- In an Easter Sunday message, the pontiff had reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza
- Vatican says a ceremony planned for April 27, when Carlo Acutis was to become the first Catholic saint of the millennial generation, had been postponed
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said on Monday, ending an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.
He was 88, and had suffered a serious bout of double pneumonia this year, but his death came as a shock after he had been driven around St. Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday.
“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.
“At 7:35 (10:35am PKT) this morning the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.”
On Sunday, Francis had made his first prolonged public appearance since being discharged on March 23 from a 38-day hospital stay for pneumonia.
He wished the crowds on Saint Peter’s Square a “Happy Easter” as he waved and in his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) benediction he called for freedom of thought and tolerance.
In an Easter Sunday message read aloud by an aide as the pope looked on from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the pontiff had reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Before the five-week hospital stay, which nearly killed him, Francis had been ramping up criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave “very serious and shameful” in January.
At the Vatican, tourists and pilgrims visiting for Easter expressed their shock and grief.
“This is something that really hits you hard,” said Emanuela Tinari, from Rome. “He was a pope who brought so many people closer to the church. He was not appreciated by everyone. But he definitely was by ordinary people.”
Pope Francis’ body will be laid in a coffin in the chapel at the Saint Martha residence, where he lived at 8pm (11pm PKT) on Monday, the Vatican said.
“Tonight, Monday, April 21 at 8pm (11pm PKT), His Eminence the Most Reverend Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of certification of death and the laying of the body in the coffin,” the Holy See said in a statement.
The Vatican said a ceremony planned for April 27, when Carlo Acutis was to become the first Catholic saint of the millennial generation, had been postponed.
Spain will observe three days of mourning to honour Pope Francis after the Argentine pontiff’s death, Justice Minister Felix Bolanos said in a televised address.
“We regret the death of a good man and a great pope. Therefore, the government of Spain will declare three days of official mourning,” Bolanos said, praising Francis’s “reformist” 12-year papacy that “will leave a legacy for history”.
Francis “dedicated his life to the weak, to those who have nothing … a pope characterised by his struggle against inequality, injustices, his fight against climate change and his concern for all those on the peripheries”, added Bolanos.
“For that reason, the government of Spain has always felt close to his work and his values, especially his defence of peace,” the Socialist minister continued.
In Spain, historically a deeply Catholic country, “we loved him and what his papacy meant”, said Bolanos.
“With his papacy the Church has started to travel a path which must continue.”
The pope had also held a brief meeting on Sunday with visiting US Vice President JD Vance.
“My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” Vance said on X.
Other world leaders were reacting to the pope’s death with praise for his efforts to reform the worldwide church and offering condolences to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni mourned the departure of “a great man, a great shepherd”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “He inspired millions, far beyond the Catholic Church, with his humility and love so pure for the less fortunate.”
Jose Ramos-Horta, the president of East Timor, where Francis visited in September 2024 as part of the longest foreign trip of his papacy, said the pope “leaves behind a profound legacy of humanity, of justice, of human fraternity”.
12-year papacy
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on March 13, 2013, surprising many church watchers who had seen the Argentine cleric, known for his concern for the poor, as an outsider.
He sought to project simplicity into the grand role and never took possession of the ornate papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors, saying he preferred to live in a community setting for his “psychological health”.
He inherited a church under attack over a child sex abuse scandal and torn by infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy, and was elected with a clear mandate to restore order.
But as his papacy progressed, he faced fierce criticism from conservatives, who accused him of trashing cherished traditions. He also drew the ire of progressives, who felt he should have done much more to reshape the 2,000-year-old church.
While he struggled with internal dissent, Francis became a global superstar, drawing huge crowds on his many foreign travels as he tirelessly promoted interfaith dialogue and peace, taking the side of the marginalised, such as migrants.
Unique in modern times, there were two men wearing white in the Vatican for much of Francis’ rule, with his predecessor Benedict opting to continue to live in the Holy See after his shock resignation in 2013 had opened the way for a new pontiff.
Benedict, a hero of the conservative cause, died in December 2022.
Francis appointed nearly 80 per cent of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies, despite the strong pushback from traditionalists.
The bells at Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral rang out 88 times on Monday in honour of Pope Francis, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
The “88 rings for 88 years of life” were to be followed by a full ringing of the cathedral’s bells before a noon mass in Francis’s honour, followed by another in early evening, according to the Notre-Dame press office.
Condolences pour in
The White House, expressing its condolences, wrote on X: “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis.”
The message was accompanied by photos of the pontiff meeting US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on separate occasions.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis had always sided with the most vulnerable and the most fragile, and that he did this with a lot of humility.
“In this time of war and brutality, he had a sense for the other, for the most fragile,” Macron told reporters.
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said in a post on X that Pope Francis would be remembered for his tireless commitment to society’s weakest members.
“He was guided by humility and faith in God’s mercy,” Merz said in the post.
Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin hailed Pope Francis’s solidarity with the “poor, the marginalised, and the oppressed.”
“Pope Francis’ long and distinguished papacy was marked by his unwavering commitment to the principles of compassion, peace and human dignity”, said Martin, adding that he would be remembered for his “expression of pain and shame” about historic child abuses in the Catholic Church during his 2018 visit to Ireland.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined the world in mourning the death of Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday in Vatican City, aged 88.
Guterres described the pontiff as a messenger of hope, humility and humanity.
“Pope Francis was a transcendent voice for peace, human dignity and social justice. He leaves behind a legacy of faith, service and compassion for all — especially those left on the margins of life or trapped by the horrors of conflict,” he said.
Furthermore, he “was a man of faith for all faiths — working with people of all beliefs and backgrounds to light a path forward.”
The Secretary-General said the UN was greatly inspired by the Pope’s commitment to the goals and ideals of the global organization, a message that he conveyed in their various meetings.
The Secretary-General recalled that the Pope spoke of the organization’s ideal of a “united human family” during his historic visit to UN Headquarters in New York in 2015.
“Pope Francis also understood that protecting our common home is, at heart, a deeply moral mission and responsibility that belongs to every person,” said Guterres, noting that his second Encyclical – Laudato Si – was a major contribution to the global mobilization that resulted in the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.
