Well fuck me, why? Why oh why? It's such a clean and simple app, no weird shit and of course it gets axed. I think I may just stop listening to podcasts then, much easier than switching to an app I have no interest in.
I was having some problems with Google podcasts (which I used for years) and switched to Pocket Casts. It's been great other than some kind of clunky bits when trying to add to/edit your play-next queue, but otherwise I think it's a pretty great transition from Google