Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, dead at 88

Pope Francis, an energetic reformer who inspired widespread devotion from Catholics but riled traditionalists, died on Monday aged 88.

The Buenos Aires-born pontiff, leader of the Catholic Church since March 2013, spent 38 days being treated for double pneumonia at Rome's Gemelli hospital before seeming to recover, leaving the facility on March 23.

His death came just a day after he delighted the crowds of worshippers at the Vatican on Easter Sunday with an appearance, looking frail, on the balcony at Saint Peter's Basilica.

"Dearest brothers and sisters, it is with deep sorrow that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis," said Cardinal Kevin Farrell in the statement published by the Vatican on its Telegram channel.

"This morning at 7.35 am (0535 GMT) the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father.

"His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His church," said the statement, released shortly before 10am.

His death sets in motion centuries-old traditions that will culminate in the gathering of a conclave of cardinals to choose a successor.

In the meantime, the day-to-day running of the tiny Vatican City state will be handled by the camerlengo, a senior cardinal, currently Dublin-born Kevin Farrell.

At the Vatican on Monday, a hush seemed to descend on the normally boisterous Saint Peter's Square as the sound of bells rang out.

"He lived this Easter and then he went," Cesarina Cireddu from Sardinia said with tears in her eyes. "He's actually returned to the Lord – and godspeed."

Tour groups continued to walk through the sprawling plaza as quiet groups of people leaned against a barricade to pray.

Venezuelan Riccardo Vielma, 31, who is studying to be a priest, said "we have lost our spiritual father."

"This is the moment for all of humanity to unite and pray for him."

 

'Humble pastor'

Francis, whose real name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was the first Jesuit to lead the world's almost 1.4 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas.

He took over after Benedict XVI became the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to step down – and cut a sharply different figure from the German theologian.

A football-loving former archbishop of Buenos Aires who was often happiest among his flock, Francis sought to forge a more open and compassionate Church.

World leaders praised him for having strongly defended social justice, the rights of migrants and the environment.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Francis had "inspired millions, far beyond the Catholic Church, with his humility and love so pure for the less fortunate".

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said "a great man has left us" in a statement, while French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Francis for being always "on the side of the most vulnerable and the most fragile".

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that Francis's "commitment to peace, social justice and the most vulnerable leaves a profound legacy" and Germany's incoming chancellor describing him as "guided by humility and faith".

US Vice-President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who briefly met Francis on Sunday while on a trip to Rome with his family, said his "heart goes out" to Christians during a visit to India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the late pontiff as a "beacon of compassion."

UN chief Volker Turk said Francis was "a profoundly caring" pope who pushed "for justice, peace and human dignity."

Italy's Serie A football league called off all the day's matches.

Francis's pontificate was also marked by pushing through governance reforms and tackling the scourge of clerical sex abuse of children.

But critics accused him of creating doctrinal confusion and failing to defend traditional Catholic beliefs on key issues such as abortion and divorce. 

Francis's desire to chart a different path was evident right to the end, with his decision to be buried not in St Peter's Basilica but in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.

He will become the first Pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican.

Francis also rejected the tradition of popes having three coffins, instead choosing to buried in just one, made of wood and zinc, to reflect his role as a humble pastor.

 

Health issues

Francis had maintained a busy schedule, right up to hosting the prime minister of Slovakia shortly before his hospital admission.

The Pope, who had part of his lung removed as a young man, was visibly breathless in the days before going to the Gemelli, delegating aides to read his homilies at public audiences.

Questions will now be asked whether the pontiff, known for being stubborn and refusing to take rest, should have been admitted to hospital earlier.

Even after he was released from hospital and ordered to rest for two months, Francis did not wait long before making public appearances.

He had been admitted to hospital with a respiratory infection in March 2023. That same year he also underwent surgery for a hernia, and in 2021 he had colon surgery.

He suffered knee pain that required him to use a wheelchair, and had fallen twice in recent months.

Yet he never took a day off and made frequent trips abroad, including a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour only last September.

