Pope Francis Has Died At The Age Of 88
During Pope Francis' 12-year papacy, he sought to open up the Catholic Church to make it more inclusive, reaching out to marginalized groups.
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta after a prolonged illness.
“At 7:35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s TV channel.
The death of Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, comes after he made his first prolonged public appearance a day earlier on Easter Sunday since being discharged from hospital.
He offered a special blessing and entered St. Peter’s Square in an open-air pope mobile to greet cheering crowds.
On Feb. 14, 2025, Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he was diagnosed with double pneumonia and also experienced “mild” kidney failure, as well as several acute respiratory failures, for which he had been receiving treatment since.
After spending 38 days in the hospital, the pope was finally discharged on March 23 and returned to his residence.
Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and became the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on March 13, 2013, after the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who was the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.
He went on to become a global superstar for promoting interfaith dialogue and peace, according to Reuters.
During his 12-year papacy, he sought to open up the Catholic Church to make it more inclusive, reaching out to marginalized groups, including women in influential meetings of bishops and traveling to often-forgotten countries to push for peace and improve relations.
He frequently took the side of the marginalized, openly welcomed and included LGBTQ people in the Catholic church and spoke out against issues such as climate change.
He also condemned the genocide in Gaza on several occasions and labeled Israel’s actions “terrorism”, calling for an immediate ceasefire during his last message on Easter Sunday, on April 20.
Now, all the Cardinals under the age of 80 will gather to vote in secret in the Sistine Chapel to decide on the next Pope.
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