VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ funeral will be held on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square, Roman Catholic cardinals decided on Tuesday, setting the stage for a solemn ceremony that will draw leaders from around the world.

Francis, 88, died unexpectedly on Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, the Vatican said, ending an often turbulent reign in which he repeatedly clashed with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalized.

The pontiff spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year suffering from double pneumonia. But he returned to the Vatican almost a month ago and had seemed to be recovering, appearing in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.

The Vatican on Tuesday released photographs of Francis dressed in his vestments and laid in a wooden coffin in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence, where he lived during his 12-year papacy. Swiss Guards stand on either side of the casket.

His body will be taken into the adjacent St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT), in a procession led by cardinals, allowing the faithful to pay their last respects to the first Latin American pope.

His funeral service will be held in St. Peter’s Square, in the shadow of the Basilica, on Saturday at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT).

US President Donald J. Trump, who clashed repeatedly with the pope about immigration, said he and his wife would fly to Rome for the service.

Among other heads of state set to attend were Javier Milei, president of Francis’ native Argentina, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a source in his office.

ANCIENT RITUALS
In a break from tradition, Francis confirmed in his final testament released on Monday that he wished to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major and not St. Peter’s, where many of his predecessors were laid to rest.

Francis’ sudden death has set in motion ancient rituals, as the 1.4-billion-member Church started the transition from one pope to another, including the breaking of the pope’s “Fisherman’s Ring” and lead seal, used in his lifetime to seal documents, so they cannot be used by anyone else.

All cardinals in Rome were summoned to a meeting on Tuesday to decide on the sequencing of events in the coming days and review the day-to-day running of the Church in the period before a new pope is elected.

A conclave to choose a new pope normally takes place 15 to 20 days after the death of a pontiff, meaning it should not start before May 6.

Some 135 cardinals are eligible to participate in the secretive ballot, which can stretch over days before white smoke pouring from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel tells the world that a new pope has been picked.

At present there is no clear frontrunner to succeed Francis.

PROGRESSIVE
Pope Francis inherited a Church in disarray and worked hard to overhaul the Vatican’s central administration, root out corruption and, after a slow start, confront the scourge of child abuse within the ranks of the priesthood.

He often clashed with conservatives, nostalgic for a traditional past, who saw Francis as overly liberal and too accommodating to minority groups, such as the LGBTQ community.

Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors scattered across the world who will choose the next pope, increasing, but not guaranteeing, the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies.

Many of the cardinals are little known outside their own countries and they will have a chance to get to know one another at meetings known as General Congregations that take place in the days before a conclave starts and where a profile of the qualities needed for the next pope will take shape.

The Vatican said late on Monday that staff and officials within the Holy See could immediately start to pay their respects before the pope’s body at the Santa Marta residence, where Francis set up home in 2013, shunning the grand, apostolic palace his predecessors had lived in. — Reuters

THE US economy could slow unless interest rates are lowered immediately, President Donald J. Trump said on Monday, repeating his criticism of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, who says rates should not be lowered until it is clearer Mr. Trump’s tariff plans won’t lead to a persistent surge in inflation.

“With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The comments, and the administration’s seemingly intensifying pressure on a Fed chair Mr. Trump has stated he would like to see gone, sent stock markets lower and bond yields higher as investors and analysts mulled the fallout should Mr. Trump ignite a fight over the Fed’s monetary policy independence and try to remove Mr. Powell before the end of his term a little over a year from now.

It’s not clear if Mr. Trump has the authority to do so, and even if successful the Fed’s governance structure would give the remaining board members and regional bank presidents say over interest rate decisions — potentially forcing the White House into a deeper assault on the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors.

Mr. Trump’s repeated threats to fire Mr. Powell come as he tries to goad the Fed into quickly cutting interest rates to mitigate a widely expected economic slowdown and possible harm to the labor market due to his tariff and other policies, while Fed policy makers urge caution on concerns inflation, which remains above their 2% target, could be pushed higher by the import taxes.

The Fed next meets on May 6-7 and is widely expected to hold the benchmark interest rate steady in the current 4.25% to 4.5% range.

WEAKER OUTLOOK
The growth outlook and overall sentiment have both been falling as Mr. Trump ratcheted up efforts to impose import taxes on goods from major US trading partners and many core products, with top economists raising the estimated odds of a recession this year.

The Conference Board’s index of Leading Economic Indicators fell by 0.7% in March, and while still above recession levels “pointed to slowing economic activity ahead,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, senior manager, business cycle indicators, at The Conference Board, with consumer sentiment and manufacturing weakening and stock prices in decline.

