Pope Francis, who became the first South American and the first Jesuit to ascend to the most powerful position of the Catholic Church, died at age 88, only one day after Easter Sunday.
Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican Camerlengo, confirmed the beloved death of the pontiff on Monday after a prolonged battle with double pneumonia.
“Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francisco,” Farrell said in the announcement.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the Father’s House. All his life dedicated himself to the service of the Lord and his Church.”
The statement continued: “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.
“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we recommend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinity and merciful love of God, one and tribe.”
The selection process of a new Pope, called conclave, usually takes place between 15 and 20 days after the death of the pontiff.
The death of the Pope occurs only one day after Vice President JD Vance visited him the Vatican in his residence at Casa Santa Marta.
Later that day, Francis delegated the Easter Mass to Cardinal Angelo Comastri.
After the Mass concluded, Pope the Popemobile in the Plaza de San Pedro for the first time from his health battle as channels of “Viva Il Pope”, which means that Long lives in the Pope, broke out of the crowd of 35,000 people.
On March 6, the Pontiff’s voice was heard for the first time since his long weekly stay in the hospital. In an audio message, he thanked supporters before saying: “I am with you from here.”
Pope Francis spent 38 days at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome with a bilateral pulmonary infection that toy of the Pontiff on February 14, and the 88 -year -old requires high supplementary oxygen flows through prolonged stay and at least once it requires an emergency blood transfusion, said the Vatican.
His health was the touch and march stay, the legal stay, and the doctors, according to the reports, considered ending the treatment of double pneumonia so that the pontiff could die in peace.
On March 23, Francis made his first public appearance before starting from the Gemelli Hospital, managing to give a thumb with a balcony balcony before returning to the Vatican residence, where they are approaching a two -month consumption to recover from the scare of health.
Francis, 88, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, was the oldest of five children.
His parents were Mario Bergoglio, an Italian accountant who Foldmont Italy to escape the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, according to his biography of the Vatican.
His mother, Regina Maria Sivori, came from a Catholic family in Buenos Aires, thought they also emigrated from Italy.
The young Bergoglio had a variety of jobs in his youth, including periods such as janitor, goalkeeper and chemical before he was ordered Catholic priest in 1969.
He was a Jesuit provincial superior in his country of origin from 1973 to 1979, where he also completed his rigorous studies and Jesuit spiritual training.
Bergoglio became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and made a cardinal for Pope John Paul II in 2001. As a cardinal he held several high -profile administrative positions in the Roman curia.
Famous, the duration of the 2001 Ordinary General Assembly, replaced Cardinal Edward Michael Egan as the attachment of real estate agent, since the beloved Egan remained in New York in the wave of the terrorist attacks of September 11. As a replacement, it is said that Bergoglio caused a favorable impression at the Cardinals College,
In 2005, in the conclave that chose Pope Benedict XVI, Bergoglio received the second majority of the votes in each voting round and almost ascended at a high height as a 68 -year -old retention.
When Benedict XVI would surprisingly renounce the Papacy in 2013, an action not voluntarily crossed, his Pope Gregory XII ended with the west of Schism-Begoglio, among the favorites, among the experts in putting a new face in a scandal plagued.
He was chosen as the next heir to San Pedro by a papal conclave on February 28, 2013, the first for a Jesuit, choosing Francis as his papal name to honor one of the beloved San Francisco de Asís.
Like his namesake, Francis’s papacy was marked by expressions of humility and compassion, partly for the poor.
The Jesuit attracted some critics, both inside and outside the walls of the Vatican, with progressive attitudes and advice, which include appointing several women to celebrate important positions in the Vatican and urge the Church to understand the gay and divorced Catholics who wish to receive the Eucharist, although he stopped in expressing the approval of gay marriage.
Duration of his mandate as a pontiff, Francis expressed his support to abolish the death penalty and, sometimes, spoke against capitalism, even criticizing the economy of “drip”.
“There was the promise that our glass had overflow and the poor are summarized. But what happens is that when it is full to the edge, the glass grows magically and, therefore, nothing comes out for the poor in 2013.
Francis also used his great pulpit to venture into global diplomatic affairs, including the aid to restore diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, and cross an agreement with China on the influence of the Communist Party on the appointment of Chinese bishops.
Pope Francis was a vociferous lawyer for the rights of migrants and refugees and implored that the country in the West considered the difficult situation of the least among us. This defense included recent speaking against the promise of President Trump to enforce the American immigration policy, calling mass deportations a “misfortune.”
“I, myself, was born in a family of migrants,” said Pope Francis in a Ted talk in 2021. “My father, my grandparents, like many other Italians, went to Argentina and with the fate of those who remain with nothing.”
“I could end well among the ‘discarded’ people today. And that’s why I always wonder, deeply in my heart:” Why and not me? “
In 2024, Francis became the first Pope to speak at the G7 summit, which was a hero in Puglia, Italy. He went to the main super powers of the world about the risks of AI, urging leaders to use it in a way that benefits humanity.
Francis, chosen at age 76, faced several high profile health scares in the course of his papacy, which sometimes caused rumors that he could give up, which he has denied, but left the open if health declines the irrevocyst.
At the age of 21, Francis was removed part of his lung after a fight with life pneumonia, that doctors said he would not significantly affect their health, unless it is affected by an important respiratory infection.
In March 2023, Francis was hospitalized in Rome with bronchitis, but returned on time for Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday, which was April 9.
That June, the Pope underwent a hernia operation, spending several days at the Gamelli hospital in Rome, where he also spent his last days.
A couple of visits planned to Africa was skipped in 2022 after undergoing knee surgery, and has used a wheelchair in public appearances since then, a Catholic with movement disabilities praised for making heracability “part of his visible identity.”
Before his death, Francis was hospitalized for several days for a “complex” lung infection, which he fought for more than a week and then became a complete double pneumonia.
Pope Francis leaves a lasting legacy as a defender of the poor and needy who continued with the papal legacy of participating in politics, thought to use the power to advocate for the impotent, inspiring a generation of Catholics