Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88, on Easter Monday
The pope, who was elected in 2013, died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican said in a death certificate released on Monday
Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said on Monday, ending an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.
He was 88 and had suffered a serious bout of double pneumonia this year, but his death came as a shock after he had been driven around St Peter’s Square in an open-air Popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday.
“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican’s television channel.
“At 7:35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.”
The pope died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli said in a death certificate released on Monday.
The certificate, which was published by the Vatican, said the pope had fallen into a coma before his death early on Monday.
Farrell will preside over a rite on Monday evening when the pope’s body will be placed into a casket. The Vatican said Francis had confirmed in his final testament his wish to be buried in a simple underground tomb at Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major. No date has yet been set for the funeral.