Huge crowds gathered wherever he went, a testament to his popularity and human touch, which saw him finish his Sunday Angelus prayer each week urging followers to pray for him and to have a good lunch.

 

Who am I to judge?

When Francis took over, the Catholic Church was mired in infighting and beset by a global scandal over clerical sex abuse of children and decades of cover-ups.

He promised an end to impunity and changed Vatican law to help tackle abuse, though victims said he could have gone further.

More widely, he initiated a major shake-up of the Vatican's powerful governing body, including improving financial responsibility and allowing lay Catholics to lead Vatican offices.

Throughout his papacy, Francis championed the poor and vulnerable and emphasised love over doctrine.

"If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?" he said at the start of his papacy.

However, his detractors accused him of failing to uphold established Church doctrine, and his final months were marked by increasingly outspoken attacks by senior cardinals.

Tensions with conservative Catholics marked the Synod congress that met at the Vatican at the end of 2023, part of a years-long global consultation on the future of the Church – that Francis now leaves unfinished.

 

Key dates in the life of Pope Francis

Here are some key dates in the life of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope, who died on Monday aged 88:

– December 17, 1936: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is born in Buenos Aires to an accountant and a housewife from an Italian emigrant family.

– September 21, 1953: Receives his calling to become a priest. He later described being moved to go to church while heading to a school event, a day that "changed my life."

– 1957: Undergoes an operation to remove part of his lung.

– March 11, 1958: After studying chemical engineering at university, he joins the Jesuit order as a novice.

- December 13, 1969: Ordained as a priest. On July 31, 1973, he becomes leader of Argentina's Jesuits, a position he holds for six years.

– 1980: Amid tensions in the Jesuit order, returns to work as parish priest and rector at a college in San Miguel, near the capital. In 1986 he goes to Germany and later, Argentina's second city Córdoba. He returns to Buenos Aires in 1992 as auxiliary bishop. 

– February 28, 1998: Appointed archbishop of Buenos Aires.

– February 21, 2001: Made cardinal by John-Paul II.

– March 13, 2013: Elected 266th Pope after his predecessor Benedict XVI resigns. He chooses the name Francis in reference to Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the poor.

– July 8, 2013: Makes first trip outside Rome to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a major gateway to Europe for migrants, where he castigates the "globalisation of indifference." Three years later, he will bring back 12 families from a migrant camp in Lesbos, Greece.

– July 11, 2013: Launches a reform of the Vatican's penal code to fight sexual abuse against minors and corruption within the Church.

– July 29, 2013: Signals a more tolerant church when he says on a flight back from Brazil that "if someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?"

- June 18, 2015: Francis publishes his second encyclical, Laudato Si' dedicated to environmentalism. The letter urges action against climate change.

– February 12, 2016: Holds a historic meeting with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, nearly 1,000 years after the schism between the Eastern Church and Rome.

– May 23, 2016: Historic audience at the Vatican with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's prestigious Al-Azhar mosque.

- April 11, 2018: Francis acknowledges "grave errors" in his handling of child sexual abuse cases in Chile and asks for forgiveness.

– September 22, 2018: Francis announces the first-ever agreement between China and the Holy See over bishop appointments.

– March 27, 2020: As much of Europe shuts down due to coronavirus, Francis delivers an Urbi et Orbi address alone in a deserted St Peter's Square. 

– October 21, 2020: In a documentary, says he is in favour of same-sex civil unions.

– March 6, 2021: During the first ever papal visit to Iraq, meets the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. 

– July 4, 2021: Undergoes successful colon surgery, spending 10 days in hospital.

– June 5, 2022: New Apostolic Constitution comes into force, completing a major reform of the governance of the church that he began when he took office.

– January 5, 2023: Presides over the funeral of Benedict XVI in St Peter's Square.

– March 29, 2023: Admitted to hospital for a respiratory infection, and stays three nights.

– June 7, 2023: Admitted to hospital for hernia surgery, staying nine nights.

– September 3, 2024: Embarks on epic, 12-day voyage, the farthest of his papacy, to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore – at age 87.

– February 14, 2025: Admitted to hospital with bronchitis, which turns into double pneumonia.