CNN
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Renowned Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese is set to produce a new documentary that will feature the late Pope Francis’ last on-camera interview.

The film, titled “Aldeas – A New Story,” is also produced in part by Aldeas Scholas Films, the film production arm of Pope Francis’ international non-profit organization Scholas Occurrentes, which was founded in 2013 and focuses on the youth of the world.

The documentary, about a cinema program also named Aldeas, will chronicle the making of several short films that speak to Pope Francis’ passion for community building and emphasis on creativity as “not only a means of expression but a path to hope and transformation,” a media release stated.

“Through hands-on workshops, communities from around the globe will create scripted short films that celebrate their unique identities, histories, and values,” the release added. “The behind-the-scenes stories of these shorts will be interwoven with previously unseen conversations between Pope Francis and Scorsese.”

Before his death earlier this month at the age of 88, Francis spoke of the film and program, saying, “’Aldeas’ is an extremely poetic and very constructive project because it goes to the roots of what human life is, human sociability, human conflicts… the essence of a life’s journey.”

Scorsese added in the release, “Now, more than ever, we need to talk to each other, listen to one another cross-culturally. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by sharing the stories of who we are, reflected from our personal lives and experiences.”

“It helps us understand and value how each of us sees the world,” he said.

The Oscar-winner continued to say that it was “important” to Pope Francis for people around the world “to exchange ideas with respect while also preserving their cultural identity, and cinema is the best medium to do that.”

Aldeas Scholas Films was “inspired by the belief that ‘it takes a whole village to educate a child,’” and works to make some of the “deepest calls” of Francis’ papacy a reality, particularly the need for outreach to the peripheries and building unity in a time of division, the media release said.

Indonesia, The Gambia, and Italy are among the countries set to participate in the project, and the short films made there will eventually premiere in newly established local cinemas, “serving as lasting hubs for cultural expression and education.”

A release date has not yet been announced.

Tens of thousands of people, including dozens of dignitaries, flocked to the Vatican on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis.

Earlier this week, CNN reported that cardinals have chosen May 7 as the date to start conclave and elect a new leader for 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, according to the Vatican.

Europe’s economy grew more strongly in the first three months of the year, only to see hopes for an ongoing recovery quickly squelched by US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Gross domestic product in the 20 countries that use the euro grew 0.4% in the first quarter, improving on 0.2% growth in the last part of 2024, according to official figures released Wednesday.

But on April 2, just two days after the end of the quarter, Trump announced an onslaught of new tariffs on almost every US trading partner and hit goods imported from the European Union with a 20% tariff rate. That has led to widespread downgrading of Europe’s economic growth outlook for the year since its economy is heavily dependent on exports and the United States is its largest single export destination.

Although Trump has announced a 90-day pause on what he calls his “reciprocal” tariffs — so named because they are based on how he feels other countries have been treating the US — prospects that the EU can strike a bargain to reduce the 20% figure are highly uncertain.

Meanwhile, other tariffs — such as a 25% rate on steel and aluminum and on cars, both of them for all trading partners, including Europe — remain in place. The costs of tariffs are paid by the companies that import European goods such as cars and pharmaceuticals, which then have to decide whether to swallow the costs or pass them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices.

As a result, indicators of business and consumer optimism in Europe have fallen. The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator sagged to 93.6 in March, its lowest level since December. That drop in sentiment is “another illustration of how the last four weeks of tariff tensions and uncertainty have entirely wiped out the tentative return of optimism in the eurozone,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macroeconomics at ING bank.

“Unless there are major changes in US trade policy, sentiment as well as economic activity in the eurozone will remain subdued over the coming months,” Brzeski said.

Before Trump’s announcement, hopeful signs had included a strong job market, with unemployment low at 6.1% and consumers beginning to spend more after several years of holding back because of inflation.

With inflation down to 2.2%, the European Central Bank has been lowering the cost of credit for consumers and businesses by cutting its benchmark interest rate seven times in its current easing cycle, most recently by a quarter of a percentage point on April 17.

On top of that, the German parliament has approved a €500 billion ($570 billion) investment fund that’s exempt from the country’s constitutional limits on debt. That decision by the incoming coalition has raised hopes of additional spending on pro-growth infrastructure over the coming years.

However, Trump’s tariffs have lowered expectations for Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy and its economic problem child. The outgoing government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz lowered its growth estimate for this year to zero after two previous years of declining output.

CNN
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An American detained in Belarus has been freed, Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler and a second US official told CNN on Wednesday.

Youras Ziankovich was arrested in Moscow in 2021 and then was brought to Belarus’s capital Minsk, where he was accused of being part of a US-backed coup plot against Belarus’ strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko. The US State Department denied any such involvement.

Ziankovich had been declared wrongfully detained in February 2025. There was not a prisoner swap that led to his release, Boehler and the unnamed official said.

“No exchange,” Boehler told CNN Wednesday. “It really was an open mindedness to have a discussion, but I think it’s real hard for us to have discussions when people are holding Americans.”

Belarus – which has been isolated from the West – is interested in “trying to warm relations with the United States,” and “they know that President Trump is not going to do anything if they’re holding Americans.”

“We’ve made that clear” across the interagency, Boehler said.

Following his release from Belarusian detention, Ziankovich was turned over at the border with neighboring Lithuania to a team of US officials. He is expected to arrive back on US soil on Thursday, Boehler said.

Boehler said he had not yet spoken with Ziankovich, but said, “physically, it looks like he’s in good shape.”

“He’s quite happy to be in American hands,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the news on Wednesday, without naming Ziankovich.

“Thanks to @POTUS’s leadership, Belarus has released another wrongfully detained U.S. citizen. No president has done so much, so quickly, to keep Americans safe abroad,” Rubio posted on X.

According to Global Reach, an organization that advocated for his case, Ziankovich did not have access to State Department personnel until January 2025.

“I knew this day would come. It took 1,480 days, but he survived and is on his way home to me and to America,” his wife Alena Dzenisavets said. “I want to thank President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and Special Envoy Boehler and the SPEHA staff. I also want to express my appreciation to Rep. Morgan Luttrell and the nonprofits Global Reach and the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation for their help advocating for Youras.”

Ziankovich is not the first American to have been released from Belarus under the Trump administration.

Anastassia Nuhfer was released in January after being detained in December 2024. An unnamed American citizen, who was detained in September 2024, was released in mid-February. Two other political prisoners were also released at the time.

Ziankovich’s release comes a day after a second group of 10 Americans were released from detention in Kuwait in a goodwill gesture from the US ally. Boehler said the group would be back on US soil on Wednesday.

This story has been updated with additional details.