Key Events
- 14m ago14 minutes agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 8:31pm
- 54m ago54 minutes agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:51pm
- 1h ago1 hours agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:28pm
6m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 8:39pm
Mourners have gathered at services around the world in the hours following Pope Francis’s death.
Bogota, Colombia. (Reuters: Luisa Gonzalez)
Rome, Italy. (Reuters: Vincenzo Livieri )
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Reuters: Ricardo Moraes )
Santiago, Chile. (Reuters: Pablo Sanhueza )
14m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 8:31pm
Closing up the pope’s formal apartment at the Apostolic Palace is a key part of Catholic tradition declaring a “sede vacante” or vacant see — the period between the death of one pope and the election of another.
Officials draped a red ribbon through the door handles on Monday afternoon, then poured liquid wax on the bow and impressed Francis’s papal seal on the wax to hold the knot.
Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, the camerlengo, is also there, checking to make sure the door is securely shut.
Historically, this symbolic gesture done by the camerlengo served to prevent looting of the pope’s residence.
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ABC with AP
22m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 8:23pm
After spending more than five weeks in hospital for a bout of double pneumonia, doctors told Pope Francis he needed two months’ rest, but the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics kept working right to the end.
On Easter Sunday, the day before his death at age 88, Francis made his first prolonged public appearance since February, entering St Peter’s Square in a white Popemobile to greet cheering crowds.
Pope Francis on Easter Sunday (Reuters)
Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official who was close to Francis, said he did not think Francis pushed himself irresponsibly, and he needed to move about.
“Absolute rest isn’t healing,” Czerny said. “He balanced convalescence with his being the Bishop of Rome.”
Czerny said the pope was devoted to his work leading the world’s Catholics.
Citing an instruction Francis often gave Catholic bishops to make sure they were close to their flocks, Czerny said: “He died with the smell of the sheep on him.”
Reuters
32m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 8:13pm
Church bells tolled across the capital of Africa’s most populous Roman Catholic nation on Monday after the death of Pope Francis was announced.
Francis, who visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2023, was hailed as a “voice for the voiceless”.
The visit remains a landmark for many Congolese.
Pope Francis visited DR Congo in 2023. (Reuters: Yara Nardi)
More than 1 million people attended the pope’s open-air mass in Kinshasa.
He spoke against “economic colonialism” and said Africa “was not a mine to be exploited, nor a land to be plundered”.
“When he spoke to the world, he always spoke of the war in DR Congo, of the war in Sudan, of the war in Palestine, of the war in Ukraine,” mourner Justin Kambale said.
In Kinshasa’s Our Lady of the Congo Cathedral, Madeleine Bomendje struggled to accept the news: “It’s true that he was sick, he was suffering, but I still can’t believe it. It’s a terrible shock.”
DR Congo has a population of about 100 million and some estimates say 40 million are Catholics, while the Vatican says nearly 50 million are.
Pope Francis drew the world’s attention to “forgotten suffering” in DR Congo and beyond, said Father Camille Esika, the Kinshasa cathedral’s rector.
His death was a “great loss, not just for the Catholic church but more than anything for the world’s poor”, he said.
AFP
40m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 8:05pm
I’m in Vatican City, where a rosary for the late Pope Francis has just been held.
There were big crowds on hand to watch things unfold as the service got under way at 7:30pm on Monday, local time (3:30am AEST Tuesday).
Masses of people made their way to the Vatican in the hours after the Pope died. (Reuters: Remo Casilli)
Luc Bejin and his partner Stefania Arso travelled to the Vatican from their home in the countryside to be part of the memorial.
“We’re not from here. We’re from about an hour and a half away from here, but we decided it was worth taking the time to come and say our goodbyes,” Mr Bejin said.
“Pope Francis was really important to my mother. Even though we didn’t go to church much, she believed firmly in God, and Easter was her favourite celebration of the year.”
Luc Bejin and his partner Stefania Arso in St Peter’s square on Monday evening. (ABC News: Riley Stuart)
Estella Mendoza and her mother travelled to Rome from Mexico for Easter.
They were among the crowds that attended a prayer service in St Peter’s Square on Monday evening.
“With the pope dying suddenly, it was a duty for us Catholics to come and to pay our respects,” Ms Mendoza said.
“We tried to come here yesterday [for Easter Sunday] but it was so packed.”
