Local Catholics will gather at noon today at the Cathedral of St. Paul to remember Pope Francis, who died at the age of 88 early Monday morning.

The Mass, which will be led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda, will be the first of the traditional nine Masses offered for the repose of his soul, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“It is with profound sadness that I learned this morning of the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis,” Hebda wrote in a statement posted Monday morning. “Along with Catholics and men and women of good will throughout the world, I gave thanks to Almighty God for his life and example, and I pray with Easter hope for the repose of his soul.

“How providential that our loving God would call Pope Francis home just as we begin our 50 days of celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death. I trust that he felt the comforting prayers of the world as he joined the crowd in St. Peter’s Square yesterday for the Church’s celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The Holy Father’s powerful Easter greeting, expressing his closeness to those experiencing the scourge of war and abandonment will be long remembered as his testament.

“I will be grateful to Pope Francis for assigning me to serve as the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. I have fond memories this day of all the times that he assured me of his prayers for this Archdiocese.

“I ask you to join me in praying for the Holy Father, especially over the next nine days. I ask our pastors to open their Churches today for all desiring to offer their prayers for Pope Francis and for the Church that he so generously led.”

In 2016, Pope Frances gave Hebda the pallium – a band of white wool decorated with three black symbolic “nails” – that he wears “to symbolize our province’s connection and communion with the Successor of Peter,” he wrote in a reflection and call to prayer when it was announced in February that Pope Francis’ was in critical condition.

“The wool of the pallium always serves to remind the Pope and his brother archbishops that they are supposed to be like the good shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep, while the nails remind them of the sacrifice that Jesus, the true Good Shepherd, offered for us on the cross, calling us to embrace sacrifice as well, always while drawing our strength from the cross,” Hebda wrote.

Francis, he wrote, was “experiencing the cross in a new way.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called Pope Francis a “a voice for the voiceless.”

“The one time I saw him pray for and address the gathered at St. Peter’s Square, when he finished, he did what he always did — he greeted and blessed those with disabilities first,” she wrote in a statement posted on social media.

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By TARA COPP, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, The New York Times reported.

A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press.

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The second chat on Signal — which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. The person also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ‘ Team Huddle.”

The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.

The White House and Pentagon said late Sunday that disgruntled former employees were spreading false claims.

“No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared,” said Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary. “Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell added in a post on X late Sunday that the report “relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda. There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story.”

The revelation of the additional chat group brought new calls for Hegseth to be ousted as President Donald Trump’s administration has faced criticism for failing to take action so far against the top national security officials who discussed plans for the military strike in Signal.

“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X. “Pete Hegseth must be fired.”

The first chat, set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz, included a number of Cabinet members and came to light because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the group.

The contents of that chat, which The Atlantic published, shows that Hegseth listed weapons systems and a timeline for the attack on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen last month.

Hegseth has previously contended that no classified information or war plans were shared in the chat with the journalist.

FILE – U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during the Central American Security Conference in Panama City, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, file)

The Times reported Sunday that the second chat had the same warplane launch times that the first chat included. Multiple former and current officials have said sharing those operational details before a strike would have certainly been classified and their release could have put pilots in danger.

Hegseth’s use of Signal and the sharing of such plans are under investigation by the Defense Department’s acting inspector general. It came at the request of the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee — Republican Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and ranking Democratic member Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Reed urged the Pentagon watchdog late Sunday to probe the reported second Signal chat as well, saying that Hegseth “must immediately explain why he reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American servicemembers’ lives.”

“I have grave concerns about Secretary Hegseth’s ability to maintain the trust and confidence of U.S. servicemembers and the Commander-in-Chief,” he added.

The new revelations come during further turmoil at the Pentagon. Four officials in Hegseth’s inner circle departed last week as the Pentagon conducts a widespread investigation for information leaks.

Dan Caldwell, a Hegseth aide; Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg; and Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, were escorted out of the Pentagon.

