A Life of Humble Service: Pope Francis Dies at 88

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.
According to official Vatican news, the pope’s death was announced at 9:45 a.m. on Easter Monday by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, at Casa Santa Marta:
“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised. 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 the One and Triune God.”

The development comes at least two weeks after his discharge from the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital, where he had been admitted on Friday, February 14, 2025, after suffering from a bout of bronchitis for several days.

Pope Francis’ clinical condition gradually worsened, and his doctors diagnosed bilateral pneumonia on Tuesday, February 18.

After 38 days in the hospital, the late Pope returned to his Vatican residence at Casa Santa Marta to continue his recovery.

In 1957, in his early 20s, Jorge Mario Bergoglio underwent surgery in his native Argentina to remove a portion of his lung that had been affected by a severe respiratory infection.

As he aged, Pope Francis frequently suffered from bouts of respiratory illness, even cancelling a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates in November 2023 due to influenza and lung inflammation.

In April 2024, the late Pope Francis approved an updated edition of the liturgical book for papal funeral rites, which will guide the funeral Mass, which has yet to be announced.

The second edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis introduces several new elements, including how the Pope’s mortal remains are to be handled after death.

The confirmation of death takes place in the chapel, rather than in the room where he died, and his body is immediately placed inside the coffin.
According to Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, the late Pope Francis had requested that the funeral rites be simplified and focused on expressing the faith of the Church in the Risen Body of Christ.

“The renewed rite,” said Archbishop Ravelli, “seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”

About Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969; from 1973 to 1979, he served as the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina.

He became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina; the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him a political rival.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Throughout his public life, Francis was noted for his humility, emphasis on God’s mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He was known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guest house rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.

Francis made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia. He maintained that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBTQ community, and stated that while blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, individuals can be blessed as long as blessings are not given in a liturgical context.

Francis was a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment; he made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy. He was widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil, stating that the Catholic Church is committed to its abolition.

In international diplomacy, Francis criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, helped restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and supported the cause of refugees.

He called the protection of migrants a “duty of civilization” and criticized anti-immigration politics, including those of U.S. President Donald Trump. In 2022, he apologized for the Church’s role in the “cultural genocide” of the Canadian Indigenous peoples. Francis convened the Synod on Synodality, which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.

Francis died at the age of 88 on 21 April 2025 due to complications arising while he recovered from pneumonia, which he had contracted a few days before his death.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-04/pope-francis-dies-on-easter-monday-aged-88.html