Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor, has died, the Vatican announced on Monday. He was 88. The pope had suffered various ailments in his 12-year papacy and had survived a serious bout of double pneumonia recently.
“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.
“At 7:35 (5:35 GMT) this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father…His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church.”
He died on Easter Monday, just a day after he delighted the crowds of worshippers at the Vatican on Easter Sunday with an appearance on the balcony at Saint Peter’s Basilica.
The pontiff had become pope in 2013 after his predecessor, Benedict XVI, resigned.
Recent Health Scare
The Pope was admitted to the hospital for bronchitis treatment on February 14. In the days that followed, the Vatican said the Pope was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and was in a “critical condition” and was showing “initial, mild” signs of kidney failure.
But his condition improved over the course of five weeks, and on March 23, he made his first public appearance in over a month on a balcony of the hospital and gave a thumbs-up to the crowds gathered outside.
He returned to the Vatican later to begin two months of prescribed rest and recovery.
On April 19, the Pope met US Vice President JD Vance. A day later, he greeted crowds at the Easter Sunday Service.
Burial
Pope Francis will be the first pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican. He had wished to be buried not in St Peter’s Basilica but in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
He also rejected the tradition of popes having three coffins, instead choosing to be buried in just one, made of wood and zinc, to reflect his role as a humble pastor.
The Legacy
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, Francis was the first Jesuit to lead the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas. He was elected on March 13, 2013, at age 76, surprising many Church watchers who had seen the Argentine cleric as an outsider.
Francis inherited a Church that was under global scrutiny over a child sex abuse scandal and torn by infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy. Over the years, he sought to forge a more open and compassionate church.
During his papacy, Francis faced criticism from conservatives and progressives alike. While conservatives accused him of trashing cherished traditions, progressives felt he should have done much more to reshape the 2,000-year-old Church.
While he struggled with internal dissent, he strongly defended social justice, the rights of migrants and the environment and tackled the scourge of clerical sex abuse of children.
Over 12 years, he had reorganised the Vatican’s bureaucracy, written four major teaching documents, made 47 foreign trips to more than 65 countries, and created more than 900 saints. He had also held five major Vatican summits of the world’s Catholic bishops to discuss contested issues such as women’s ordination and changing the Church’s sexual teachings.
Overall, Francis was widely seen as trying to open the staid global Church to the modern world. Among major decisions, he had allowed priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples on a case-by-case basis and had appointed women to serve as leaders of Vatican offices for the first time.
The Conclave
The Pope’s death sets in motion centuries-old traditions that will culminate in the gathering of a conclave of cardinals– the process of choosing a successor. The process generally takes place between 15 and 20 days after the death of a pontiff.
In the meantime, the day-to-day running of the tiny Vatican City state will be handled by the camerlengo, a senior cardinal, currently Dublin-born Kevin Farrell.
