Pope Francis (@PopBase via X.com)
ROME – Pope Francis is dead at the age of 88, the Vatican said Monday.
The 88-year-old Argentine pontiff, who became pope in March 2013, had recently spent 38 days in hospital fighting life-threatening pneumonia.
He had been minimally involved in Easter rites spurring hopes he was on the mend though had not delivered keynote speeches himself.
Kevin Farrell announced with sorrow the death of Pope Francis, with these words: “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 His Church.
“He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized.
“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”.
Tributes began to flow in immediately, from Italian officials including President Sergio Mattarella, Premier Giorgia Meloni, and Foreign Minister Anrtonio Tajani, from Italian bishops chief Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, and on the world stage from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, US Vice President JD Vance, and Iran.
Mattarella said that he felt a great void and that Francis had been a reference point for him personally.
In a statement, the Italian head of State said: “I learned with great personal pain the news of the death of Pope Francis, feeling the serious void that is created by the loss of the point of reference that he has always represented for me.
“The death of Pope Francis arouses pain and emotion among Italians and throughout the world. His teaching has recalled the evangelical message, solidarity among men, the duty of closeness to the weakest, international cooperation, peace in humanity.
Gratitude towards him must be translated with the responsibility to work, as he has constantly done, for these objectives”.
Meloni voiced “deep grief” and said “a great man has left us.
“The whole world will remember Francis for being the Pope of the people, the Pope of the least ones”, Meloni told Tg1.
In an emotional voice the Prime Minister added that “I will miss him too, we had an extraordinary personal relationship, he was a pontiff with whom you could talk about everything, he was very special”.
In a statement, the premier repeated that Francis had been a great man and a great shepherd and “we will walk in his direction, he gave a change of direction for peace”.
“Pope Francis has returned to the house of the Father. This news saddens us deeply, because a great man and a great shepherd has left us.
“I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings, which never failed even in moments of trial and suffering. “In the meditations of the Via Crucis, he reminded us of the power of the gift, which makes everything flourish again and is capable of reconciling what in the eyes of man is irreconcilable.
“And he asked the world, once again, for the courage to change direction, to travel a path that “does not destroy, but cultivates, repairs, protects.
“We will walk in this direction, to seek the path of peace, pursue the common good and build a more just and equitable society. His teaching and his legacy will not be lost. We salute the Holy Father with hearts full of sadness, but we know that he is now in the peace of the Lord.” Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Tajani said that Francis had returned to the House of the Father.
“Pope Francis has returned to the House of the Father. Care for Creation, Mercy, brotherhood: he was a great Pontiff. A friend of Italy. Let us pray for him and for the future of the entire Catholic Church. Holy Father, may he protect us from up there”, he wrote on X.
The president of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), Cardinal Zuppi, said Francis’s death was a painful moment for the entire Catholic Church.
“It is a painful moment and of great suffering for the entire Church,” said Zuppi.
“We entrust our beloved Pope Francis to the Lord’s embrace, in the certainty, as he himself taught us, that ‘everything is revealed in mercy; everything is resolved in the merciful love of the Father’.
“I ask all the Churches in Italy that the church bells be rung as a sign of mourning and that moments of personal and community prayer be encouraged, in communion among ourselves and with the universal Church”.
Von der Leyen wrote on X: “Today the world mourns the passing of Pope Francis. He inspired millions, far beyond the Catholic Church, with his humility and his pure love for those less fortunate. My thoughts are with all who feel this profound loss.
May they find comfort in the knowledge that Pope Francis’ legacy will continue to guide us all toward a more just, peaceful and compassionate world.”
Macron wrote on X: “From Buenos Aires to Rome, Pope Francis wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest. To unite men with each other and with nature. May this hope always be resurrected beyond him.
“To all Catholics, to the world in mourning, my wife and I express all our thoughts”.
Merz said Francis’s actions had been guided by “humility and faith”.
Vance, a practicing Catholic who met Francis in the Vatican over Easter, said: “I just learned of the death of Pope Francis. My thoughts go out to the millions of Christians around the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, even though he was very sick. But I will always remember him for his homilies in the early days of Covid. He was truly wonderful.”
An Iranian spokesman voiced Tehran’s condolences for Francis’s death.
The first security measures have already kicked in in Rome for the death of Pope Francis. After a call between the Prefect and the Police Chief of Rome, the plan kicked in with contingents of the Police Forces that have converged in the area of St. Peter’s Square. The Prefect of Rome has urgently convened the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security. (ANSA)
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