Pope Francis has died at the age of 88, the Vatican has announced.
The pontiff made his final public appearance yesterday, where he briefly greeted crowds in St Peter’s Square to mark Easter Sunday.
In a statement, Cardinal Kevin Farrell said: "At 7.35am this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.”
His death comes after a recent hospitalisation for bronchitis treatment, where he suffered from pneumonia in both lungs. Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
The pontiff made his final public appearance yesterday, where he briefly greeted crowds in St Peter’s Square to mark Easter Sunday.
In a statement, Cardinal Kevin Farrell said: "At 7.35am this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.”
His death comes after a recent hospitalisation for bronchitis treatment, where he suffered from pneumonia in both lungs. Report by Brooksl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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NewsTranscript
00:01Popes aren't usually elected while their predecessor is still alive.
00:05In fact, it hadn't happened for 600 years.
00:08But Pope Francis' succession of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013
00:12was the first indication that things at the top of the Catholic Church would be a bit different.
00:18As an Argentine Cardinal, Jorge Mario Bergoglio would become the first Pope from South America,
00:24the first Jesuit Pope, and the first Pope to have an Instagram account.
00:28He was also the first to take the name Francis, in honour of St. Francis of Assisi,
00:33who devoted himself to a life of poverty.
00:36On the second, when I was elected, he raised me, hugged me, and told me,
00:43don't forget about the poor.
00:45Those are strong moments.
00:49I didn't expect it.
00:51It was like a great peace, a great peace.
00:54That healthy inconsciency that we have to give in the difficult times.
00:58Francis' homage to his 13th century namesake began immediately.
01:02On the night of his election, he took a bus back to his hotel with the Cardinals,
01:06rather than take the papal car.
01:08He was also the first Pope in a hundred years to live outside of the palatial papal residence,
01:13choosing instead to live in a simple apartment in the Vatican guesthouse.
01:17Born in Buenos Aires to Italian Argentine parents,
01:22Jorge Bergoglio qualified as a chemical technician
01:25and had jobs in his hometown as a bouncer and a janitor.
01:29He became a Catholic priest after recovering from life-threatening pneumonia
01:33and having part of a lung removed.
01:35His years as a priest coincided with his homeland's Dirty War,
01:39a military dictatorship ruling Argentina through terror during the late 70s and early 80s.
01:45Bergoglio was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992 and Archbishop in 1998.
01:52His outreach to the vicios miserias of Argentina's capital earned him the nickname the Slum Bishop.
01:58As Pope, Francis wrote an encyclical calling for greater care for the planet,
02:02and stated that developed nations had a moral obligation to assist developing nations in combating climate change.
02:09He presented it as a gift to climate change sceptic Donald Trump on his visit to the Vatican as US President in 2017.
02:17Francis met the survivors of clerical abuse on his 2018 visit to Ireland
02:22and apologised for Catholic Church sexual abuse cases.
02:25Likewise, in 2022 in Canada, Francis apologised for the Church's role in the abuse of Indigenous children.
02:32It was not just apologies for the evils of Church sex abuse that elicited mixed responses.
02:38On the perennial issues facing Catholicism, many felt Francis went too far, others not far enough.
02:45Francis formalised women's roles in the Catholic Church, but refused to ordain women as priests.
02:50He pushed for greater openness and inclusion of LGBT plus people,
02:55and for the worldwide decriminalisation of homosexuality,
02:58but was opposed to same-sex marriage, and spoke out against gender ideology.
03:03Francis' more humble and less formal approach to the paper seat drew people towards him,
03:08sometimes bringing out his very human side.
03:11Francis' commitment to interfaith dialogue saw him reach out across sectarian and religious lines
03:16in defence of the weak and the persecuted, as in this meeting with Iraq's top Shia cleric Ayatollah Sistani,
03:22on his visit to the country in 2021.
03:25Even in his second decade at the head of the Catholic Church,
03:28there was very little let-up in his schedule,
03:31but his more frequent public appearances in a wheelchair and his hints at resignation
03:35were a reminder of Francis' advancing years.
03:38Conservative yet progressive, Catholic with a big and a small C,
03:43an historical figure in the social media age.
03:46Pope Francis was the bouncer from Buenos Aires who rose to the top of the Vatican
03:51and yet kept his feet firmly on the ground.
03:54Pope Francis was the captain of thelıs.
03:59So or in his schwemceptor, he arranged his cremation to an officer on the border of the temple.
04:03So here we have the tools for this project,
04:20to remove the paper from the ground.