{"id":25687,"date":"2025-04-21T13:31:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=25687"},"modified":"2025-04-21T13:31:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:31:00","slug":"pope-francis-has-died-aged-88-as-vatican-issue-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=25687","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis has died aged 88 as Vatican issue statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pope Francis has passed away at the age of 88, the Vatican has confirmed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Holy Father at the head of the Roman Catholic\u00a0Church<\/a>, whose real name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected to be Pope in March 2013.<\/p>\n

Now, the Vatican has confirmed the 88-year-old has died in a statement on Monday (April 21).<\/p>\n

Camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell said: \u201cDearest 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,\u00a0Francis<\/a>, returned to the home of the Father.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church.<\/p>\n

“He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith 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.\u2033<\/p>\n

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The Pope has died after a short health battle (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Since February this year, Pope Francis has undergone a\u00a0health<\/a>\u00a0struggle as he was rushed to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, indicating he had suffered a respiratory infection, chronic bronchitis, which developed into pneumonia in both lungs and mild kidney failure.<\/p>\n

Last month, he had experienced an ‘isolated attack of bronchospasm which caused an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of his respiratory condition’.<\/p>\n

The Vatican posted updates<\/a>\u00a0about the Pope’s ongoing health since his hospitalization, revealing in February that while he ‘slept’ well and was in ‘good humour’, his condition remained ‘critical.’<\/p>\n

They warned at the time that while he ‘cooperated with the therapeutic measures,’ his prognosis remained ‘uncertain’.<\/p>\n

On Sunday (February 23), the Pope asked Catholics to pray for him after he was unable to deliver the traditional Angelus prayer for the second week in a row, the\u00a0BBC<\/a>\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Throughout his leadership, Pope Francis established many ‘firsts’. He was the first Pope to come from from the Society of Jesus, where priests and brothers dedicate their lives to\u00a0Jesus<\/a>\u00a0Christ, as well as the first to be Latin\u00a0American<\/a>, being born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.<\/p>\n

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Pope Francis made many firsts during his tenure and was considered one of the most progressive heads of the church (ALBERTO PIZZOLIALBERTO PIZZOLI\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

He was also the first Pope to have been born or raised outside\u00a0Europe<\/a>\u00a0since the Syrian Pope Gregory III, some 1,200 years ago.<\/p>\n

The Argentinian cardinal, who chose his papal name in honour of Sant Francis of Assisi, was also praised for his progressive attitude and humility.<\/p>\n

For instance, he was often heard contemplating the war in\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0and making comments about the refugee crisis, the\u00a0climate emergency<\/a>, global injustice, and even\u00a0LGBTQ<\/a>+ rights.<\/p>\n

Throughout 2023, Pope Francis slammed laws criminalizing homosexuality as a sin. He approved blessings for same-sex civil unions, famously telling journalists: “Who am I to judge?” when prompted with the question.<\/p>\n

He also pushed for other reforms within the church in his life, including giving more roles to women in high-ranking Vatican positions.<\/p>\n

He broke the formalities of his predecessors by choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a church guest house, rather than the grand Apostolic Palace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Pope Francis has passed away at the age of 88, the Vatican has confirmed. The Holy Father at the head of the Roman Catholic\u00a0Church, whose real name was … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25689,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25687\/revisions\/25689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}