POPE FRANCIS DIES: Vatican announces death of the pontiff aged 88

The death of the progressive, Argentina-born Pope was announced by the Vatican’s Cardinal Kevin Farrell in a statement on Monday. 

“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” he said.

“At 7.35 this morning (Monday morning local time), 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.” 

The Pope emerged earlier on Easter Sunday to bless thousands of people in St Peter’s Square. 

The crowd shouted and cheered as Francis looped through the square and then up and down the main avenue leading to it. He stopped occasionally to bless babies brought up to him, just weeks after fighting for his life.

The pontiff had been at the Gemelli hospital in Rome after suffering bronchitis. His death has sent shockwaves around the world and triggered nine days of mourning in Italy.

 

 

 

Tradition dictates that following the Pope’s death, his body will be blessed and dressed in papal vestments before it is exhibited in St Peter’s Basilica for public viewing. 

World leaders and hundreds of thousands of people will travel to the Vatican to pay their respects.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the media on Monday night.

“Today the prayers of more than a billion people, from all nations and every walk of life, go with Pope Francis to his rest,” Mr Albanese said.

“Pope Francis’s compassion embraced all humanity. And today he will be mourned by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

“He asked the world to hear the cry of the earth — our common home.” 

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Most Reverend Anthony Fisher OP, also issued a statement.

“The Church in Sydney and Australia joins with people throughout the world in mourning the passing of the Holy Father, Pope Francis,” he said.

“As priest, bishop and pope, he embodied Christ’s command to care for all people, especially the most vulnerable.

“He was a Pope of many firsts. He was the first to take the name ‘Francis,’ the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first non-European pontiff in more than a millennium.

“Yet for all those firsts, he will be remembered foremost as the ‘pope of the peripheries’, determined to lead the Church in reaching out to those on the margins — the poor, elderly, disabled, unborn, refugees and prisoners.” 

As news of the Pope’s death reached Australia, 88 bells tolled at St Mary’s Church in Sydney.

 

 

Around the world, notable figures shared messages of mourning.

The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, wrote: “Pope Francis has returned to the house of the Father. This news saddens us deeply, because a great man and a great pastor have left us.”

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote: “From Buenos Aires to Rome, Pope Francis wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest. May it unite people with each other and with nature. May this hope continually revive beyond him.”

Francis has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013. Born in Argentina, he ushered in a new era for the Vatican as the first pope from the Western Hemisphere and, more importantly, the first from South America.

He was also the first pope from the Jesuit order. 

Born to Italian immigrants in Argentina in 1936, Francis studied humanities in Chile and taught literature in high school. 

After becoming Pope, he pushed a progressive agenda including the need to look after the environment and recognise the threat of climate change.

But he suffered numerous health issues in recent years, and underwent major surgery in 2021 and 2023.

His health battles had cast doubt over whether he could continue as leader of world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics, fuelling speculation over his potential resignation. But he would ultimately succumb to illness first.

A group of nuns and priests from around the world gathered in February outside the entrance to Gemelli Hospital, where Francis was staying in a special papal suite on the 10th floor, to pray for him.

“We are praying today for the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and our hope is that he will recover well in the Grace of God,” Brazilian priest Don Wellison told AFP.

The Vatican was giving regular updates on Francis’s health, saying he had been moving between his bed, a chair and an adjacent chapel where he would pray and do small amounts of work. 

Francis has said the papacy is a job for life, but has also left the door open to resigning like his predecessor Benedict XVI.

He has often joked about the scheming his health woes inevitably prompt, particularly among those who oppose his attempts at reform.

After undergoing colon surgery in 2021, he joked that “they were preparing the conclave”, the meeting of cardinals to elect a new pope following a death or resignation.

The Pope was suffering from increasing health issues, from his colon surgery to a hernia operation in 2023.

He was also overweight and suffered constant hip and knee pain, which forced him to use a wheelchair most of the time.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton expressed his condolences to Australians of Catholic and Christian faith. 

He said: “His Holiness, Pope Francis, served God with the utmost devotion throughout his life. He was the first Pope from the Jesuit order and the first Latin American Pope. He lived frugally and simply.

Above all else, he was driven by Christ’s values of mercy and forgiveness. He emphasised those values in his last Christmas address saying, ‘God’s mercy can do all things. It unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; God’s mercy dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.’”