While the three initially had been placed on leave pending the investigation, a joint statement shared by Caldwell on X on Saturday said the three “still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”

Caldwell was the staff member designated as Hegseth’s point person in the Signal chat with Trump Cabinet members.

Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot also announced he was resigning last week, unrelated to the leaks. The Pentagon said, however, that Ullyot was asked to resign.

AP writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

Gophers redshirt freshman running back Jaydon Wright plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, a source confirmed to the Pioneer Press on Monday.

Wright missed the 2024 season with an injury and has been sidelined during spring practices, as well. He is the third scholarship player to enter the portal this spring, following quarterback Zach Pyron and linebacker David Amaliri last week.

One element in the amount of departures is the Gophers’ need to trim its roster down to 105 players before next season. That is the expected requirement incoming from the House settlement with the NCAA.

Wright was a three-star prospect from Bishop McNamara Catholic School in Kankakee, Ill. 247Sports first reported the news on Wright.

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By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are sinking Monday as investors pull away from the United States because of the uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s trade war and his criticism of the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 was 1.2% lower in early trading and back to 15% below its record set two months ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 430 points, or 1.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% lower.

Perhaps more worryingly, U.S. Treasury bonds and the value of the U.S. dollar also sank as a retreat continues from U.S. markets. It’s an unusual move because Treasurys and the dollar have historically strengthened during past episodes of nervousness. But this time around, it’s policies directly from Washington that are causing the fear and potentially weakening their reputations as some of the world’s safest investments.

Trump continued his tough talk on trade over the weekend, even as economists and investors continue to say his stiff proposed tariffs could cause a recession unless they’re rolled back.

“The golden rule of negotiating and success: He who has the gold makes the rules,” Trump said in all capitalized letters on his Truth Social Network. He also said that “the businessmen who criticize tariffs are bad at business, but really bad at politics,” also in all caps.

Trump has recently focused more on China, the world’s second-largest economy, which upped its own rhetoric against the world’s largest economy. China on Monday warned other countries against making trade deals with the United States “at the expense of China’s interest” as Japan, South Korea and other countries try to negotiate agreements that would lower U.S. tariffs on their own products.

“If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

Also hanging over the market are worries about Trump’s anger at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump last week criticized Powell again for not cutting interest rates sooner to help give the economy more juice.

The Fed has been resistant to lowering rates too quickly because it does not want to allow inflation to reaccelerate after it has slowed nearly all the way down to its 2% goal from more than 9% three years ago.

A move to fire Powell would likely send another bolt of fear through financial markets. While investors would love to see lower interest rates, because they would give at least a short-term boost to prices for stocks and other investments, the larger worry is that a less independent Fed would be less effective at keeping inflation under control in the long run. It would further weaken, if not kill, the United States’ reputation as the world’s safest place to keep cash.

On Wall Street, several Big Tech stocks helped lead indexes lower ahead of their latest earnings reports coming later this week.

Tesla sank 4.4%, for example. The electric vehicle’s stock came into Monday roughly 50% below its record set in December on criticism that its stock price had gone too high and that its brand has become too entwined with Elon Musk, who’s leading the U.S. government’s efforts to cut spending.

On the winning side of Wall Street were Discover Financial Services and Capital One Financial, which jumped after the U.S. government approved their proposed merger.

Discover rallied 4.6%, and Capital One rose 2.6%.

In the bond market, shorter-term Treasury yields fell as investors keep alive hopes that the Fed may cut its main overnight interest rate later this year in order to support the economy. But longer-term yields rose as doubts continue to rise about the United States’ standing in the global economy.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.38% from 4.34% at the end of last week and from just about 4% earlier this month. That’s a substantial move for the bond market.

The U.S. dollar’s value, meanwhile, fell against the euro, Japanese yen, the Swiss franc and other currencies.

In stock markets abroad, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3%. Indexes fared better in Seoul, where stocks rose 0.2%, and in Shanghai, which saw a 0.4% gain.

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.