Staff reports 9:10 a.m.
Monday, April 21, 2025 9:06 am

Pope Francis during an audience with children from middle schools across Italy on June 2, 2017 at the Vatican (Getty)

VATICAN CITY - After observing the holiest of days of the Christian and Catholic faiths on Sunday, Pope Francis died this morning at his residence in the Vatican at the age of 88.
Just hours later Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, announced his death to the world.
"Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church.
"He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized."
The Pope was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital on Feb. 14 after suffering from a bout of bronchitis for several days, according to the Vatican News.
Pope Francis' clinical situation gradually worsened, and his doctors diagnosed bilateral pneumonia on Feb. 18.
After 38 days in hospital, the Pope returned to his Vatican residence at the Casa Santa Marta to continue his recovery.
As he aged, Pope Francis frequently suffered bouts of respiratory illnesses, even canceling a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates in November 2023 due to influenza and lung inflammation.
In April 2024, Pope Francis approved an updated edition of the liturgical book for papal funeral rites, which will guide the funeral Mass which has yet to be announced.
The second edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis introduces several new elements, including how the Pope's mortal remains are to be handled after death.
The ascertainment of death takes place in the chapel, rather than in the room where he died, and his body is immediately placed inside the coffin.

Elected on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was the 266th successor of Saint Peter as the Bishop of Rome.
Following the pontiff's death, the Most Reverend Peter A. Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, announced that there be a Mass for the Dead for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis on Tuesday at noon at St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester.
"A Pilgrim of Hope, a Shepherd of Mercy, a successor of Saint Peter, joins his predecessors who passed from death to life in Christ, the Eternal Priest and Good Shepherd," Bishop Libasci added. "We pray for his peaceful repose as we pray for the one whom God will choose to be our next Pontiff and Holy Father."

"Pope Francis was unique in the 2,000 year history of the Catholic Church, according to a statement released from the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. "He was the first pope from the Western and Southern Hemispheres, the first Latin American pope, the first pope born outside of Europe since the Syrian, Gregory III (d. 741) in the Eighth Century, and the first pope to take the patronal name of the Seraphic Doctor, Saint Francis of Assisi.

"Francis was also, candidly, the first pope in two millennia to be at enmity with the traditional moral teachings and sacramental discipline of the Catholic Faith, and with those orthodox Catholics who adhered to them," the statement added.
According to Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, the late Pope Francis had requested that the funeral rites be simplified and focused on expressing the faith of the Church in the Risen Body of Christ.
"The renewed rite," said Archbishop Ravelli, "seeks to emphasize even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world."