Pope Francis died some 90 minutes after he was awoken by his alarm clock this morning, Italian media reports.
The Pontiff, who died today aged 88 at the Saint Martha residence in the Vatican, ‘passed away peacefully’, according to his doctors.
He reportedly woke up when his alarm went off at 6am, fell ill at 7am and died from a stroke at 7.35am, according to Corriere della Serra.
While the exact details surrounding his death are uncertain, doctors told Italian media that they believe he died of a stroke.
The Argentine pontiff, who has been the leader of the Catholic Church since March 2013, passed away shortly after being discharged from the hospital where he had spent 38 days fighting double pneumonia.
Before his death, Pope Francis made a final gesture of loyalty by meeting with worshippers in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday. This would be his last public appearance.
It was unexpected to see the Pope without a nasal cannula delivering oxygen to him as he was driven among a crowd of 35,000 followers yesterday. He had frequently used it during his public appearances after his hospital stay.
For about 50 minutes, the pontiff’s vehicle slowly moved through the masses in 21C heat, in spite of doctors’ orders that the pope rest and cut buck his schedule at the very least. But the pontiff was determined to continue doing God’s work.
Earlier, he had appeared on the Vatican balcony and told crowds, ‘Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter’, before an aide read the rest of his annual Urbi et Orbi blessing and speech, which called for an end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
La Repubblica and La Stampa claimed that Francis died due to a ‘cerebral hemorrhage’, possibly a stroke.
The Holy See’s press service announced only the Pontiff’s death shortly after he passed away, writing in tribute that he had dedicated his ‘entire life’ to serving God and the church.
His body will now lie in state in St Peter’s Basilica for three days, and then he will be buried in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. His body could lie in state as soon as Wednesday, according to Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.
As the world mourns the loss of the Catholic leader, the battle to succeed Pope Francis, one for the very soul of the Catholic Church and its over a billion followers around the world, has likely begun behind closed doors.
Whoever becomes the 267th Pope will dictate the direction of the Church for the next decade or more on the most pressing, and contentious, issues facing society.
Pope Francis broke with the conservative stance of his two predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and his papacy will be remembered for his liberalism on LGBTQ+ rights, his support for refugees, and his focus on climate change.
In recent years Francis has done a great deal to shape the makeup of the ancient and secretive group that will appoint his successor, with about 80 per cent of the 138 Cardinals eligible to vote having been appointed by him, meaning there is a good chance the next Pope will be somebody loyal to Francis who takes a liberal approach to the Papacy.
However this is far from certain as once the College of Cardinals convenes for the ‘highly political’ process known as the conclave, all bets could be off.
While it may come down to a battle between conservative and liberal factions, there is certainly no unified block and many of the Cardinals appointed by Francis come from a wide range of countries that have starkly different views on issues such as the role of women in the Church and attitudes towards gay Catholics. Relationships and personalities will also be at play.
Top contenders for the highly-sought after role include Peter Turkson, the former Bishop of the Cape Coast.
If elected, he would be the first black Pope and would have the appeal of reaching out to Africa.
Another top contender is Luis Antonio Tagle, the former Archbishop of Manila, who has emerged as the frontrunner in the betting markets.
He would have the appeal of being the first Asian Pope, the region with the fastest-growing Catholic population. He has opposed abortion rights in the Philippines but would be considered one of the more liberal candidates.
He has complained that the Catholic church has been too harsh towards gay and divorced couples, and that this has hampered its evangelical work.
Just days before the Pontiff’s death, the ailing pope told reporters he was ‘living it as best I can’ after he was plagued with health issues and reduced mobility caused in part by his advancing years and expanding waistline.
The pontiff had kept up a busy schedule until his final weeks. In September 2024, he carried out a 12-day tour across south-east Asia and Oceania that included visits to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore.
When he was discharged from hospital last month, his doctors had said he would need at least two months of rest at his residence.
The pontiff had presented ‘two very critical episodes’ where his ‘life was in danger’ while in hospital, according to one of the doctors who took care of him.
But he appeared keen not to be confined to his rooms at the Casa Santa Maria.
