Offscript Weekly: Of Worlds Colliding & Worlds Expanding

“For we were not made for Death but for Life.”

Just hours after delivering these words in his Easter message, Pope Francis passed away- his final public act a resonant call for hope, now etched in solemn irony. Among his last private visitors was US Vice President JD Vance, a recent Catholic convert and close ally of Donald Trump, whose hardline anti-immigrant politics the Pope had openly criticised.

Vance’s visit was unofficial - just a quiet, personal audience with the ailing pontiff. It felt symbolic. Francis, the Church’s first Latin American leader, spent his papacy urging compassion in a world increasingly defined by division - on issues like climate, migration, and human dignity.

As one era ended quietly in Rome, another sparked confrontation in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

President Donald Trump has launched fresh attacks on Harvard University, accusing it of shielding undocumented immigrants and spreading “anti-American ideology.” His threat? Stripping federal funding and revoking its tax-exempt status. Harvard, however, isn’t flinching.

The iconic university responded firmly, affirming its commitment to academic freedom, diversity, and international exchange. Eighteen percent of Harvard’s undergraduates come from over 100 countries. It is also the alma mater of eight US presidents--from John Adams and JFK to Bush and Obama--and a breeding ground for Nobel laureates and global changemakers.

Trump’s rhetoric isn’t just aimed at one school. It’s aimed at what Harvard represents: elite institutions that value openness, critical inquiry, and the freedom to challenge authority. In this latest battle of ideas, Harvard has drawn a bold, unapologetic line, standing as a symbol of resistance against political pressure.

Meanwhile, even as the tariff fracas continues to hurt, financial markets face pressures of another variety.

Trump is trying to push Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to the wall, urging rapid interest rate cuts amid looming recession concerns. Powell has been cautious, emphasising the need for independence in monetary policy. In his signature style, Trump almost ordered swift rate cuts and also threatened: "Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!" Even as the jury is still out on what he will—or can—do, questions abound about the future of the Fed’s autonomy. Could its commitment to data-driven, apolitical decision-making be at risk?

Here in India, we saw a different kind of institutional clash unfolding. Leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are aggressively flaying the Supreme Court after it set a deadline for the President and Governors to clear Bills passed by legislatures for the second time. Accusations of judicial overreach are flying, with the BJP accusing the court of “meddling” and sparking a broader debate about the balance of power.

While on matters of the judiciary, the top court delivered a ruling that was big in cultural weight. Putting to rest contentions on linguistics and communal fervour, the court declared Urdu, “like Marathi and Hindi, is an Indo-Aryan language... born in this land”—a homegrown fusion of Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and local dialects.

Elsewhere, nuance continued to fall victim to outrage. In Ghaziabad, a mural of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor and a symbol of the 1857 revolt, was vandalized by protestors upset about… Aurangzeb.

The irony? Zafar had almost nothing in common with Aurangzeb. He was a poet, not a warlord; a prisoner, not a tyrant. But in the meme-ification and Whatsapp lessons of history, facts are often the first casualty.

And just as the past was being defaced, a group of women were quietly vaulting into the future.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, Jeff Bezos’ venture, completed a milestone mission last week with a six-member, all-female crewed spaceflight. The team included pop icon Katy Perry, a journalist, a civil rights advocate, a NASA engineer, a filmmaker, and Lauren Sánchez—Bezos’s partner, who is an Emmy-winning journalist and vice chair of the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund.

The 10-minute suborbital journey crossed the Kármán line, briefly offering the crew moments of weightlessness. As the capsule began its descent, Perry sang ‘What a Wonderful World’, adding a surreal note to a flight that had just brushed the edge of space.

The mission was widely celebrated as a breakthrough for space travel and woman power, but it also sparked questions about equity and environmental cost. Tickets reportedly run up to $450,000, and scientists have raised concerns about deadly rocket emissions.

Nonetheless, the launch does represent breaking of a frontier - space is no longer just the domain of astronauts and engineers. The stars are calling. The question is: how do we answer without losing sight of the Earth below?

Until next week, stay curious. And, perhaps, look out for a window seat for a date with the stars.