Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 in Rome on Monday, April 21, less than a day after delivering a brief Easter Sunday message in St Peter's Basilica, is remembered as a spiritual leader whose life and final moments were deeply intertwined with prayer and devotion.
Pope Francis remains in critical condition with blood tests showing mild signs of kidney failure 'which is currently under control,' the Vatican said on Sunday, February 23, 2025 as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia in both his lungs.
Pope Francis made his first public appearance in five weeks, on the day of his discharge from the Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Sunday, March 23, 2025.
Glimpses of Pope Francis when he appeared for the first time, April 6, 2025, since his return to the Vatican after spending 38 days at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, recovering from a serious lung illness.
Pope Francis, who made a surprise appearance on Easter Sunday, riding through St Peter's Square in the popemobile and greeting crowds just weeks after a serious bout of pneumonia, passed away at 0735 Vatican time on Monday morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sorrow over the death of Pope Francis, calling it a profound loss for the global community.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1936, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church died on Monday aged 88.
President Droupadi Murmu attended the funeral Mass of Pope Francis at St Peter's Square in Vatican City on Saturday. She was part of an official Indian delegation led by the President and also paid homage to Pope Francis at the Basilica of St Peter. India had declared a three-day state mourning on the passing of Pope Francis, who died on Monday at the age of 88.
The funeral mass of Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday, concluded at St Peter's Square on Saturday with the bells of St Peter's Basilica tolling to signal the end of the 2 hours and 10 minutes long service.
World leaders and tens of thousands of faithful gathered at St Peter's Square in the Vatican City on Saturday to honor Pope Francis in a poignant farewell.
The Pope's funeral is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Square, to be led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.
President Droupadi Murmu will attend the state funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican City this week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. Murmu will pay a two-day visit to Vatican City beginning Friday, offering condolences on behalf of the government and people of India. She will pay homage to Pope Francis by laying a wreath at Basilica of Saint Peter on Friday and attend the funeral Mass at Saint Peter's Square on April 26.
The mourning will be observed across the country on April 22 and 23, and again on the day of the Pope's funeral.
Pope Francis has died, the Vatican said on Monday. The Pope passed away on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta, according to a statement from the Vatican.
'Senior Vatican officials were pleasantly surprised at the number of Indians who had come to witness the ceremony.'
Did he assure the Pope that he would do everything in his power to protect churches and Christians in India from attacks?
'The date of the rearranged fixtures will be announced in due course.'
While the Pope "continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair" he is "in more pain than yesterday," it added.
Union Minister George Kurian on Saturday said the much-awaited visit of Pope Francis to India is likely to happen after 2025, which has been announced as the 'Jubilee Year' by the Catholic Church.
The ceremony, held at the famous St Peter's Basilica and attended by clergy and dignitaries from around the world, witnessed the induction of 21 new cardinals from various countries.
'Assuming he has a sensitive bug, which is responsive to antibiotics, it may not necessarily be the worst-case scenario.'
They met with a warm embrace at the Outreach session of the G7 Summit in Apulia, southern Italy where they joined other world leaders to deliberate on the topic of Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa and the Mediterranean.
According to reports, the mayor of Altopascio, Sara D'Ambrosio, wrote on Facebook that the table was designed to be inclusive and work well for people with physical disabilities to encourage their participation in sport.
The pope will stay in Canada for a week and is expected to apologise to its indigenous people for the indignities perpetrated by the Church at every stop of his visit.
Devasahayam Pillai, who embraced Christianity in the 18th century, on Sunday became the first Indian layman to be declared a saint by Pope Francis during an impressive canonisation ceremony at the Vatican.
Brazilian football star Ronaldinho, who widely considered a footballing deity during his playing days, met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday.
In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world's Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly, says his official biographer, Sergio Rubin.
The mass marked the high point of the first papal visit to the Arabian peninsula.
Eight of the newly named cardinals are from Europe, six from Asia, two from Africa, one from North America, and four from Central and Latin America.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he had a "very warm meeting" with Pope Francis and discussed a wide range of issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenge posed by climate change, with the head of the Roman Catholic church and also invited the Pontiff to visit India at an early date.
The newly elected Pope Francis has made history in more ways than one. Being dubbed as the Pontiff of Firsts, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the first non-European leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics in more than 1,000 years.
In a rare gesture accorded to few foreign dignitaries, United States President Barack Obama and his family received the Pope at the Andrews Air Force base outside Washington
American talk show host Rush Limbaugh has shocked the Catholic Church by accusing Pope Francis of preaching Marxism.
Pope Francis has outlined his vision for Church in a first big written text of his papacy released on Tuesday. The Catholic leader said he was "open to suggestions" on how his role should change.
"I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uyghurs, the Yazidi -- what ISIS did to them was truly cruel -- or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that went off while they prayed in the church," Francis says in a new book, Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future, published on Monday.
Pope Francis shaped the Church he led. And in death, his reforms shape his farewell.
Despite a year seemingly filled with gloom and near constant reminders of humanity's failings, the Nobel Peace prize will reward a person, or organisation, who's worked tirelessly for peace despite the world's many hurdles.
The two leader spoke privately for about 20 minutes.
So what is the Pope to do when a little boy rushes his stage and steals the show? Ignore the child and let him play, it seems. A 6-year-old from Argentina walked on to the Vatican stage during Pope Francis' papal audience. The child delighted worshippers and the pontiff alike as he played on stage.
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