By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Head of the Catholic Church who sought to modernise the pastoral and public priorities of the Vatican, Pope Francis has passed away at the age of 88.
The Vatican announced the death of the Argentina-born Francis on Monday.
He was the first pope to be born or raised outside Europe in 12 centuries, the first from the Americas, and the first Jesuit to hold the role.
The health of Pope Francis, who had led the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics since 2013, had increasingly deteriorated, as he had been using a wheelchair or cane for more than a year after undergoing several operations, including major stomach surgery.
He had developed pneumonia in both lungs, and his condition remained “complex”, the Vatican announced on 18 February. At that time, he had been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on 14 February.
In line with centuries-old church protocols, his death was first verified by the camerlengo, the Vatican’s overseer of property and revenues who ceremonially called out the pope’s baptismal name, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, three times. Upon receiving no response, he pronounced the pope dead and informed church staff and the public.
Francis’ death will spark an official nine-day mourning period and weeks of intrigue as to who will succeed him in the role, with more than 140 cardinals expected to arrive at the Vatican within 15 to 20 days to begin the papal conclave, a secretive election process held to determine a successor.
His burial is expected to take place between four and six days after his death, according to the Universi Dominici Gregis constitution that governs the papal transition, and the Church will observe nine days of mourning during the papal interregnum.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1936, Francis’ reign was controversial from the beginning when he was elected to the role following the shock resignation of former Pope Benedict, the first pontiff to quit in 600 years.
The duo formed a close bond in the almost 10 years that followed, during which there were unusually two popes in the Vatican. Benedict died on the last day of 2022.
Francis, the 266th pontiff in the Church’s 2,000-year history, inherited the role at a time of great crisis and difficulty for the Church, which had been battered by sexual abuse scandals, mired in financial mismanagement, and polarised between conservatives and progressives.
Although he did not directly change doctrine, he was seen as revolutionary by seeking to empower the laity, promoting women to positions of power in the bureaucracy, although not ordaining them priestsand speaking up against climate change, war, and poverty across the world.
In 2023, Pope Francis visited South Sudan on a “pilgrimage of peace”, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.
He made impassioned pleas for peace and forgiveness, urging an end to the conflict and emphasising the importance of dialogue and cooperation.
