Pope Francis Has Died
Early this morning, just one day after Easter, Pope Francis passed away at his residence at Casa Santa Marta, while recovering from bilateral pneumonia. He was 88.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, announced the news from the papal residence 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 of 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.
Francis spent Holy Week laboring hard in his ministry and brushing aside the advice of his doctors for complete bed rest.
Still Working
On Easter Sunday morning, a little after 11:30 am, Francis met for a few minutes with Vice President J.D. Vance. Before the Easter Vigil service, the pope made a brief visit to St. Peter’s Basilica to pray and to be close to his flock arriving for the service.
He preached until his last breath, reminding the world that the “risen Christ is the definitive turning point in human history.” More than 5,000 Catholics had gathered in the basilica and St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Easter.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re read out the frail pontiff’s homily at the service, with Francis’s final words ringing out before he would breathe his last a few hours later: “Let us make room for the light of the Risen Lord! And we will become builders of hope for the world.”
Less than 20 hours before he died, Francis greeted the crowds gathered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica delivering his message and Urbi et Orbi blessing — to the city and the world — proclaiming “Christ is risen.”
The Holy Father then passed on his text to be read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations. “Christ, my hope, has risen,” the pope declared. “Today too, he takes upon himself all the evil that oppresses us and transfigures it.”
Last Easter
Ravelli read Francis’s words to the throng in square, which was filled with over 10,000 flowers sent from the Netherlands:
Love has triumphed over hatred, light over darkness, and truth over falsehood. Forgiveness has triumphed over revenge. Evil has not disappeared from history; it will remain until the end, but it no longer has the upper hand; it no longer has power over those who accept the grace of this day.
The pontiff called for peace in Gaza, Israel, Yemen and Ukraine, extending his prayers to Christians in Syria and Lebanon, and expressed his concern for the victims of the recent earthquake in Myanmar. He appealed for disarmament and freedom of religion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the South Sudan, Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and the Great Lakes region.
On the Maundy Thursday, he insisted on making his customary trip to meet prisoners. This time he visited the Regina Coeli Prison in Rome and spent half an hour with about 70 inmates from different countries.
“Every year, I like to do what Jesus did on Holy Thursday, the washing of the feet, in prison. This year I cannot do it, but I can and want to be close to you. I pray for you and for your families,” Francis told the inmates.
Very Human
Earlier that day, Francis sent a message to Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, extending his greetings to the Jewish community of Rome as it prepared to celebrate the Jewish Passover.
At the Chrism Mass for priests on Maundy Thursday, the pope chose Cardinal Domenico Calcagno to deliver his homily. His familiar words attacking “clericalism” would ring through the papal basilica.
“Dear priests, each of us has a word to fulfil. Each of us has a longstanding relationship with the Word of God. We put it at the service of others only when the Bible remains our first home,” he said, reminding clergy of their vocation to preach the Word of God.
Francis delighted some and angered others when he made an unexpected visit in a wheelchair to St. Peter’s Basilica on April 10. Traditionalist Catholics were outraged because he dressed in civilian clothes, clad in a striped shawl and black trousers with a breathing tube in his nostrils.
The pope blessed a baby and greeted some pilgrims and workers engaged in restoration work before being wheeled to the tomb of Pope Pius X to pray. Many faithful were overwhelmed by what they saw as the pontiff expressing his humanity as a simple, sick, elderly man.
Francis was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital on February 14 after suffering from bronchitis for several days. The pope’s condition gradually worsened, and his doctors diagnosed bilateral pneumonia on February 18.
After 38 days in hospital, Francis, who was plagued by respiratory illness most of his life, returned to his Vatican residence at the Casa Santa Marta to continue his recovery.
He will be buried according to simplified papal funeral rites he himself approved last April. Last December, he revealed where he will be buried — not in St. Peter’s Basilica, but in St. Mary Major, the papal basilica that houses his favorite icon of Mary “Salus Populi Romani.”
The Vatican has yet to announce the date of the funeral.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.