{"id":26115,"date":"2025-04-29T18:55:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=26115"},"modified":"2025-04-29T18:55:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:55:28","slug":"pope-francis-shared-his-one-final-regret-with-doctor-moments-before-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=26115","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis shared his one final regret with doctor moments before death"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pope Francis’ doctor has revealed that the late pontiff shared one final regret before he passed away.<\/p>\n

The 88-year-old\u00a0died on Easter Monday<\/a>, with the Vatican later announcing he had\u00a0suffered a cerebral stroke<\/a>\u00a0that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure.<\/p>\n

The medic overseeing his treatment, Dr Sergio Alfieri, has now offered further insights into\u00a0Pope Francis<\/a>‘ final moments and\u00a0what happened on the fateful morning<\/a>\u00a0of 21 April.<\/p>\n

He also headed up the team which looked after the late leader of the\u00a0Catholic<\/a>\u00a0church when he spent five weeks in hospital while battling a bout of double\u00a0pneumonia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr Alfieri revealed that he was summoned to the Vatican in the early hours of the morning, first receiving a call at 5.30am, before he got there about 20 minutes later.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that\u00a0<\/em>he arrived to find the Pope conscious, but unresponsive, recalling how the 88-year-old ‘had his eyes open’.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Pope\"Pope<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pope Francis’ pictured during his last public appearance just 24 hours before his death (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

“I ascertained that there were no respiratory problems,” the director of the medical-surgical department at the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital said. “And then I tried to call his name, but he did not respond to me.<\/p>\n

“He didn’t respond to stimuli, not even painful ones. In that moment I knew there was nothing more to do. He was in a coma.”<\/p>\n

Dr Alfieri said that some officials had suggested rushing the Pope back to hospital, but he believed it was far too late to do anything to save the pontiff.<\/p>\n

“He would have died on the way,” the doctor\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0La Repubblica in another interview. “Doing a CT scan we would have had a more exact diagnosis, but nothing more.<\/p>\n

“It was one of those strokes that, in an hour, carries you away.”<\/p>\n

After being discharged from hospital on 23 March, the Pope had been ordered to spend at least two months resting and recovering by his medical team.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"The\"The<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The 88-year-old shared his final regret with Dr Sergio Alfieri before his death (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

But ever the grafter, Pope Francis couldn’t keep himself away from his duties for too long – although Dr Alfieri insists he did take heed of the medical advice and didn’t overdo it.<\/p>\n

Days before his death, the pontiff had visited inmates in Rome\u2019s Regina Coeli\u00a0prison<\/a>\u00a0on 17 April, as part of his annual tradition to mark Holy Thursday.<\/p>\n

Although he wasn’t able to go the whole hog this year, he personally greeted those there, offered them words of encouragement, and gifted each of them a Rosary and a pocket-sized Gospel.<\/p>\n

Usually, Pope Francis would take part in a foot-washing ritual as a symbolic act of service and humility, like Jesus did before the Last Supper – but given his health woes, he gave it a miss this year.<\/p>\n

“I have always liked coming to prison on Holy Thursday to do the washing of the feet like Jesus,” he told the inmates. “This year, I cannot do it, but I want to be close to you. I pray for you and your families.”<\/p>\n

The Pope also revealed one final regret to his doctor, explaining that he was disappointed that he could not fulfil the foot-washing ritual while visiting the inmates.<\/p>\n

“He regretted he could not wash the feet of the prisoners,” Dr Alfieri told La Repubblica. “‘This time, I couldn’t do it,’ was the last thing he said to me.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"The\"The<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The late pontiff, pictured in 2023, was unable to partake in the foot washing ritual this year due to his ill health (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Following this outing, Pope Francis also\u00a0met with US Vice President JD Vance<\/a>\u00a0on Easter Sunday before then\u00a0addressing thousands of people<\/a>\u00a0from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.<\/p>\n

Just 24 hours later, he took his last breaths – and Dr Alfieri believes the pontiff enjoyed his final days just as he would have wanted to.<\/p>\n

“He [was] the Pope,” the medic told Corriere della Sera. “Going back to work was part of his treatment and he was never exposed to danger.<\/p>\n

“We knew that he wanted to go home to be Pope up until the last moment. He didn’t let us down.”<\/p>\n

Dr Alfieri said he had taken Francis a pie in a flavour that he liked on the Saturday afternoon, adding that Francis had also told him: “I am very well, I have started working again, and I like it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Pope Francis’ doctor has revealed that the late pontiff shared one final regret before he passed away. The 88-year-old\u00a0died on Easter Monday, with the Vatican later announcing he … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26115","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\/26115","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=26115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26117,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115\/revisions\/26117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}