Pope Francis Dies @88

Pope Francis died early morning today Easter Monday, 21 April 2025, at the age of 88. The Pope’s death was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican Camerlengo who said the Pontiff died at 7:35 a.m.

The Head of the Catholic world died the day after Easter Sunday, the most important holiday in Christianity, when the world’s almost 1.3 billion Catholics celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Despite his poor health, Francis made an appearance in public on Sunday, greeting delighted crowds at the Vatican.

Francis, who had chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy.  

He was discharged last month and was convalescing at his residence at Casa Santa Marta at the Vatican. The Vatican reported as recently as last week that he was improving. While he did not appear as engaged as usual on Sunday, he still managed to address a huge crowd of worshippers. Francis gave the traditional Easter blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, in what marked his highest-profile appearance yet since being discharged from hospital. Two weeks after leaving hospital, he delighted the faithful by making a surprise appearance at St. Peter’s Square. He has made a number of appearances since then, including spending 30 minutes at a prison in Rome on Thursday and a visit to St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday evening.

Just before that, he held a brief meeting with US Vice President JD Vance. The Pope’s tireless advocacy for migrants saw him sharply criticize US President Donald Trump’s immigration deportation policies in the months before his death. Pope Francis, whose pontificate was a counterweight to the rise of nationalist populism, often found himself under fire from powerful conservative Catholic forces in the US.

Loved by many Catholics for his humility, Francis simplified rites for papal funerals last year and previously said he had already planned his tomb in the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood in Rome, where he went to pray before and after trips overseas. Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

Condolences and messages of admiration for the pontiff started to pour in shortly after the announcement was made, with world leaders sharing their thoughts and worshipers seen gathering at Saint Peter’s Square.

His death will open a debate about the future direction of the Catholic Church, with cardinals from across the globe expected to gather in Rome in the coming days to mourn the pontiff and then elect his successor. Amid intense mourning over the coming days and weeks, maneuvering within the Vatican over who is to succeed Francis and become the 268^th head of the Catholic Church is certain to begin. Cardinals from around the world will head to Rome for a conclave, the secret, complex election ritual held in the Sistine Chapel and involving about 138 cardinals who are eligible to vote. Some of the potential contenders mooted before Francis’s death were Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Italian cardinal, Pietro Parolin, who serves as the Vatican’s secretary of state, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, from the Philippines.

Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Italian migrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, was elected pope in March 2013. He was the first Latin American and member of the Jesuit order to be elected pope in the church’s 2,000-year history. He was also the first pope to call himself Francis. He immediately signalled his style of papacy by taking the bus, rather than papal car, to his hotel, where he paid his bill before moving into the Vatican guesthouse, eschewing the opulent papal apartments. At his first media appearance, he expressed his wish for a “poor church and a church for the poor”.