Pope Francis dies at 88

Pope Francis, the Argentine Jesuit who turned the primary Roman Catholic pontiff from the Americas, has died, the Vatican mentioned Monday. He was 88.

In a video handle, Cardinal Kevin Farrell introduced the information. “Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I need to announce the loss of life of our Holy Father Francis,” he mentioned, in accordance with a translation.

“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His total life was devoted to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to reside the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, braveness, and common love, particularly in favor of the poorest and the marginalized,” the cardinal mentioned.

“With immense gratitude for his instance as a real disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the Triune God.”

Francis died at his residence within the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. A day prior he gave his conventional Easter Sunday handle from a wheelchair at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican Metropolis. He additionally met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

The pope had been in unwell well being since February and was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital on Feb. 14, 2025, with bronchitis. On Feb. 21, his medical workforce mentioned he was battling pneumonia in each lungs — together with bacterial, viral and fungal infections on prime of continual bronchitis.

Francis left the hospital and returned to his Vatican residence after 38 days. He’s anticipated to be buried on the Basilica of St. Mary Main in Rome.

Francis’ successor will probably be chosen throughout a conclave, a gathering of the School of Cardinals who’re tasked with electing the subsequent pope.

Francis, who was elected the church’s 266th pope after the retirement of Benedict XVI in 2013, was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio within the middle-class neighborhood of Flores in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936.

He was the primary Jesuit pope and the primary pope from the Southern Hemisphere. He was the primary individual from exterior Europe chosen to guide the church in almost 1,300 years, after Pope Gregory III of Syria, who was chosen in 731.

The son of an Italian immigrant father and an Italian Argentine mom, Francis was the eldest of 5 youngsters. As a pupil, he labored as a janitor and nightclub bouncer earlier than turning into a chemical technician.

Francis was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969 and have become head of the Society of Jesus order in Argentina and Uruguay in 1973 on the youthful age of 36, holding the place till 1979.

Pope John Paul II appointed Francis a bishop in 1992, and 6 years later Francis turned archbishop of Buenos Aires. In 2001 John Paul made him a cardinal.

Francis presided over the Catholic Church throughout a time of rising rigidity. In 2021, U.S. bishops drafted a proposal that may have denied communion to newly elected President Joe Biden for his assist of abortion rights. The vote by the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops to draft the plan came visiting objections from the pope’s prime doctrinal advisor, Cardinal Luis Ladaria.

Greater than two months later, Francis himself strongly hinted his opposition to the proposal by the U.S. bishops, telling reporters: “Communion will not be a prize for the proper.”

“I’ve by no means refused the eucharist to anybody,” the pope mentioned, calling on bishops to be pastors, not politicians. “What should the pastor do?” he continued. “Be a pastor, do not go condemning. Be a pastor, as a result of he’s a pastor additionally for the excommunicated.”

However he additionally firmly said his opposition to abortion, calling it “murder.” “Whoever has an abortion kills,” he mentioned.

Though Francis strived to keep away from an escalation of the tradition wars and a polarization of his flock, he provided encouraging phrases to LGBTQ+ Catholics. Whereas flying again to Rome from Portugal in August 2023, he advised reporters that the Catholic Church was open to all and that it has an obligation to accompany folks on their private path of spirituality throughout the framework of its guidelines.

Throughout one occasion in Portugal, Francis touted the inclusive nature of the church by main a crowd in a chant of “Todos, todos, todos!” (Everybody, everybody, everybody!).

He capped off 2023 by saying clergymen might bless same-sex {couples}, a main change in Vatican coverage. The pope mentioned such blessings should not resemble marriages, however that folks searching for God’s love and mercy should not be topic to “an exhaustive ethical evaluation” to obtain it.

He additionally needed a better function for ladies within the church, significantly in high-ranking Vatican positions. In April 2023, he introduced that he had determined to present girls the suitable to vote at an upcoming assembly of bishops. It was a historic first and achieved two targets: giving girls better decision-making obligations and permitting laypeople extra say within the lifetime of the church.

When Francis was a younger man, he had a part of a lung eliminated due to issues from a pulmonary sickness, a well being difficulty the Vatican mentioned in 2013 had by no means affected his work.

Lately, he had ongoing well being points, together with varied respiratory issues, the flu and a number of surgical procedures.

He was hospitalized for the primary time as pope when he underwent colon surgical procedure on July 4, 2021, at Gemelli hospital for diverticular stenosis. The Vatican mentioned the operation had been deliberate, however the announcement despatched shock waves by means of the church.

He was hospitalized once more in late March 2023 and handled for bronchitis. He quipped to journalists earlier than being pushed away that he was “nonetheless alive.” Simply over two months later, he had surgical procedure to restore a hernia.