Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, aged 88

The Pope died at 7.35 am Rome time, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced.

“His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church,” Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived and where he was recovering from pneumonia and respiratory infections. He had been released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital on March 23 after more than five weeks of treatment.

Pope Francis “taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised”, Cardinal Farrell said.

“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the Triune God.”

The day before his death, the Pope had appeared on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to give his Easter blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world). His voice was weak and he had trouble raising his arm to make the sign of the cross, but afterward he got into the popemobile and was driven through the crowds in St Peter’s Square.

Earlier on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis held a brief private meeting with US Vice President J.D. Vance at the Casa Santa Marta. The meeting, which lasted only a few minutes, provided an opportunity for the two to exchange Easter greetings.

On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis had made a surprise visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison.

Pope Francis gave new energy to millions of Catholics – and caused concern for some – as he transformed the image of the papacy into a pastoral ministry based on personal encounters and strong convictions about mission, poverty, immigration and dialogue.

The iconic images of Pope Francis’ papacy were photographs of him embracing the sick, washing the feet of prisoners and eating with the poor.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the image switched to photos of Pope Francis standing alone in an empty St Peter’s Square in the rain, verbalising the fear many people felt, calling upon the Lord’s help to end the pandemic and raising a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament to bless the city and the world.

His insistence at World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2023 that in the Church there is room for “todos, todos, todos” – “everyone, everyone, everyone” – became a frequent affirmation for the rest of his pontificate.

God’s mercy was a constant theme in his preaching and was so central to his vision of what the Church’s ministry must embody that he led an extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy in 2015-16.

Elected on March 13, 2013, the Argentine cardinal was the first Pope in history to come from the Southern Hemisphere and the first non-European elected in almost 1300 years. The Jesuit was also the first member of his order to be elected pope and the first member of any religious order elected in nearly two centuries.

FULL STORY

Obituary: Pope Francis dies at 88 (By Cindy Wooden/CNS)

Pope on Easter: Jesus’ resurrection makes Christians pilgrims of hope (CNS)

Pope Francis makes surprise visit to Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday | Catholic News Agency (CNA)

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