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NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S
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VOLUME 59, ISSUE 73 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2025 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Pope Francis, voice of reform, dies at 88 The pontiff was known for his welcoming pastoral style and advocacy for the marginalized. By HENRY JAGODZINSKI Assistant Managing Editor
Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and first Latin American pontiff, died on Monday of a stroke and heart failure in his apartment at Casa Santa Marta, a guesthouse in Vatican City. He was 88. Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced his death and said Francis had died at 7:35 a.m. in Rome. Francis, who became pope in 2013, brought special attention to the social teachings of the Catholic Church and pushed for reforms in the governance of the Vatican. His pontificate focused heavily on the marginalized and vulnerable in society, and his empathetic and
HENRY JAGODZINSKI | The Observer
An image of Pope Francis draped in black stands near the altar in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Monday, April 21. The Bascilica will hold nine days of memorial Masses in remembrance of the pontiff.
Students granted Google AI tools By ZACK POHLMAN Associate News Editor
As students begin to prepare and study for finals, which begin in less than two weeks, they now have access to premium AI tools directly through their Notre Dame Google accounts. On March 18, the Office of Information Technology sent a campus-wide email announcing
student access to Google AI tools Gemini and NotebookLM. Gemini is Google’s large language model (LLM), a generative AI resource similar to ChatGPT. NotebookLM, on the other hand, works directly with users’ documents, providing summaries and acting as a research assistant. see AI PAGE 4
pastoral approach won sympathy from across the world. He frequently lamented politicians’ lack of care for migrants, including at a 2015 address to Congress. The pope’s first official trip was the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean that was a major landing point for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing from Africa to Europe. His frequent refrain to “build bridges, not walls” has been adopted by University President Fr. Robert Dowd, who echoed his words in his inaugural address last year. More pointedly, Francis decried the Trump administration’s program of mass see POPE PAGE 3
Former UN ambassador speaks on democracy By EMMA BETZ News Writer
On Wednesday, from 5–6 p.m. in Hesburgh Auditorium, Chris Lu, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform, spoke on the state of American democracy in conversation with Mary Gallagher, Marilyn Keough dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. The talk was facilitated by Notre Dame’s Democracy
Initiative, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Liu InstituteforAsiaandAsianStudies. Throughout the discussion, Lu offered insight into the reality of government interaction with higher education, the rise of China and the prevalence of checks and balances. Gallagher prompted a talk on federal involvement in higher education initiatives with a brief discussion of the role of civil society in maintaining democracy. She stated that
universities, lawyers, media and nonprofit organizations play a role in maintaining a functioning American democracy. This led to a question on how outside organizations are seen and how they become part of democracies. Lu responded by discussing the importance of higher education in maintaining democracy. He mentioned the relevance of First Amendment rights such as free
SMC holds LGBTQ+ storytelling event Students and rectors share By BERHAN HAGEZOM Saint Mary’s News Editor
Saint Mary’s Sexuality and Gender Equity Club (SAGE), LGBTQ+ Center and Department of Gender and Women’s Studies co-hosted the annual SAGE Stories, an event Wednesday where students and faculty were invited to perform anonymous stories submitted virtually in response to the prompt: “What is your experience of
HEIDI GARDNER NEWS PAGE 4
being LGBTQ+ at Saint Mary’s College?” Eli Williams, assistant director of The LGBTQ+ Center, first went onstage to introduce the event, which took place in SMC’s Little Theatre. “This format of anonymous true stories read by supportive volunteers is a well established tradition in our community,” Williams said. She spoke on the see STORYTELLING PAGE 4
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see AMBASSADOR PAGE 4
insights on formals By MEGAN CORNELL Staff Writer
Each of Notre Dame’s 32 residence halls host their own formal, but these events vary in location, cost and itinerary. Formals are held everywhere from South Dining Hall to downtown Chicago, with corresponding event logistics and planning
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processes at varying levels of sophistication. Formals that are held on campus are typically planned by students. Each residence hall appoints a dance commissioner who oversees the coordination of the formal. “As the dance commissioner, I would update our hall president about the events and she would
inform the rector about what is happening... It’s completely student run which is really cool,” Flaherty hall dance commissioner Lauren Whitlatch said. Residence halls often choose to pair up for their formals to increase their budgets and streamline the planning process see FORMALS PAGE 4
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