The late figure made surprise appearances at the end of Masses and visits to St Peter’s Basilica, which gave faithful hope that his condition was improving.
In the last week of his life, he appeared in public twice without the nasal cannula through which he has been receiving oxygen.
Yesterday he met briefly with US Vice President JD Vance – a Catholic convert who was received into the church in 2019.
‘The meeting, which lasted a few minutes, gave the opportunity to exchange greetings on Easter Sunday’, the Vatican said.
The Vatican said the meeting between the vice president and the Holy Father was ‘brief’ and lasted a few minutes.
The Pope offered the Vice President three large chocolate Easter eggs for his three young children, who did not attend.
The pair had tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy.
The meeting raised hopes that Francis could be making a recovery, after he turned away from giving Vance an audience on Friday, officially out of caution over his health situation, Corriere reports.
The Pope was hoped to be making a steady recovery from double pneumonia after his release from hospital last month before Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, announced that he had died at 7.35am local time (5.35am GMT) today.
‘With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite, merciful love of God, One and Tribune,’ he said in a statement.
Francis had only left hospital under ‘protected discharge’ on March 23 after suffering an infection that developed into pneumonia in both lungs earlier this year.
But he resolutely toured through the crowd of 35,000 believers ‘for 50 minutes at 21 degrees’ on Sunday after delivering the Urbi et Orbi benediction with help from an aide.
The Pontiff concluded the traditional address by wishing Catholics a ‘Happy Easter’ and calling for an end to conflicts around the world.
The Conclave – where cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican to choose a successor – will not happen for at least 15 days.
The College of Cardinals will soon meet in Rome to choose a successor.
The conclave follows precise rules – only cardinals aged under 80 are allowed to vote.
Of the 252 living cardinals, 138 are under 80 and are therefore eligible to vote in the conclave.
The ballot will not take place for at least 15 days, after nine days of official mourning.
In the interim, a cardinal known as the camerlengo, or chamberlain, becomes interim chief with limited powers.
Sunday’s scheduled canonisation of the Church’s first millennial saint has also since been postponed to a later date, the Vatican said on Monday.
Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15, was meant to have his sainthood rubber-stamped in a mass at the Holy See on April 27.
‘Following the death of the Sovereign Pontiff Francis, we inform you that the Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis… has been postponed,’ the Vatican said in a brief statement.
Dubbed ‘God’s Influencer’ or the ‘Cyber Apostle’, Acutis spent much of his short life spreading the Catholic faith online.
Carlo was born in London to Italian parents on May 3, 1991, but mostly grew up in Milan. He spent holidays in the family’s second home in Assisi, and eventually died in Monza, northern Italy.
His family was wealthy and not religiously observant, but Carlo was imbued with ardent faith from a young age, attending mass every day.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said the news of Francis’ death ‘deeply saddens us, as we are saying goodbye to a great man and a great shepherd’.
‘I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his counsel and his teachings, which never failed me, not even in times of trial and suffering.’
‘The Pope and I had a more active relationship than was apparent,’ she told Italian state broadcaster RAI, in a broken voice.
‘It went well beyond our respective institutional roles,’ she told Italian state broadcaster RAI.
‘We’ve met many times, even just to exchange opinions. He was able to give comfort in very difficult moments, I have many memories of the Pope.’
King Charles also shared a statement in tribute, saying Francis would be ‘remembered for his compassion, his concern for the unity of the Church and for his tireless commitment to the common causes of all people of faith, and to those of goodwill who work for the benefit of others’.
‘Through his work and care for both people and planet, he profoundly touched the lives of so many,’ the statement continued, adding: ‘The Queen and I remember with particular affection our meetings with His Holiness over the years and we were greatly moved to have been able to visit him earlier in the month.’
French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is largely Catholic, also shared his condolences in a post on X.
‘From Buenos Aires to Rome, Pope Francis wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest. For it to unite humans among themselves, and with nature. May this hope forever outlast him.’
The bells at Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral rang out 88 times on Monday in honour of Pope Francis who died aged 88, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
The ’88 rings for 88 years of life’ were to be followed by a full ringing of the cathedral’s bells before a noon mass in Francis’s honour, followed by another in early evening, according to the Notre-Dame press office.
