Pope Francis died on Easter Monday aged 88 after dedicating his ‘entire life’ to serving God and the Church, the Vatican announced today.
The Pontiff spent his final hours with faithful, emerging to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday and touring the piazza in the Popemobile to wild cheers and applause after being discharged from hospital only last month.
He was hoped to be making a steady recovery from double pneumonia before Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, announced that he had died at 7.35am local time (5.35am GMT) today.
‘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 God, One and Tribune,’ he said in a statement.
Francis had only left hospital under ‘protected discharge’ on March 23 after suffering an infection that developed into pneumonia in both lungs earlier this year.
