CONVOCATION: Less than 24 hours after offering Easter blessings and meeting with Vice President JD Vance, Pope Francis died this morning in Rome at age 88, the Vatican announced. 

  Originally from Argentina, Francis was the first Jesuit and Latin American pope.

  Francis pushed back against the traditionalists in the church while dealing with a worldwide sexual abuse crisis. He reached out to and supported migrants, the poor, and gay Catholics.

  He demoted Vatican conservatives, restricted the use of the old Latin Mass, allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, and made clear that transgender people could be godparents and that their children could be baptized.

  Francis was critical of what he called “clericalism,” the remote authoritarianism of church leaders that he believed led, in part, to the plague of sexual abuse.

  Conservatives accused him of diminishing and weakening the church.

  He would only go so far. While he tolerated discussions about celibacy for priests, nothing changed.

  Francis had been in failing health for years, sometimes having to use a wheelchair. He spent weeks in the hospital this winter with double pneumonia. No cause of death was immediately given.

SIGNAL EVENT: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared information about planned military strikes in Yemen on March 15th in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer, The NY Times reports “according to four people with knowledge of the chat.”

  The Times reports that Hegseth shared the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthi militants in Yemen, essentially the same attack plans that he revealed on another Signal chat the same day that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic. Unlike the chat last month that was opened by National Security adviser Mike Waltz, Hegseth initiated this one, the Times says.

  The paper says Hegseth used his personal telephone on the chat that included about a dozen people under the heading “Defense | Team Huddle.”

  Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, is a former Fox News producer. Hegseth’s brother Phil and lawyer Tim Parlatore, who continues to serve as his personal attorney, both have jobs in the Pentagon.

STATE OF AFFAIRS: The Trump administration has drafted an order to shrink and reorganize the State Department, severely cutting back on African affairs,  efforts to stem climate change, and deal with refugee crises, The NY Times reports.

  The order would divide the State Department into four “corps,” each handling a section of the world: Eurasia Corps; Mid-East; Latin America; and Indo-Pacific Corps.

   The changes would be “a disciplined reorganization” of the State Department and “streamline mission delivery” while cutting “waste, fraud and abuse,” according the 16-page draft obtained by the Times.

  Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on Twitter/X that, “This is fake news. The

@nytimes falls victim to another hoax.”

  According to the draft order, scores of foreign service officers would be let go, embassies and consulates would be closed, and significantly, the bureau of African affairs, which oversees policy in sub-Saharan Africa, would be eliminated.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— In yet another  poison pen special holiday message, President Trump posted the following on Truth Social: 

 “Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing — But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!”

  It just seemed appropriate to give you the entire rant. 

— Hundreds of thousands of anti-Trump protesters turned out all across the country on Saturday organized by the 50501 Movement. The “50501” is short for “50 protests, 50 states, one day.”

  The organizers, the same people who brought the “Hands Off !” rallies, hope to keep this going.

— President Donald Trump is expected today to attend the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House, hosted by first lady Melania Trump. The Trumps for the first time in history solicited corporate sponsorship for the event from Amazon, YouTube, and Meta, mixing the children’s event with big business.

THE WAR ROOM: The Israeli military admitted yesterday that the deaths of 15 clearly identifiable Palestinian emergency responders in an ambush was the result of “several professional failures” and that a commander would be dismissed.

  A short convoy of ambulances and a fire truck in darkness with headlights on and emergency lights spinning were the target of about five minutes of gunfire. Video shows what happened.

  The military report said, “The examination identified several professional failures, breaches of orders, and a failure to fully report the incident.”

THE SPIN RACK:  A group of California property owners is suing major insurance carriers, including the state’s largest, State Farm, accusing them of colluding to force homeowners in fire zones into the state insurance plan, which offers less coverage. — In a sign of growing frustration with homeless encampments in California, the Mayor of San Jose proposed giving police the authority to arrest people who refuse housing. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Step aside, you Sherpas. A tech startup is developing a service using drones to deliver supplies the nature-conquering adventurers on Mt. Everest.

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