Pope Francis died on Easter Monday aged 88 after dedicating his ‘entire life’ to serving God and the Church, the Vatican announced today.
The Pontiff spent his final hours with faithful, emerging to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday and touring the piazza in the Popemobile to wild cheers and applause after being discharged from hospital only last month.
Francis had briefly met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance for a ‘quick and private’ meeting at the Casa Santa Marta residence in Vatican City earlier on Sunday.
He was hoped to be making a steady recovery from double pneumonia before Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, announced that he had died at 7.35am local time (5.35am GMT) today.
‘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 God, One and Tribune,’ he said in a statement.
Francis had only left hospital under ‘protected discharge’ on March 23 after suffering an infection that developed into pneumonia in both lungs earlier this year.
But he resolutely toured through the crowd of 35,000 believers ‘for 50 minutes at 21 degrees’ on Sunday after delivering the Urbi et Orbi benediction with help from an aide.
The Pontiff concluded the traditional address by wishing Catholics a ‘Happy Easter’ and calling for an end to conflicts around the world.
The Conclave – where cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican to choose a successor – will not happen for at least 15 days.
Francis’s body will lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica during an official mourning period, and then – in contrast to most of his predecessors – he will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood.
