Pope Francis Obituary, Death; – Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America, who captivated the globe with his modest demeanor and compassion for the impoverished, while simultaneously alienating conservative factions through his critiques of capitalism and climate change, passed away on Monday at the age of 88.
As the news of his death spread worldwide, church bells rang out from his homeland of Argentina to the Philippines and throughout Rome. The announcement was delivered by Cardinal Kevin Farrell from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis resided.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church,” stated Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, who assumes responsibility following a pontiff’s passing.
Francis, who battled chronic lung disease and underwent surgery to remove part of one lung in his youth, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14, 2025, due to a respiratory crisis that escalated into double pneumonia. He remained hospitalized for 38 days, marking the longest stay during his 12-year papacy.
His final public appearance occurred on Easter Sunday, just a day before his death, where he blessed thousands in St. Peter’s Square, receiving enthusiastic cheers and applause. Prior to this, he had a brief meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
Francis delivered the blessing from the same loggia where he was first introduced to the world on March 13, 2013, as the 266th pope.
From his initial greeting that evening—a notably simple “Buonasera” (“Good evening”)—to his embrace of refugees and the marginalized, Francis established a markedly different tone for the papacy, emphasizing humility over arrogance in a Catholic Church grappling with scandals and accusations of apathy.
Following that rainy night, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentine-born pope, revitalized a 2,000-year-old institution that had seen its influence diminish during the troubled papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, whose unexpected resignation paved the way for Francis’ election. However, Francis soon faced his own challenges, leading to growing discontent among conservative circles regarding his approach.
Flags flew at half-staff in Italy, and tourists and the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. When the great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began tolling, visitors stopped in their tracks to record the moment on their phones.
Johann Xavier, who traveled from Australia, hoped to see the pope during his visit. “But then we heard about it when we came in here. It pretty much devastated all of us,’’ he said.
Francis’ death sets off a weekslong process of allowing the faithful to pay their final respects, first for Vatican officials in the Santa Marta chapel and then in St. Peter’s for the general public, followed by a funeral and a conclave to elect a new pope.
Reforming the Vatican
Francis was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. “Who am I to judge?” he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest.
The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. “Being homosexual is not a crime,” he told The Associated Press in 2023, urging an end to civil laws that criminalize it.
Stressing mercy, Francis changed the church’s position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances. He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was “immoral.”
In other firsts, he approved an agreement with China over bishop nominations that had vexed the Vatican for decades, met the Russian patriarch and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq.
He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the church’s opposition to abortion, equating it to “hiring a hit man to solve a problem.”
