Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion members, has died at the age of 88.
The Vatican revealed his passing in a video statement on Easter Monday.
“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Vatican camerlengo (administrator) Cardinal Kevin Farrell stated on the Vatican’s TV channel.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church.″
Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement.
The camerlengo will now seal the pope’s private apartment and start making funeral arrangements.
He and three assistants will decide when the pope’s coffin will be taken into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
They will also ensure the pope’s Fisherman’s Ring and his lead seal are broken, so they cannot be used by anyone else.
No autopsy is performed.
FRANCIS NEVER FULLY RECOVERED FROM DOUBLE PNEUMONIA
The cause of his passing was officially identified as a stroke, followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.
Francis had recently survived a serious bout of double pneumonia.
He suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.
He was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on February 14 for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia.
He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy.
His last public appearance was on Easter Sunday when he blessed thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square and treated them to a surprise popemobile ride, drawing wild cheers and applause.
Beforehand, he met briefly with US Vice President JD Vance.
THE LEGACY OF FRANCIS’S PAPACY
The Associated Press wrote: “From his first greeting as pope in 2013 — a remarkably normal “Buonasera” (“Good evening”) — to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, Francis signaled a very different tone for the papacy, stressing humility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference.”
“He brought a breath of fresh air into a 2,000-year-old institution that had seen its influence wane during the troubled tenure of Pope Benedict XVI.”
Another news agency Reuters reported his death ends “an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.”
The BBC wrote: “Francis’s papacy heralded many firsts and while he never stopped introducing reforms to the Catholic Church, he remained popular among traditionalists.”
That view is disputed by others.
FRANCIS BROUGHT A SERIES OF FIRST TO THE VATICAN
As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, he was already in his seventies when he became Pope.
He was the first Pope from the Americas and the southern hemisphere.
Not since Syrian-born Gregory III died in 741 had there been a non-European Bishop of Rome.
He was also the first Jesuit to be elected to the throne of St Peter.
Jesuits were historically looked on with suspicion by Rome.
His predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first Pope to retire voluntarily in almost 600 years and for almost a decade the Vatican Gardens hosted two popes.
FRANCIS WAS ‘PROGRESSIVE’ TO THE ALARM OF CATHOLIC CONSERVATIVES
Once he settled into the role, Catholic conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists.
He navigated leading a universal religion through the covid pandemic from a locked-down Vatican City.
He implored the world to use the crisis as an opportunity to rethink the economic and political framework that he claimed had turned rich against poor.
Francis approved a controversial secret agreement with China over bishop nominations, met the Russian patriarch and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq.
POPE FRANCIS’S STAND ON SENSITIVE CHURCH ISSUES
He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the church’s opposition to abortion, equating it to “hiring a hitman to solve a problem.”
He added women to important decision-making roles and allowed them to serve as readers and assistants in parishes.
Francis also let women vote alongside bishops in periodic Vatican meetings, following longstanding complaints that women do much of the church’s work, but are barred from power.
He made it easier for married Catholics to get an annulment, allowed priests to absolve women who had had abortions and decreed that priests could bless same-sex couples.
He also opened debate on issues like homosexuality and divorce, giving pastors wiggle room to discern how to accompany their flocks, rather than handing them strict rules to apply.
Using St. Francis of Assisi as a role model, Pope Francis lived in the Vatican hotel instead of the Apostolic Palace.
He wore his old orthotic shoes and not the red loafers of the papacy, and rode in compact cars.