Estella Mendoza (right), and her mother, who’s also called Estella, pay their respects. (ABC News: Riley Stuart)
46m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:59pm
A pope known for defying expectations, Francis will continue with this trend in death.
He will become the first pontiff to be buried away from the Vatican in more than a century.
In his final testament, dated June 29, 2022, Pope Francis requested he be buried at Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
The last pope to be buried there was Clement IX in 1669.
The Unesco World Heritage site is one of the Italian capital’s four major papal basilicas, and has played a key role in Francis’s history since he was elected in 2013.
Less than 24 hours after he became pope, Francis visited the basilica to pray in front of one of the Catholic world’s most important icons of the Virgin Mary, the Salus Populi Romani — meaning Salvation of the Roman people.
He would regularly travel to St Mary Major before leaving on trips abroad and upon his return to Rome.
Pope Francis visiting the basilica after his 38-day hospital stay (Vatican media)
54m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:51pm
US President Donald Trump says federal and state flags will fly at half-mast in honour of Pope Francis.
“He loved the world, and it’s an honor to [lower the flags],” Trump said at an Easter event.
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On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he would attend Francis’s funeral.
“Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome.”
59m agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:46pm
A small memorial to Pope Francis was set up on Monday afternoon inside one of Christianity’s holiest sites.
One of the chapels inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was opened up to the faithful, with a photo of the late pontiff on display next to the altar.
A service held in Jerusalem. (Hamish Harty)
Dozens of worshippers sat silently in prayer, along with a number of priests, in vigil for Francis.
A memorial mass will be held at the church on Wednesday morning, local time.
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:38pm
With tonight’s service in the Vatican now over, let’s take a look at what is expected to take place in the next few days and weeks.
Next few days:
Mourners will be invited to pay their respects while the late pontiff’s body remains inside his coffin in St Peter’s Basilica, with the lid removed.
His funeral is expected to be held in 4-6 days.
Next few weeks:
Pope Francis’s death has set in motion the conclave, the secret meeting in the Sistine Chapel where cardinals elect a new Pope.
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:28pm
The Vatican has published parts of the pope’s will, dated June 29, 2022.
“Feeling that the sunset of my earthly life is approaching and with lively hope in Eternal Life, I wish to express my testamentary will only as regards the place of my burial,” wrote Pope Francis.
“The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: Franciscus.”
In closing his will, the spiritual leader of the world’s Catholics asked the Lord to “give the deserved reward to those who loved me and will continue to pray for me”.
“I offered the suffering that became present in the last part of my life to the Lord for world peace and brotherhood among peoples.”
AFP
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:23pm
Night is falling at the Vatican as crowds continue to flock to St Peter’s Square to mourn the death of the 88-year-old pontiff.
(Reuters: Kai Pfaffenbach)
(Reuters: Matteo Minnella)
We’re also seeing services being held right across the world:
A service in the UK city of Liverpool (Reuters: Temilade Adelaja)
A packed mass in Bogota, Columbia (Reuters: Luisa Gonzalez)
A Holy Mass in memory of Pope Francis at the Sao Sebastiao Cathedral, Rio De Janeiro. (Reuters: Ricardo Moraes)
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:16pm
The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis requested in his final testament to be buried at Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
He requested this and not at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, like many previous pontiffs.
The text specified that Francis wanted to be buried “in the ground, without particular decoration” but with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus.
The Vatican statement also said the pope arranged for an unnamed benefactor to cover the costs of burial.
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:07pm
Pope Francis died of a stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli said on his death certificate.
The details were released on Monday evening, local time, hours after the 88-year-old pontiff’s death.
The certificate was published by the Vatican.
It said the pope had fallen into a coma before his death early on Monday.
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:07pm
The Vatican has confirmed Pope Francis died of a stroke and heart attack.
The 88-year-old leaves a legacy of progressive reform within the Catholic Church, worshipped by over 1 billion people.
Church services have been held around the world, while a rosary was held in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square.
Catch up on the latest:
1h agoMon 21 Apr 2025 at 7:04pm
The Catholic world is in mourning following the death of Pope Francis yesterday at the Vatican City.
He was aged 88.
The news sent shockwaves across the more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide and prompted an outpouring of tributes from world leaders. Overnight, US President Donald Trump said Francis “loved the world”.
Pope Francis’s death has also triggered protocols to begin selecting the next pontiff.
We’ll be covering this major story throughout the day, so stick with us.
