What to know about the death of Pope Francis

By VANESSA GERA and NICOLE WINFIELD | Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Here are the key things to know about the death of the Argentine pontiff, history’s first from Latin America, who presided over the Catholic Church for more than 12 years.

The announcement of Pope Francis’ death

The death of Francis was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born Vatican camerlengo, a position that will be important in the coming weeks as he takes charge of the administration of the Holy See until a new pope is elected.

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“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father,” Farrell said. “His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church.”

The pontiff died in the Vatican’s Domus Santa Marta, where he returned less than a month ago after being hospitalized for double pneumonia.

A final farewell on Easter Sunday

Francis made his final public appearance a day earlier on Easter Sunday, though he had delegated the celebration of the Easter Mass to another cardinal.

He blessed a crowd of faithful from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. “Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter,” he said from the same loggia where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world on March 13, 2013 as the 266th pope.

Francis also made a surprise ride in the square in his popemobile, drawing wild cheers and applause.

Beforehand, he met briefly with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

“I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill,” Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, said on Monday during a visit to India.

Reactions and global mourning

Even before the great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began tolling to mark Francis’ death, messages of tribute began pouring in from across the world.

Catholic and non-Catholic leaders alike honored a spiritual leader who was a voice for the marginalized and the weak, for migrants and LGBTQ+ people, and who showed concern for nature.

He “cared about the great global challenges of our time — migration, climate change, inequalities, peace — as well as the everyday struggles of the one and all,” European Council President António Costa said.

The outgoing German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that the world had lost “an advocate for the weak, a reconciling and a warm-hearted person.”

Other religious leaders also praised him for seeking dialogue. The head of the Church of England remembered him for his commitment to improving relations among the world’s religions, while Rome’s chief rabbi described Francis’ pontificate as an important new chapter in relations between Judaism and Catholicism.

The pope’s last months, and final day

Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on Feb. 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his papacy.

For the faithful, those were weeks of fear that his illness could be fatal or lead to another papal resignation after that of Pope Benedict XVI, a surprise move that led to the election of Francis.

The pontiff’s return to the Vatican on March 23 brought relief to many at the time.

What happens next

Francis’ death now 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.

That will be followed by a funeral to be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, and a conclave to elect a new pope.

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Vanessa Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland.