Reformer Pope Francis dies aged 88

Pope Francis, spiritual leader of more than 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, died aged 88 at 7:35 a.m. local time on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. He had led the Roman Catholic Church for more than 12 years.

“Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on Vatican TV.

Farrell added, “His entire life was dedicated to the service of God and his Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love—especially for the poorest and most marginalised.”

No details have yet been released regarding funeral arrangements for the first Latin American pope in history, though a meeting is expected to convene soon to elect his successor.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, Francis was elected pope in a surprise conclave in March 2013, aged 76. He became the first Jesuit pope, and the first from the Americas.

During his papacy, Francis canonised 942 saints—more than any other pope in history. He also signalled a departure from tradition in death: he had requested to be buried not in St Peter’s Basilica, but at Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. Unlike his predecessors, he asked to be interred in a single coffin, eschewing the customary three.

Francis’s tenure was marked by both reform and controversy. He oversaw a major reorganisation of the Church bureaucracy and sought to reshape the 2,000-year-old institution to be more open and compassionate. Amid mounting global scrutiny, he confronted the Church’s longstanding crisis over clerical sex abuse and addressed issues often avoided by his predecessors. Despite resistance from within the Vatican, he initiated conversations on sensitive subjects, including women’s rights.

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