By Vanessa Gera and Nicole Winfield | Associated press
Vatican City – Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Here are the key things to know about the death of the Argentine Pontiff, the first history of Latin America, which presided over the Catholic Church for more than 12 years.
The announcement of the death of Pope Francis
Francis’s death was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Camerlengo Vatican born in Ireland, a position that will be important in the coming weeks that he takes care of the administration of the Holy See until a new Pope is chosen.
“At 7:35 this morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the father’s house,” Farrell said. “All his life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church.”
The pontiff died in the Domus Santa Marta del Vaticano, where he returned less than a month after being hospitalized for double pneumonia.
A final farewell on Easter Sunday
Francis made his last public appearance one day before Easter Sunday, he thought there were Delegated the celebration Or the mass of Easter to another cardinal.
He blessed a multitude of faithful of the Basilica of Loggia or San Pedro. “Brothers and sisters, happy Easter,” he said from the same lodge where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was presented to the world on March 13, 2013 as the 266 Pope.
Francis also made a surprise trip in the square in his popemobile, attracting wild cheers and applause.
In advance, hey with letters with United States Vice President JD Vance.
“I was happy to see him yesterday, although he was obviously very sick,” said Vance, who became Catholicism in 2019, a visit to India said on Monday.
Global reactions and duel
Even before the great bells of the Basilica of San Pedro, with the death of Mark Francis, Tribute messages It began to arrive from everyone.
Both Catholic and non -Catholic leaders honored a spiritual leader who was a voice for marginalized and weak, for migrants and people LGBTQ+, and who showed concern about nature.
Hello “concerned about the great global challenges of our time (migration, climate change, inequalities, peace), as well as the daily struggles of each and every one,” said the president of the European Council, António Costa.
The outgoing German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said the world had lost “a defender of the weak, a conciliatory person and with a warm heart.”
Other religious leaders also praised him to seek dialogue. The head of the Church of England remembered him for his commitment to improve relations between the religions of the world, while the Rome chief rabbi described Francisco’s pontificate as a new important chapter between Judaism and Catholicism.
The last months of the Pope and the last day
Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and extended part of a lung when he was young, entered the Gemelli hospital in Rome on February 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that became double pneumonia. Spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of Your papacy.
For the faithful, those were of fear that their disease could be fatal or lead to another papal resignation after that of Pope Benedict XVI, a surprise movement that led to Francisco’s choice.
The Pontiff Return to the Vatican On March 23 he brought relief to many at that time.
What happens later
Francis’s death now establishes a weekly process of allowing the faithful to present their final respects, first for Vatican officials in the Santa Marta chapel and then in San Pedro for the general public.
That will be followed by a funeral that will be celebrated by the dean of the Faculty of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, and a conclave to choose a new Pope.
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Vanessa Gera reported from Warsovia, Poland.
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