades. For the space fans who plan to watch the Artemis II launch, the wait for countdown may feel long. But it’s just a blink in NASA’s long journey back to the Moon.
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New Feeding the Economy Report Highlights Food, Agriculture Industry Strength
America’s food and agriculture industries generated more than $10.4 trillion in economic value in 2026, accounting for nearly 20% of the U.S. economy, according to the 10th annual Feeding the Economy report released by 35 food and agriculture groups. The new farm-to-fork study also found the sector supports 48.7 million jobs nationwide, including 24.3 million direct jobs across farming, food manufacturing, processing, distribution, retail, and foodservice.
The report points to continued resilience despite inflation, trade uncertainty, and ongoing pressure on farmers and producers. It found food and agriculture generate more than $3 trillion in wages and $1.35 trillion in tax revenue, while U.S. exports totaled $177.3 billion. At the same time, the study flagged softer areas to watch, including flat direct employment in production agriculture and food manufacturing, along with a year-over-year decline in exports. For the food and beverage industry, the report reinforces just how deeply agriculture remains tied to jobs, supply chains, and broader economic stability.
Source: Tenth Annual “Feeding the Economy” Report Demonstrates Strength and Resilience of the American Food and Agriculture Industries Amid Ongoing Economic Pressures — Feeding the Economy via PR Newswire Further information: Feeding the Economy
STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.
(April 6, 2026) – The Moon, seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars. Credit: NASA
Artemis II Astronauts Capture First Moon Flyby Images from Lunar Far Side
April 7, 2026 — NASA has released the first breathtaking images from the historic Artemis II mission, offering humanity a rare look at the Moon’s far side—including views never before seen by human eyes.
Captured during a seven-hour lunar flyby on April 6, the images were taken by astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft as part of NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.Image Credit: NASA
🌕 A Historic View of the Moon
The newly released images reveal stunning details of the lunar surface, including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and fractured terrain that scientists will use to better understand the Moon’s geologic history.
You’ve never seen the Moon like this 🌕🚀 NASA’s Artemis II astronauts just captured stunning flyby images—including the Moon’s far side and a solar eclipse from space. This is humanity’s return to deep space. https://stmdailynews.com/science/ ArtemisII NASA SpaceTok Moon SpaceExploration DidYouKnow NowYouKnow ♬ original sound – STMDailyNews – STMDailyNews
Among the most remarkable visuals is a rare solar eclipse seen from space, where the Moon passes in front of the Sun, revealing the Sun’s outer corona. The images also captured an “earthset” and “earthrise”—moments where Earth appears to set and rise over the Moon’s horizon.
In one striking image, the Moon is backlit by the Sun, with Earth glowing at its edge, while distant planets like Saturn and Mars appear as bright points in the background.Image Credit: NASA
📸 Thousands of Images, New Discoveries
The Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—used a range of cameras to capture thousands of high-resolution images during the flyby.
In addition to photography, the astronauts reported observing six meteoroid impact flashes on the Moon’s surface, offering scientists a rare opportunity to study active lunar events in real time.
Researchers are now analyzing the images, audio, and telemetry data to refine their understanding of the Moon’s surface and compare findings with observations from Earth-based astronomers.
🔬 Science That Shapes the Future
According to NASA officials, the data collected during Artemis II will play a critical role in shaping future missions, including plans to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon.
“These images are not only visually stunning, but they are brimming with scientific value that will inspire generations to come,” said Dr. Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
The mission also provides astronauts with a unique advantage—human observation. With four trained sets of eyes, the crew is able to analyze subtle differences in color, brightness, and texture across the lunar surface in ways robotic systems cannot.
🚀 More Than Halfway Home
Now more than halfway through its 10-day journey, Artemis II is heading back toward Earth. NASA is targeting a splashdown at 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 10 off the coast of San Diego.
Live coverage of the return will begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT on NASA+, with recovery teams ready to retrieve the crew and spacecraft following reentry.
🌍 A New Era of Exploration
The Artemis II mission marks a major step forward in NASA’s long-term vision of returning humans to the Moon and eventually sending astronauts to Mars.
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With each image and data point sent back to Earth, the mission is not only rewriting the record books—but also expanding humanity’s understanding of our closest celestial neighbor.
Official Artemis II images are available through NASA’s digital platforms, including the Artemis Image Gallery and NASA Image and Video Library.
🔗 Related External Links
Explore official NASA resources and view the latest Artemis II Moon flyby images:
Dive into “The Knowledge,” where curiosity meets clarity. This playlist, in collaboration with STMDailyNews.com, is designed for viewers who value historical accuracy and insightful learning. Our short videos, ranging from 30 seconds to a minute and a half, make complex subjects easy to grasp in no time. Covering everything from historical events to contemporary processes and entertainment, “The Knowledge” bridges the past with the present. In a world where information is abundant yet often misused, our series aims to guide you through the noise, preserving vital knowledge and truths that shape our lives today. Perfect for curious minds eager to discover the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of everything around us. Subscribe and join in as we explore the facts that matter. https://stmdailynews.com/the-knowledge/
