Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said in a video statement 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 recently survived a serious bout of double pneumonia.
Vatican sources have said the pope’s funeral should take place within the next nine days.
As we reported at 11.41, the pope is breaking from some traditions, revealing in an interview in 2023 that he had picked the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, one of his favourite and most-frequented churches, as his final resting place.
Traditionally, the pope is buried in the crypts beneath St Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican, where almost 100 popes are entombed.
“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 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.”
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 that was 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, finally leaving Francis alone on the papal stage.
Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope correct as of February 2025, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies, despite the strong pushback from traditionalists.
Pope ‘passed away peacefully’, hospital sources say
Sources at Rome’s Gemelli hospital have said Pope Francis “passed away peacefully”.
The pontiff had been treated for double pneumonia at Rome’s biggest hospital, where he spent five weeks before he was discharged on 23 March.
Pope Francis will break tradition with his final resting place
The death of a pontiff kicks off a tightly choreographed series of events refined over centuries.
Pope Francis approved a stripped-down funeral for himself last year, breaking away from some traditions entirely.
After death, his body is blessed, dressed in papal vestments and exhibited in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing.
This is where hundreds of thousands will come to pay their respects, including foreign dignitaries and world leaders.
In the past, the pope’s body was displayed on a raised platform, but Francis’s simplified funeral rites removed this. He will be lying in an open coffin instead, breaking from previous pageantry.
The simplification, according to the Vatican’s master of liturgical ceremonies, Diego Ravelli, is meant “to emphasise even more that the Roman pontiff’s funeral is that of a shepherd and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful man of this world”.
The pope’s funeral will most likely be held in St Peter’s Square, with mourners packing into the Vatican for the service. It will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, 91-year-old Italian Giovanni Battista Re.
Traditionally, the pope is then buried in the crypts beneath St Peter’s Basilica, where almost 100 popes are entombed.
But Francis will be the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican.
He said in an interview in 2023 that he had picked the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, one of his favourite and most-frequented churches, as his final resting place.
Previous popes were then entombed in three coffins of cypress, zinc and elm nestled inside each other, but Francis ordered he be buried in a single coffin made of wood and zinc.
