Francisco dies at 88 due to a stroke

RomePope Francis died at 7:35 a.m. on Easter Monday at his residence in Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, just hours after reappearing before the faithful after Easter Sunday Mass from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican has confirmed that he suffered a stroke and "subsequent irreversible heart failure" and not the double lateral pneumonia from which he was recovering, which forced him to spend a long time in the hospital. The Italian press had reported before the Roman Curia made it official that he woke up at six in the morning and suffered the afternoon. of Sant Pere del Vaticano.

The last time he was seen in public was on Sunday, when with a whisper imparted the blessing ofurbi et orbi with which the rites of Holy Week concluded, in which he was unable to participate due to his precarious health. Francis delegated the reading of the Easter message to one of his collaborators, which he wrote personally: an indictment against the wars that suffocate the world that is already the testament of a groundbreaking pontificate.

"It is with profound sorrow that I must announce the death of our holy father Francis," said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Vatican camerlengo, in a video message released by the Holy See Press Office shortly before 10 a.m. "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, particularly and in favor of the poorest and most marginalized," he added.

Shortly after the official announcement, mourning bells began to ring in all of Rome's churches, and official buildings in Italy and the Vatican lowered their flags to half-mast. "Along with the pain over the death of Pope Francis, I notice a feeling of emptiness, the sensation of being deprived of a point of reference that I admired. He conquered the world from the very beginning, from the choice of his name," said the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

Although Francis's recent appearances made clear his slow recovery, or the permanent fragility of an already advanced age and other health problems, the sudden disappearance of the pontiff at the age of 88 has surprised the faithful who came to the Vatican from all corners of the globe. And little by little, spontaneously and silently, they have begun to fill the Piazza Sant'Pere.

The Camerlengo Internship

The death of Francis means that the management of Vatican affairs will be temporarily in the hands of Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell, who will now have a central role as interim pope, while the conclave to elect the successor to the throne of Saint Peter is convened. An assembly of bishops that will have to begin in a maximum of 20 days. The Irish cardinal, the one in charge of announcing his death, presided this evening over the rite of certification of death and the disposition of the pontiff's body in the coffin.

The transfer of the Holy Father's body to the Vatican Basilica for the homage of all the faithful will begin this Wednesday morning, April 23, the Vatican has reported. And while The funeral will take place in the aforementioned basilica, At Francis's express wish, he will be buried outside the Vatican walls, in the church of Santa Maria Major, in the center of Rome.

A deep void

At a historical moment as turbulent as the current one, the death of the first Latin American Jesuit pope leaves a profound void for the Catholic Church and for those who yearn for an end to war and a more just world. Hugely popular among the faithful worldwide, but facing fierce internal opposition, Francis will be remembered as the pope of the poor, the marginalized, and the peripheries. A transformer, but above all, a simple priest at the head of the Church of Rome. "How I would like a poor Church for the poor," he proclaimed three days after his election in March 2013.

His profoundly reformist style was heavily criticized by the conservative opposition, who went so far as to accuse him of heresy and a lack of orthodoxy. In reality, it was a small but vocal group that found its best platform in the rise of far-right governments around the world, including in his native Argentina, now governed by Javier Milei, who called him an "imbecile" and "a representative of evil on earth." Later, however, they met in Rome and at least smoothed out their differences

L'Donald Trump's arrival at the White House represented the final challenge to a pontificate that was already in its final moments.Anti-immigrant raids and a policy opposed to LGBTI minorities are contrary to the teachings of Francis, who always advocated building bridges, not walls. In case there were any doubts, Trump appointed a popular ultra-Catholic activist deeply critical of the Latin American pope as the new US ambassador to the Holy See. And the pontiff responded with a call to mobilize the US bishops, who will now have to elect his successor.

"He leaves an enormous legacy to the Church on a completely open path," says Father Antonio Spadaro, director of the Italian Jesuit magazine and one of the people closest to Pope Francis. "His pontificate has been full of fruits, but also of many seeds. To leave this earth on Easter Day is a great sign that he remains."