The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope who enchanted the world with his modest demeanor and care for the underprivileged, has passed away. He was eighty-eight. The pope, who has had a number of illnesses over his 12-year pontificate, recently recovered from a severe case of double pneumonia.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell said, “Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” on the Vatican’s television station.
“At 7:35 (5:35 GMT) 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 His church.”
A day after he charmed the masses of believers at the Vatican on Easter Sunday by making an appearance on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica, he passed away on Easter Monday.
The pontiff was appointed pope in 2013 following the resignation of Benedict XVI.
Recent Hospitalisation
On February 14, the Pope was brought to the hospital to receive treatment for bronchitis. In the days that followed, the Vatican announced that the Pope was in a “critical condition” with bilateral pneumonia and “initial, mild” indicators of kidney failure.
But after five weeks, his health improved, and on March 23, he appeared in public for the first time in more than a month on the hospital’s balcony, giving the spectators outside the thumbs-up.
Later, he went back to the Vatican to start the two months of rest and recuperation that were advised.
The Pope met with US Vice President JD Vance on April 19. He spoke to large numbers at the Easter Sunday Service the next day.
In March 2023, the Pope was admitted to the hospital due to a respiratory infection. He also had surgery for a hernia that year, and in 2021, he had surgery on his colon. As a young man, he also had a portion of his lung removed.
Francis had fallen twice in the past few months due to knee discomfort that made him need a wheelchair.
Interment
Francis will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in almost a century. He had desired to be laid to rest in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica rather than St. Peter’s Basilica.
In keeping with his function as a lowly pastor, he also chose to be buried in a single coffin made of zinc and wood rather than the customary three that popes have.
The Heritage
Francis was the first Jesuit to lead the over 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide and the first from the Americas. He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina. Many Church observers who had viewed the Argentine cleric as an outsider were taken aback when he was elected on March 13, 2013, at the age of 76.
Francis took over a Church that was riven by internal strife within the Vatican bureaucracy and was the subject of international scrutiny due to a child sex abuse crisis. He worked to create a church that was more accepting and caring over the years.
Both conservatives and progressives criticized Francis while he was pope. Progressives believed Francis ought to have done far more to transform the 2,000-year-old Church, while conservatives charged him of destroying beloved customs.
Although he battled internal dissension, he fought for social justice, migrant and environmental rights, and addressed the problem of child sex abuse by clerical staff.
He had produced more than 900 saints, reorganized the Vatican’s administration, written four important teaching texts, and traveled abroad 47 times to more than 65 nations in 12 years. In order to address contentious topics like women’s ordination and altering the Church’s sexual doctrines, Francis had also hosted five significant Vatican summits of Catholic bishops from throughout the globe.
In general, Francis was perceived as attempting to introduce the modern world into the stoic worldwide Church. Among other significant rulings, Francis had selected women to run Vatican offices for the first time and permitted priests to bless same-sex couples on an individual basis.
The Conclave
The death of the pope initiates centuries-old customs that will lead to the conclave of cardinals—the process of selecting a successor. Usually, the procedure happens 15–20 days following a pope’s passing.
Meanwhile, the camerlengo, a senior cardinal, Kevin Farrell, who was born in Dublin, will be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the small Vatican City state.
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