Pope Francis Played Significant Role For Latinos In California

Here are the morning’s top stories on Tuesday, April 22, 2025…

• The death of Pope Francis is being felt around the world. And right here in California, millions of Latino Catholics are mourning not just the loss of a spiritual leader, but someone who, for many, felt like one of their own. Pope Francis was the first from Latin America. He spoke often about immigration, inequality, and the dignity of the poor.
• Starting this week, Californians can buy naloxone at a discount on a state-run website. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses. 
• A California state labor board says Governor Gavin Newsom may have violated the law when he issued an executive order calling state employees back into the office four days per week.

Pope Francis Remembered Across California 

Pope Francis died early Monday in Rome, just one day after Easter Sunday. The Vatican’s Dr. Andrea Arcangeli said the pope’s cause of death has been identified as a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible “cardiocirculatory collapse.”

His death marks the end of a 12-year papacy that began in 2013 following the historic resignation of Benedict XVI — the first pontiff to step down in nearly six centuries.

Pope Francis was especially significant for Latinos, many of whom are here in California. Francis was the first Pope from Latin America and often spoke about topics that were important to those communities.  

“Pope Francis really spoke about issues that are extremely important to people’s day-to-day lives, especially people in poverty, especially people on the margins,” said Jeff Guhin, a sociology professor at UCLA who studies religion. “And another really important thing to remember about Pope Francis along these lines is that he was extremely concerned about migrants. Now, because he was in Rome, he often centered the experience of migrants in Europe, but he was also concerned about migration around the world, including the United States. Obviously, many Latinos in the United States have migration stories.”

Overdose-Reversal Medicine Now Available To Any Californian

Any Californian can purchase naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication, directly from the state at a discounted price, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Monday. The medication is available online for $24 for a two-pack of the nasal spray, roughly half the market price of the drug. Previously, the discount was available only to government organizations and businesses.

“Life-saving medications shouldn’t come with a life-altering price tag. CalRx is about making essential drugs like naloxone affordable and accessible for all — not the privileged few,” Newsom said in a statement. CalRx is a Newsom initiative to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.

California has spent more than $1 billion fighting the opioid epidemic, which killed more than 8,900 people last year, according to preliminary data from the state health department. That represents a 13% increase in deaths from 2023.