Pope Francis died in Easter at the age of 88.
“Dear brothers and sisters, with deep sadness, I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francisco,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced Monday.
“At 7:35 this morning [05:35 GMT]The bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the father’s house. All his life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church, “he said.
This is what we know about the death of the Argentine Pontiff, the first in the history of Latin America, which directed the Catholic Church for more than 12 years.
How did the Pope die?
Pope Francis died of a stroke followed by coma and heart failure on Monday morning, said Vatican’s press office in a statement.
The Pope has also suffered an “anterior episode of acute respiratory failure”, arterial hypertension and type II diabetes, according to the statement.
Farrell made the announcement at 9:47 am (07:47 GMT), approximately two hours after Francis’s death. Farrell spoke from Domus Santa Marta, the apartment in the Vatican land where Francis lived and where he had returned to recover after a hospitalization for double pneumonia in February.
In the coming weeks, Farrell will play an important role, supervising the administration of the Holy See until a new Pope is chosen.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra seal the doors of the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace and the apartment of the Santa Marta house, where the late Pope Francis lived.
The rite of death certification and … pic.twitter.com/pp6J4SBQPR
– Vatican News (@vaticannews) April 21, 2025
What were Pope Francis’s health problems?
The Pope was hospitalized for five weeks in February, initially suffering a serious respiratory failure due to viral and bacterial infections. He had or fought with the winter of bronchitis.
It was diagnosed with subsidies with a polymicrobial infection, which evolved to pneumonia in both lungs. Francis was close to the duration of death, his hospitalization, according to his medical team.
It was also treated by an asthmatic respiratory episode, an early stage renal insufficiency and a bronchial spasm that led to vomiting vomit after a severe cough adjustment.
He recovered non -invasive mechanical ventilation at night and the duration of high flow oxygenopia the day.
His doctors had said that the Pope was so critically ill that the staff considered to stop their treatment to be able to that.
“We had to choose Wheter to stop [treatment] And let it go, or push forward and try [to save him] With all possible drugs and therapies, with the high risk of damaging other organists. In the end, we teach this path, “Sergio Alfieri, a general surgeon at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, recently said in an interview.
According to Alfieri, she was Pope’s personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, who urged the medical team to persist with treatment, saying: “Try everything, do not give up.”
His condition stabilized, and the Pontiff continued his recovery in his residence. He made several public appearances on last week, but his weak voice served as a reminder of his fragility.
How did Pope Francis last his last days?
The doctors of the Gemelli hospital prescribed a regime or a complete break.
After 38 days at the hospital, the Pope was disarmed on March 23. He returned to his residence in the Santa Marta house.
With Easter just three weeks away, the Pope’s schedule became increasingly demanding.
April 9Hey with King Charles of the United Kingdom and Queen Camilla in the Santa Marta house. This meeting coincided with its twenty wedding anniversary of its visit to Italy.
The public was organized at the last minute, after the postponement of a planned formal state visit due to the Pope’s health problems.
April 17Holy Thursday, a significant day in the Catholic calendar that commemorates the last dinner of Jesus Christ, Francis visited Regina Coeli of Rome, where he with some 70 inmates.
In recent years, he had washed the feet of the prisoners, echoing the gesture of Jesus with his disciples on the eve of his death. This time, however, the Vatican said he apologized for not being able to perform the ritual. Instead, they offered rosaries and pocket gospels as gifts.
Four days later, in April 20, Francis received the vice president of the United States JD Vance at his residence.
“I know you don’t feel good, but it’s good to see you in better health,” Vance said. “Thanks for seeing me.”
The meeting occurred when Pope and Vatican officials have criticized several of President Donald Trump’s policies, particularly their efforts to deport migrants.
Francis has denounced the repression of immigration as a “misfortune.” Meanwhile, Vance, who became Catholicism in 2019, has defended the policy by referring to its interpretation of the Catholic teachings of the medieval era.
It was the last diplomatic meeting of the Pope.
Later that day, he delivered the traditional blessing of Urbi et Orbi, Latin to “to the city and the world”, before thousands of Catholic pilgrims met in the Plaza de San Pedro for the Mass of the Sunday of the Vatican outdoors.
Duration this time, the Pope condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” caused by the 18 months of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory. Hi, he also asked for fire in Gaza.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, he went to the Plaza de San Pedro, riding through the crowds in the open Popemobile: the iconic white Mercedes-Benz White used by the potatoes to greet the faithful.
Near the end of his last tour of the square, several children were raised towards him.
It would be the last time the world saw him alive. He died the next morning.