While inflation is expected to decline in upcoming readings, there is broad agreement as well that the import tariffs Mr. Trump plans to impose will drive it back to perhaps 4% or higher through the rest of the year.

Fed officials say that while that price shock may prove temporary, allowing them to cut rates eventually, they worry it could lead to more persistent inflation that would require them to keep credit conditions tighter.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said in comments to CNBC on Monday that the central bank needed more time to see the net impact of Mr. Trump’s policies.

“The impact of tariffs on the macroeconomy could potentially be modest,” Goolsbee said. “We don’t know what the impact on the supply chain is going to be so I think we want to be a little more of a steady hand and try to figure out the through line before we’re jumping to action.” — Reuters

BEIJING — When 25-year-old biology student Yao’s PhD program enrollment was deferred due to funding cuts at her US university, she joined a growing list of Chinese students exploring other destinations.

Visa revocations and university funding cuts by the administration of US President Donald J. Trump have become a source of anxiety for international students. Those from China face additional challenges due to Washington’s trade war with Beijing and the increasing vilification of Chinese citizens, students and industry insiders said.

“I used to think politics was far away from me, but this year I really felt the impact of politics on international students,” Chicago-based Yao said, declining to give the name of her prospective university.

China had accounted for the biggest international student body in the US for 15 years, until it was overtaken by India last year. The economic impact of Chinese students on the American economy was $14.3 billion in 2023, according to Open Doors data.

But within the United States, the community has been portrayed as a national security threat — likened to spies sent across by the Chinese Communist Party — and threatened with proposed legislation that could bar them from universities.

Reuters spoke to 15 Chinese students, eight of whom were in the US, who said the compounded issues have spiked safety concerns and intensified financial constraints, forcing them to rethink their American dream.

Since Mr. Trump returned to the White House, more than 4,700 students have been deleted from a US immigration database, making them vulnerable to deportation.

Chinese students have accounted for 14% of 327 visa revocation reports collected so far by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

BRANDED SPIES
Last month, the US House’s select committee on China sent letters to six universities requesting information on enrollment policies for Chinese students in advanced STEM programs, and questioning their involvement in federally funded research.

Committee chairman John Moolenaar wrote America’s student visa system had become “a Trojan horse for Beijing” that provided unrestricted access to top research institutions and posed a national security threat.

China’s foreign ministry urged the US to “stop brandishing national security as a false pretext” for discriminatory and restrictive measures targeting its students.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives have also proposed the “Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act” that would halt student visas for Chinese nationals.

New York-based nonprofit Committee of 100, a grouping of prominent Chinese Americans, has said the bill betrays American values and weakens the US’ leadership in science, technology and innovation.

Duke University Professor Chen Yiran said the idea that Chinese students rush home to help Beijing compete with the US was a fallacy.

“Most of them still want to stay in the US,” Chen said. “They’re from middle-class families, they pay the millions (in yuan) for these few years, they want to get the investment back.”

Universities outside the US have since reported increased interest.

LOOKING ELSEWHERE
Italy’s Bocconi University has received many queries from students, its Greater China country manager Summer Wu said.

“Many students said because of (the political situation), they’re looking more at other countries, because they don’t know what will happen if they go to the US,” she said.

Institutions in the US and United Kingdom were also facing competition from Chinese universities that have shot up in global rankings in recent years.

“The growing reputation of China’s domestic universities as well as an increase in funding for research and development is making Chinese institutions more attractive,” said Pippa Ebel who authored a report on Chinese students for British education think tank HEPI.

The US remains China’s most-searched destination on Keystone Education Group’s websites, but interest dropped 5% since Mr. Trump’s additional tariffs announcement, with searches for doctoral programs declining 12%.

Mr. Trump’s 145% tariffs on Beijing will impact $400 billion worth of goods sold by Chinese producers in the US market annually and compound slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

“China may be more sensitive to shifts in economic conditions and international policies… affecting household budgets and the overall affordability of pursuing a US education,” Keystone’s insights director Mark Bennett said.

In Hong Kong, visa arrangements that allow graduates to stay and seek employment have made the city a popular destination, the Chinese University of Hong Kong said.

Li is one such student. After three years in New York, she decided not to embark on the arduous US Green Card application process and chose to move to Hong Kong for graduate school and work.

“When I realized that there could be other possibilities in my life, I was not so frustrated with what I have now,” Li said. — Reuters