CNN 10｜Mourning Pope Francis, Jaguar revival, robot marathon

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: We do start with some solemn news today, as people around the world continue to mourn the death of Pope Francis. He was 88 years old.  Bells tolled in the Vatican after the Pope's death was announced Monday. 

Despite his poor health, Pope Francis had spent the past week actively serving the Catholic Church, making significant appearances during the Holy Week. He was discharged from the hospital less than one month ago after a 38-day battle with pneumonia. 

Just hours before his death, he made a surprise appearance on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica for an Easter blessing. 

Pope Francis: Buona Pasqua! 

Wire: Pope Francis was known for many firsts in the Catholic faith. He was the first non-European pontiff in nearly 1,300 years, born to Italian migrants in Buenos Aires. He was the first Latin American pope elected in the church's history. He was also the first pope to choose the name Francis, after the Catholic saint who's known for his compassion for the poor and love of nature. 

Pope Francis was known as a modernizer of the church. He was outspoken about humanitarian crises like migration, war, and climate change. 

Pope Francis: It seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem. We can no longer be left to a future generation. 

Wire: Pope Francis also sought to lead the church's clergy with a more compassionate and inclusive approach, in part for people who got divorced and for those who are part of the LGBTQ community. He authorized priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples, and he also worked to give greater roles to women working in the Vatican. 

He will be remembered for taking bolder actions than most popes. In 2016, he washed the feet of Middle Eastern refugees, saying, "gestures speak louder than words or images". 

In March of 2020, he held a striking moment during the COVID-19 pandemic before a completely empty St. Peter's Square. In his final Easter address, Pope Francis called for an end to violence worldwide and prayed for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages. 

Whether you are one of the more than one billion Catholics around the world or not, the Pope was an advocate for so many different people who are suffering. And to honor that, I'll leave you with one of his more memorable quotes. "A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just. "

Today is Earth Day, and while some of you may be celebrating by helping out with a community service project, or maybe just recycling that soda can, CNN's Bill Weir is witnessing a conservation project years in the making. The jaguar is the largest big cat in South America, but their natural habitat is shrinking rapidly. 

Jaguars are no longer found in half of their traditional environments, from the southwest U.S. to central Argentina. Now, conservationists, led by the former CEO of PatentLaw, the people of Patagonia are on a mission to revive Argentina's dwindling jaguar population with the help of a wild-born jaguar named Miní. Our Bill Weir takes us along on her incredible journey. Check it out. 

Bill Weir: Miní is set to become the first wild-born jaguar to be relocated for the purposes of conservation. The couple was so inspired by the success of the U.S. national park system that they wanted to replicate it in South America. 

Fueled by a burning desire to protect the Patagonian wilderness from the ravages of cattle ranches and soy plantations, they purchased 2 million acres in Chile and Argentina. But that didn't feel right. So they decided to give it all away in the largest private land donation in history. 

Miní's new home is here, in El Impenetrable National Park. It sits within the second largest continuous forest in South America, called Gran Chaco, stemming from an indigenous word meaning hunting land and hunt they did. 

Over centuries here ranchers hunted the big cats until they were nowhere to be found. But then in 2019, hope. A park ranger discovered the tracks of a solitary male jaguar and then a second one a little later on. The only problem, no females to mate with, meaning these lone males might have been the last ones left. 

After a bumpy and dusty ride through the Gran Chaco forest, Miní's finally set for the first stage of her release. She spends five months in this enclosure, adjusting to the drier forests of El Impanetrable. Now, with regulatory approval cleared, she's free. But no pressure, M'ni. If she successfully manages to mingle with one of those two males, the region's top cat could be back.


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